TKC MUST READ!!! FORMER KANSAS CITY STAR SUBSCRIBER SHARES CONSUMER COMPLAINT & BILL COLLECTOR WARNING!!!
Here's an interesting bit of testimony from our blog community and a negative experience with dead tree media during its last days.
Check the tone of this note that is reasonable and simply offers a personal opinion and experience with news that isn't as convenient or practical as picking up a mobile phone or turning on a computer.
Checkit:
TKC Reader: Kansas City Star Collection Issue
Here is a general copy of what I forwarded to the MO Attorney General Consumer Protection regarding the KC Star. They apparently billed me, after I declined to renew my subscription, for continuing to drop the paper in my yard for a month or two. We were never aware of that bill and they forwarded us to a collection agency in order to destroy our credit rating. According to the outsourced CS rep at the Star, on the back of the renewal notice, in fine print, is a statement that in order to cancel, you must provide it in writing or by calling. I don't know if you've ever tried to call them, but its very difficult to get someone on the phone.
Please warn your readers, as many on your blog have said they quit subscribing, that the Star is likely sending them to collections if they didn't formally terminate their subscription. Will update on anything from the MO Atty General . . .
We declined to renew a subscription to our local paper which had been bought out by the Kansas City Star. This local paper included receiving the KC Star Sunday delivery as well. The subscription was pay as you go, on a yearly basis. Around August/September of 2017, we chose not to renew our subscription. The local paper delivery terminated almost immediately, the Star Sunday edition was still placed in our yard for an additional month or so. We did receive several renewal notices/requests, but discarded them as we were no longer interested in receiving the paper. Yesterday, February 21, 2018, we received a notice from a collection agency of a collection attempt for a past due bill from The Kansas City Star. This apparently stemmed from their policy to continue delivery of the paper after cancellation and bill the previous customer for the deliveries after the subscription terminated unless notice was provided in writing. This is a deceptive practice at best, and without formal legal representation, I would suspect against State Law: forcing a service that was not requested, then billing the recipient for that service. I suspect as this is the KC Star official policy, that it has happened to many former subscribers throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area.
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You decide . . .
I thank the guy for his warning. A lot of health clubs use the same kind of practice. It's important to read the fine print and see what exactly is part of any deal.
ReplyDeleteThis is the norm to many times anymore by companies attempting to milk you out of a few more dollars. Sadly a lot of people will just go ahead and pay the bill instead of fighting it.
ReplyDeleteI cancelled my subscription last month after they automatically charged me for a renewal for 1 year. I emailed them several times and finally they acknowledged my cancellation and I got my refund several days later.
ReplyDeleteI also got a call from them wanting to know why I cancelled and I told them it's because the Star hasn't met a tax proposal they didn't endorse. Due to articles by Sanchez and Jenee, and due to many editorials that were way out of bounds.
It's becoming more and more obvious that the Star is in a death spiral and I have no doubt a good part of it's for the reasons I cancelled, though I acknowledge so many young people don't read the paper which from my viewpoint I'm glad. The downside though is they get their news from twitter and facebook......and, we see how reliable those articles have been
That’s what you get for giving the star money.
ReplyDeleteThe Star has no credibility in any way.
ReplyDeleteZombie Press, stumbling around looking for Brains to devour.
ReplyDeleteWe were never aware of that bill
ReplyDeleteProbably a lie. These some of your black friends Tony? They always lie.
Oh wait, blacks can't read.
Pretty much anyone who hasn't been a "former" Star subscriber for quite a few years now is either not paying attention, has money to burn, needs a bird cage liner, or isn't very organized.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sad and mismanaged organization!
There are high school newspapers in the metro that have better reporting, more effective writing, and are much better informed.
William Rockhill Nelson must be turning over in his grave.
have head of similar incidents with a collection agency being called in.
ReplyDeletethe situation is pitiful in so many ways but it's impossble to feel sorry for them, they're so unlikeable.
That's right, you can't just stop paying and expect that to end your subscription. Read the "terms of service" link on the Star's web site. Like most other publications, it describes what you have to do to cancel. Follow that instruction. The result is well worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteWhen a friend cancelled recently, she got a bill for approximately $10 directly from a collection agency, or so the bill said, for delivery by the carrier after the cancellation had been called in.
ReplyDeleteThe fiend just paid the small amount, thinking life is too short to waste time fighting.
Newspapers in general are a scam on the elderly. A damn shame really. I hope this reader gets some satisfaction. Paying for paper is a thing of the past.
ReplyDeleteAnd charging over $500 annually does seem fraudulent or ripoff on the face of it.
