ComplaintsforHerald Tribune

• Initial Complaint

  01/15/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I have not received the herald tribune for 5 of the last six days. I have left several messages to a supervisor named Shabeeba She made one attempt to call me when I was in the shower getting ready for work. Now when we call, the computer responds by saying they will resolve this issue Nothing has been done. We have been customers for more than forty years.

  Business response

  02/11/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 10, 2022/02/08) */ February 8th, 2022 ****** ***** **** *********** *** ********* FL XXXXX Complaint #XXXXXXXX Please accept this as confirmation we have received a complaint from your offices regarding Mr. ***** and his delivery issues. We apologize for the frustration this has caused. Based on his information his last missed delivery was lodged to his account on 1/18/2021. If his concerns are still ongoing we ask that he let us know as soon as possible and we will escalate accordingly. Thank you. Consumer Response /* (2000, 11, 2022/02/09) */ It has been resolved

• Initial Complaint

  12/16/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed up for a digital newspaper subscription and after three months, attempted to cancel it. The web site said cancellations had to be done by phone. I called April 28 and spoke with Cheyenne. She processed the cancellation, but my credit card continued to be charged. I called again at the end of May and again spoke with Cheyenne. She said she was "hitting the right button" on her computer and that was all she could do. The next month I asked to be escalated to a supervisor who assured me she would cancel, but refused to give me a confirmation number or a confirming email. It wasn't cancelled. After some months I went to my credit card company and their fraud unit blocked the merchant "digital newspaper subscription". I received an email about the declined charge and emailed them back trying to cancel. Two different employees sent emails saying you can only cancel on the phone. I also tried to cancel using web chat. They assured me it was cancelled. It wasn't. The next month the charge was processed under Gannett Newspapers FL. I changed my credit card number and they continue to send charges. I am disputing the charges so now they have sent charges twice this month. The credit card company can't seem to help. I am not out any money because I dispute every charge, but it is tiresome. If you can't help I will close all my credit cards.

  Business response

  01/31/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2022/01/11) */ January 6th,2022 ****** ******* **** *********** ** ********* ** XXXXX Complaint #XXXXXXXX Please accept this as confirmation we have received a complaint from your offices regarding Ms. ******* and her digital account. As of this response, there is no record of any previous cancellation and this is why she has been charged monthly for the digital subscription. As a courtesy, we have terminated this account and requested a refund for the amount that remained at the time of cancellation. A refund in the amount of $8.06 will be credited to her credit card within 7-10 business days. Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  12/12/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I began a subscription to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. I like to mark my calendar when a subscription will end so I can know when to expect the subscription to end. I eventually learned the following about the subscription practices of this newspaper: you can not know when your subscription ends because the newspaper may choose to include "premium editions" through the year, which they then use to shorten your subscription period. You do not receive any communication at the time when they have invoked that practice and do not inform you of the new subscription end date. When the newspaper called to ask about renewing, I said I did not want to renew and I was told I owed money but I had paid the subscription in full. I again talked to the newspaper and again said I didn't want to renew. The woman on the phone said I owed money for papers that were delivered beyond my original subscription! I replied by saying "but I didn't ask for any more papers." She replied "If you didn't want them, then why did you report to us that you didn't receive a particular paper?" I was flabbergasted by her question! Many papers were missed throughout the subscription period, so I couldn't know at what point in the subscription period she was talking about. My response, had I had the presence of mind, would have been "Because anyone receiving a paper would reasonably believe the subscription had not ended yet and it's impossible to know when my subscription officially would end." Instead, I said "I'm going to hang up now." A couple of months later, just this week, I received a notice from "Credit Collection Services." I can only assume it's either connected to the delivery of unwanted papers or it's not legitimate (there is no info on the notice to know what it's related to). I hesitate to engage this "Credit Collection Services" because I'm concerned it could be some kind of scam unrelated to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune so I'm turning to you for resolution.

  Business response

  01/21/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2022/01/06) */ January 6th,2022 ******* ****** **** ********* *** ********* ** ***** Complaint #XXXXXXXX Please accept this as confirmation we have received a complaint from your offices regarding Ms. ****** and her account concerns. Based on her information she stopped her account on 9/21/2021 and refused to pay the past due balance of $56.22. This was for deliveries made from 7/29/2021 through 9/21/2021. As a courtesy, this amount was written off on 9/21/2021 by the agent she spoke to during the termination process. As of this reply, her account balance stands at $0.00. Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  10/24/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My mother is 92 years old and her driveway is sloped. My mother uses a walker and this is a very dangerous situation for her to get her paper at the end of the driveway. We have had the paper delivered to a holder near the front door and it was working out very well. However, over the past month, they have been throwing the paper at the end of the driveway near the street. We have called the paper repeatedly to get it back in the paper holder by the front door. This has proved to be futile. We are worried that my mother will fall as she tries to navigate her way down the driveway to pick up her paper. If you pull up your call log over the past month, you will see how many times we have called to try to correct this issue. They keep referring this issue to a supervisor, and saying they are making it a priority. Nothing happens. This is not acceptable.

