Sacramento Bee

Review: I cancelled the Bee subscription after several years, by sending back the Bee's renewal statement and wrote cancel across it. But the Newspaper kept coming and coming. An online adviser said that if the magazines or publications kept coming after your cancellation, consider that as a free gift, so I kep reading it. To day I received a collection notice from a collection agency (ARM Solutionns Inc., in Camarillo, CA,,) demanding payment on behalf of Sacramento Bee. This is a very strange unprofessional behavior to force unwanted and unneed product on a customer in order to generate the paper's revenue. I am therefore filing this complaint to the Revdex.com, and will expose this mafia-like tactic to the local TV stations should it become necessary.Desired Settlement: Relevant information: total due: $ 91.85. Client account #: 1270180. Agency account#: xxx-xx-xxxx Ask the Bee to stop this behavior practiced by the under world gangsters.

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted] has been an ongoing Bee subscriber for several years. Our process has been the same as far as the renewal of subscriptions. All our renewal notices state, "the paper will continue unless The Bee is notified otherwise." Since all renewal notices and payments go to Fresno, we ask that customers call us to cancel the paper. A written notice on the renewal bill goes to Fresno first and then is re-routed to The Sacramento Bee. The Bee does not stop subscriptions on the expiration date, which is why we send one renewal bill prior to the expiration date and two more after the expiration date. We allow a grace period for all subscribers to renew their subscriptions.

Review: I sent in a payment for the six weeks service I wanted to be delivered to my address.When my service ended I received a letter sta[redacted]g to pay $19.28 or service would be discon[redacted]ued.The letter never stated if I don't respond service will con[redacted]ue and you will be charged for payment.I only payed for service for Sunday not service on Mondays and they had delivered three to four times on Monday until service ended.I called three to four times asking for service to be discon[redacted]ue at my address.This has been a problem since February of 2014.Service finally ended three weeks ago and I was charged and sent to collections in the amount of $19.00.I was told by [redacted] Id#[redacted] Id #[redacted] that the amount was credited.Desired Settlement: $19.00 to refunded

Business

Response:

Ms. [redacted] account has been at a zero balance since 5/7/14. We apologize for the letter Ms. [redacted] received from [redacted], the collection vendor. There was an error in the file sent to this company. This has been reported to the retention manager who oversees this vendor. He has confirmed this was sent in error. He has also mailed out a letter of confirmation that Ms. [redacted]'s account is clear and there is no indication of delinquency with [redacted]. The letter should be received in the mail in the next few days.

Review: I am NOT a subscriber and I started getting the Sacramento Bee delivered (dropped on my driveway) daily since early November 2015. This is not an advertisement issue, it's the full paper, even wrapped when it's raining. I have contacted the Bee by email and phone many, many times (at least 20 since November 10th)and have always received the same response that they will contact the distributor and the delivery will stop. I don't want the newspaper delivered and I can't stop it. My main concern is that because I don't have an account, I have no way to put the unwanted delivery on "hold" if I go on vacation.Desired Settlement: Stop the daily delivery of the Sacramento Bee to my home address.

Business

Response:

This address has been given the Operations Manager of Home Delivery. There is no active account at this address and the resident should not be receiving any papers at any time. We have contacted the resident to inform her of the resolution. All deliveries will be stopped as of 1/8/16.Please feel free to contact us at [redacted] if you have any further questions or concerns.Thank you

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because: I received a call from the Bee on Thursday 1/7/16 assuring me that the deliveries would stop by 1/8/16. However, I received the daily delivery on Friday 1/8/16, Saturday 1/9/16 and this morning, Sunday 1/10/16. Please see attached picture of paper in my driveway this morning.

Business

Response:

Sent information to our distributor and management team to ensure that there is no delivery of any sort at this address. I also included the photos as proof to the carrier that we are not to send anything to this address. If the customer has any further questions please contact our VIP team at [redacted].

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.

I stayed up until 2:30 AM and met the delivery driver on Sunday morning, January 24th. She said she had not been notified that she was to stop delivering to my address and said I needed to call the office. I pleaded with her that I had tried calling and emailing no less than 20 times and I needed her to stop delivering despite the fact that she had not been notified by the "office". She was very reluctant but agreed and I have not received a paper since. This issue is resolved but I have absolutely no confidence that it was because of anything that the Sacramento Bee staff did to assist me.If the paper begins to arrive on my driveway again in the future I will submit a new complaint and get my attorney involved.

