Recently, I decided to try USA Today home delivery. I found a good trial offer on their Web site — $14.00 for the first eight weeks, then $13.95 for each four weeks thereafter. I signed up.

Within three days — before the subscription even started — I was charged twice, $14 and $13.95 to my credit card. After three calls, it became clear USA Today was convinced its own files showed no record of the dualing charges. So I disputed it with American Express and cancelled the subscription.

A month later, USA Today apparently “found” the missing second charge and restarted my cancelled subscription without notice. I cancelled it again, but not before they notified me it would be automatically renewed.

American Express has had to made at least a half-dozen adjustments to account to USA Today’s odd billing practics. I’ve had to spend at least 3+ hours on the phone with both USA Today and American Express. I have finally sent a letter to USA Today’s chirpy customer rentention department asking them to completely wipe my customer record from their records, so they can’t accidentally resubscribe me again.

Some subscribers not worth finding and keeping? Seems they’ve taken this to extremes and, in this case at least, created true customer prevention policies.

Yeah, I bet those grapes would have been pretty sour anyway! Maybe I was wrong about newspaper Belo being able to make it after all.