Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/01/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On 4-10-2024 I paid the .99 cent trail run for one digital subscription to the Herald Online, *********, **************. It rolled over to a full access account with no issues noted. As I checked my credit card account for tax purposes, I noted that I had been charged for two accounts since *********. It began as two .99 cent charges and continued on to 5-12-2024 RH Herald ***** and a The Herald Circulation *****. This occurred again on ***** and 06-11-2024 RH Herald ***** and The Herald Circulation. I am being doubly charges and two accounts were created. Account numbers ******** and ********. I wish for a refund to be issued and all accounts closed immediately. I have tried to contact customer service several times and have been disconnected and put in a non ending queue. Please aid in resolving this issue. Thank you!

  Business Response

  Date: 07/02/2024

  Thank you for your message to the Rock Hill Herald. Our records show the accounts ere created with the email address ending with @gmail.com. Both account  were started by the customer on a $0.99/week offer with the terms of service stating, 'the account will continue on an automatic payment cycle after the initial promotional charge. We do understand there was no intent on starting 2 accounts. As of today, the accounts will be stopped and there will be a refund issued on the account #******** in the amount of $31.98.

  Please feel free to contact us at ************ or ************************************************************* if you have any further questions or concerns.
  

  Thank you

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/15/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I've tried cancelling the annual renewal of my online subscription with the Herald five times now. Two days ago, I was on the phone with customer service who assured me my subscription was cancelled. They keep trying to charge my bank account just the same. Yesterday the charge was taken out of my checking account anyway and I filed a dispute with the bank. This is the hardest annual cancellation I've ever had to do and it's absolutely ridiculous that I have to go through all of this just to cancel an online news subscription that doesn't even start until next month. The total charge was $13.99.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/15/2024

  Thank you for your message to the Rock Hill Herald. Our records show a stop was placed on the account on the expiration date 5/12/24. The charge for $13.99 was processed prior to the removal of the card information on 4/11/24. Your account was on an automatic payment option each month. We are sorry to hear you are canceling your digital subscription. And, we are sorry to hear about your customer experience. We do offer several ways to cancel a subscription (online, phone, email, chat or letter). As of today, 4/15/24, your account has been updated to stop immediately and a request to issue a refund for $13.99 has been approved and requested back to your card.

  Please look for an email confirmation regarding the refund within the next ***** hours.

  Please feel free to contact us at ************ or ************************************************ if you have any questions.

  Thank you

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/16/2024

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my complaint and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. It's not the most honest response, but as long as I receive my money back after repeatedly trying to cancel the account and no further debit is attempted, I'm good with it. Thank you for your assistance. 
  
  Thank you. 
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/12/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  The Rock Hill Herald is engaging in deceptive unethical business practices in its subscription services.In Dec of 2022, I subscribed to the Sunday edition and digital access for a year, paying upfront in full. The price was $288 for the subscription. In late Nov of 2023, I received 2 calls telling me that my subscription was coming due and would I like to renew. There was something off about the calls, and I told both, I would renew in the app. In the first week of Dec, I went into the app and saw my subscription was ending on Dec 5th. I renewed for the year, though I thought the price was high at $326. We did not receive a paper that week, but did have digital access. Paper was delivered the following week, but not for the next 3. I called **************** and found out the following:A representative claimed that the price of the paper had gone up and to cover that they shortened my subscription to September after I had paid upfront in full.They automatically renewed my subscription at a significantly higher rate without my knowledge or approval. The above action by The Herald or their agents is deceptive- the idea that after paying upfront for goods or services, that the time period or the price can be changed without notification is absurd. I offered good faith solutions that would restore the original rate and terms of my annual subscription. I had my credit card company reverse the charge. Shortly after the charge, I received an email stating that my subscription renewal was available, with no mention of any delinquency. This was the first written communication I had received from them. I once again called **************** and was told I had a delinquency of $80. Once again, the explanation made no sense and as was typical of previous conversations, the dates and the rates were different on every call and even different on the same call with numerous individuals.This behavior must be called out for what it is unethical.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/12/2024

  Thank you for your message to The Herald. We re sorry to hear about the your customer service experience. The customer service representative should have been able to help you with your account. Our records show your account was paid and renewed online 12/9/23. Our hope is we can get your account updated and restarted, if you choose to restart.

  At this time, the full payment of $326.56 has been canceled, which is why you are seeing the account with a balance due. The balance has been cleared as of today 2/12/24. If you are looking online, the update will process online tomorrow morning after overnight processes are complete. 
  

  Please feel free to contact us at ************ or ************************************************ if you have any further questions or concerns.
  

  Thank you

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/12/2024

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my complaint, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Thank you. 
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/30/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Purchased 6 month subscription to the Herald news paper on 11/09/2022 paid in full $85.98. End date should have been June 6th 2023. No correspondence till I get a bill in October saying as of Sept 6th 2023 I owe $53.39. I have not received a paper since June. I never agreed on any additional deliveries. This is a scam by the Herald to extract addition money out of customers. This bill has been send to collection. A.R.M. ************** P.O. box **** ********* **. *****. ************. Please get Herald to cancel this debt and contact A.R.M to remove this collection. Also anything sent to any credit reporting agency must be removed. Thanks in advance *************************** PS. I have excellent credit rating. Why would I cheat someone a rule my credit.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/30/2023

  Thank you for your message to the Rock Hill Herald. Our records show your account expired on 7/2/23. Since the Herald does not stop subscriptions automatically, the account continued in a grace ****** until 9/6/23. There was a renewal mailed on 6/6/23 and a second renewal on 7/12/23. All notices state the paper continues unless we are notified otherwise. Unfortunately, once the renewals are mailed out, we do not have control over the mail. We are sorry to hear you did not receive the notifications. At this time, your account has been cleared to a zero balance with the Herald and with ARM Solutions.

  Please note, ARM is a non-reporting collection company. This will not appear on any credit report.

  Please feel free to contact us at ************ or ************************************************ if you have any further questions or concerns.

  Thank you

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/13/2022

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  In February of 2021 I signed up for a one year subscription of Sunday papers and paid for it right then. I did not agree to auto-billing/renewals, so at the end of that year (Feb 2022) that should have been the end of it. I also had no other interactions with them after that Feb 2021 phone call. When my subscription was up, even though I did not ask for it, they countined delivering Sunday papers for several weeks entirely of their own free will.Today I recieved a letter from a collection agency claiming I owe for those unsolicited papers delivered after my subscription ran out. You can't drop something on someone's property without their prior consent and expect them to pay for it.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/30/2022

  The balance for ********************************* has been cleared

  Business Response

  Date: 06/30/2022

  The balance for ************************* has been cleared

  Dear *********************,

   

  We do apologize for the billing issue you experienced with your newspaper subscription. It's important that we hear from our customers when they are not satisfied with services and we have addressed this issue. Our records show all balances have been cleared for The Rock Hill Herald #********. 

  We do apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused and will be glad to help you in the future should you have other questions or concerns.