Review: My wife and I live in Sacramento during the winter months.In late October 2014 I went on line and subscribed to the Sacramento Bee Sunday paper only offer for 10 weeks. Part of the subscription process involved me giving my phone number and email address, which was fine.I paid for this using my wifes [redacted] credit card and everything was fine. The paper was delivered on Sundays as expected.At the end of the subscription period my wife and I were traveling and although we received several phone calls and emails asking us if we wanted to extend our subscription we always declined since we weren't going to be there. I thought no more about this, assuming it was just the normal policy of the Bee to try and keep subscribers.My wife was dismayed to receive a letter in the mail today (May 19 2015) from a collection agency informing her that she was delinquent in her Sacramento Bee account and that she owed $11.80.I called the Sac Bee accounts department immediately and was put in contact with someone by the name of [redacted]. At least I that that was the person's name. There was considerable "hash" on the line and I don't think that English was the first language of the person I was speaking to. Anyway [redacted] was polite and when I explained my situation to her she seemed to say that with a short term subscription such as mine, there was a default subscription extension period unless I called and opted out. At least I think that that is what she was saying, given the connection and language difficulties.Really?This is where my complaint comes in. If I heard things correctly then I think that it is a very shoddy business practice to try to snare subscribers this way, especially for the Sacramento Bee who should be reporting on such shenanigans like this by others but not employing such a practice themselves! We genuinely thought we were subscribing to the Bee for 10 weeks only - end of story. We never knew we were involving ourselves in what seems to have been an open-ended subscription, by default. Truth in advertising guys!I told [redacted] as much and she asked me if she could put me on hold. I said "yes", she put me on hold, and then after a very short pause she came back on line and said that as a one-time only act they would waive the $11.80 charge they had imposed but in the future I would need to follow the practice of calling and canceling after any short-term subscription. She said this so quickly and almost by rote that one could be forgiven for thinking that this response is given frequently by them, although I don't know this as a fact.My wife is 77 and I am 73; we pride ourselves on having "perfect" credit but we were unprepared for this sleight of hand practice by the Bee which we find reprehensible. The amount of money involved here is petty, i.e. insignificant but I would argue that the practice by the Bee is petty, i.e. mean, and my wife and I also now wonder whether this "delinquency" will be reflected in our credit rating which would be anything but insignificant.For your consideration.[redacted]and [redacted]Desired Settlement: As stated above, no settlement is requested; I am just informing you of what I consider an unscrupulous business practice by the Sacramento Bee.

Business

Response:

Account was started 11/3/14 for 10 weeks on Sunday only delivery. As standard business practice, The Bee does not stop subscriptions automatically. The Bee issues a renewal notice 4-5 weeks prior to the expiration date. In this case, the renewal was sent on 12/15/14. On the renewal notice, The Bee states the paper will continue unlessd the Bee is notified otherwise. I understand The [redacted] residence did not want to continue and the paper was not stopped. The account is at a zero balance as of 5/19/15. This is not reflected on any credit report. [redacted] is a thrid party vendor The Bee uses to send out final notices. Please feel free to contact us at 1-800-284-3233 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: I have been a subscriber from the Bee for over 10 years.have been out of town for several weeks during the past few months. I noticed on my billing statement that I was not being given credit when I stopped the paper and did not receive it. When I enquired from customer service why there was no credit on my billing statement, I was told that the Bee does not give credit even when they are not delivering the paper to you. Apparently they changed their policy around credits in 2012. They claim that they incur costs with vacation stops, but other than a brief communication with the delivery person I do not see how this could be the case. It means a delivery person has one less house to cover in the morning, and since I am NOT getting the product that obviously saves some money. I believe that it is simply unethical for them to continue to charge customers, especially ones that have been loyal for many many years, for papers that they do not receive.I have cancelled my subscription, but believe I am due a refund for the newspapers that I was charged for but did not receive during my vacation stops in January and February of this year, and for December and November last year.Desired Settlement: as stated above, I believe I am do a credit or refund for newspapers not received during my vacation stops for January and February 2014, and papers in November and December of 2013.

Business

Response:

On 2/26/14, I sent the following email to Ms. [redacted].

