The Republican

I have called time & again, because my Thursday,& Sunday papers have NOT been delivered. The Republican has gone down the tubes. They want you to read your newspaper on your laptop or phone. Which NO ONE wants to do. The days are GONE when the Spfld. Republican could be Proud of their SERVICE.

Hi, we cannot get the latest subscription (Thursday, 24 June 2021) We pay for and get the Sunday paper. Thank you. Robert & Jean Bathgate [email protected]

Unwanted republican extra.After calling 4 times in the 6 months to stop delivering their Extra paper, it continues. Last call was 2 weeks ago as I stated leaving your garbage in my yard again would result in being reported. My servailence cameras showed yet another paper being delivered at 11:30pm 2/12/14. Desired SettlementStop making me clean up The Republicans unwanted papers from my yard.Business Response My name is [redacted] I am the [redacted] for The Springfield Republican Extra. Below is the actions we have taken to insure that Mrs. [redacted] at [redacted] Rd, [redacted] Chicopee XXXXX does not receive the Springfield Extra. The case number is XXXXXX We have taken [redacted] off of our route list for the contractor. I have spoken to the contractor who does the route and explained to him to not deliver to this address. I have also informed my service assistant to verify that this address is not being delivered for the next four weeks and I have added this address to our opt-out list to not deliver here. Any questions/concerns you may contact me at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Thank You, [redacted]

Prepaid 1 yr subscription in 11/2013. Notified today: price going up -they will apply new price and my subscription will end sooner than 11/2014In November, 2013, I prepaid The Republican newspaper organization [redacted] for a 1 year subscription for Mon. through Saturday home delivery of newspaper. Today, March 3, 2014, I received a letter from The Republican that states:"This is to inform you effective March 31, 2014, the home delivery price of your Monday to Saturday subscription will increase by * cents per day so that the new regular office pay price will be [redacted] per week. After March 31 your subscription account will be charges at the new price which means that the date the prepayment for your subscription runs out will be sooner than it would have been without this increase."Signed by [redacted], ** and [redacted]My issue with The Republican is that I feel this act is a form of bait and switch. Having paid [redacted] a year in advance, I consider that price to be locked in until the end of my originally-agreed-upon subscription termination date and not subjected to a price increase mid-subscription!Desired SettlementI would like this resolved for myself and for all others in similar circumstances - just honor the original agreement.Business Response We received a letter from this customer with regard to their complaint. We did reach out by phone and left messages twice. We let the customer know we would honor the expiration date that the current payment covers. The customer did call us back to confirm they received the message and to thank us for following up and resolving the issue.

My pre-paid subscription to the paper was over in February. I was not notified that if I did not pay it would be automatically renewed. I purchased a subscription to the paper using a sale that was sent to me in the mail. I was told at the time of subscription that I would be contacted about re-subscribing when it was up. I did not receieve any documentation about this. On April 28th I receievd a bill from the Republican that stated that I owed $32.50 for papers from February 14 - May 9. I email the customer serivce person stating that I would not pay for a service that I did not request and should not have been receiving papers after my subscription was up. The response was "I stopped your papers for 5/2/13 and 5/5/13. A bill was sent out to you on 1/10/13 to renew the subscription which expired on 2/25/13. Unfortunatly if you do not pay the carriers will be out the cost of all those papers the carriers had no way of know you did not intend to resubscribe. I will let the carriers know." on April 29th. I responded back that since I did not pay for more papers and they keep that information then they should tell the carriers and stop the paper. It is not my fault they did nto communicate with the carriers. I did not receive any response and so believed that the issue was resolved. Monday May 6th I received 2 identicial letters that stated that there was some confusion between myself and the carriers and that they would be happy to resolve the issue by my paying the amount and then restart my paper service. There was no confusion. I did not know that my service had continued past my prepaid poitn and so could not stop it. I stopped the service as soon as I was notified of it. I called the customer service today and was told that I was sent a bill in January, I knew how long the subscription was, and that it would automatically renew anyway. I find it unacceptable that my subscription would automatically renew when I know nothing about that and if I did not pay the bill I did not recieve in January why would it continue. I have paid the entire bill although I did not recieve the last few papers and should have have been billed the full amount but this should not happen to anyone else and the practice of renewing without notification to the customer is wrong. Desired SettlementI would like my $30.50 returned to me and the company practice of renewing without prepayment or customer notifing that they wish to renew to stop.Business' Initial Response We researched [redacted]'s complaint. We identified that [redacted] did receive a mailer from us, as she indicated, in February 2012 with a 52 week offer of Thursday and Sunday service for 99 cents per week ($51.48). The insert which presented this offer was two sided. The back of the insert contained the following sentence in the five line disclosure ". . . After the introductory period, you will be billed and your subscription will continue at the then current regular price (based on the delivery days you selected) unless you notify your independent carrier or call XXX-XXX-XXXX to cancel." This serves as our notice that subscriptions will continue unless The Republican is contacted by the subscriber to cancel and stop their service. A sample of the insert can be provided upon request; I could not find a way to upload it with this response. Thank you.Consumer's Final Response (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)I was told when signed up that I would be notified when the subscription would be up for renewal and whatever letter was sent to me I did not receive. There was never a second notification sent or something put with my paper so I would know that the subscription was up. I would have cancelled had I been notified in a timely manner. Instead the first time I received any notification was when I received a bill for papers already received past when I paid for them. I also should not have had to pay the whole bill since I cancelled at least 1 week prior to the end date for the bill I received. I find it odd that I did not receive notification that my subscription was ending, but I received the bill and then 2 more mailings after I called to say that I should not have to pay for the bill.

