Sacramento Bee

Review: In January of 2014, I paid $26 and a $5 carrier tip for a 52 week subscription of the Sunday only Sacramento Bee Newspaper. Just 32 weeks later, my subscription not only expired, they were showing about a $2.36 balance due on my account.When I called their customer service department, the customer service agent said that the "holiday editions" that I had received without asking for them had reduced my subscription period. Then after complaining about that policy, the agent said that my subscription had been extended until this coming November, still quite a bit short of the full 52 weeks.The offer of 52 weeks for $0.50 per week must have been receded and retracted after my payment was received. This is a dishonest business practice and it needs to be stopped.The delivery address of the paper is [redacted]Desired Settlement: Deliver the full 52 weeks of the Sunday only newspaper which will be the middle of January 2015 and erase the balance due on my account.

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted] is on a discounted Sunday only rate of $0.50/week. The Published rate is $5.54/week. We did receive the payment for 52 weeks. This posted on 1/17/14. The reason the account is shortened is because all subscriptions have 9 holiday premium papers throughout the year. Each holiday paper is $1.00. When the holiday hits, the $1.00 is deducted from the account. Since Mr. [redacted]'s account is on such a deep discount, the deduction of $1.00 can shortened the account by about 2 weeks. These holidays are listed on all promotional materials, email notifications, renewal notices and in paper. As a one time courteousy, Mr. [redacted]'s account has been credited for these holiday papers. The current expiration date will be 1/18/15.

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Thank you

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my concern, and find that the resolution that my subscription has been extended to January 18, 2015 is fully satisfactory to me.

If you forward this acceptance to them, please add that I will not be renewing my subscription in January unless there are to be no further unwanted 'Holiday' papers - I wanted and signed up for "Sunday Only" - they need to look up the word "ONLY" in their Webster's dictionary. I will want assurance that they understand in writing just in case they forget and send holiday papers anyway.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

[redacted] ...

Review: Missing Sunday news papers.

I haven't received my Sunday news paper for 3 weeks in a row starting November 9th, and didn't received today news paper, November 28th. I called the customer service so many times regarding the missing papers. All they can tell me is they will put in a complain and my paper will delivery to me within an hour a half but I never get anything. Whatever complain system they have is useless!! I'm tired of keep calling them every time and nothing get taken care of.

I also asked to speak to the supervisor, they said they don't have any supervisor in house but assured me that the supervisor will call me back within 24 hours. Never get any call back and my problem still haven't resolved. No one there can give me a straight answer why my news paper gets stop all the sudden when I already paid for the whole year subscription in advance till April of 2014. I'm very disappoint of their services and the way they taken care of business. Desired Settlement: Full refund for the whole year subscription that I paid.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

Contact Name and Title: [redacted]

Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX

Contact Email: [redacted]@sacbee.com

In reviewing Ms. [redacted]'s account, she has been receiving Sunday Bee delivery since July, 2012. Her last payment of $39.98 for a year of service was received on April 25, 2013. I note two complaints last month for no deliveries made on 11/17 and on Thanksgiving, 11/28 (all Sunday subscribers receive the holiday paper as part of their subscription). I'm sorry for Ms. [redacted]'s recent service issues and in her difficulty in reaching us in November to voice her concerns to get the situation corrected. Per her request, we will stop her account and issue her a refund of $20.51. Based on her subscription rate of $39.98 annually, this refund represents more than half a year of subscription service. I'm sorry we've lost Ms. [redacted] as a current subscriber but I hope that she may re-consider in the future. Please contact me if this doesn't satisfactorily resolve this issue.

Final Consumer Response

(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

Review: We have recently ordered 4 subscriptions for the "weekend edition" which means 4 papers each day for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (that's a total of 12 papers each weekend).

From the very beginning, we are only receiving 1 paper delivered each day.

We have called literally 15 times now and each time we get the same responses.

"We'll have someone go out there within 1-2 hours to deliver the correct amount."

"We'll credit the account and have a distributor manager call you."

"We are sorry for the problem but we have already escalated the issue to a distributor manager."

It's like listening to a robot but we are actually talking to a live person.

Sacramento Bee delivery needs to deliver the correct amount of papers we have subscribed for. How hard is that?!Desired Settlement: 1. Deliver the correct amount of papers (simple as that)

2. Credit the account for all issues missed

3. SacBee needs to find a different distributor

4. SacBee needs to find a different way to provide customer service other than a call center out of North Carolina (it should be in Sacramento and not on the opposite side of the United States).

