Staten Island Advance

Review: I have a newspaper subscription with the Staten Island Advance. I received a letter from them dated May **, 2015, that stated that I would receive a free $25.00 [redacted] gift card if I went on their monthly EZ Pay program. On May **, I went on the EZ Pay program and my credit card was charged the first fee. The new service was supposed to start on May **.

I received a phone call from Susan, the woman that delivers my newspaper. She told me that her supervisor called her and told her that I wasn't on the EZ Pay program and that I would have to pay the newspaper fee on Friday, May **, and I did.

I called the SI Advance, subscriber services [redacted] on June *, and I was told that they paid another subscriber's bill with my credit charge and that they would correct it, and the service would start on June *.

I never received the [redacted] gift card in the 4 to 6 weeks that I was supposed to receive it. I called the SI Advance on July **, and I told the customer service representative that I never received the gift card. She told me that they had sent out letters concerning the gift cards on May **. I said that I never received it. She said someone would get back to me, but no one did.

On August **, I called again concerning the gift card that I didn't receive. I was told by the representative that I lived at another address before [redacted]. I told her that I have lived at this address for the past 15 years. Then she said that I was being charged a different rate, $13.00, instead of $21.45. I asked her how long I would be charged this rate and she said she didn't know. She said that I could speak to the supervisor, Ed B[redacted]. She transferred my call to his number, no one answered it, so I left a message. Mr. B[redacted] hasn't returned my phone call and I haven't received the free $25.00 [redacted] gift card for going on their EZ Pay program.Desired Settlement: I should be given the free $25.00 Target gift card.

Business

Response:

To whom it may concern,

I have attached the response to your complaint number [redacted] regarding [redacted]. If you have any questions please let me know.

Thank you,

Richard S[redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,

Review: In the course of aiding my grandfather update his payment options across his monthly, recurring bills, I discovered he was paying $25.45 a month to the Staten Island Advance. This is the price for subscribers who receive the paper daily, however my grandfather has long only received the paper twice a week (Thurs. and Sun.), and so his rate should have been nearly half the price (at $13) as posted on the newspaper's website.

This overbilling has gone on since April 2012 and my grandfather, limited at periods by age and illness, never recognized the gross overcharging until I had pointed it out to him and we dug through archived credit card statements.

On July [redacted], we cancelled the subscription effective at the end of the current cycle. That afternoon, I emailed billing/circulation support at the newspaper informing them of their billing error. Their only response was to start delivering the paper daily. Their decision to do so is clearly an acknowledgment (if only a tacit one) that he had been improperly charged the wrong rate for years on end.

In our initial complaint to the company we included credit card statements outlining the years of payments to them and would gladly share them again should they be needed, however the company should have them already.Desired Settlement: Seeing as he paid in excess for 40 months (without receiving near the amount of product that his payment should have bought, not that he wished for a daily subscription in the first place), a refund of the difference is the only outcome that would fix this situation.

There is no desire to continue a relationship with the newspaper.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, I have not been contacted by Staten Island Advance regarding complaint ID [redacted].Sincerely,[redacted]