USA Today A Gannett Company

I continue to receive unsolicited emails from USA Today years after I cancelled my subscription. I have spoken to "customer service" multiple times and they always tell me they have addressed the issue, but the emails have never stopped. This corporate giant must not be allowed to abuse customer information! Thank you.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a...

reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: 
* I was told three times it was available as a back-issue. Should not take three months to make this determination.
* I was supposed to receive my money back over 60 days ago.  This is the same response I am getting.
* I would like a manager who knows what is going on at USA today to call me personally at ###-###-#### and tell me when I wil reeive this refund.  
The response they are giving are completely ignoring the facts of thier mismanaged company and I will not accept them sweeping this under the rug.  
Regards,
[redacted]

Ms. [redacted] wrote to you will concerns about the delay in the stop of the subscription. Gannett does have two types of stops. We have temporary stops and permanent stops. We did make the adjustment back to the date of the request and provide a refund of $5.18 as requested. The refund was...

processed December 23, 2014. I have tried several times to reach Ms. [redacted]l to talk about the refund but have been unsuccessful. I did leave her voicemails telling her that the refund was processed on the 23rd. At this time I feel this complaint should be closed.Sincerely,Barb S[redacted]VP Customer Service and Call Center Operations[redacted]Louisville, KY 40202

This customers complaint has been sent to the local market for service correction.

[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
Good Afternoon, Please close the attached case as it has been...

resolved.        Dale J[redacted]Customer Support SpecialistNCS/CSC/Publishing Services[redacted]  USA TODAY/ Sports Weekly

Thank you for writing USA TODAY. Our records show the account is now inactive. I will research why the charge of $4.07 and see to it that the account stops for sure. I will reply with my findings. Thank you. 
Dale J[redacted]
Customers Support

Thank you for contacting USA TODAY's Headquarters. We do apologize that it has taken longer than usual to get your request processed. Please be assured that I have personally contacted out distribution team to cease all communication to email 
sans-serif;">[redacted]. If you have any further issues please reply so that we can help correct. Thank you. 
Dale J[redacted]
Customer Support Specialist
GANNETT/ USA TODAY

Good Afternoon, 
Thank you for writing USA TODAY through the Revdex.com. We have awarded credit for the 4 papers that were missed from 6/24-6/27. We do apologize if [redacted] did not process your complaint as you were used too. We will be sure to coach her. Please continue to call...

whenever there is a delivery problem so that we can resolve quickly and improve your service response. Thank you.

Thank you for writing USA TODAY. Our accounting department will need the money order number and amount in order to research your payment. USA TODAY requires that you verify the money order for us to search for the payment. Thank you.

A refund of $11.95 was processed 7/14 it will take 48 hours for the customer to receive the refund and more depending on the customers financial institution procedures. Thank you.

Thank you for writing USA TODAY. We direct our customers to call us to cancel so that we may find out the source of the cancellation. USA TODAY finds that this information is helpful in us improving our service areas. We understand calling us can be a burden at certain times as in the morning into...

noon are our busiest hours of operation as delivery issues and inquiries reports are high. Please try to reach us in the mid/late afternoon hours to get a quicker response. Thank you for writing USA TODAY.

Business has notified the Revdex.com that the matter was resolved directly with the consumer.

Review: I have found cancelling my subscription very difficult. I have made the following attempts.

1. 12/31/14 logged onto my account on USA Today site, could not find anyway to cancel online so called 800 number but was told it was after business hours.

2. 1/1/15 sent email to customer Service asking to cancel subscription.

Received a reply same day assigning a tracking number [redacted]. 1/2/15 Received a text from American Express informing me USA Today had charged my account for $27.08 for January bill.

I again emailed USA Today asking again to cancel subscription and requesting refund to credit card.

4. 1/5/15 At 10:49 called customer service again told to press 1 for call back with a expected 10 to 17 minute wait. Never received call back

5. 1/6/15 Received email from USA Today explaining my subscription had not been cancelled and that I had to call customer service to cancel it.

6. 1/7/15 At 10:07 called customer serve again (3rd time). Decided to wait for representative, again told to expect 10 to 17 minute wait. Representative came online at 11:00, a 43 minute wait time.

Gave him a brief summary of events ,said he showed no record of my calls and that I was told I had to call to cancel. Offered a reduced rate to continue I said no thanks and confirmed my subscription was cancelled, he said yes as of 2/2/15.Desired Settlement: USA Today needs to offer customers a more efficient and timely method to cancel subscriptions. Their phone based customer service appears to be saturated resulting, at best, long wait times. You can do everything else on their website, why not allow cancellations? This appears to be an obstacle intended to delay or frustrate customers wishing to cancel their prescription.

My refund is not the issue, I just want them to improve the process customers must endure to camel a subscription.