Business

Response:

We do apologize for the delivery problems on this route. This information has been given to the appropriate manager and regional manager for follow up Friday 1/8/16. The account is set up for 4 papers and there should be 4 papers every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The appropraite credits have been applied. Our VIP will also do a follow up call on Friday 1/8/16 to ensure this is resolved. Please feel free to contact us at [redacted] if you have any further questions or concerns.Thank you

Review: Since April 2013, I have requested five different times (in writing) that they stop delivering their Yes! and MVP advertisements to my home. Each time, I received a response within two days, assuring me that the ads would stop being delivered. The Yes! ads stopped for a while, but have now started again. My last request to stop these deliveries was made four weeks ago, well over their "2 weeks to process" claim. With the holidays coming up, I am also concerned that these two sets of advertisements are being tossed on driveways, making it obvious that the house is empty when the occupants are out of town.Desired Settlement: I want the Sacramento Bee to stop delivering any and all advertisements to my home, and to remove my address from all of their distribution lists.

Business

Response:

This address has been removed from our distribution list. We do apologize for the inconvenience and for the ongoing problems. This information has been given to the lcoal distributor and the regional manager to ensure these 2 products are not delivered. The information on the vacant homes will also be addressed. Our distributors receive a weekly list. The address is not on that list and should not be delivered to this address. This will be resolves immediately.Please feel free to contact us at [redacted] if you have any further questions or concerns.Thank you

Review: I purchased a 1-year subscription to the Sacramento Bee newspaper for Sunday only delivery. This subscription was fully paid for prior to the beginning of services. As my expiration date neared, I received notification to contact the Sacramento Bee if I wanted to continue my services, which I did not want to do, therefore I did not contact them to renew my subscription. The carrier continued to deliver the Sunday only newspaper for a few more weeks. I have received phone calls from the Sacramento Bee telling me that my payment is overdue, which is false because I did not renew my subscription. The Sacramento Bee has now sent my account to a third party collections agency in an attempt to force me to pay for a service that I did not renew or authorize.Desired Settlement: Zero out any balance that The Sacramento Bee thinks I owe. The subscription was paid in full prior to the beginning of delivery and I did not authorize renewal. I owe nothing. Since my account has been sent to a collections agency, communicate immediately with that agency that this was a Bee error and not financial negligence on my part.Communicate in writing that the above items have been accomplished along with the name, title, and telephone number of the responsible Bee employee.

Business

Response:

Customer's account was cleared on 10/8/15. Customer has been receiving the Sunday paper since 10/15/13. The account was originally started with a Groupon offer. Prior to the Groupon offer expiring, The Bee sent out a renewal notice on 3/10/14. Ms. [redacted] renewed at that time by paying for another 52 weeks of Sunday delivery. As standard practice, The Bee sent out a renewal on 3/23/15 (prior to the expiration date of 4/12/15). A second renewal was sent on 5/11/15 and a third renewal on 6/15/15. All renewal notices state, "The paper will continue automatically, unless The Bee is notified otherwise." The Bee also sends out email reminders and makes phone calls to contact the customer. In this case, the amount of $10.01 was cleared and the collection vendor was contacted to stop any further notifications. The collection vendor (A.R.M) is a third party vendor who sends out final notices to collect on past balances. The Bee does not report subscription accounts to any collection agency or bureau. The A.R.M notifications do not show up on any customer's credit report.Please feel free to contact us at [redacted] if you have any further questions or concerns.Thank you

Review: Sacramento Bee referred my newspaper subscription account to a collection agency for services that were not requested or initiated.

We had a weekend newspaper subscription service with the Sacramento Bee that expired June 2013. Renewal invoices were sent in the mail to extend the services but we did not send them back with payment authorizing further services. They continued delivering the paper but we assumed that this was their usual practice to get us to resubscribe. We were never billed in the past for their decision to keep the delivery going even without our authorization. I call them today after having received a collection notice this weekend and spoke to [redacted]. She explained that in order to cancel the services they require a phone call. I explained to her that this is not how we understood it and that our account had never been handled like this in the past. I made a payment to her over the phone in the amount of $45.38 and was told that a letter would be mailed out to me letting me know that the collection agency has been notified.

My main complaint is that I was referred to the collection agency without mail or phone notification and had not clue that I had a delinquent account with them. Their practice in the past has always been to make solicitation calls to get you to resubscribe.

The Account number is XXXXXXXX. I believe that the $45.38 is for a 3 month subscription for Friday, Saturday and Sunday service. Our service address is [redacted] Drive., [redacted] CA. Payment was made with [redacted] at the Sacramento Bee today October 14 over the phone with my Visa for the amount of $45.38Desired Settlement: If a refund of $45.38 is not possible I would like to see that their practices change for subscription renewal. I feel, just as with a magazine subscription, that services can't continue without the authorization of the subscriber.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

In reviewing [redacted]'s subscription history, he has been an active subscriber with us since January, 2005, with the exception of a couple short time-frames. The Bee's policy has been consistent for many years in that subscriptions will continue unless we are notified by the customer to stop. Our renewal invoices indicate this practice. In addition, we provide a grace period to ensure our customers don't have lapse in service due to a delay in receiving renewal payments. [redacted]'s introductory $2 weekly rate expire on 6/1 and so his service continued until 8/30/13 at our ongoing regular rate of $3.50 weekly. To help resolve this, we will provide a credit of $1.50 weekly, $19.50 in total which represents a partial refund on the $45.38 payment [redacted] had made. Please let me know if this is acceptable.

