The Charlotte Observer

stop throwing the Charlotte Observer Encore advertising paper at xxxxx xxxxx NC
Since Sept 2017, I have contacted Charlotte Observer customer service 5 times, xxxxx' office multiple times, spoken multiple times to xxxxx in Distribution and Circulation, and other executives in distribution requesting that the Charlotte Observer Encore paper stop being thrown in my driveway at xxxxx xxxxx NC. Each time I am told it will stop. Each time it does not. The day to week that it has been delivered changes but it still comes every week. Two weeks ago, I was told the distribution department would send someone to my house later the same day to confirm no newspaper had been delivered. The newspaper was delivered and has been laying in my driveway for a week - no one has come to check to see it if was delivered nor removed it. The lies of stopped delivery need to stop. And the newspaper that is currently in my driveway needs to be picked up. This is a security concern as I travel extensively and this allows others to know when I am at home unless I pay someone to pick up this trash.

We were charged for papers we did not order, then turned over to a collection agency for thirty five dollars.
Our subscription to The Charlotte Observer lapsed (xxxxx), and we let it lapse intentionally because it was too expensive to carry; however they continued to deliver the paper, and then sent us a bill for papers we did NOT even order. We did not pay the thirty five dollar bill, because we did not renew our subscription, and then began receiving threatening phone calls, and bills from a collection agency. I called The Charlotte Observer today, and questioned why they sent paper that were not ordered, and was informed," This is our policy, and you should have just paid the bill that was sent to you, and it would not have been sent to collection." I was afraid of further action that would ruin my credit, and sent a check to the collection agency last week, which I think should be refunded.

Contract ended August 2017, requesting a copy of bill regarding 3 months delivery past contract end date
Compliant number xxxxx. Paper subscription contract ended 8/24/2017. Paper was still arriving until November 2017. Received an invoice in November requesting payment for 3 month of delivery. Called customer where I was told that it was their policy and it was on my original bill, told them I signed up online did not receive a bill and ask for a copy of the bill. Received email 12/14 from customer service that the distributor has a policy that the carrier will extend the delivery as a courtesy to their customer unless the customer call and cancels after their contract has expired. Emailed customer service back and ask for a copy of that policy and if it stated that I would pay. Received email back on 12/18 that a request was send to the distribution team to send a copy of the policy. Followed up with emails on 12/27 and 1/11, still have not seen a copy of the policy

The Charlotte Observer claims I have not paid them for a year's subscription. I did pay them with a credit card on March 23, 2107.
I have never received worse customer service in my life! On Mar. 23, 2017, a representative of The Charlotte Observer called me to offer a year's subscription for $167.31. I paid that amount over the phone using my *** card.

The Observer made repeated calls to me saying I owed them more money which I viewed as harassment. Later The Observer said I had cancelled the credit card payment which I did not! About a month later they charged my card $83.10 which I disputed with my credit card company after getting no satisfaction from The Observer. In talking to *** The Observer actually got the $83.10 even though *** took it off my account because of the dispute. In July they attempted a charge of $203 at which point *** issued me a new card to stop these unauthorized charges.

On November 18 after getting a call saying I owed them money, I sent a message to Observer customer service explaining all this. I got an email from them saying they had refunded my $167.31 to my *** account. Surprise to me! I checked my *** account and they had credited the $167.31 on April 12, 2017. (They had my bank information from a previous subscription which I had paid by bank draft.) I had not asked for a refund and had not noticed it until this email.

Today they stopped my paper saying there is no money in my account with them. I believe they thought they would refund my $167.31 and then charge me much larger amounts! I paid the $167.31 in good faith that I was paying for a year's subscription!

My Charlotte Observer account number is XXXXXXX.
My address is *** , *** NC XXXXX.
My telephone number is XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Automatic subscription renewal with clear notification and permission.
I had a contract for a given subscription term. prior to expiration, got notification to renew by mail. Chose not to renew and let it expire. No where did I see on the mail card that I had to contact them with notification to cancel. Nor was there a clear understanding that they would automatically renew. It was never made clear to me that automatic renewal would happen. just because they printed it in fine print on the 2nd page of the paper should make it legal without my approval.