Review: I signed out in MAy of last year for a 52 weeks Sunday subscription of the paper. I actually do not read this paper; I only use the coupons. The paper used to allow subscribers to put a vacation hold on their paper and get credit (by prolonging their subscription). They CHANGED that policy and they started to charge people $1 for each of 9 holidays in which they deliver the paper. Never mind you do not want the paper; they charge you anyway and they do not allow you to opt out of this "holiday service". Knowing my subscription was not up till May I was shocked to get a renewal notice that stated my Subscription ended at the beginning of February. Since they sold me a 52 week subscription, I think the terms were misleading. I do not think it is fair for the consumer to get into a contract without being informed that the duration of the subscription is in fact incorrect. In my case was in fact 3 months shorter (i.e., 25%). FRom reading Revdex.com.org complaints, I can see this issue is generalized and there are a lot of other people that feel cheated and misinformed.Desired Settlement: I would like to be reimbursed for the "holiday issues" I did not ask for and I could not put a stop to. Alternatively they can credit my account for the rest of the 52 weeks that I am not getting. Also, I think they need to change the language to their 52 subscription notices to correctly state that one gets actually less weeks than that.

Business

Response:

I called Ms. [redacted] and reviewed her account that was paid on 5/7/13 for 52 weeks. The original expiration date was 5/24/14. However, since we have 9 holiday premium papers delivered throughout the year, there is a $1.00 holiday premium charge that is deducted from the account once the holiday arrives and the paper is delivered. Ms. [redacted] and I have agreed to restart the Sunday paper as of 3/2/14. The subscription will run through 5/18/14 and then be stooped. Ms. [redacted] will contact our VIP team if she decide to continue the delivery after 5/18/14.

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because:

While I agreed with the proposed resolution by the Bee, unfortunately they did not follow it through themselves. Today is the day the subscription was supposed to restart. However, it is past 10 am, and there is no paper. So, they already did not comply with their own response.

Sincerely,

Review: My subscription to the Sacramento Bee expired in approximately February 2015. I did not request a subscription renewal. The Sacramento Bee continued to send me the weekend newspaper without my request or permission. Now I am receiving daily calls from a collection service demanding $16 and change for the additional, post-subscription newspapers I did not request or order.Beyond being deceptive and fraudulent, this is an absolutely horrible way to keep customers. I will not subscribe to the Sacramento Bee again.Desired Settlement: Written confirmation that the outstanding balance has been cancelled. The confirmation should be sent by mail to my address.

Business

Response:

Customer was a subscriber for a few years. The account was started back on 7/21/13. It was paid until 12/29/13. As a standard practice, the paper does not stop automatically. The Bee sends out 3 renewal notices during the 90 day grace period. In this case, The Bee sent a renewal notice on 12/2/13, 1/19/14 and 2/17/14. On 2/27/14, the account was paid $14.76 to clear the balance with a note that Mr. [redacted] wanted to continue service for another year. He made a separate payment for the year on 3/3/14 in the amount of $39.98. The account expired. Once again, we sent out the renewal notices 11/17/14, 1/5/15 and 2/9/15. All renewals notices state, 'the paper will continue automatically unless The Bee is notified otherwise.'

Review: The Sacramento Bee randomly charges people who don't renew subscription, and uses a collector to ask me to pay a bill they cannot tell me why I have.

I received a letter from JMC, a collection agency, on June 8, 2013. The letter says that I own Sacramento Bee $24.96, but I don't know why. The Sacramento Bee called me three times after I didn't renew my newspaper subscription. First time, a male agent told me that I had about $19 balance due in my account, and I asked him why I had that balance since I didn't renew my subscription this year. That agent didn't answer my question, and he just hang up. Second time, a female agent called me and told me that they had a subscription offer about $25 with a free gift card. I told her I didn't want to subscribe, and then she told me that I needed to pay that amount. Therefore, I asked her why I needed to pay it, but she couldn't tell me why and then just hang up. Third time, another male agent called me and asked me if I paid the bill. Then I asked him why I needed to pay the bill since I didn't renew my subscription. He didn't answer my question, just said, "OK", and then hang up. From these three calls, the Sacramento Bee cannot tell me why I need to pay the bill, and then they just use the debt collector to ask me pay the bill. Besides, the Sacramento Bee seems to randomly charge people who don't renew newspaper subscription. The first agent told me that my balance due is about $19, but the second one said it's about $25. Moreover, my girlfriend got the same letter from JMC two weeks ago. The letter says she owns the Sacramento Bee $19.20, but mine is $24.96. We subscribed the newspaper at the same time, and we both didn't renew the subscription this year. She filed the complaint through Revdex.com's website about two weeks ago, but she hasn't received the Sacramento Bee's reply yet.