Business

Response:

Thank you for writing USA TODAY. We direct our customers to call us to cancel so that we may find out the source of the cancellation. USA TODAY finds that this information is helpful in us improving our service areas. We understand calling us can be a burden at certain times as in the morning into noon are our busiest hours of operation as delivery issues and inquiries reports are high. Please try to reach us in the mid/late afternoon hours to get a quicker response. Thank you for writing USA TODAY.

Business

Response:

Thank you for writing USA TODAY. We appreciate your opinion and respectfully state that USA TODAY requires customers to call to cancel. Thank you.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

I believe the instruction provided by USA Today on their "Subscribe Now" page should be clearer about cancellation. The instruction from that page is as follows:

"if you decide to cancel your subscription, you may contact customer service at 1-800-872-0001 and the full amount of any balance over $2.00 will be returned." I think it would be clearer to customers if "must" replace "may". I read may indicating this was one possible way, not the only. Having recently cancelled a number of other publication online I assumed this would be possible with USA Today; it is now clear that they do not wish to allow their customers this option.

Review: Late delivery of USA today issue: The carrier has been late with every issue of the USA Today for the past 6 weeks. March 31, 2014; April 1-30, 2014; May 1- present, 2014

Missed issue of the USA Today: April 4, 2014; May 2, 2014 and May 8, 2014

Who at the number of ###-###-#### try to call me during the work day will not get me at all at home. I told them to call me between 6 to 7am or after 7:30pm since I am at work during normal business hour. In addition, I told them to have the district manager to call me between 6 to 7am and they refused to call since my first complaint back in 2013. This is a complete failure of management and customer service.Desired Settlement: To repay me $6.42 for the missed since I had to buy a paper at the store. Fired the current carrier since they been late every day with the paper since March 31 which included 3 missed deliveries. Bring back [redacted] back as the carrier since she was always on time with her deliveries. Have the district manager to finally call me between 6 to 7 am or after 7:30 pm when the customer is home. Get rid of the current service system since the only thing that are going to do Iis give you credit and totally refused to redelivery a missed newspaper.

Business

Response:

The operational hours for this reply is from 9-5pm. The caller wants a call when no one is available during those hours. The customer states to call from 6-7am which is not our regular business hours. If communication cannot be completed by phone we suggest the customer to email us back the email that was sent today. The local market will resolve the delivery issues of being late however the expected delivery time for this location is 8am.

Review: 13 September 2013

Dear **. [redacted]:

This is a complaint against USA TODAY newspaper that has taken money from me without cause, and now refuses to return it to me in spite of my attempts which include several e-mails to them and phone conversations with them.

The issue started on 6 September of this year when I called USA TODAY and requested their rate for a 6 month home delivery subscription to their newspaper. Their representative, who gave his name as [redacted], quoted a price of $159. with an automatic withdrawal from my checking account in that amount. He said I just needed to give him my check routing number and the bank’s account number for my account. I very foolishly gave him these numbers not realizing the consequences, which I later suffered. I told [redacted] I would agree to his removal of the amount of $ 159. under the condition that: I) this amount is full payment for a 6 month home delivery subscription for the paper; 2) there will be no further withdrawals from my checking account; and 3) the subscription will terminate at the end of 6 months. [redacted] indicated he agreed to these conditions and I asked that he confirm this by e-mail. I have not yet received acknowledgment of these conditions from USA TODAY.

Enclosed as attachment 1 are copies of a series of seven (7) e-mails between myself and individuals at USA TODAY, which I have numbered in the order sent and received by me Please refer to these e-mails as numbered.

1. This is simply a form letter from USA TODAY acknowledging my subscription. There is no acknowledgment of the conditions under which I agreed to subscribe.

2. This is my response back to USA TODAY requesting acknowledgment of the conditions.

3. This is again simply a form letter confirming my authorization for USA TODAY to withdraw money from my checking account. This is where it was identified that USA TODAY was withdrawing more money ($182.22, which is $23.22 more than the agreed amount of $ 159.) from my checking account than I had authorized.

4. This is my e-mail responding to e-mail no. 3, informing them they are charging me more for this subscription than the amount quoted to me and to which 1 had agreed.

I am requesting USA Today to do the following: 1) Return to me my

$23.22. 2) Send an apology to me for committing this seemingly

illegal act and 3) State that there will be no more money withdraw from

my checking account (see Attached document).

5. This is my e-mail responding to e-mail no. 1, referencing e-mail no. 3.

6.

This e-mail is from **. [redacted] at USA TODAY, wherein he has

attempted to change a condition previously established. The subscription

is for 6 months, no longer. It terminates at the end of 6 months.

7.