We chose not to renew our subscription and the Observer continued to send issues then billed us.
We decided not to renew our subscription with the Charlotte Observer and declined to remit a renewal payment. Like most publications when the renewal is declined and not paid the subscription ends. The Observer continues to send deliveries to our home on their own and then finally terminate our subscription. Thank God! Then we get a bill for $109.00 telling us that we owed the money because they delivered the paper? We never asked for the paper and purposely stopped our subscription. After a call with the Observer we specifically told them that we did not renew because we did not want their paper and had no intention of paying the $109.00, if they continued to deliver the paper after our end date that was on them and we considered it a gift. They agreed that we terminated their paper and no further actions and we receive a collection notice today which we have no intentions of paying. So they send papers to folks that end their subscriptions and then try to collect payment? Completely underhanded!

I paid for 1 yr subscription to end 1/30/18.Have rec'd calls and bills indicating it ended in 9/17. Have had at least 6 conversations in this regard.
I have had at least 6 conversations indicating the Observer made mistake and it would be corrected. Just rec'd another call saying it ended in 9/17. This is harassment and fraud.

Observer auto renewed my subscription and charged my credit card without my authorization.New subscription fee misapplied and service cut off.
On 7/14/17 Observer auto renewed my subscription and charged my credit card without my authorization. The fee was $223.08. Filed charge dispute with bank and notified Observer of my subscription cancellation on or about 7/21/17. Refund provided to credit card bank on 8/10/17. No service received from Observer until I opened a new online subscription only on 9/27/17. New account #***, paid $83.56 for one year, effective 10/1/17 until 9/30/18. Service provided until 12/4/17 then terminated by Observer without notice. I contacted Observer customer service on 12/6/17 and spoke to supervisor ***. Informed that my payment for the new subscription had been applied to,the unauthorized subscription and a balance of $139'was outstanding. I explained that This was the original auto renewal that I cancelled and received a refund for. *** informed me that I would receive notice of the resolution of this error from the Finance Department within 48 hours and my new subscription reinstated. It is now 7 days later and I have heard nothing and subsequent inquiries by phone were ineffective. I was told that Imwould have to wait until Finance contacted me. This is unacceptable !!!!

Billed $107.20 to my credit card acc't on 10/9/17( acc't .#***)Service cancelled by Observer 11/22/17. Credit card not reimbursed
Requested annual renewal of my digital(not print) subscription to the Observer for $99 plus tax, total $107.20 on 9/17. Observer billed my credit card for monthly subscription for $12.99 plus tax (total $13.93). Billed $13.93 to my credit card on 10/27/17 plus billed my credit card for $107.20 on 10/9/17 (subscription ***when I requested annual renewal, not monthly renewal.The Observer customer service continued to bill my credit card $13.93 on 11/27/17 which I have cancelled with my credit card account.
Requesting refund of my $107.20 annual fee for the digital subscription which was cancelled by the Observer 11/22/17.
Customer service with the Observer's *** call center has been totally unhelpful.
The only contact person who has been the least bit helpful at the Observer has been a Mr. in *** at ***)
All I request is the refund of my fee of $107.20 to my credit card account.
I will get my news from other sources.

My Name is *** L *** I have POA of my mother's affairs, The Charlotte Observerr send her bills and she does not receive the Paper
The Charlotte Observer has been call and told that My mother does not receive the newspaper, she is in a health care Facility and memory care , she does not owe the $234.23 that the Charlotte Observer continues to send, I have called the Charlotte Observer to resolve this issue and they will not respond

The company persists in phoning us relentlessly about renewing our subscription that we cancelled on Sept. 8, 2017.
We have subscribed to the Char. Observer periodically since 2013. The Account Number is ***. The missed newspapers and difficulty communicating with the Acct. Dept. is terrible service. Persons who take phone requests for cancellation do not seem to deliver the request to the involved departments. The Accounting Dept. can be weeks behind in processing our payment. We have never been behind in payments made on-line. The Observer leaves messages on our phones saying that we are behind in payment when we have bank proof of payment. Our final cancellation took place on September 8, 2017. Since then, daily and weekly, we are receiving phone calls to our home and cell numbers with requests to renew the subscription. We express that we have no wish to renew. The Observer's calls are insistent despite our telling them we cancelled three months ago, September 8, 2017. After almost 5 years of dealing with poor service, we will not renew, and most important, we have asked The Observer callers to STOP phoning our home and cell numbers. The phone calling continues. It is harassment when we have begged the Observer to stop calling. Last night's (11/30/17) phone caller said there are "Multiple Calling Centers." I to not have access to their "Calling Centers." Our request to remove our number from their calling list has been ignored for 3 months. Please help.

