ComplaintsforSound Publishing, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  01/19/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I lived at my house for many years. The Kent ******************** has been told to stop throwing the papers in my driveway and to not deliver. Every now and then they need a reminder. Within the last month or two i have called them three times to get them to stop. They have thrown multiple copies in front of my house in the gutter in the driveway. A few were ripped to shreads. They are thrown throughout the nieghborhood. Sides of houses, middle of the street and it looks very trashy. They often end up in my yard. In the street gutter. Under my cars in the bushes. I have a bad back and i have further strained it picking them up. They dont seem to care and continue to do it. I expect that they stop delivering them and stop throwing them all over so they dont end up in my yard.

  Business response

  01/22/2024

   

  Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

  ***************************** contacted us on Friday night as well.

  We have subsequently discussed the delivery issues with the carrier directly. We also put a permanent stop delivery on ********************** address.

  We've also decided to cease delivering to the 10-house cul-de-sac, which ****************** resides, so there should be no newspaper deliveries in the future.

  Thanks,

  *************************

  President

  Sound Publishing, Inc.

  Customer response

  01/26/2024

   
  Complaint: 21171843
  
  I am rejecting this response because: they gave this solution on monday. It is fridayagain and 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Customer response

  01/31/2024

  I reject the solution because they did not fullfill the fix they said they would do. They delivered again. That is the issue. They do not follow through on what they promise. This time i hurt my back picking it up.

  Business response

  02/08/2024

  See attached picture - our circulation manager confirmed that no paper was delivered to ***** 117th PL SE last week.
  
  
  The carrier has stopped delivering to the entire cul de sac, so there's no further papers being delivered to his street.

  Thanks,

  
  

  Customer response

  02/08/2024

   
  Complaint: 21171843
  
  I am rejecting this response because:i have a few issues. A photo of my driveway showing my care and its place is posting personal info and is no proof of no delivery. Yes the second **** they did not deliver. So thank you. As far as a statement that the whole cul de sac has been stopped is a lie. So it is sad that this has all come down to lies for something they have done that they should have stopped. I have talked to some of the nieghbors and they thanked me for filing the complaint, they also donot want it and i know one nieghbor whohas called several times and was also ignored. I will only accept this when i actually see it stopped like they promised, once they stop lieing and appologise for the entire experience.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Customer response

  02/12/2024

  I would like the picture that sound publishing posted ****** with my address and a picture of my car and liscense plat removed. This niether prooves or disproves anything and it ties personal information together. 

• Initial Complaint

  01/11/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Subscription Information **************** Subscription ********** Start *******/07/2023 $104.95 I cancelled a few days after this digital access began and she said no problem, accounting would issue a refund in about 48 hours. Nothing happened, so since then, she gave me many other stories to include a check was mailed, but nothing showed up. Now they have stopped communication.

  Business response

  01/23/2024

  Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

  The refund check process was cancelled and accounting processed a credit card refund instead. Credit card refunds take 3-5 business days to be back onto the customer's card.
  
  
  

  Thanks,

  *************************

  President

  Sound Publishing, Inc.

  Customer response

  01/31/2024

  Please keep this case open as Sound Publishing tried to charge my credit card yesterday, although I'm sure this is illegal.  I received alerts about this on email and text from the bank. 

  In addition to their BS stories about mailing a check (nothing arrived), then they would do a card refund, they finally did do a card refund about a week ago, then promptly re-started communications by calling non-stop, asking me to close my dispute with my bank.  They said I had two refunds and that I had stolen from them!  My bank has an auto schedule and I cannot alter it as I have tried before.  They see the refund and will take back the funds from my account.  ******************** is a strange group that has no issue with fudging the details or using folks credit card information to take extra funds that don't belong to them.  

  Business response

  02/01/2024

  
  After contacting ****************, the first time on 1/23/24 at approximately 10:30am we connected for a few minutes and the call was dropped. I am unsure of all he heard during our phone call before it was disconnected as I only had started to explain the below information.
  I explained that we cancelled the refund check (it had not been mailed yet as our refund process takes a total of 4-6 weeks) The time frame from Mr. ******* cancellation and his first complaint of not receiving a check was approximately 4 weeks. (Cancellation processed 12/13/23, and complaint to BBB was 1/12/24)
  If an agent told him 48hrs for the refund; we apologize that this time frame was incorrect.
  