The thing that I feel so disappointed and concern about is that the Sacramento Bee sends my personal information to the debt collector because people usually don't want to deal with them. Sacramento Bee cannot tell me why I need to pay it and uses the collector to ask me to pay the bill afterward. Right now, I am going to need to verify the debt in case it's fake, and try to get the answer from the collector. The Sacramento bee just gives me so much trouble due to their poor customer service.Desired Settlement: Don't ask me to pay the bill that the Sacramento Bee cannot tell me why I have.

No more calls from the Sacramento Bee because their calls just waste my time due to the poor customer service.

Business

Response:

Business' Initial Response

Customer started the Sunday only delivery on 1/30/11. This was a Groupon offer for 52 weeks. The payment was posted and the account was paid until 1/27/12. Since we do not automatically stop subscriptions, the delivery continued on a grace period. The first renewal notice was sent on 12/24/12. We send the renewal notice in advance with the statement, "The paper will continue automatically unless the Bee is notified otherwise."

There were a total of 3 renewals (12/24/12, 2/8/13 & 3/18/13) sent out before the paper was stopped on 4/27/13. We understand the ** residence did not plan on continuing the paper. We apologize for any confusion on the initial start of the subscription. We will honor the request to clear the balance on the account. However, in the future, please note that all accounts receive a grace period for there renewal payments. The account does not stop automatically unless The Bee is notified. All collection efforts will be stopped and the account will be cleared to a zero balance within 24 hours.

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

Review: The Sac Bee has taken me to collections and is threatening to ruin my excellent credit because I have not paid $21.00 that they are fraudulently charging me. I want them to retrieve the collection and not ruin my credit and not charge me the $21.00.

This summer I bought a Sac Bee subscription to the newspaper from a very poor young child that came to my door. the child begged me to subscribe tot he paper for 6 months so he could get a scholarship to college. I felt really bad for him and subscribed for 6 months, I paid the entire six months that day, so I would not be billed. The youngster assured me that after the 6 months the subscription would stop. Now the Bee is sending me to collections stating I was supposed to call to stop the subscription and since I did not stop it I am being charge.

I am not responsible for $21.00 because I did not solicit this paper. What I bought I paid for in advanced so that I would not be billed later. I was not informed by the student that I had to call and cancel the subscription, I was told that the subscription was for six months only.Desired Settlement: Stop the collection company from torturing me with the collection bills, stating that I am a delinquent. I am not.

Remove the $21.00 charges.

Do not ruin my credit that I have worked so hard to acquire.

Waive the $21.00

Thank you,

Business

Response:

Thank you for your email to The Sacramento Bee, We apologize for the inconvenience however our records show that as of 03/04/16 you have a zero balance and will be removed from any collection listings. This will not affect your credit score and it will not appear on your credit report. If you have any further questions please contact us at [redacted]

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: I want to complain regarding the Sacramento Bee's business practices. One day a young student knocked my door and asked me to subscribe to Sacramento Bee for only a specified number of days and in return Sacramento Bee will provide her some kind of funding for her education. To support a school student I agreed for the subscription only for a specified number of days and I HAVE PREPAID IN FULL for that subscription whatever the student quoted. I paid the student in cash and also got a confirmation that it is only one time and there NO MORE PAYMENTS REQUIRED UNLESS I WANT TO EXTEND MY SERVICE from Sacramento Bee. Sacramento Bee continued to deliver their news paper after the subscription ended and in the meanwhile they called me for extension of service and bill dues. I clearly informed the agent, I don't want any extension of subscription outside the amount I prepaid. The phone calls went on for 5 or 6 times. In the last call they said they will terminate the service but now they want me to pay the dues for additional news papers they delivered which I didn't request for or paid for. Now they are demanding me to pay 24.76$ as dues for the service they dumped on me without me requesting for it. Added to this they have hired [redacted] to extract the dues from me and this is clearly a case of harassment. 24.76$ is not a big sum but ethically I don't feel I should pay that. I didn't expect this kind of unscrupulous business practice from organizations like Sacramento Bee.Desired Settlement: Please stop the collection calls and stop sending the collection notices through third party debt collectors ([redacted]). This is clearly harassment for unsolicited service outside the service I requested and prepaid. It is clearly a lesson for me to never subscribe for Sacramento Bee even if it means to help someone like in my case I tried to help a student.