The company delivered newspapers beyond my contract date and continued to bill me. The company agreed to waive the bill but sent it to collection.
The company continued to deliver newspapers beyond my contract date without my consent and then continued to bill me. When I realized that that my contract had expired, I called the company and complained that they were still delivering the paper but that I no longer wanted it, they tried to get me to renew my subscription at their new pricing which was about three times the original agreed upon pricing. When I continued to object to the bill which was for $8.24, the representative said they would waive the bill. Instead, however,, the very next week they sent the bill to collection. Since I didn't want to damage my credit further than it already might be, I paid the collection bill of $8.24 to *** I am now asking that the Charlotte Observer send me an apology letter for sending this to collection and to refund this same amount that I paid to collection.

Problem, again, with the delivery of our newspaper.
We have been customers of Charlotte Observer for 19 years. We always have problems with their delivery, one way or another. We just moved to our new home and we set up the delivery to this new home several weeks ago. We spoke to someone with an *** accent, which is typical since they moved their customer service overseas. We explained that due to serious medical issues, the newspaper MUST be delivered to the front door. We were told "NO PROBLEM". First delivery was yesterday, the newspaper was done at the end of the driveway. Today, day two, NO NEWSPAPER at all. WE called again, spoke to someone who does not speak English very well. She told us that our newspaper would be re-delivered. NO NEWSPAPER TODAY. We called a second time and asked for "***", the supervisor. In attempting to phone her, her phone "mailbox is full and not accepting new messages". So no supervisor. No newspaper. No help whatsoever. This is absolutely ridiculous to go through this every single time with Charlotte Observer. If they can't deliver our newspaper, then they should close up and stop delivering all together. This is extremely frustrating and time wasting to have to go through this all the time. To get our newspaper delivery at the front door. It's not that complicated.

Consistently late delivery of paper which results in immediately putting paper in recycle bin, if received.
Over the past several months the paper has been delivered past the advertised delivery times. I've contacted the Observer hoping to get the problem resolved but no success to date. Today the paper arrived after 7:300 a.m. well past the 6 a.m. delivery promise. I've asked to atop delivery and refund the remainder of the subscription. I can never talk to a "live" person and all I get are insincere emails telling me it will get better. The Observer has the worst customer service of any company that I have dealt with.

Observer turned me over to a Collection Agency for a debt I don't owe.
My paid subscription ended on 7/2/17.This subscription was paid in full up front.I received a letter on 10/6 from the Observer stating I had a past due balance of $27.14.I do not owe this.I did not sign up for a new subscription or anything else. I received a letter dated 10/27 from xxxxx, Inc., a collection agency.

I called the Observer's Customer Service but they were closed. I had to submit a complaint via form on their website. On 11/3, I received response xxxxx:"Please be advised that
it has been the policy to grant a 90-day grace period after the
expiration date, hence, there is no automatic cancellation."

I called Customer Service (xxxxx) again on 11/12 and spoke with xxxxx. She said a subscription isn't cancelled until you actually call the Observer to cancel. She said she could only waive half of the debt. I told her the balance due needs to be $0. She said she nor her supervisor could do that; the system won't allow it.She said she would escalate and that I would need to call back in 24 hours to seek resolution.

Why does a subscription have a start and end date if it never really ends? This is not what I signed up for and is unethical. It's outrageous that I've been turned over to a Collection Agency for a bill that I don't owe!

Problems with delivery. Called numerous times with no positive response.
The Charlotte Observer delivery service has repeatedly over the past week delivered my newspaper in the middle of my front yard in the grass or yesterday in my side yard. I have made numerous complaints to the paper about the service and have requested that the paper either be delivered in the slot under my mail box or just thrown in my 3 car wide concrete driveway. Non has been complied with. I am leaving the paper in the grass as a protest to the actions of the deliverer that are not being corrected by the third party servie who delivers the paper (name not given). I have asked to speak to the manager on numerous occassions and have not received any notice what so ever. I am a senior citizen and have trouble navigating and getting the newspaper out of the yard. The Charlotte Observer has either decided this is a no complaint or is not in touch with their delivery service.

