To the New York Times: You blew it.

Way back in September 2009 I blogged about newspapers charging for content. In March of this year, the New York Times implemented a “paywall” – unless you were a subscriber, your access was limited to twenty articles a month.

I decided to put my money where my mouth was and subscribe. As I said in 2009, I don’t mind paying for something when it’s worth paying for, and I want the traditional newspapers to survive. You don’t get decent reporting for nothing; those people have to be paid and those of us who consume their product should pay for it. So in March I signed up for an electronic subscription to the New York Times for $10.50 a month. That was about the upper limit of what I was willing to pay, but I felt that it was worth it.

In September, the subscription went up to $12.75. I wasn’t happy – especially that I got no notice of or explanation for the increase – but I left things alone.

This month the bill came in for $15. Again, no explanation or warning. That was above my threshold. So I went to their web site to cancel my subscription. I logged in, found the “cancel my subscription” link, and clicked on it. I was presented with a blank screen. I tried different routes through the web site and experienced the same behavior. So I went back to the original documentation, used that URL, and was treated to a 404 – page not found.

At this point I decided to try one last tactic and I accessed the page using Internet Explorer on a Microsoft platform. This time I didn’t see a blank screen – instead, one that told me that if I wanted to cancel my subscription I had to do it by telephone.

So I called the number. When I explained that $15 a month was above my threshold for the value of the New York Times, the customer service representative offered to drop my rate to $7.50 a month. I declined. I feel that that is an unethical business practice.

But here’s the bottom line: If you have an online subscription to the New York Times and you call their customer service and threaten to cancel it, you can get your rate cut in half.

I remain convinced that the only way that traditional newspapers will survive is by charging for online access. But not this way.