Review: I received a 10-week weekend only subscription to the Sacramento Bee through a mileage redemption offer from American Airlines. I did not order the paper directly through the Sacramento Bee. The Sacramento Bee continued to deliver my paper after the 10-week period and billed me. I did not request the paper beyond the 10-week period. I didn't order the paper directly through the Sacramento Bee so I ignored the bill. At one point I received a notice from the Sacramento Bee that someone was trying to fraudulently collect payments from Sacramento Bee subscribers, which gave me even more reason to question any invoices from them.After receiving an invoice that said final notice, I decided to call the Sacramento Bee billing department in Fresno. I explained the situation to the representative, and was told that it is Sacramento Bee's policy to continue a subscription even when it is not requested and if I didn't pay I would be sent to collections. I informed the representative that I didn't order the paper from them and I didn't authorize any additional delivery past the 10-week order through American Airlines. His response was, did you receive the paper and enjoy reading it? He also said I needed to pay my bill so the Sacramento Bee could pay their employees and their expenses. I asked for a supervisor twice and not allowed to speak to one. I was told the the representative that he would notify American Airlines that it is not clear on their end to people signing up of the Sacramento Bee's policy, and that he would "elevate my complaint." I never received any resolution from this call and am concerned that I will be sent to collections. I don't believe it's appropriate for the Sacramento Bee to send me something I didn't request, and then threaten me with collections because I'm not willing to pay them, and I wonder if this practice is legal.Desired Settlement: I would like the Sacramento Bee to zero out the invoice and send me acknowledgement that it has been zeroed out. I also would like to bring to the attention of the Revdex.com the unethical billing practices of the Sacramento Bee. While investigating this, I read many reports of other people having similar issues.

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted] started a subscription on 5/16/14 through a 3rd party vendor. The account was started and paid for 13 weeks. As standard procedure, all subscriptions continue on a grace period unless The Bee is notified otherwise. In this case, a first renewal was sent on 7/14/14. A second one on 9/1/14 and a third one on 10/6/14. On the renewal notices, it indicates the continuation of the subscription. As Mr. [redacted] stated, he did speak with someone and requested to stop the paper and clear the balance. The stop was processed on 11/1/14. Unfortunately, the balance was not removed. This has been resolved as of 12/8/14. The account is at a zero balance and all collection calling has been requested to stop immediately. We apologize for the problems Mr. [redacted] has experienced. This should have been handled on his first call. Please note, the subscription account will not reflect on Mr. [redacted]'s credit report. The Bee does work with a 3rd party compant to send out final notices, but it is not reported on his credit report.Please feel free to contact us at ###-###-#### or ###-###-#### if you have any further questions or concerns.Thank you

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my concern, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Thanks you, [redacted]

Review: The Sacramento is disseminating its MVP advertisements by placing the ads in plastic bags and having a car drive through neighborhoods tossing them out the window at every house. The plastic bags, which are banned in most cities and banned at retail establishments in California under a recent state law, land on lawns, sidewalks, and are lodged in bushes. This activity appears to constitute littering. Previously, these advertisements were delivered in mailboxes and did not arrive in a plastic bag. Now, they are tossed from cars at people's houses, saturating the neighbors every week. Not only is this littering, but it is astoundingly wasteful. I thought that home deliveries, such as phone books, were meant to be placed on doorsteps; not thrown on lawns and sidewalks. The Sacramento Bee is responsible for this activity. I would like to know the Bee is violating any laws by tossing plastic bags on sidewalks throughout neighborhoods. The wastefulness is astounding. Ann, it is dangerous for seniors and people with disabilities because the inserts wrapped in plastic bags thrown on sidewalks can impede sidewalk access.Desired Settlement: I would like the Sacramento Bee to cease this practice. MVP deliveries should be placed, if they are delivered at all, in mailboxes or on doorsteps; they should not be in plastic bags year round where they constitute litter and impede sidewalk access use.