  Business response

  01/10/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/11/09) */ November 8TH, 2021 ********************************************************* ** XXXXX Complaint #******** Please accept this as confirmation we have received a complaint from your offices regarding the placement of Mr. & Mrs. *****'s paper. We apologize for the frustration this has caused. We have notified their carrier and the carrier's manager of their concerns and asked for an immediate resolution. Thank you. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2021/11/14) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Unfortunately, the problem is still continuing. The carrier may put the paper in the holder three or four times out of the week. It is still very inconsistent. As stated in my complaint, this is a dangerous situation for my elderly mother. I would cancel the paper, but she does enjoy reading it. I waited to enter my response to see how things were going to be. This just does not seem to me to be a big request. At this point, we are still very frustrated and annoyed with the service. Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2021/11/24) */ November 22nd, 2021 ******* & ******** ******** XXXX XXth *** W *********** ** XXXXX Complaint #XXXXXXXX Please accept this as confirmation we have received a rejection from your offices regarding the *********** delivery issues. We have placed a poor service complaint on her account and notified the delivery escalations manager of the ongoing concern. We ask that she continue to file placement complaints anytime the delivery instructions are not followed. We have verified the instructions state to deliver to the porch at all times. Thank you. Business Response /* (4000, 18, 2021/12/14) */ December 14th, 2021 ******* & ******** ******* *************** *********** ** XXXXX Complaint #******** Please accept this as confirmation we have received a rejection from your offices regarding the *******'s delivery issues. We apologize this continues to be a concern. We have notified the delivery escalations team and also contacted his carrier and their manager seeking an immediate resolution. As of this response, the last delivery complaint on their account was 11/24/21; if missed deliveries are still a concern, we encourage them to report these issues as they happen. Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  09/23/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Bottom line: In April, 2021 I paid twice for a 52 week subscription renewal of the Sarasota Herald Tribune. Both payments were for $367.22 and both clearly stated what they were for. Despite this, I am not receiving a subscription..instead it has" expired/was cancelled." First payment on April 8, was by personal check.When it still had not arrived, on May 11 I again paid by credit card. My check eventually arrived and was posted on my Chase account on May 25th.On July 19 I received a check refunding $367.22, one of the payments. A couple of days later my paper stopped coming and I was told that not only did my subscription expire but now I also owed $131.68. No one could tell me why or what happened to my second payment. I have been trying to resolve this issue since May to no avail. I am 84 years old and may not be as clear as I would like to be, but I know for certain that one of my payments has been refunded and the other one has not. and am not getting the paper Please help.

  Business response

  12/15/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 11, 2021/10/13) */ October 11th, 2021 ***** ****** ****************** Unit **** ********* ** XXXXX Complaint #******** Please accept this as confirmation we have received a complaint from your offices regarding Ms. ****** and her account issues. Based on her information, she received a refund of $367.22 on 7/12/21, this would have been received 7-10 business days from the 12th. Ms. ****** also successfully disputed a charge of $367.22 on 7/21/21. Therefore, receiving both payments back. This is the reason Ms. ******'s delivery stopped and a balance of 123.07 remains. Delivery will not resume until this balance is paid and a minimum of 13-week payment is made. Ms. ****** is strongly encouraged to contact her bank and work out any discrepancies. Please note, Ms. ****** will not receive a credit or a refund due to ineligibility. Thank you. Consumer Response /* (3000, 13, 2021/10/21) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) NO, I DO NOT accept response from the paper. The 1st refund of $367.21 is not in dispute. As for the second refund of the same amount, I have checked all my statementsback to MAY, and have also checked with my bank. There is no sign of a refund. If the paper has proof that they made the refund, I would like to see it. I actually did not want a refund, only that payment should be applied towards my renewal. I am no longer interested in receiving The Herald TRIB. and I now DO want my money back.I never asked for something for nothing and feel this has been the worst customer service experience and am looking forward to putting it all behind me. Business Response /* (4000, 20, 2021/11/22) */ November 16TH, 2021 ***** ****** **** **** **** ** Unit **** ********* ** XXXXX Complaint #XXXXXXXX Please accept this as confirmation we have received a complaint from your offices regarding Ms. ****** and her account. We have verified with our finance department that both the refund and chargeback or dispute were successful. There will not be any additional changes made to Ms. ******'s account. Thank you.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