  Our accounting department immediately sent a refund back to his card the same day of my first call (1/23/24). A few hours later we received the chargeback paperwork from his bank that he had disputed the charge from Sound Publishing.
  I did proceed to try and contact him multiple other times on different days during the week to talk and go over the situation and come up with a resolution regarding the refund he requested from us; as well as the refund he was going to receive from his bank.
  A few days later our accounting department had suggested we charge Mr. ******* card to get our money back since he was going to be receiving one through his bank since he disputed the charge through them.
  I then proceeded to get permission from *********************** to charge the card; which the card declined on the day we had tried. (1/30/24)
  I did leave messages days before that we would be charging his card for the $104.95 so he would not be receiving double refunds.
   **************** ignored all my communications through phone and email to try and straighten this out.
  We were not taking extra funds that did not belong to us. Simply tried to ensure there was no double refund Not once was it mentioned that **************** was stealing from us 

• Initial Complaint

  09/26/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased two 1-year print subscriptions of the ******************. I have not been receiving the subscription so I tried to get a refund for these subscriptions. They said I'm not able to do so, even though they stopped mailing me the subscription. They also claim that I owe money on a 2-year subscription. When I told them I didn't make this purchase request for a 2-year subscription, they weren't able to produce any documentation that proved that I made this purchase.

  Business response

  09/28/2022

  Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

  Unfortunately we created two accounts for this customer, and only one was paid, but the customer expects two refunds even though only one subscription was paid for. 

  Our customer service manager, ***************************** has reached out to the customer to better explain the situation in hopes of getting this resolved.
  
  
  We'll keep you updated on the end result/resolution.

   

  *************************

  President

  Sound Publishing, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  09/09/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  My daughter, *****************************, is my P.O.A. She called for me on May 31, 2022, to cancel the newspaper on 6-2-22. My wife passed away last December and I was moving so no longer needed it. She was told I had a credit of $119.59 and that it would take up to 12 weeks to receive. She called 3 times this week with a status update and each day was told someone would get back to her regarding the refund and no one did. The account number is *********** would like my refund!

  Business response

  09/12/2022

  Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

  The refund was issued on 06/24/2022. The address: ************************************************** 98363.

  The check was cashed on 07/06/22, so it appears that they received their refund.

  Thanks,

   

  *************************

  President

  Sound Publishing, Inc.

  Customer response

  09/12/2022

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

• Initial Complaint

  06/16/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In April of 2020, the ************* began charging my bank account for a supposed online/email subscription. I never received or authorized this purchase. The charges continued until May of 2022. At that time, I disputed the charges. The ************* customer services ***** did refund me $13.11 however I was charged a total of $319.20. My bank did refund me a portion of these charges as the email account was not a valid account. This means it would have come back to the ************* making the order null and void. It is apparent that identity theft was occurring and potentially someone through the organization was taking my funds.

  Business response

  06/16/2022

  Hi,

  Sound Publishing, Inc. does not own or publish the *************.

  You should reach out directly to the ************* to get this subscriber refund issue resolved.

  Thanks,

  Josh

• Initial Complaint

  01/20/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I am not getting a service I paid for with my local News paper, ********************* A payment of $42.90 was deducted from my bank on 11/23/21 to renew my subscription for 13 weeks. I have not received a delivered newspaper since 12/24/21. There was implemented weather where deliveries were not possible in Dec/2021 for about a week, which I would expect a credit but since this weather has cleared I haven't had a paper delivered to date. Since I renewed for 13 weeks in Nov/2021 my subscription wouldn't be up until Feb-March/2022 at the earliest. I'm writing today due to I have tried contacting this establishment numerous times with leaving voice mails with my concerns as directed and by E-mail with no response. My assumption is obviously there is a problem with my last payment I made that didn't get posted to my account or what ever the case. Since I cannot get a LIVE person to contact me back, I'm reaching out to the BBB to see what can be done. I do want to file a complaint against this establishment as this is horrible customer service and should not be allowed when they have received payment for a service they are not providing. Thank you for listening to my concerns. Sincerely,***************************

  Business response

  01/26/2022

  We appreciate you reaching out!

  Publisher, ******************* contacted ****************** and she stated that she finally got ahold of someone a few days ago and canceled her subscription. ***** offered to extend her subscription for three months and resolve her delivery issue. She agreed to give us another chance.

  
  We will restart her subscription tomorrow morning and get her set up with access to the digital version, which she has never set up. She has ******* direct phone number now, and email address and will reach out to him directly if she has any issues in the future.
  
  
  She expressed her appreciation for the follow-up, so all is good now.

  Thanks,

   

  *************************

  President

  Sound Publishing, Inc.

  Customer response

  01/28/2022

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

• Initial Complaint

  10/26/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On September 15,2021 I left a message with the ********************** that I was no going to be home from Sept 20,2021 through Oct 07,2021 and needed my paper delivery stopped and that I would like it restarted on Oct 08, 2021. The paper wasn't stopped until Sept 27,2021. Since Oct 08,2021 I have been trying to get delivery of my newspaper. I have left many messages with the ********************** begging to get my paper I have even tried contacting ************** and ************ to no avail. I feel now I have no other recourse but to ask you for help.Thankyou *****************************

  Business response

  10/26/2021

  Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

  We'll contact *************** today and ensure that her subscription is restarted.

  Thanks,

  *************************

  President

  Sound Publishing, Inc.

*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. ↩