I signed up for a 90 day trial for Citizen times, on 10/6/2015 for $9.20, I was not a fan of the product and attempted to cancel this via email, I noticed I was charged an additional amount 30 days early on 12/9 for $17.94, I should not have been charged again unitl the trial ended on 1/2/2016. I did not notice this right away and sent an email on 12/22/2015, asking to have the fraudulent charges refunded and again to have my subscription cancelled. I received an auto-response letting me know someone would get back to me as soon as possible, I never heard from anyone, Again on 1/7/2016, i was charged an additional $44.39, I called and held for an hour unable to reach anyone who could locate my account. On January 12, 2016, at approximately 12:30 pm, I went to the actual newspaper building in person at 14 O Henry Ave in downtown Asheville, NC, and spoke with anonymous in circulation, She informed me that billing is in another state. She agreed to email someone to try and help me get a refund. Someone called but unable to get to the phone in time, they left a generic message, which lead me to another phone number where i got to hold for 30 minues, at which time I spoke with Porsha in Billing, who agreed I should not have been charged either charge, and said I would be reimbursed in 3-5 days. Furthermore, she said someone would have to call me from Accounting to discuss my overdraft fees. I never received a phone call, nor did i receive a refund and it has been a week today. I am going to dispute these and really hope I do not have to change my credit card number to avoid being scammed again. I would like an immediate cash or check refund of the entire $94.03 I have paid to the citizen times, a real apology, and a guarantee that my account information has been deleted and that I will receive no additional charges. Since I did not receive the trial I agreed to and have had to spend hours during working time, locating all the records and going through my bank records with a fine comb tooth to look for fraud. I expect better from a company like Gannet, than running a racket typical of a shady local gym or a pornography company.
Attached Email thread Bank Transactions copy, After filing above report with the attorney general i was called the next morning and informed i would now be getting some of this refund in 15 business days via mail, I would be suprised if that happened. Of greater concern, they failed to acknolwedge the mistake on their part im charging me to begin with, not answering my email, and showed no remorse at the time i have been forced to take away from work. I sincerely hope this helps save some other people the trouble of working with a company with such awful customer service, not to mention I would specualte a systematic rip-off billing department. I would highly recommend against the citizen times. I think it is time for Asheville to get Gannett out and get a locally funded paper.
Citizen-Times.com Reviews
I signed up for a 90 day trial for Citizen times, on 10/6/2015 for $9.20, I was not a fan of the product and attempted to cancel this via email, I noticed I was charged an additional amount 30 days early on 12/9 for $17.94, I should not have been charged again unitl the trial ended on 1/2/2016. I did not notice this right away and sent an email on 12/22/2015, asking to have the fraudulent charges refunded and again to have my subscription cancelled. I received an auto-response letting me know someone would get back to me as soon as possible, I never heard from anyone, Again on 1/7/2016, i was charged an additional $44.39, I called and held for an hour unable to reach anyone who could locate my account. On January 12, 2016, at approximately 12:30 pm, I went to the actual newspaper building in person at 14 O Henry Ave in downtown Asheville, NC, and spoke with anonymous in circulation, She informed me that billing is in another state. She agreed to email someone to try and help me get a refund. Someone called but unable to get to the phone in time, they left a generic message, which lead me to another phone number where i got to hold for 30 minues, at which time I spoke with Porsha in Billing, who agreed I should not have been charged either charge, and said I would be reimbursed in 3-5 days. Furthermore, she said someone would have to call me from Accounting to discuss my overdraft fees. I never received a phone call, nor did i receive a refund and it has been a week today. I am going to dispute these and really hope I do not have to change my credit card number to avoid being scammed again. I would like an immediate cash or check refund of the entire $94.03 I have paid to the citizen times, a real apology, and a guarantee that my account information has been deleted and that I will receive no additional charges. Since I did not receive the trial I agreed to and have had to spend hours during working time, locating all the records and going through my bank records with a fine comb tooth to look for fraud. I expect better from a company like Gannet, than running a racket typical of a shady local gym or a pornography company.
Attached Email thread Bank Transactions copy, After filing above report with the attorney general i was called the next morning and informed i would now be getting some of this refund in 15 business days via mail, I would be suprised if that happened. Of greater concern, they failed to acknolwedge the mistake on their part im charging me to begin with, not answering my email, and showed no remorse at the time i have been forced to take away from work. I sincerely hope this helps save some other people the trouble of working with a company with such awful customer service, not to mention I would specualte a systematic rip-off billing department. I would highly recommend against the citizen times. I think it is time for Asheville to get Gannett out and get a locally funded paper.