Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  04/19/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I received a bill for a subscription for The Star Democrat but I am not a subscriber. The bill indicated how much was due now and even included a late fee. Information about how to pay was also included on the statement. I called the customer service line and was told not to worry about it, that it was "not a bill" and that my "subscription" number indicated that it was a trial in hopes that I would become a subscriber. This "marketing,'" as the customer service rep called it, is misleading and fraudulent. Nowhere on the bill does it say that this is a trial subscription and that there is no obligation to pay (in fact, it says I have a subscription). These aggressive marketing tactics are intentionally dishonest and could lead consumers to believe they have some obligation to pay for something they did not purchase. It is especially outrageous that this tactic is being employed by a local newspaper, an organization that purportedly seeks to build relationships and trust with the community. I will NEVER subscribe to The Star Democrat as a result.

  Business response

  06/12/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/04/27) */ Contact Name and Title: **** ******** Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX Contact Email: *********@chespub.com I'd like to thank Ms. **** for reaching out, and for the opportunity to respond. The trial subscriptions that Ms. **** refers to are designed to trigger three two letters, one at inception of the trial and another towards the end, that state the subscription is sponsored by our Barked Madness promotion and completely free to the recipient. The letters state that an invoice will follow the initial 13 week trial if the subscriber would like to continue to receive the paper after that time, and that the recipient is under no obligation to continue. I will research Ms. ****'s case in particular to make sure these letters were sent, and I apologize that the invoice that arrived was a surprise. That should not have been the case. Similarly, the invoice Ms. **** received should clearly state the dates that payment would cover, and those dates would have been after the trial period, should Ms. **** have wished to continue. I will pull the invoice sent to Ms. **** to ensure that was the case as well. Neither Ms. ****, nor any other recipient of the trials, owes us a dime for trial period. Any payments received from invoices cover the renewal term listed on the invoice. Ms. **** mentions she does not wish contact from my office, but should that ever change, I can be reached at XXX-XXX-XXXX, or at *********@chespub.com Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/05/06) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) This response from The Star Democrat is certainly an exercise in creative writing. Too bad it has no relation to the truth. I never received any letters regarding a trial subscription or any other communication from The Star Democratuntil I received the bill requested payment. The invoice I received (attached to the original complaint and again here) makes no reference to the trial period or the period of the subscription. It simply informs me that this is "notice 3" for "3 months" and has an account number and an amount due. This is not only aggressive, its deceptive marketing and your response continues to obfuscate your very real and intentionally misleading practices. Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2022/05/17) */ I am not sure I'll be able to submit a response that Ms. **** finds satisfactory at this point. I can reiterate, as I did in my initial response, that neither Ms. **** nor any of the other recipients of the trial subscriptions owes us any money if they do not wish to continue their subscription. In part due to Ms. ****'s and a few other readers who stated they did not receive the two letters outlining the fact no payment was due and that the renewal notice sent was only for those who wish to continue subscribing beyond the trial, we have recently outsourced the mailing of those invoices to a mailing house that will automate the process. We believe this will improve the process and ensure all recipients are notified as designed. While we will take Ms. ****'s and others' feedback into account in order to improve our sampling program, we do not plan to cease what is a common solicitation practice across our industry. If there is remediation specific to her case that she would like to request, I would be happy to consider it. Otherwise, I would once again thank Ms. **** for reaching out and consider this matter closed.

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