Business

Response:

This information was given to the Regional Manager and the Operations Manager. As general practice, papers are delivered without a plastic bag. Use of recyclable plastic bags are used only when required as associated with weather concerns to keep paper dry. The distributors who deliver this product are contracted to deliver in the driveway or the front porch. A reminder has been sent to the distributor to only deliver in these 2 places, not on the lawn or the sidewalk.Please feel free to contact us at 1-800-284-3233 if you have nay further questioons or concerns.Thank you

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because: the Bee's response is in relation to delivery of their newspapers; not the paper advertisements they throw at each house every week in certain neighborhoods, which is the basis of my complaint. The Sacramento Bee is arranging to deliver these advertisements and they arrive in plastic bags every week, and this is certainly not due to to inclement weather. It is not raining. I appreciate that the Bee is reminding those delivering these advertisements to ensure they land on driveways or porches. However, I continue to see them on sidewalks and if they are on lawns, they are at the edge. I believe this is equivalent to littering. These advertisements wrapped in plastic bags can still impede sidewalk access, and the use of plastic bags each week is astoundingly wasteful.

Business

Response:

We continue to remind our delivery partners about the location of the deliveries. If this is an ongoing problem for a specific household, we ask to contact our Customer Service at 1-800-284-3233 in order to address the specific issue. As for the plastic bage, the Sunday products are delivered in pink bags each week. This is specific to our product called Yes! These colored bags are used to protect the paper from any damage (torn, wet, shredded, etc). Plus, as a standard business practice, it is much easier to confirm these deliveries are being made to the correct households. The Tuesday product called MVP does not have a specific bag and is used if there has been problems reported on damaged papers. Please feel free to contact us at 1-800-284-3233 if you have any further questions or concerns. Thank you

Review: I paid for a six month subscription to the Sacramento Bee. First the Bee shortened my subscription term after the payment. Secondly, after indicating my subscription could be held and extended, the Bee denied an extension after I had my paper held for 63 days. In short, the Bee led me to subscribe under terms which they changed after the fact. Persons setting up automatic payment schedules with the Bee should be very cautious about the Bee's misleading practice.Desired Settlement: The Bee should not charge more for a subscription that already has been paid for. The Bee should either do extensions for holds or make clear that they will not do them. In my case, a six month subscription with a 63 day hold should result in papers being delivered for 63 days beyond the original subscription term, with no additional charges.Finally, I want my credit card information deleted form the Bee's files, for obvious reasons.

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted]'s account has been on the easypay billing method for several years. Recently, the account was taken off automatic payment per customer request. Mr. Litwinocih will now be receiving a renewal bill in the mail a month before the expiration date. As for the options for the vacation credits, this was changed back in September 2012. The Bee implemented a digital portion to all subscriptions. The digital portion of the subscription allows our readers full access to the paper anytime, anywhere. The unlimited access can be viewed from any smart phone, laptop, PC or device/tablet. This allows our readers to have access to the paper while away on vacation as well. Mr. [redacted] has chosen to opt out of the digital portion of the subscription. The vacation options ares till the same whether a customer is being billed or on the easypay payment method. Mr. [redacted] wa given a one time credit by our Customer Service Department on 12/9/13 for one month.

Review: Will not place me on the do not call list

I receive repeated calls from Bee sales contractor. Sometimes 2x a day. I have asked that I be placed on the "Do Not Call" list. The rep tells me to hold and that he/she will transfer me to the person who does that. Then I hear a recording to leave my name/number after the tone..... but there is never a tone!!!!!!!!

The number the call is from is XXX-XXX-XXXX. I tried to call this number but I get the "the number you have called in not in service at this time." Nice marketing practice.

Desired Settlement: PLEASE put me on the do not call list. Never contact me about anything - either by phone, mail, email, etc. I've never seen a company with the questionable marketing tactics you employ.

You should require your subcontractor agents to take do not call information directly and not transfer to a machine.

Business

Response:

Business' Initial Response

Customer has had an account with The Bee off and on for several years. Recently, the account was stopped on 7/17/13. The calls Mr. [redacted] received are a standard practice to win back our customers. I understand Mr. [redacted] does not want to be called, emailed or mailed any future promotional offers. The phone number has been added to our do not call list. The email has been added to our do not email list. And, the home delivery address has been added to our do not mail list. This information has also been given to the Sales Manager to ensure Mr. [redacted] is not contacted.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our VIP team at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Review: I wish to make a formal complaint regarding the Sacramento Bee's business practices. When the Bee made changes to it's format this Spring we responded to their feedback questionnaire on-line. We reported that we did not like the new format and would not renew. Our subscription was due to expire on 05/13/2015. I called the Bee to cancel our subscription. However, our request was never passed to the correct department and the papers kept comping. We received a call from an outsourced customer service rep (I think from the Philippines), there was a language barrier, again we informed that caller that we cancel the subscription. Several weeks later we got a call from another Bee Valued customer representative located in Chicago, again we informed the caller we cancelled. Last Thursday we got a call (caller ID [redacted]) which was a caller representing the Bee's accounting department informing us that our account is past due. Again we let let the this person that we cancelled back in May when our subscription expired.

