ComplaintsforThe Times Recorder

• Initial Complaint

  06/16/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I signed up for a subscription of the times recorder for Thursdays and Sundays, I have not received a paper in over a month. I have called customer service multiple times. Every time I call they say they guarantee and promise that it will be there on the next delivery day, when the days comes still no paper and they keep saying the same thing that it will be there the next delivery day. I have been trying to resolve this for over a month. I have been charged but have not received the papers I paid for.

• Initial Complaint

  03/07/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  On Feb. 6, 2023 I paid for a 6 month deleivery of the paper for my 89 year old mom at an assisted living facility. She received the paper sporadically (not daily as was paid for) until June at which time all deliveries ceased. I have made numerous calls regarding this and started in Nov. requesting that her delivery be made by mail since it was apparent that carriers were unable or unwilling to deliver. I was told several times that her address was ineligible for mail delivery. Her subscription was even extended by one person to 3/19/24 but no paper has ever come to her. On 2/21/24 I even spoke to a supervisor with no resolution, even tho they promised to call me with results. Today I called again having seen on social media that all deliveries will be made by mail starting April 8. The agent confirmed this. My mom has been billed and called for further subscription but we are unwilling to pay anything at this time (1) b/c the current subscription should be extended by at least 3 months to make up for what she did not receive and (2) I want to make sure that she actually receives the paper before making another payment. The peson I spoke to today said that her account was still active, but showed a 2/2/24 expiration and she could not promise me that the account would be extended as I feel it should be. I do not know where else to turn. I hope and pray for my mom's sake that it does start coming to her in April, but my past 6-8 months experience make me skeptical. All my mom wants is to read the paper with her morning coffee!!

  Business response

  03/08/2024

  We will be converting this address and this area to mail. The effective date is April 8th 2024 

  Customer response

  03/08/2024

  It does not address my specific complaint about adjusting and extending my mother's subscription.  I know that everyone is to receive the paper by mail as of April 8th.  What I don't know is how will they make right specifically all the papers and subscription time that she paid for but did not receive. 
  

  Business response

  03/20/2024

  ***, please send me your contact information so I can get the exact number of days that need to be credited

  Customer response

  03/24/2024

  this statement does not offer resolution.  It appears to ask for further information.  The original paid subscription should have expired in August 2023. Sporadic paper delivery was made thru the 1st of June 2023 at which time all paper delivery ceased.  Multiple calls led to the promise of extending the subscription--the last "agent" told me that the subscription had been extended to March 19, 2024. But even with the promised  extensions NO paper was ever delivered.  So, I would request that my mother receive 6 months of paid subscription to start on April 8, 2024 to compensate for all the papers she has missed and for the multiple phone calls I have made without resolution. 
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  04/21/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  We pay in advance for the newspaper.  The paper is supposed to be delivered by 8:30 am at the latest.  When we DO get a paper, it's usually in the afternoon.  In the last 6 mos. of 2021 (our subscription renews every June) the paper might be delivered 3 or 4 days each week.  On some days if we missed a paper, 2 might be delivered the following day, or they might not.  

  For the period 1/1/2022 until today 4/18/2022, 44 total newspapers have not been delivered. Worse yet, the last time we received a paper was March 23,2022. In the past we have tried to find a local number  that we can  call about this delivery situation, to no avail.

  On April 1, 2022 I called a local number for the paper and was transferred to a call center and spoke with **** about the situation with no paper since 3/23/22, and the other problems, as well. She said she was going to give us a
  $15.00 credit and said she will take care of the problem and 1) we should receive our paper on the next delivery day; 2) it will be delivered before 8:30 a.m., and 3) we should not have to call again. She even sent an e-mail about our phone call, and it listed an 800 number if we needed further assistance.

  On April 4, 2022 my supervisor called the local number and got transferred  to the call center. He told her what **** said to me, and told whomever he was talking to that we hadn't received any papers. He told her he wanted a DIRECT number to the Times Recorder for their circulation dept so this problem could be dealt with locally. She gave him an 800 number and he told her that NO, that was the number to get to the call center and he wanted a DIRECT number for the  Zanesville office.  She gave him a phone number, but when he called it there was a recording that the number had been disconnected. There was no follow-up e-mail to this phone call.