I have been turned over to a collections agency for a service that I canceled over 30 days prior to the end of the service date
Every time I've subscribed to the Charlotte Observer over the last ten years, I've taken a break in service hoping this will allow them to get their act together and get the issues (missing papers, papers thrown in the hedges, delayed papers, etc.) straightened out, but to no avail. This last 7 day subscription that began in late March was via an airline point redemption program and was for 12 weeks delivery. On May 29, 2017, I notified Charlotte Observer via email of my desire to not have the delivery extended beyond my scheduled end date due to the multitude of issues. This was a little over a 30 day notice and I received a response from Charlotte Observer the next day with an apology for the inconvenience and a request for a second chance, which I did not send a reply. I've contacted the newspaper over 15 times for this subscription alone and all I've gotten from the outsourced call center representatives are lies and broken promises of return calls from those higher up in the company. I've even left messages for the facility manager and DM (xxxxx), but never heard anything back from either. Fast forward to August 21, 2017, when I was notified that I owe for additional papers that were delivered after my subscription ended. The representative confirmed that my cancellation was noted in the system on May 30, 2017, but the information was entered incorrectly, therefore the delivery wasn't really canceled...NOT MY FAULT! I was told by this representative that customers are given 90 days (additional deliveries after subscriptions end) to settle accounts before the Charlotte Observer cancels, which is ripping people off without their knowledge. I was also told that there would be no more deliveries going forward and the information was being sent to Charlotte Observers finance department to be removed from my account records. This did not happen because I received a letter from a collections agency in October. Once again, I called Charlotte Observer on October 25, 2017 only to hear the same things I heard with the majority of the other calls and that the information was being escalated to the Circulation and Distribution team for immediate resolution and that it will not affect my credit. I was told someone from this department would be contacting me within 48 hours and that I would also receive a letter (per request) from the Observer stating that the issue has been resolved. As of today (November 9, 2017), I have not heard back, but I keep getting calls several times per week to renew my subscription!

Company continues to send mailings after numerous requests to remove from mailing list.
I have requested to be removed from the mailing list by calling Customer Service on 4/13/17 and again on 5/18/17 (those are just the mailings with notes that I kept). I continued to receive mailings including another on 11/7/17. This continues a pattern in which you bend over backwards to reach the company, they say they will remove you, and then a short time later they begin sending mailings again. There seems to be no one else to talk to at a higher level that can or will resolve the issue. The subscription solicitations have all been sent to the same name and same address over the past 2 years.

The charlotte observer is refusing to refund my money. The were not authorized to withdrawal a payment from my bank account.
A subscription was started however it was cancelled before I ever received a single paper. My original payment was debited and refunded from my bank account. On Oct 23, 2017 , the Charlotte Observer debited my account again for a payment. There were not authorized to do so. as of today, Nov 6, 2017 they have not refunded my money. I have called on 2 separate occasions and was told they were working on it. My money has NOT be refunded

I was charged for the paper after subscription ran out. Was contacted by a promo company and told that if I subscribed today the charge would be drop.
I let my subscription expire but delivery continued. After a couple of months I received a bill for the issues they delivered after the expiration date.
Was contacted by phone to resubscribe. I told them that I would not because of the charges that were pending. They assured me that if I resubscribed and paid over the phone that the charges would be dropped. I was doubtful so I got their number and first called observer customer service and explained what I had been promised. Customer service said that if I subscribed the charge would be dropped. So I called the subscriber back and resubscribed paying over the phone.
Soon after I got a letter from a collection company wanted me to pay the amount I had been billed for issues after my expiration date. I called customer service and was told that they were sending a request to billing to forgive the disputed amount since I had an active subscription.
On Nov. 2 and 3 I did not receive a paper. I called customer service and was told that it was stopped because the billed amount had not been paid. Customer service after I explained what was going on said that they would request that the balance be cleared again and he would have someone from marketing call me. Later that same day (11/3) I received by mail another notice from the collection company.
I have been assured that this disputed balance would be removed from my account on 3 occasions and still get notices from a collection company. I do not want this to have a negative impact on my credit score since I have been trying to resolve the issue for close to 3 months now.
Seems odd to me that the observer can charge for issues that they delivered after my subscription expired while discontinuing delivery for my current subscription that has been paid for up front.