I tried to contact the Bee but you are unable to talk with a person so I sent the following to their impersonal interactive customer service message format:

"When we received a survey regarding the Bee's change in format we

responded that we didn't care for the new format and planned to not

renew our subscription. We also had a week where we had severe problems

with delivery. We did not renew our subscription when it came due. We

had two calls over the last two months and we again said we WOULD NOT

RENEW our subscription. Both calls were "outsourced" calls; one from the

Philippines or India and another from the East Coast. Today we received

a call from the Sacramento Bee Accounting Department (caller ID: [redacted]) demanding that we give them a credit card to get our subscription

current. We have been long time subscribers of the Bee and are so

disappointed in the quality of the paper and customer service. I feel

that the Bee print edition has a limited future. I am sorry to see that

happen. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT WE HAVE TOLD THE BEE THREE TIMES THAT WE NO LONGER WANT TH E PAPER. WE ARE NOT RECEIVING THE PAPER. STOP THE COLLECTION CALLS AND LEAVE US ALONE!!!!"

I received the following response from the Bee on August 23, 2015.

"Dear [redacted],

Thank you for contacting The Sacramento Bee.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused. Unfortunately, we do not show

any record of a request on your account to cancel the delivery. We only

received 2 vacation stop requests through the automated system from June

25, 2015 to to June 26, 2015 and from August 11, 2015 to August 14,

2015.

The delivery was not stopped on the expiration date of your subscription

because The Bee provides 90-day grace period as stated on the renewal

notices mailed to you. Your account was canceled on August 15, 2015 (end

of grace) leaving a balance of $117.59 for the subscription from May 13,

2015.

We would be glad to assist you with your payment, please call us at

[redacted]. Our phone representatives are available Monday-Friday

from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM and on Sundays from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM.

We would love to invite you back to The Bee. Log on to

[redacted]/plus to take advantage of online specials for delivery.

Thank you for reading The Sacramento Bee.

Sincerely, [redacted]

Interactive Services Representative

Sacramento Bee [redacted]"

After taking the Bee for over 20 years I can't believe they have resorted to such unscrupulous business practices. The small print on the Bee's invoice states "Your newspaper delivery will continue until The Bee is notified otherwise." We did notify the Bee via their outsourced reps of our desire to cancel on multiple occasions. The renewal notice does not state the notification must be in written form. We do not appreciate the Bee's "strong arm" subscription practices.Desired Settlement: cease receiving paper and cancel subscription, do not want to pay $117.59 when we canceled the paper

Business

Response:

Customer's account was cleared to a zero balance on 9/4/15. The account expired on 5/13/15, however The Bee does not stop subscriptions on the expiration date. We allow a grace period to send in the renewal payment. The Bee sends out the first renewal bill a month prior to the expiraton date and then 2 after the expiration date. In this case, the renewals were sent on 4/23/15, 6/11/15 and 7/20/15. Unfortunately, it appears the request of the customer was not honored. Therefore, this balance has been cleared. We do apologize for the trouble this has caused teh Sease resident. Please feel free to contact us at [redacted] if you have any further questions or concerns.Thank you

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my concern, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Review: Canceled Subscription Sent to Collection

In early October 2012, I ordered a 52-week, weekend only subscription to The Sacramento Bee. The delivery started one week after, and was received in a timely manner without complaint. The $52.00 subscription was paid online with a debit card, with charges posting on 10/20/2012.

Because of my extensive work travel, I decided I would not renew it at expiration. However, a few weeks before that time, I began receiving renewal notices from the Bee. I ignored the first one. A second renewal notice arrived a few weeks later. This time my response was written clearly on the invoice: PLEASE DO NOT RENEW!, and I mailed it in. Then the phone calls started. I explained to the CSR of my work travel and do not wish to renew. Then came the hard sell. I simply stated: No, Thank You - and terminated the call. Two more notices arrived in as many weeks, and I responded in the same manner previously.

One phone call and four stamps later, I received an email asking for my to come back. Wow. These people just don't give up! All that time, the papers kept coming.

Today, I received a Collection Letter from a firm contracted by the Bee for $32.92. It states that they have asked the Bee to bring this to my attention. Well, they have it!!!

I paid for, and received my subscription as described. The Sacramento Bee repeatedly asked for renewal. I repeatedly declined. It is no fault other than their own for the continued delivery; if this is the amount they are asking for. The dispatch of a collection letter has to be the most pompous and ostentatious move I have ever experienced.Desired Settlement: 1. Withdrawal of the collection matter.