The Republican will not provide a Sunday paper for the 52 weeks that I paid for. In January 2015, I renewed my subscription to the Sunday Republican for 52 weeks paying $91.00. I paid by check which was cashed on 12 January 2015. My Sunday Republican account number is: XXXXXXXX Recently, I received an undated letter from The Republican stating that their subscription rates are going up to $2.00 per week and that they will not honor my contract to provide 52 weeks of the Sunday Republican.Desired SettlementI want to continue receiving home delivery of the Sunday Republican for the 52 weeks that I prepaid for.Business Response Contact Name and Title: [redacted]Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXXContact Email: [redacted]We will honor Mr. [redacted] payment and his expiration will be corrected to reflect his one year payment that will cover through 1/10/16.Consumer Response (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)This is exactly what I wanted. The Republican will honor its commitment to provide 52 weeks of the Sunday Republican at the prepaid price.

paid in full didn't get the newspaperBack in April of this yr. I had a call from a telemarker giving me a quote and special price on receiving the Sunday paper and the Thursday paper for a low rate. I took advance of this and went down to the office to paid the subscription in full on April 27 2014. For several months I was having the paper deliver to my door because I was handicap. The carriers did what they were told. But within the last months I was getting my delverly late and also they were not delverling my paper properly. I complaint to the newspaper company and they said they were take care of the issue. I understand that the newspaper company sells their routes to discist managers. I had troubly with my delivered and I alked to the district lady and she gave me a hard time. Her name is [redacted] Because she couldn,t get any carrier to deliver her route she cancel me out. I went to the newspaper company this morning and found out that she cancel out my papers. I asked the company for a refund and they told me that I have to wait for two weeks before I would get a check. I think that it is not right the way I got treated. When I paid for the paper I have to wait 2 weeks and I pd for the yr. in full that day.Desired Settlementrefund my full amount that I paid. When the paper was not deliverBusiness Response /* (**00, 11, 2014/**/31) */There is an issue with this customer in regards to using [redacted] foul language to the Independent Contractor ([redacted] In 2011 Ms. [redacted] accused the carrier of breaking a plant pot when throwing the paper.. The carrier denied doing this in front of their mother who also stated she watches her child deliver every paper and stated her child did not break the pot. Ms. [redacted] call Ms. [redacted] informing her of the broken pot and then stating that the child has a "[redacted]". Ms. [redacted] said that if they stated they did not break the pot and also that she ([redacted]) never visually see the damage done. [redacted] then told [redacted] "I will get you fired" .. When [redacted] informed [redacted] that she cannot get her "fired" as she is not an employee of the company [redacted] responded "Go to [redacted]" and hung up.... Ms [redacted] felt she does not have to take that abuse and informed [redacted] she will no longer received delivery. In March 2012 the [redacted] wanted to restart the paper.. Ms. [redacted] agreed under the conditions that they pay in advance, have no contact with the carrier and if she calls Ms. [redacted] phone it will not be before 6:30 am which according to [redacted] had occurred in the past. [redacted] agreed to thos conditions.Then on **/2/14 [redacted] called in a no delivery complaint ... When the distributor saw the complaint she called Ms. [redacted] to explain due to them having repairs on the house the mailbox was not there to hang the paper from so she left it at the door. Again, the customer (Mr. [redacted] starting using [redacted] and very vulgar language when on the phone with [redacted] which [redacted] decided and informed them they would have to go to the store to receive their paper for again she did not have to put up with that abuse. She did not stop the paper because she did not have a carrier at the time ... it was cancelled due to the [redacted] and abusive language.[redacted] came to the office a couple days later, spoke to [redacted] (supervisor who was very familiar with this and the past incident)... during the conversation when [redacted] informed them of the language issue again Mr. [redacted] denied it but Mrs. [redacted] conceeded that he husband did use the foul language (we also have a taped conversation that is used for training purposes in out Connecticut customer servcie center from the call Mrs. [redacted] made and she stated that her husband called [redacted] "an [redacted]". The [redacted] did demand an immediate refund of their money which was paid out ($25.26 which was the remaining amount of the money in the account) on **/13/14. Ms. [redacted] did not pay a year in full that day rather that was paid on 4/27/14. Also to clarify we (the newspaper) do not sell the routes ... the routes (districts are owned by Independent Contractors who do sell their proprietary distributorship to another individual and is not done through the newspaper. Ms. [redacted] decideed to stop the paper due to the vulgar, abusive language used towards her. Ms. [redacted] is an Independent and does have that right. She has been an Independent Contractor with us for ** years and never have we had any complaints about her in any negative way.