This is my response to **. [redacted] wherein I reminded him of the

conditions under which I had agreed to purchase a 6 month home delivery

subscription to the USA TODAY newspaper.

The above e-mails were

exchanged on September 6 and 7. On Tuesday, September 10,1 received a

phone call from **. Gerald [redacted] at USA TODAY. He attempted to explain

the additional $23.22 withdrawal by saying something about a partial

month charge. This made no sense to me and, at the time, I was away from

home, in a noisy store, talking on my cell phone. I had no idea what he

was trying to explain so I asked iff could call him back after I

returned home. He gave me his phone number and said to call him on

Thursday, September 12.

I had subscribed to the USA TODAY

newspaper last winter with a prepaid 6 month subscription from 30 Aug.

2012 to 28 Feb. 2013. I checked my files and found a copy of a

subscription invoice from USA TODAY that I had received on 27 March,

2013. They had sent this invoice for an unsolicited and unwanted,

additional 6 month subscription. I wrote on their invoice that my

subscription had ended on 28 Feb. and I was not renewing, and I returned

it to them, keeping a copy for myself. Enclosed, as attachment no. 2,

is a copy of that invoice.

I called **. [redacted] Thursday morning

and told him I had found my copy of the unsolicited invoice, and that my

guess is that their subscription or billing department had made an

error by billing for a non-existing subscription for a period of time in

March, 2013, which perhaps precipitated this erroneous $23.22 charge..

**.

[redacted] then told me the charge was for papers sent AFTER 28 February,

2013, until the time they received back their invoice on which I had

written the subscription had ended on 28 February. I reminded **. [redacted]

that the subscription had expired and I had not renewed it. **. [redacted]

then claimed that USA TODAY had the right to automatically renew an

expired subscription without the consumers consent and without notifying

the consumer!! He claimed that I owed the $23.22 for the unwanted

papers sent after 28 February!!

1 informed **. [redacted] that they

cannot charge someone for newspapers sent when there is no subscription

or request or consent from the consumer. That practice would be illegal.

At this point in time (7 months after the fact), I do not remember if

any USA TODAY newspapers were received by me after 28 Feb. If they were,

they were neither requested nor wanted by me and of course I have no

obligation to pay for them.

Since **. [redacted] has refused to return

to me the $23.22 that USA TODAY wrongly removed from my checking

account, 1 am asking the Revdex.com to investigate this issue and facilitate resolution. I am requesting USA TODAY to do the following:

1. Return to me my $23.22.

2. Send an apology to me for committing this seemingly illegal act.

3. State that there will be no more money withdrawn from my checking account.

Thank you for any assistance you can give to this matter. I apologize for such a long letter but I have tried to include all the facts.

Business

Response:

Good Morning,

Thank you for writing USA TODAY. We have been contacted by the

(Revdex.com) Revdex.com about account issues that have gone unresolved. We

show that the refund of $23.22 will be sent back to your credit card on

10/15/13. The account term you are on is a 6 month deal for 159.00. This letter

is to confirm that you are not in the ez pay program and that you will not be

charged without your authorization. We do apologize for any inconvenience this

has caused you. Thank you.

A copy of this was sent to the customer today. Thanks.

Consumer

Response:

From: [redacted]

Date: Mon, Oct 14, 2013 at 2:44 PM

Subject: complaint #[redacted]

To: [email protected]

Cc: [redacted]

To: Revdex.com of Metro Washington DC & Eastern PennsylvaniaRe: Complaint against USA TODAY, your #[redacted] Thank you for your e-mail response dated 12 Oct. 2013. In the last four days, the following events have occurred.1. I spoke by phone on Friday, 11 Oct. with a person who identified himself as [redacted], Director of Customer Service, USA TODAY. He said USA TODAY would be refunding my $23. 22 (he said the refund was being processed). He also said it is the policy of USA TODAY to automatically renew an expired subscription even though the customer did not request a renewal, to renew without notifying the customer, and to bill the customer for the unwanted subscription. I informed [redacted] that practice is not onlywrong but probably illegal. 2. I received your 12 Oct. e-mail. At that time, I had heard nothing from USA TODAY other than the above phone conversation with[redacted]. Referring to the three points in my original complaint, [redacted] offered no apology (point 2) nor did he say there would be nofurther withdrawals from my checking account (point 3).3. Today, 14 Oct., I received an e-mail from [redacted], Customer Support Specialist NCS/CSC/Publishing Services, which I guess must be the publisher of USA TODAY. In his e-mail, **. [redacted] stated my refund of $23.22 would be sent back to my credit cardon 15 Oct. 2013, which is interesting since that money was taken from my checking account and I’m not aware that USA TODAY even has my credit card account number. **. [redacted] also stated I will not be charged (ever again, I hope) without my authorization,and he apologized for the inconvenience this has caused me. Thank you **. [redacted] and I appreciate your attention to this situation. Your 12 Oct. e-mail asked me to respond to one of two statements, one being, has the complaint been resolved, and the other being that I hadnot heard from USA TODAY. As you can see, I have heard from them, however the matter will not be resolved until I receive back the moneythey illegally took from me. I only wish I had had **. [redacted]’s name and contact information in the beginning, as the complaint wouldprobably have been unnecessary. [redacted]