Business

Response:

This account was started 4/25/15 for weekend service only. When the salesperson sold the subscription, he/she should have also given the customer a receipt. On the receipt, it states the paper will continue unless The Bee is notified otherwise. The account was set to expire on 6/28/15. However, as part of standard practice, The Bee sends out a renewal bill 3-4 weeks in advance to notify customers the paper will continue unless The Bee is notified otherwise. After the first renewal, Thed Bee sends a second and a third renewal with the same information. In this case, the renewals were sent on 6/8/15, 7/27/15 and 8/31/15 before the account was stopped on 9/26/15. Since Mr. [redacted] claims he was unaware of calling to cancel, The Bee has cleared the balance of $24.76. All collection efforts have been requested to stop. And, this does not affect Mr. [redacted]'s credit. The collection company we use is a 3rd party vendor contracted to collect past due balances.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.

Thank you for taking up the complaint which I couldn't resolve in the phone calls with Sac Bee. Also, thanks to Sac Bee for quick resolution.

Review: went on vacation for 8 days, put stop on my news paper delivery to home. did not see a reduction on my bill for non delivery days. called bee to inquire about why no reduction on my bill and was told that even though we did not receive our paper we are still charged for it. when asked why, they said because you can access the paper on line. that has to be the stupidest excuse I have ever heard. what about people who don't take the paper, they can also access the paper on line. is the bee going to charge all non subscribers in the area because they may go on line to view the paper.Desired Settlement: for the bee to stop this ridiculous, arrogant ripoff of their customers.

Business

Response:

Currently, The Bee subscriptions include the pinted paper and unlimited online access to all digital products and devices. For subscribers, the news and information is accessible anytime, anywhere even while on vacation. Back in September 2012, The Bee did implement an online access fee. This includes sacbee.com and the e-Edition. If an inactive print reader goes to sacbee.com and clicks on an article, they will be asked to select a package (print & digital or digital only). For the [redacted] residence, the digital access is included with the current subscription. As a result of the digital change, the options for vacation requests have also changed. As explained by the customer service representative, the [redacted] family has access to the paper while away on vacation. Another option is to have the printed papers held and delivered upon the return of their vacation. In either case, the digital access is available 24/7. The Bee representative did give a one time credit for the recent vacation stop. Moving forward, the options will be to have the papers held and delivered or view the paper digitally. This does not extend the expiration date on the account. The digital access can be viewed on a PC, laptop, smart phone, iPad or any other tablet.

Review: I signed up with a Bee sales rep in a grocery store for a 1 month trial subscription of home delivery for the Sac Bee newspaper. I was told it'd be $9.95/mo and I'd get a $10 gift card and "I'd be getting 5 cents, a month of papers plus all the Sunday coupons and the animal shelter would pick up the papers afterwards for recycling". Made it sound like a win-win for all. I (foolishly) signed up, got my gift card, and waited for my papers that weekend. I was shorted my first 2 papers. I called and was able to get the next 2. Then when I checked my bank balance, I found my account overdrawn. I checked and the Bee had first overcharged me ($13.95 not $9.95 like I was told it'd be) then double charged me. I was charged $27.70 for 2 papers. Since I could not cover the extra charge, I was charged a $35 overdraft fee. Because of their careless mistake, I paid $62.70 for 2 papers. I called to get them to refund my money and was told I'd have to go somewhere and pay to get copies of my bank records for proof, then pay more to fax that to them. I asked them to transfer me to billing and they couldn't/wouldn't? I asked to speak to a manager or someone who could refund me my money and was told there was no one to help me any more than I had. NO BILLING, NO ONE I COULD TALK TO AND NO WAY TO REFUND MY MONEY WITHOUT PAYING MORE MONEY. I hit the roof! I messaged them on their Facebook page and was told "a VIP customer service rep would call me to resolve my issue. After more than 1 week, NO ONE HAS CALLED ME YET. They refuse to call me or do anything to resolve this. I have filed 2 complaints with their customer service dept., but again, NO RESPONSE FROM THEM. I have NEVER had such horrible customer service! I'm currently working with my bank trying to get it straight because the Sacramento Bee clearly doesn't care about their customer service. They STILL refuse to contact me in any way even though they have 3 ways to reach me.Desired Settlement: I want BOTH $13.95 charges refunded AND my $35 overdraft fee, total $62.70. And a public complaint filed to warn others of their customer service policy or rather lack of customer service.