ReplyDeleteThe mail-in payment address has just been changed from 19th & Grand to Livinia, MI 48151. Sending payments 500 miles away is only going to cause needless problems. Hoopz and Kraske should write an expose.
ReplyDeleteHooopz is on if. This race-based or has some kind of bias. Trump did it. She knows this because her pseudo-intellect tells her that.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone else noticed she can’t go one month without bring up race? Or hatred towards Trump?
How does she really earn her $65,000 salary? We
read the fine print dipshit
ReplyDeleteGood customer service says that the customer is always right, even if wrong. The Star should have taken care of this immediately and now the bad publicity will end up costing them more.
ReplyDeleteEverything is being outsourced that is why the building is practically empty all the competent customer service personnel was laid off years ago you are speaking to people in the Phillipines. And MCCLATCHY has twenty nine newspapers,and there selling over due accounts to collection agencies. Mcclatchy is burning cash.Its only a matter of time. ...
ReplyDeleteit's sad to not have a good local newspaper.
ReplyDeleteand it's not fun to be on death watch. painful to observe the last days.
211, you're right. maybe the bankers have forced every receivable to be turned over to them or something and they view everything as a collection matter. not sure, but that's how dying businesses look.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has worked in marketing and publishing, don't EVER select "auto-renew" or let a service/publication be automatically rolled over unless you are absolutely 100% you will want it for many years.
ReplyDeleteMost publishers, companies, etc., make it as difficult as possible to CANCEL ANYTHING.
You can renew publications and services over the phone and mail in a check, yes, they will let you if you push them on it. They may act like they can't, but in the end, they'd rather have your money than lose you because you want an alternate payment option.
Just to clarify, we never had a contract with the star. We paid yearly subscriptions for our local paper, the star had purchased them during that time and started sending out Sunday editions. There was never any auto enroll or contract requirement with the local. Once a year, we'd get the bill and go give them a check. Our dealing was only indirectly with the star. That was the reason to escalate this bs. It was just a small bill, but if the star is shedding subscribers as most suspect, that really adds up.
ReplyDeleteIf there was no contract, then their billing effort and scary "collection agency" efforts are b.s.
ReplyDeleteYou can ignore them. It's a somewhat common tactic to tell lapsed subscribers or non-paying "bill me later" subscriptions that 'if we don't hear from you soon this will be turned over to collections'
Total b.s. Ignore it. You don't owe them anything. This wouldn't hold up in court, etc. In fact, if you have a friend or family member who is a lawyer, or can find one for free, to write a "scary letter" to KC Star, I'd recommend that. They'll delete you for good if you do that.
But yeah, it's unsettling and if you don't know better, you may truly worry that your credit score will be affected by not paying for a newspaper sub. This is ridiculous. Not possible. Just a scare tactic.
I know THE WEEK magazine and NEW YORK magazine use "collection agency" scare language in their billing efforts. There are countless others that do so as well.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you're hearing from a collection agency, it's not something that can hit your credit.
ReplyDeleteKC Star and others sell unpaid subs to collection agencies to try and collect and in return the agency keeps anywhere from 50-80% of what they end up getting -- through use of scary letters and phone calls.
I don't blame you for not taking this lightly, and certainly if you doubt me, I would recommend looking into it yourself, contact the collection agency directly, tell them to take you off the list, etc.
The Star is DESPERATE to keep its dwindling subscribers; they'll do anything.
ReplyDeleteI predict in the next couple of years the Star will cut back on daily newspapers, and only publish 5 editions a week, then it'll be 3 editions, then it'll be a weekend edition, and then they'll be digital-only in 5 years, and by then, no one will care about the KC STAR except for a declining population of older people.
The editorial, circulation and advertising departments are separate, so don't conflate any two. That said, it still comes down to credibility. The most important asset a newspaper has is its credibility. If you can't deliver a newspaper to the subscriber, or won't honor their desire to cease subscribing, you've lost that credibility and can't be trusted to deliver honest, factual information, whether it be news or advertisements. I know, as a veteran of 17 years in the local newspaper business (proudly not a minute of it at the K.C. Star).
ReplyDeleteSure, they're separate, as they are with most publications, but they coexist together i.e. if circulation/delivery is bad, it'll hurt editorial by diminishing the audience; if editorial content is bad/unwanted then it affects circulation/delivery.
ReplyDeleteI don't think people think of them as separate -- maybe some do.
Someone should write about this practice. Or write letters to the editor at The Star -- or contact Star executive team -- directly and ask them to stop.
I mean, no one probably will, because no one really cares, in the end. It's dying.
Tony you just saved several people a lot of money and troubles. Thanks for exposing the STAR for the rip off money grub it is.
ReplyDelete