When was the last time you called customer support — anywhere, for any reason — and got another live human being on the line? I suspect it’s been a good long while. Does anyone else immediately start punching “0” the second the automated answering system fires up, in hope of somehow snagging another sentient being? Just me?
Well, here at High Country News, we stubbornly cling to the idea that when one of our readers needs help — whether it’s logging into their account on our website, renewing a subscription or making a donation — they deserve a little personal attention. Call during our regular business hours, and you’re likely to get an actual staffer in our Paonia, Colorado, office. And if no one picks up, just leave a message, and we’ll call you back as soon as we can.
“We don’t want moving and changing addresses or troubles with the website to interfere with accessing the in-depth and insightful reporting that our writers create,” said Tanya Henderson, customer service specialist.
An email is often a decent way to convey important information like address changes, or a new email address, she said, but please don’t hesitate to pick up the phone. “Give us a call before you get frustrated. We’re a small team, but we pride ourselves on getting back to folks.”
In a recent staff meeting, Customer Service Manager James Norris-Weyers explained that the team fields between 400 and 800 calls with HCN readers each month, along with hundreds of emails. All this, while Customer Service Data Clerk Jess Kiernan and the rest of the team process hundreds of checks from readers renewing subscriptions or making gifts to support our nonprofit journalism.
And these amazing people love what they do! Customer Service Assistant Barbara Harper joked that HCN must have pre-screened our subscribers, as it seems like “they’re all my best friends who I just haven’t met yet.” Readers love to share their opinions about the magazine and talk about how long they’ve been reading it.
“We’re all HCN fans,” James said. “We love to be here. We want to play our part in informing and inspiring the West.”
To reach HCN’s customer service team, email customerservice@hcn.org or call (970) 527-4898.
5 ways to help us help you
1. Set up your subscriber dashboard at www.hcn.org.
Making sure your information is accurate and up-to-date can save our team a ton of time, and activating your account gives you access to all of the news and analysis we publish online each week. We have some handy tutorials on our website that will get you started. Just go to: hcn.org/tutorials/
2. Set your subscription to auto-renew.
Entering a credit card into our secure system saves us the trouble of seeking you out and asking you to renew. It also ensures that you won’t miss an issue. And of course you can cancel at any time.
3. Give HCN to a friend!
It’s easy to do via your online dashboard — click on “subscriptions” and then “+ new subscription,” then enter your friend’s name and address. It’s the best way for us to reach people who will appreciate what HCN does.
4. Let us know if something’s not working for you.
The more specific as you can be, the better. Just saying, “The website is frustrating!” isn’t very helpful. Try saying, “I’ve looked up articles in the online archives before, but can’t for the life of me even figure out where it is now!” We can certainly help you, and if we get similar feedback from enough people, it tells us that something might need a more systematic fix.
5. Leave us a voicemail.
Seriously, if no one picks up the phone, we’ll get back to you as soon as humanly possible. You matter to us! Without folks like you, we wouldn’t even be here. And, as Barbara said, you’re all just friends we haven’t quite managed to meet yet.
We welcome reader letters. Email High Country News at editor@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor. See our letters to the editor policy.
This article appeared in the August 2025 print edition of the magazine with the headline “HCN’s incredible Customer Service team.”
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