Business

Response:

Customer signed up for the weekend delivery (Friday -Sunday). The rate quoted of $9.95 was incorrect since The Bee has a one time activation fee on all new accouunts. Unfotunately, it sounds as though the salesperson did not explain the offer. This information has been given to the Sales Manager. She will follow up on the incorrect information. When these orders are processed, we can track the down person who sold the order. This is definitely a training and coaching opportunity for the salespeople. We apologize for the problems this has caused Ms. [redacted]. In looking at Ms. [redacted]'s account, it appears there has been a refund in the amount of $27.70 on 7/30/14. This is for the 2 payments of $13.85 each. As for the overdraft fee, we will honor the refund, however for documentation purposes, our Accounting Department will need a copy of the overdraft fee. This can be faxed to ###-###-#### or scanned and emailed to [redacted] or can be mailed to [redacted]2. Again, we apologize for the incorrect information given at the time of the sale.

Review: My subscription with Sac. Bee was expired on 3/30/14 and I did not renew my subscription, but the newspapers kept coming. I called in today, 5/8/14, and was told that I owe $21.71 which I have sent in the payment via online. When I complained. I was told by a Sac Bee representative over the phone that Sac. Bee policy is to keep the subscription active and keep charging the customer, even if Sac Bee did not receive any renewal. I believe that this type of business practice is unethical, because it is forcing the customer to keep getting what he/she no longer wanted, hence, not renewing the subscription. What if the customer were to die or unable to communicate before his/her subscription expired? Does this mean that The Bee keeps on charging a no longer existing customer?Desired Settlement: I am requesting that the Sacramento Bee stop charging and delivering the newspaper if the subscriber did not renew his/her subscription. As a customer, I should have the option of not renewing my subscription and do not get chard for it. Thank you!

Business

Response:

Customer, [redacted] has had a Sacramento Bee account for several years. The same process has been in place on renewing subscriptions. The Sacramento Bee does not stop subscriptions on the expiration date. We allow a 90 day grace period to send in the renewal payment. Prior to the expiration date, The Bee sends out the first renewal which states, "the paper will continue unless the Bee is notified otherwise." This is on all promotional material, online, renewal notice and emails. After the expiration date, The Bee sends out 2 additional renewal notices, which include the same verbiage. In this case, we sent out 2 renewals (2/24/14 and 4/28/14) prior to Mr. [redacted] stopping the subscription on 5/9/14. We do appreciate all customer feedback. And, we will document this on Mr. [redacted]'s account. Our hope is he will restart the service at a later time. We do thank Mr. [redacted] for his continued readership and his loyalty as a Bee reader.

Review: delivering a paper after repeated requests to stop both by phone and email

The Sacramento Bee is responsible for delivering the Vida en el valle newspaper to my home. I have requested a few times over the last 2 years i've occupied this property that the paper should no longer be delivered there. i've made repeated requests over the last 30 days by phone and email to stop delivery of this unwanted paper and as of today, 11/7/2013, it is still being delivered. It's a simple request and should easily be fixed. every customer rep I speak to says they'll get the problem solved but no one seems to be able to get it doneDesired Settlement: I want the paper NOT delivered to my home every week

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

Contact Name and Title: [redacted]

Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX

Contact Email: [redacted]@sacbee.com

I've reviewed Mr. [redacted]'s account information. As he's stated he has requested not to receive Vida delivery on 3 recent occasions, beginning on October 7, 2013. His request was processed by our customer service staff, to include messages to the delivery person to stop delivery, so it appears that further communication with our distribution partner is required. Bee management is contacting the contracted distribution business owner directly to ensure the request is honored immediately. We're sorry for the difficulty we've encountered in honoring Mr. [redacted]'s request.

Review: I was offered a 52/week subscription for $19.99 called Sundays Plus. I paid for this in January 2013 and they now say it expires Aug. 8, 2013.

I forwarded my invoice and check copy to the Bee customer service department showing them that I paid for 52 weeks @.38 cents a week for $19.99.

I was told that I was now being charged a $1.00 premium for 9 special editions and a $3.95 activation fee that comes out of the $19.99 which means I really only purchased $7.04 or 18 and half weeks of the paper. A far cry from the 52 weeks promised in the advertisement and on the invoice- I did find the fine print where they say these special editions are not included in the subscription price and they will adjust it accordingly-you do not have a choice of not wanting these special editions (most of which do not fall on a Sunday-and all I wanted was the Sunday paper). Why not just say 52 weeks with special editions for $28.99 (the 19.99 + $9.00). Every email I received from their customer service department either had a new charge or different dates of start and end times. Nothing makes sense. And if you call them, good luck- last lady I talked to was overseas. Desired Settlement: 52 weeks of the Sunday paper for the paid $19.99 as advertised.