2. Written proof of withdrawal.

3. Removal of my name from their call list.

Business

Response:

Business' Initial Response

Customer started a subscription on 10/19/12. Mr. [redacted] paid $52.00 for 26 weeks. The start may have been processed incorrectly, since Mr. [redacted] states the offer should have been for 52 weeks. The offer on the account was $2.00/week for 26 weeks for a total of $52.00. This would explain why Mr. [redacted] was sent renewal notices so early and the account showed an amount past due. Typically, a renewal notice is sent 4-5 weeks prior to the expiration date. All of our renewal notice state that the paper will continue automatically unless the The Bee is notified otherwise. In this case, Mr. [redacted] states he wrote in to stop the paper. We do apologize for the confusion on the account.

As of 7/31/13, Mr. [redacted]'s account is at a zero balance. He will not be receiving any further notifications regarding his account. JMC has been notified that the account is cleared. And, both phone numbers have been placed on our do not call list as of 8/1/13.

Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Consumer's Final Response

(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

This is the favorable response I was requesting. Because I didn't open the first renewal letter, I was unaware of the continued delivery policy. If the renewal letter was rewritten to state delivery would be stopped entirely, and uphold it as a standard, the amount of incensed people would drop.

Thank you both for this resolve.

Review: Cannot get Sac Bee to leave us alone after discontinuing subscription.

We discontinued our Sac Bee subscription June 7th. Every day since we get at least one call trying to get us to renew. We've told the caller everyday this past week we no longer wish to subscribe but the calls keep coming. Please advise on how we can stop the harassment.Desired Settlement: Stop calling us about renewing the subscription.

Business

Response:

Business' Initial Response

As of today, Friday 6/14/13 at 8:50am, Mr. [redacted]'s phone number has been placed on the do not call list for The Sacramento Bee. Our Sales Manager has a process in place to have a vendor call former customers to offer a subscription and restart the paper. As Mr. [redacted] states in this complaint, the calling will be stopped as soon as possible. The Sales Manager has been notified and all vendors will be asked to eliminate the phone number listed on Mr. [redacted]'s account, XXX-XXX-XXXX. If there are any other numbers in the household that are being called, we ask that Mr. [redacted] inform our VIP team at XXX-XXX-XXXX. We will add those numbers to the do not call list as well. Please allow a 24 hour timeframe to allow notification to all vendors.

Please let us know if there are any further questions or concerns.

Consumer's Final Response

Thank you for getting through to them.

Review: A little over a year ago I subscribed to the Sacramento Bee newspaper for one year and paid for it in advance. I never recieved a single delivery. I have since recieved invoices for the balance owing as it appears they automatically renewed my subscription for an additional year, to which I responded once or twice. I then began getting phone calls from a Sacramento Bee agent attempting to collect the "balance due". I answered the phone and spoke to the representative and again explained I have never recieved a single paper. I then began to recieve phone calls requesting I renew my subscription, I of course said no, as I have never recieved a single issue of my previous subscription. I have now recieved a collection notice for the "balance due", when in fact I had numerous contacts with their agents and told them very clearly that I had never recieved a single copy of the paper.Desired Settlement: I want a refund of the year I paid in advance for the paper I never recieved AND verification that either the collection was not reported to any credit agencies or if it had that it has been completely removed from my credit history.

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted] signed up for Sunday only delivery on 4/28/13 and paid for 26 weeks. Since The Bee does not stop accounts on the expiration date, the account continued after the 26 weeks. However, prior to the expiration date, The Bee sends out a renewal notice stating, "the paper will continue automatically unless The Bee is notified otherwise." In this case, the first renewal notice was sent on 9/2/13. The 2nd notice was sent on 10/10/13 and the 3rd notice was sent on 11/18/13. The Bee allows a 90 grace period before the account is stopped for non-payment. Mr. [redacted] account was stopped on 12/28/13. The amount of $19.94 was shown as owing from the expiration date to the stop date of 12/28/13. I understand Mr. [redacted] states not one paper was delivered to his address. Unfortunately, there are no complaints generated on his account which would alert our distributor of a delivery issue. We were unaware of any service problems since the start date.