I was never billed in 2013 for daily paper. Never agreed to be billed by person who delivers the paper but by the newspaper only. Paid Sunday pape.Paper was never cx but was delivered Usual practice is that delivery is stopped. In my case it wasn't. Now owe over 200.00. Always pay my bills but wouldn't think to pay it without a bill. Billed every 90 days. Unfair practiceDesired SettlementAcknowledgement and an apology and maybe a lower balance due as this was there faultBusiness Response This customer was "paid to the office" and was send a renewal bill on April 4, 2013 to which they did not respond. On the bill it clearly states that if you do not send in your payment they would be billed by the carrier. The message on the renewal bill also states that delivery would continue unless you called the newspaper (XXX-XXXX) or the carrier.As for why this was allowed to go on without being collected we as a company cannot answer. The carriers do NOT work for us rather they are contracted by an Independent Distributor. We cannot (by laws under the Independent Contractor guidelines) dictate to them on their billing practices. We bill the Independent Contractor for the papers and he pays us for those papers at a wholesale rate. The difference between the whiolesale and retail rates is their profit / compensation.Unfortunately there does not seem to be a way to attach the renewal bill that we send out.Final Business Response [redacted],Due to the carriers / Distributors being Independent Contractors we have no access nor legally can we get access to their collection records.**

The Republican Extra delivered on wednesdays has been thrown anywhere in my yard. This has caused me inconvenience, one time I hit one with snowblower and other times I find these newspapers half in the drain in front of my house. I did not order nor use this paper and I throw it away. I have called this company three different times to stop delivering the paper but they still deliver it and throw it wherever they want in my yard.Product_Or_Service: Free delivered paperOrder_Number: noneAccount_Number: noneDesired SettlementI want them to stop delivering the paper to my address.Business Response My name is [redacted] I am the [redacted] for The Springfield Republican Extra. Below is the actions we have taken to insure that Mr. [redacted] at [redacted] XXXXX does not receive the Springfield Extra. The case number is XXXXXX We have taken [redacted] off of our route list for the contractor. I have spoken to the contractor who does the route and explained to her to not deliver to this address. I have also informed my service assistant to verify that this address is not being delivered for the next four weeks and I have added this address to our opt-out list to not deliver here. Any questions/concerns you may contact me at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Thank You, [redacted]Consumer Response (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)Still delivered the paper Wednesday, March 19th. I want to clarify that I wanted to opt out for good not just four weeks.Final Business Response I had an service assistant verified that no flyer was delivered by the carrier. I again this week will have a service assistant be behind the carrier to make sure no flyer is delivered. Also do you have the customer's number so I can call him directly to make sure nothing is delivered to the customer's address.Thank You,[redacted]

I don't want them delivering advertising to my driveway each week.Every week someone from the republican puts a copy of the "Republican Extra" in my driveway. I then deposit it directly in the trash since it is mostly advertising. I do not subscribe to the Republican and do not want them throwing this on my driveway every week. At least 3 times over the past few years I have called to have them stop (The last time being 1 month ago) and yet it keeps coming. I just want them to stop throwing this on my driveway! Please can you help!Desired SettlementI want them to stop throwing their "republican Extra" on my driveway each week.Business' Initial Response Contact Name and Title: [redacted]Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXXContact Email: [redacted]We have contacted the carrier to discontinue delivery of the Republican Extra to [redacted]. This carrier has been informed in the past of this stop. In addition we will be visually following up that no delivery is made and make follow up calls to [redacted] verifying no delivery has been made

After notification of intent not to renew an expiring subscription, the Republican continued delivery, and sent billing to a collection agency.My subscription to the Republican Newspaper was set to expire at the end of February. I sent a notice of intent not to renew (even though that was not required) at the beginning of February. I received an email acknowledging receipt of message.[redacted]@repub.com2/5/2014 1:32 PM"Thank you. Your request has been received"Delivery continued into March and April. I have received no fewer than 3 telephone calls offering to renew my subscription, to which I emphatically declined. On the last one, I asked that I not be called again.* The Republican sent billing for this unauthorized delivery to a collection agency. *While it may simply be incompetence on the part of the Republican's administrative staff, I actually believe that this is an intentional, aggressive, and coercive mechanism for maintaining subscription numbers. The Republican was never authorized to continue services past the end of a fixed term subscription.Delivery was to [redacted] XXXXXDesired SettlementImmediate termination of delivery. Written notice that the charges for unauthorized delivery have been cancelled and that no action regarding my credit report will be taken.Business Response Contact Name and Title: [redacted] - [redacted]Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXXContact Email: [redacted]@repub.comThe customer received a renewal bill at the beginning of February. All renewal bills clearly state that the service will continue unless they "call carrier or [redacted] (main office)"... Approximately 60% of the customers pay the office, 40% pay the carrier directly. Newspapers do not operate like magazines we give the customer a choice if they wnat to pay us directly or the carrier.We will clear the [redacted] non payment on this account immediately.Wanted to note that this is the first time this complaint has been issued.