Business

Response:

Business' Initial Response

Ms. [redacted] contacted our Customer Service department by email. Through the email correspondences, the account was resolved. I contacted Ms. [redacted] by phone to confirm this was resolved. She said it has been resolved as of 7/16/13.

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

Review: Our annual bill did not show "to and from" dates. I assumed if I did not pay the bill the newspaper would stop delivery when the previous year's payment/coverage ended. I did not know when the previous year's coverage ended so when delivery continued I did not know they were delivering it on a "grace period basis". I was eventually presented with a bill for $62.85 for the newspaper that had been delivered under this "grace period". I called to complain but agreed to pay when told it had been delivered under this "grace period" but I told the newspaper staff person I was not going to pay any more and I wanted delivery stopped immediately. I couldn't believe it when in November I got another bill which showed I owed another $10.80. Ultimately, I now am receiving a collection notice for the $10.80 as I refused to pay it. I am going to go ahead and pay the $10.80 as I don't want my stellar credit rating tainted by a silly little $10.80 collection notice but I want it on notice that The Sacramento Bee is underhanded in its practices regarding delivery and billing. I will never subscribe to their paper again.Desired Settlement: If they have filed anything on my credit report I would like it removed. I don't feel I owe the $10.80 abut I don't care about getting it back. It's not worth the hassle.

Business

Response:

The account has been active for several years. In this case, the account expired on 8/23/15. As a standard business practice, The Bee sends out a renewal notice 4-5 weeks prior to the expirationd date. On all renewal notices, The Bee states the paper will continue unless The Bee is notified otherwise. The first renewal was sent on 8/3/15 and the second one on 9/21/15. The account was stopped on 10/24/15 and a payment was posted on 11/23/15. The remaining balance should have been cleared at this time as well. However, since the $10.80 is still showing, we will have it cleared today, 12/21/15. This amount will not show on any credit report. The collection company is a third party vendor The Bee uses to mial out final notifications. The third party vendor will also be notified that this is resolved and cleared.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. Further, after reviewing the previous year's bill, I see that they do give an "Expiration Date" and they do state that they will continue service until notified to stop service so I think I was in error in how I handled the account. I did ultimately pay all charges that they say I owed including the last $10.60 (or $10.80) that they say I owed and that check was cashed and paid. So, I should be completely settled with them. I apologize because I should have read the fine print more clearly and this whole mix-up could have been prevented. Thank you to the Revdex.com for checking things out.

Review: The Sacramento Bee did not end my subscription after the agreed to time of service. They have a one-sided auto continuation policy. Knowing this, and having read about their terrible overseas customer service center, we choose to pay by check, so they could not auto-renew.

When the subscription ended, they continued to send the paper, and eventually sent us a bill.

I have called their customer service number several times. Each time, I struggled to communicate with the rep, I asked for a supervisor, and the rep argued with me, that it was not necessary. I insisted, and was put on hold for 10 minutes. The rep then came back on and informed that the supervisor was busy. I believe, that this was the rep, taking pleasure in keeping me on hold.

I tried to resolve the issue through customer service, and I am now left, with no alternative, but to file a complaint.Desired Settlement: I would like the ~$125 erased from our account. This would cover the papers that were delivered by the Bee, after the termination date of our contract.

Business

Response:

Customer has been an active subscriber for several years. The same billing process of allowing a grace period for the renewal payment has not changed. The payments The Bee has been receiving have come after the account expires. The payment of $49.40 on 7/28/15 paid the account from 6/9/15-7/14/15. The Bee sent out a first renewal notice on 7/30/15, after the payment posted since the payment was received late. The second renewal was sent on 8/13/15 & the third reenewal on 9/17/15. The payment was received on 10/6/15 but paid for past papers 7/14/15-8/18/15. All renewal notices state the paper will continue unless The Bee is notified otherwise. In this case, the account was being paid after the expiration date each time, however we did not stop Mr. [redacted]'s account since we allow a 90 day grace period for the payments to be received and processed. The Bee also sent out 2 other notices on 10/8/15 and 10/22/15 before the account was stopped on 11/16/15 and a final notice was mailed.We do apologize for the frustration and for the customer service experience. As of today, we have cleared the balance on this account to a zero balance. In the future, please note The Bee bills in advance and also allows a grace period for the renewal payments to process without an interruption in service.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. I appreciate the Bee's response and respect their opinion. I would strongly urge them to improve their customer service department.