  On 4/13/2022 I called the 800 number and talked with ****** and explained the  problems,  and  that  we still hadn't received  a  paper since 3/23/2022. She said she was giving us priority and reporting this to the distribution mang er.  She said she was giving us a credit of $25.00 for all the missed papers. I told her that wasn't nearly  enough to cover  the cost  of  all the  missed papers. She said they will pay us  only  23 cents  for each physical  paper  because  the rest of  the charges  are  for  the  digital  version. We cannot  get internet  out  here in the middle of nowhere  and  our e-mail is for another  of our offices, miles  from here. The digital does us no good and we rely on the physical  paper  to keep  up with local happenings. Seeing as how  we  paid $732.06  for  the  subscription  from June, 2021 through June, 2022, 23 cents per issue doesn't cut it, especially as we have no access to the digital paper and we can't seem to get a physical  paper either.

  It is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE that we cannot get any satisfaction from Customer Service at the call center, they cannot provide us with a  WORKING local phone number and we have NO WAY WHATSOEVER to get ahold of anyone locally at the Times Recorder office to find out why we can't seem to get a paper. We assume that the delivery drivers are hired by someone locally associated with the Times Recorder. Why can't we be given the name and/or phone number of this individual's office so we can get this resolved?
  

  This is just absurd and now we are going to have to engage in a dispute with Customer Service or the billing department somewhere, I think, in Georgia about getting reimbursed for the total amount of each missing paper.

  We just want a local number we can call to solve this (non)delivery problem, and that we can call if these problems persist.
  

  Business response

  05/25/2022

  We discontinued home delivery service in this area. If the customer would like to go to mail then we can transfer the paper to mail. Please confirm 

  Customer response

  06/01/2022

  Dispute Resolution Team,

  In reference to your letter of Wednesday, May 25, 2022, I have read the message from the business (Times Recorder) and we do not accept the resolution.

  We are willing to take the paper by mail, HOWEVER, the message did not address the issues of our request for a FULL refund for the papers we have not received, or a local number for delivery issues.

  We did not receive any notification that the delivery in our area was discontinued, and never even considered this possibility, as we have been getting the paper delivered here since 1991. If we had, we would not be in the middle of this dispute! As of the date of this letter, we have missed 82 papers since the beginning of 2022. The paper stopped being delivered for good on Thursday, March 24th. A list of those dates will be provided at the end of this letter.

  Five times (April 1, 4, 13, & 27 and May 25, 2022) we contacted Customer Service about the missing papers and they did not do as they said they would, to resolve this matter, until the May 25th call, and then the BBB letter was sent to us. Each time that I made these calls and asked about a refund, I was told we would only receive 23 cents per issue. I disputed this and was told that that was the amount of the physical paper and that the rest of the amount per issue was for the digital version. We are in an area where we cannot get the internet, so that does us no good. We relied on the physical version to keep up with local happenings.

  We paid $732.06 for a one-year subscription (our acct #*********, ck #*****, dated 7/1/2021), in advance, for the period 7/1/2021 through 6/30/2022, and expected a newspaper for every day that one was published. We are requesting, as on our original dispute form, to be refunded fully for each missed paper. We also requested a local number that we can call about delivery problems, as customer service is not helpful.  They _tell you what you want to hear and then, more often than not, do nothing.

  A list (by month) of missed papers in 2022 are as follows: January 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 25, 28, & 29

  February 3, 4, 8, 19, &

  March 2, 7, 16, 18, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

  April 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, & 29

  May 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22,23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, &31

  June 1st and every day hereafter that the paper is published, until this dispute is resolved.

  If there is any other information that is required from us, please call me at ###-###-#### or ###-###-####.

  Business response

  07/06/2022

  The account was not set up as a mail account. It has now been properly set up. Once the customer starts receiving the paper by mail we can determine if there is any additional refund due. Thanks

   

  Customer response

  07/11/2022

   

  RE: BBB Complaint ID ******** Dispute Resolution Team,

  Your letter dated Wednesday, July 6, 2022 was received at my office on Saturday, July 9, 2022 and was on my desk when I arrived at work today, July 11, 2022. I have read the message from the business (Times Recorder) and we will accept the resolution ONLY WHEN we start receiving the newspaper by mail and a determination is made as to the additional refund due our company. As of this date, 7/11/2022, we have NOT received any papers by mail.
  
  I am reiterating our position from my last letter, dated June 16, 2022, in that once we start receiving our paper by mail and a refund is issued for papers missed from June 2nd until we begin receiving it by mail, this dispute will finally be resolved. But until then, we do not agree that this matter has been resolved to our satisfaction.

  If there is any other information that is required from us, please call me at ###-###-#### or ###-###-####.

*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. ↩