Reviews

Review Details

• Review fromStan H

  Date: 01/13/2023

  1 star
  On 8/18/2021 I paid $306 for a 1 year Observer subscription. In Sept 2022 I got notices that my subscription would expire 9/23/2022 .Due to horrible service throughout the year,I chose to not renew . I think a years subscription means exactly that , 1 calendar year delivery of the paper..Thats all I paid for ,thats all I wanted and authorized On 9/21/2022 , after getting nowhere with the online method of cancellation , I chose to e/mail the Observer ,stating that I did not want to renew . I continued to receive the Observer ,along with bills ,so I sent another e/mail stating again that I did not want anymore papers , bills , etc..The Observer has these E/M's date 9/21/2022 & 10/1/2022 in their files Now ,on 1/11/2023 , I recieve a letter from a collection agency demanding $78.62 for papers recieved after my subscription expired .. Calling the Observer **************** line resulted in being told that because I did not cancel through my online account , and as a policy of the Observer ,they continue to deliver paper for 2 months or so " in case you might want to re-subscribe"....Baloney !!!Nice Try Observer .. *************** law basically states "any goods/services delivered without your consent/direct order/authorization is considered an unconditional gift " and as such may be kept and do not have to be paid for...So ,NC Atty ******** ****** ,the ************************ will be getting letters soon

  The Charlotte Observer

  Date: 01/20/2023

  Dear ***********************,Dear ***********************,We do apologize for the billing issue you experienced with your newspaper subscription. It's important that we hear from our customers when they are not satisfied with services and we have addressed this issue. Our records show all balances have been cleared for ******** and Observer and ARM Solutions. I've included an image for your reference below showing the account has been cleared/closed. We do apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused and will be glad to help you in the future should you have other questions or concerns.We do apologize for the billing issue you experienced with your newspaper subscription. It's important that we hear from our customers when they are not satisfied with services and we have addressed this issue. Our records show all balances have been cleared for The Charlotte Observer #******* and ARM Solutions #*********. We do apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused and will be glad to help you in the future should you have other questions or concerns.Thanks,The Charlotte Observer

• Review fromJulia W

  Date: 11/29/2022

  1 star
  Literally a nightmare trying to cancel the subscription. First time I attempted to do it via phone, and the call would not go through. Had to wait until the next day to try to use their only chat service and waited and waited and waited to be connected with an agent while trying to focus on my day job. Every time I would check to see if I had been connected to an agent, it would say the agent had ended the chat. Tried calling again tonight and the call went through, but told me I had to call back during normal business hours and hung up. Why not just have a simple Cancel Subscription process on the website like every other reputable online service in the year 2022? If this isnt resolved by tomorrow, Im telling my bank to block payments to them and potentially lodging a complaint with the State ************************* No way this process of literally doing everything they can to lock people into a subscription against their will can be legal.

• Review fromKen M

  Date: 11/22/2022

  1 star
  Horrible horrible business. I dont receive a paper 7 months and when I do they try to bill me $41. **************** is in ******** and it is excruciating to deal with them. Ive subscribed for over 20 years and they do not care AT ALL. I can only hope they go out of business like the majority of the industry because they dont give a s*** about their customers.

• Review fromStefhanie H.

  Date: 11/19/2022

  1 star
  My mother lives in assisted living and does not receive her paper on a regular basis because of delivery issues. Many other residents have the same complaints. I call to complain and am connected to someone overseas that promises me a manager will call back and I never receive a call. It used to be a wonderful paper but sadly no longer.

• Review fromMichael A

  Date: 11/17/2022

  1 star
  We enjoyed The Charlotte Observer for over 28-years, and 2022 has been a nightmare. We reluctantly converted to online services in 2020 with delivery of the Sunday paper edition. The newspaper was seldom delivered despite numerous complaints. It was so bad that we stopped complaining. Our subscription ended in May 2022, and we didn't renew it. We moved out-of-town in August 2022 and since then, we have received over ten phone calls to renew our subscription. We always explain our frustration and ask the caller to take us off of the call list, but that obviously doesn't work. The last straw was yesterday when we received a bill for the months between May and November because we didn't officially cancel our subscription, and we couldn't provide a cancellation number. I called customer service (Columbia, South America) this morning to complain about the bill, and they said that they would reverse the charges. I seriously doubt that my attempts to cancel my subscription will work.....I'm batting zero with this already over several months.

• Review fromGerald I

  Date: 11/16/2022

  1 star
  I had difficulty canceling my subscription. Continued to send paper. Billed for subscription plus late charges. Kep getting billed even with confirmation of resolve. Everyone in consumer service has different story, and never talk to same person. Each one says different amount due.and give amount to pay to resolve. Send money and start over again. Never ends no matter what or who is involved and with confirmation numbers!!! Now, they turn to collections. Feed up with Charlotte Observer

• Review fromPam M

  Date: 11/08/2022

  1 star
  We continuously have delivery problems with our paper. If you call you get someone overseas..not even in this country. They just say youll get a credit. Nobody seems to care at all. Always a problem. We. Loved here two years ago and have problems on and off for two years. I have emailed the paper directly and still dont get a reply. Very bad business!

• Review fromJayson H

  Date: 11/04/2022

  1 star
  I signed up for the online version of The Charlotte Observer. Filled out the information and provided credit card info. All of the sudden, about 3 or 4 months later, I get a collection notice saying that I own $16.80. I received a call from the collections company the day after I received the letter, and they tell me that I would also need to pay a $6.00 processing fee. That's almost 1/2 of what the bill is! I know it's not a lot of money, but this is just BAD BUSINESS. How many other people are they doing this too? And why ask for my credit card if they aren't ever going to bill me? Very poor business and I will never order The Charlotte Observer again.

• Review fromJohn G

  Date: 10/31/2022

  1 star
  I paid for a subscription, but my paper is never delivered. Several neighbors get theirs, but not me. Customer service, when they do answer (not always) only lies about contacting a supervisor and our carrier. Then nothing happens. Meanwhile, I have been contacted to renew. Where is my refund????

• Review fromRobert R

  Date: 10/26/2022

  1 star
  I am writing this review because I have not been receiving my Sunday paper and have asked for a refund, which on Oct 11 I was told that they would refund me. Today, October 26th, I find out (when I called to check up on my refund) that my refund was rejected and that my subscription was canceled. Needless to say, I am very upset.Some background:When we moved to the Charlotte area we called to get the Sunday only paper. We were not interested in the electronic paper. During this first year we had multiple periods where we didnt receive a paper. Each time I called to complain they said they would escalate and would extend our end date. Most of the time the escalation did not correct the issue. We would up getting extended numerous months on our initial subscription.When the renewal came around, we decided to renew since it looked like we were getting a reliable delivery person. This turned out to be short lived. I called a number of time and asked for my money back. The Charlotte Observer at that time refunded my money.A week or so after requesting a refund, we received a call from the Charlotte Observer asking us to give them another chance to show us that they corrected their issues. They asked if we could give them four weeks and if they performed well to start a new subscription. I agreed to do this. That was a mistake. The paper was delivered for the four weeks, so we subscribed again. Then we received the paper maybe twice since then. I have call numerous times, but with no results. As I stated earlier, I was told on Oct 11 that I would get a refund of *****. Then find out now that the refund was rejected and the paper was cancelled. I don't understand how you can keep people's money and not deliver the paper. We paid for the physical copy of the paper, we should get it or get our money back.