Review: This is in regard to the Sacramento Bee newspaper. On 1/6/15 I wrote a check for $123.76 for a 52 week Sunday Only subscription. In June, I received a renewal notice stating my expiration date was 6/28/15. This would be only 6 months & I had only received 25 newspaper by them.

I called & was told I was wrong. This woman argued with me in a way I am unacustomed to. She talked about holidays & I told her I didn't receive any paper except on Sunday or did I order my other papers. So I decided to write them showing their mistake - sent a copy of cancelled check, my renewal notice & letter.Desired Settlement: I did not hear back from them. Received a 2nd notice on 8/16/15 and again sent copies plus added to the letter. This time I sent it to the circulation Sept. + marked "Manager" on it. Again did not hear back. My paper has stopped. My calculation says that 52 weeks ends 1/3/16. I believe this is a terrible way to conduct business & felt I needed to write to you about it. Thank you for naything you can do.

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted]'s account was on daily service until 1/11/15. On 1/11/15, the account was changed from daily to Sunday only. However, at that time, the daily paper had expired on 11/28/14. There was an amount due at the time of the delivery change. The amount at that time was $43.31. When the payment of $123.76 was paid, the $43.31 was deducted from that payment. The remaining credit was applied to the Sunday only delivery. The new expiration date was 6/28/15. The Bee does not stop accounts on the expiration date, which is why the account continuned until 9/26/15 (on a grace period). The balance of $30.44 ws from the expiration date of 6/28/15 - 9/26/15. We definitely apologize for the poor customer service Mr. [redacted] experienced. At this time, the account has been cleared of any past amount due. Our hope is Mr. [redacted] will restart his subscription in the near future. Please feel free to contact us at [redacted] if you have any further questions or concerns.Thank you

Consumer

Response:

Consumer stated

"

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my concern, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me but still had a bad experience with the Bee and will not use the service again." [redacted]

Review: I have requested that my address be removed from Sacramento Bee's mailing list and to stop sending the M.V.P. advertising circular on 10/25/2015. Sacramento Bee confirmed that they would remove me from their mailing list and to stop sending the circular. The request was not fulfilled. I again requested on 2/7/2016. Sacramento Bee again confirmed they would stop sending me the circular. I continue to receive the circular despite my repeated requests.Desired Settlement: Permanently remove my address from their mailing list and to stop sending all circulars that originate from their company or any of their affiliates in any form immediately.

Business

Response:

We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you however we have contacted our delivery partners to remove your address from any products being delivered. If you have any further questions please contact us at [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because: Closure of this case is pending validation that circular has stopped. I will observe for 30 days. If no additional circulars are received, this case can be closed. I will update status within 30 days of it is possible to do so.

Review: I canceled the bee about two months ago (after expected pushback from the rep, who eventually relented & asked me for my card information to pay my remaining balance) Soon thereafter I was harassed with a couple calls, claiming I had not paid my bill of 8 dollars & some change, which had in fact been debited from my bank account the day I canceled. After leaving a voicemail to inform them of their error, one would expect that to be the last time I heard from them. Since then, I have received over a dozen missed calls at odd hours, from more than 6 different numbers, 'advertising' their rates. The first time I was able to answer one of these calls, I asked to be removed from their list. The woman informed me that she could remove me from that list for that specific number, but since they had sold my number to numerous companies to do the calls on the Bee's behalf, I may need to repeat this request several times. She was correct, despite being on the national DO NOT CALL list, I have continued to get these calls, some from numbers which, when I try to call back, there's no connection. All of this amounts to harassment - plain & simple. According to other online reviews & complaints, this seems to be routine for them. Honestly, had I known about the frustration this would cause, I would've continued the subscription, & used the paper as an expensive but efficient firestarter.Desired Settlement: Do not contact me again.

Business

Response:

Thank you for your patience, We apologize for this inconvenience however you a zero balance and we have confirmation you are not on our collections calling list. I have flagged your account and phone number to Do Not Solicit file as well. If you have any questions please contact us at [redacted]