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Posted on Wed, Jul 29, 2009 : 10:31 a.m.

Our daily newsletter has experienced some problems - we promise we'll improve

By Amalie Nash

We asked you to sign up for our daily newsletter to keep up on the news of the day, including breaking news, entertainment, sports and more.

And many of you did. Unfortunately, as you may have noticed, we've had some growing pains (in the form of broken links and others that send you to the wrong place).

We know that's not acceptable. We're now working as hard as possible to make sure it doesn't happen again - and we have other newsletter improvements coming.

We have three different newsletters; one filled with news, one with daily obituaries and one with deals.

We designed the daily newsletter to offer readers a snapshot of what they'll find on our site. But we don't think what we're sending out gives you a good enough idea of the breadth and depth of our coverage. We're already discussing ways to change it and provide you with better and more useful information.

In the meantime, we're working out the technical glitches that have caused the linking problems. We're confident we'll quickly have those issues resolved.

If you have any input on what you'd like to see in our daily newsletters, please drop us a line at newsletters@annarbor.com.

Comments

Will

Wed, Aug 19, 2009 : 6:19 a.m.

I just canceled my subscription after 5 unsuccessful attempts to get my paper delivered. In the last go-round, I called on Saturday to report a nondelivery of the Thursday paper. I was assured it would be corrected. After another non-delivery the following Sunday morning, I called and was advised that the carrier would be contacted. (I received the Sunday paper on Monday afternoon sometime.) When I called to discuss the chronic--I've never received a paper that I didn't call about--nondelivery with the subscriptions dept, my call was redirected to the voice mail of a supervisor. (I left my name and phone number, but was not contacted.) I then called again and after waiting about 10 minutes on hold, I asked to cancel my subscription and refund my balance. I received the Ann Arbor News at my address reliably for nearly 6 years; FedEx, UPS, pizza guys, GPS units, and appliance delivery guys have no trouble finding the place; I even provided detailed instructions to various staff members in case it wasn't clear. Maybe I'll try again in a year. Perhaps by then, someone will have a clue about customer service.

Susan Montgomery

Sun, Aug 2, 2009 : 9:56 a.m.

I just called (10:30 am) because I received two copies of the main portion and none of the Sunday inserts. I was told that a problem in the printing plant or somesuch was causing delivery problems, and that papers were being redelivered. Just thought I'd post in case others are having similar issues. About the online email newsletters I got a daily one on Monday with obituaries and deals, as requested, but none since then. I did get the Deals one on Friday. Tony, I'll be emailing you separately with my email address for follow-up per your offer in earlier posts.

Daniel Madaj

Sun, Aug 2, 2009 : 7:13 a.m.

We subscribed to the Ann Arbor News for the past 19 years, and received a letter saying that our subscription would automatically segue to annarbor.com. We didn't receive the first Sunday print edition. I e-mailed Monday; on Wednesday an apologetic response said that our account wold be credited and that everything should now be fine. No paper arrived Thursday. I called when I got home from work; I had to leave a message, since no one was in, but was told that a copy of the paper would be delivered the next morning. It wasn't. I e-mailed again Friday and received a quick, apologetic response. So far this Sunday, no paper. I checked on-line, after logging in, under "Manage Your Subscription," and am told that I don't have a subscription or an on-line account. I gather that my log-in account to the website isn't the same? It appears that the next step is to check with my credit card company to make sure I'm not being charged and to think about subscribing to a newspaper that will actually do home delivery.

Tony Dearing

Thu, Jul 30, 2009 : 10:29 a.m.

John, we began sending out the daily newsletter on Monday, and you should be getting it. Please send me your e-mail address and I'll follow up. Don't post your e-mail address on this site. Send it to me at: tony dearing@annarbor.com Becky, we are assessing the newsletter and are looking at major changes/improvements. We don't want to move away from the ability to link to content on the site, because of the better experience that gives people who read it online. But we are looking at offering enough content in print in the newsletter to make it valuable to people who prefer to print it out and read it that way. Mary Ann, the Deals newsletter is weekly, and the first one will go out this Friday. The daily Obit newsletter began going out last Friday, and if you haven't been getting that, let me know what e-mail you want it sent to and I'll see why you're not getting it.

Mary Ann Chick Whiteside (mcwflint)

Wed, Jul 29, 2009 : 2:41 p.m.

Are you sending out the deals or obituaries yet? I did receive my first daily one today.

Becky

Wed, Jul 29, 2009 : 12:35 p.m.

Do you have plans to make your newsletter a printable document? We had planned to print it out daily for my mother since she cannot sit at a computer. The loss of the daily paper has been a major burden to her all week. I had also planned to either a) print the newsletter to read on the bus on my way to work or b) read the paper via my blackberry while riding the bus. Neither option works since the newsletter is not printable and the site is not mobile phone friendly. I hope these changes are coming soon.

John

Wed, Jul 29, 2009 : 11:57 a.m.

I've signed up but am not receiving the newsletter. Have you stopped sending til you get problems fixed?