Review: We had subscribed to USA Today but decided we did not wish to renew. I replied to an email soliciting a continuation of the subscription that we did not wish to continue. When the invoice for the subscription came, I wrote a note on the invoice that we no longer wished to subscribe. When we continued to get the paper, I called and told them to stop sending the paper and also that I had already made two attempts to cancel. We now have a bill from USA today for $33 for the newspapers that we had said we did not want. In addition, during my call with customer service, the service representative made multiple attempts to have us renew. I found that insulting. The newpaper only wants cancelling customers to call so that they can press them with sales offers.Desired Settlement: I want the charges that the company has made since our subscription expired to be cleared. We should not have to pay for something we did not request.

Business

Response:

The funds will be cleared from the account tomorrow.

Review: Revdex.com

[redacted], TX [redacted]

Re: USA Today

Consumer Complaint

OCT [redacted]

9-30-14

Dear Sir/Madam:

My name is [redacted]. I resides in a prison facility at the

[redacted] Department of Criminal Justice ([redacted]).

I am writing to request for your mediation services regarding a consumer complaint

that I want to institute against USA Today.

Approximately 2~ months ago, I sent a remittance of $150.00 to USA Today as

prepayment for the commencement of a six (6) month subscription to USA Today to

be delivered to me at the address listed at the conclusion of this correspondence.

Accompanying my letter of complaint is the money transaction tracking documentation

where the sum of $150.00 was withdrawn from [redacted] Inmate Trust Fund Account on 7-9-14 to

substantiate proof of payment and that USA Today did indeed receive the remittance.

As of today,I still have not received my first issue to my subscription. On 8-25-14

I wrote USA Today a letter inquiring about my subscription along with the date the

transactions was made through [redacted] Inmate Trust Fund Account, however, I got no

response from the company.

I wrote my attorney about this, too. He is of the opinion that I have a viable

tort claim against USA Tody and refered me to your agency.He said he was going

to contact your agency in my behalf to put you on alert to be expecting a letter

from me. I am seeking the reimbursement of $150.00 or my six (6) month subscription

to USA Today.to resolve this matter out of court. If they decide to refund me instead

of sending my SUbscription, please have them issue a bank check in that amount made

payable to ITF/[redacted] and mail it to: Inmate Trust Fund,

P.O. Box [redacted].

The Inmate Trust Fund is responsible for processing and managing the offender's

financial transactions.

If USA Today does this, I will consider this matter resolved and no longer pursue it.

I will also notify my attorney accordingly.

Thank you very much and have a blessed day.

Sincerely,

[redacted] Unit [redacted] Colony, ~[redacted]

See attachmentDesired Settlement: Unspecified

Business

Response:

Good Morning,

Review: I wintered in Florida From 1/15/2014 to 4/15/2014 and ordered USA TODAYfor home delivery. I never did get the paper EVER! I called customer service several time and was told it would start on Monday four different times. I NEVER DID GET ONE PAPER!!!I recently discovered that I was being billed for the paper from Feb.2014thru Oct.2014 even thought I was total my acct. was not charged and the acct. was closed in Feb.?Again,TO THIS DAY I HAVE NEVER GOT A PAPER!!!The address in Florida was [redacted], Marco Island ,Florida,[redacted]I have called customer service Twice in the last week and the said the would have someone from Acct. call me.Nothing yetDesired Settlement: I want a refund for all that was paid from Feb to Oct 2014

Business

Response:

Good Afternoon,

Review: I am sick and tried of my paper always being late or/ and not being delivery at all. I also sick and tried of calling customer service about my paper not being delivery and to ask the carrier to redelivery the newspaper. After that the paper was still not delivery at all. This problem has been going on since 2011.Desired Settlement: I want the Wednesday, September 10, 2014 issue of the USA Today to be delivery. I also want my paper to be on time everyday.

Business

Response:

Good Afternoon,

Review: The USA today newspaper has been delivery late for the days of June 24 to June 27. This the many time that the newspaper has been either late or not delivery at all. In addition poor customer service rep in [redacted] was going to do the same thing like the rest of the customer service rep have done in the past. [redacted] would have gave credit instead of a re delivery upon the customer request.Desired Settlement: Have the newspaper delivery on time. I want a carrier that will be on time every day

Business

Response:

Good Afternoon,