Review: I never signed up for the delivery of Sacramento Bee. Sacramento bee and Collections agency are contacting me to collect

Received a call from Sacramento Bee in regards to outstanding amount of $60 + for the delivery of Sacramento Bee. I never signed up for the newspaper delivery of Sacramento bee to my address. I spoke to Sierra when she tried to call and collect on the balance I informed her that I never signed up neither subscribed to them how come they have my information. She said my account will be notated and escalated to supervisor who said will be calling back he never did. Now receiving repeating phone calls up to several times per day about this from collection agency (violating fair debt collection practices act Section 806. "Harassment or abuse" by calling multiple times in a day)informed them I never signed up or subscribed, was told that account will be notated and to contact Sacramento Bee. Spoke to another representative, now collection attempts are continuing.Desired Settlement: Stop collection attempts or show proof of subscripton. Never dealt with this newspaper before and will never deal with for its fraudulent subscription practices.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

Customer's account was started 11/10/12 through one of our online sales vendors Partner/Airmiles). The subscription was started and paid for 26 weeks through this AirMiles program. This was not a solicitation call. This has to be done online by the customer or someone in the household. The account expired on 4/29/13. I understand Mr. [redacted] did not want to continue the delivery. However, The Bee does not stop subscriptions automatically unless we hear from the customer. In this case, I understand he never wanted the paper. Our records do not show any complaints or messages to indicate the paper should not have been delivered during this time. I apologize for any confusion. I tried to contact the [redacted] residence, but received voicemail.

Mr. [redacted]'s account has been cleared of any balance as of 9/16/13. There will be no further calls or notifications of a past amount due. I am very sorry for the inconvenience and the frustration. The account has been cleared and this does not reflect negatively on any credit report.

Please feel free to contact our VIP team at XXX-XXX-XXXX if you have any further questions or concerns.

Final Consumer Response

(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

Thank you for clearing up the issue

Review: Bad service.

I had a boy come to my home with his father selling the Sacramento Bee Newspapers. I agreed to a one-time payment for 10 weeks at $42.50. I asked if I needed to cancel with the Bee, he said no because it was a one-time payment.

I received a call on 6/14/13 from (XXX)XXX-XXXX, [redacted] She said I was past due on my account. I told her I paid a one-time payment. She said if I didn't give her my credit card number or bank account information she was going to send me to collections. I told her I wanted to see a statement. She said she sent 3. I have not received any statements from the Sacramento Bee. I told [redacted] this she began to argue with me. Then told me again to give her my credit card information or bank account information. I said I would not give her my personal information. [redacted] never told me the amount that was owed. It felt like a scam.

I called the SacBee 6/17/13 spoke to [redacted] employee number [redacted] Told him what happened. He told me I owed $60. He said he would credit the account $30. I told him to CANCEL my account and I did not want to deal with them again. I told him I would pay online. I tried to pay online but it said to contact customer service. I tried to email customer service. I got a reply of "Thank you. Your request has been received." No response.Desired Settlement: Send me a statement so I can see the changes they are charging me for. I want the SacBee to cancel my account, which I never agreed to and never contact me.

Business

Response:

Business' Initial Response

Customer started the subscription on 1/12/13. Customer paid $42.50 for 10 weeks of everyday delivery. After the 10 weeks, the paper continued. Since The Bee does not stop subscriptions automatically, the paper continues on a grace period allowing customers time to send in the next payment. The Bee sends a renewal bill out 4-5 weeks in advance. In this case, the first renewal was sent on 2/11/13. All renewal notices, sales orders, email notifications and online information states, "the paper will continue automatically at the regular rate unless The Bee is notified otherwise." After the first renewal notice prior to the expiration date, we send 2 more renewals (3/25/13 & 5/2/13). As of 6/12/13, the account was stopped with an amount owing of $60.56. This was from the expiration date of 3/14/13-6/12/13.

As of 6/18/13, Ms. [redacted]'s account has been cleared of half the balance by a Customer Service Representative. There is also a notation that Ms. [redacted] tried to pay the remaining balance, however our system did not process it. I called Ms. [redacted] today, 6/18/13, to discuss the problem with the payment on our end. I left my information to contact me back directly. I have also sent her an email to try to resolve this for her as soon as possible.

The information provided on the collection call has been given to our Sales & Retention Manager who oversees this collector. I apologize for the treatment on the call and for the problems Ms. [redacted] has experienced with her account. I have placed Ms. [redacted]'s phone number on our do not call list as of today.

Please feel free to contact my VIP team at XXX-XXX-XXXX if you have any further questions or concerns.

Review: The Sacramento Bee uses a debt collector to ask me pay a balance due that I don't know why I have and even they cannot tell me why.

I got a letter from the debt collector, JMC says I have a balance due: $19.20 from the Sacramento bee, but I have no idea why I have that balance since my subscription already ended. Before the letter, The Sacramento Bee only called me three times before and in the phone calls, 2 of the calls only asked me if I want to renew, but I said no and they hung up. One of the call ask me if I want to pay my balance out of blue, because I didn't renew my subscription, I asked him why I had that balance. He didn't answer my question, and then hung up. Right now the Sacramento Bee just uses the debt collector to force me pay the balance that I don't know. They just get me more trouble because I will need to validate the bill from the debt collector that Sacramento bee couldn't answer my question. No companies should ask their customers to pay bills and can't even tell them the reason why they should pay. Couple years ago I subscribed a newspaper from Enterprises, Davis, I didn't have this kind of problems after I didn't renew my subscription.Desired Settlement: Don't ask me pay the bill that I don't own, especially form a debt collector. Don't send my personal information to a debt collector.

Business

Response:

Business' Initial Response

Customer started Sunday only delivery 1/30/11 on a Groupon offer. The account was paid for 52 weeks on the Groupon offer. On 1/22/12, there was a second payment of $19.00 for the renewal of the Sunday paper for 52 weeks. Unfortunately, in looking into the detail of the account, the payment appears to have been posted at the regular rate instead of the promotional rate. The account has been adjusted and is at a zero balance. We apologize for the inconvenience and the error on the account. This also should have been handled by the vendors who have contacted the [redacted] residence.

As of today, all collection calls and/or notifications should be stopped. The collection vendor will also be notified that this account has been resolved.

Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns. Or, please contact our VIP team at XXX-XXX-XXXX to speak to a representative.

Review: The Sacramento Bee Newspaper calls nearly everyday and never leaves a message. Reverse phone lookup showed me who it was. It's a telemarketer from the Sac Bee trying to sell me a subscription. I have called and told them take me off their list for mailing or calling. They keep calling.Desired Settlement: I just want them to quit calling me.

Business

Response:

We do apologize for the calls being received. This phone number was not on our do not call list. It has been added as of today 6/8/15. This has also been sent to the Sales Manager to be removed from all current calling files. All vendors will be notified by the end of business day today.Please feel free to contact us at 1-800-284-3233 if you have any further questions or concerns.Thank you

Consumer

Response:

This is the 2nd complaint with this business. They STILL call me nearly everyday to sell me their newspaper subscription. I have called them multiple times, filed complaints and these IS still call me. They agreed to not do it anymore last week. THEY STILL CALL!!! 3 times this week so far (only Thurs morning)

Business

Response:

Date Sent: 6/29/2015 9:42:23 AM[redacted]'s phone number has been placed on The Bee's do not call list. This information has been given to the Sales Manager. The Sales Manager has confirmed that all sales vendors have been notified and to remove this phone number from all current and previous calling files. Please feel free to contact us at 1-800-284-3233 if you have any further questions or concerns.Thank you

Review: On 12/21/2014 my wife sent a check for $55.43 to the Sacramento Bee for 26 weeks of the weekend paper.After several weeks we called the Bee and they said that they did not receive the check. We did a stop payment on the check, and paid the $55.43 with a credit card to start getting the paper. the credit card transaction was posted on 1/8/2015. On 1/29/15, I received a letter indicating that "your recent subscription payment did not go through"and "go online to update your credit card information and make a payment". When I called [redacted]and talked to a supervisor, [redacted], he indicated that the check was not honored,not the credit card.The letter was dated 1/23/2015, and signed by [redacted], Vice President of Audience Development.This was a letter that I would consider a letter to someone who does not pay his bills! This was a degrading letter and I would like the Sacramento Bee to rescind the letter and send or call me to apologize.Sincerely,[redacted]Desired Settlement: I would like the Sacramento Bee manager to rescind the letter and send or call me to apologize!

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted]'s account was resolved on 1/30/15 by a VIP representative. The payment on 1/6/15 was received and processed along with the start for weekend service. The original payment was delayed and customer asked his bank to stop the payment of the original payment. Somehow, when the payment finally got to the Finance Department, it was already notated to stop the payment. The letter should have never been mailed to Mr. [redacted]. I sincerely apologize for the error and the inconvenience. Mr. [redacted] has been called and he has accepted my apology. He was also given the local VIP number in case he needs to contact someone locally. Please feel free to contact us at [redacted] if you have any further questions or concerns. Thank you

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my concern, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Review: Previously asked the Sacramento Bee to stop auto billing my credit card for subscription.Called their customer service department Aug 27,1014. During the call I advised to cancel subscription and refund 197.28. I stopped home delivery effective Sunday 8/31/2014. I have received no more home deliveries. Mid Sept I called again and was advised cancellation not put through. Keep in mind deliveries stopped. The customer service rep was evasive then defensive. The Sacramento Bee has been arbitrary and less than truthful in dealing with me. I find their customer service poor.What is worse is they present themselves as looking out for the community.Desired Settlement: Want the Bee to cease with put-offs and lies and refund my money as quickly as they took the money. I would NEVER subscribe again. That is a shame as I have been a customer, 7 day home delivery since 2008.

Consumer

Response:

Sac BEE finally refunded me. Along the way I got several stories. They have Horrible customer service.

Revdex.com was the reason I was able to resolve.

Thanks!!!!!