I am a sports fan. I follow Chicago team sports the most because that’s where I grew up and that’s how the sports fandom works. Since leaving Chicago in 2004, I’ve been forced to find ways to track my teams online. Some have been easy (MLB.TV). Some have been tougher – going to a bar most Sundays to watch the Bears. However, a big part of what makes me happy is reading the daily moves, plans, practices and results of the teams I follow. For much of that time, I used the Chicago Tribune to feed my insatiable need to do so.
At first they had a simple plan at a reasonable price and only gave access to the sports pages. I voluntarily paid this money to feed my cravings. After a while they got rid of that and only offered a full subscription package at a higher price. I canceled and they started asking me why. I explained that it wasn’t worth paying more to read the sports articles and that I no longer cared about local Chicago news. They offered me a discounted rate for a full membership at about the same price as the cost of the sports package – for 6 months. I agreed and then every 6 months when the price went up to full price I had to call and threaten to leave if they didn’t keep lowering the price. It lasted several years. I don’t know how long exactly but we kind of fell into a rhythm and I admit it was frustrating having to call for the lowest price every 6 months.
Over time more and more options became available and I joined The Athletic a few years ago at a reduced rate and then continued at full price because the coverage was so good. Soon after, I got sick of having to call the Tribune every 6 months and gave them their walking papers. They worked hard to convince me otherwise but did not comply with a multi-year request for a reduced rate, so in the end we went our separate ways.
Then came the football season this year. On a whim, I went to the website to see if I could access one of my favorite wrap-up articles after the weekly pre-season game. Even with 4 free articles, I couldn’t access it because it was for subscribers only (I guess they know it’s popular). I was about to sign off and walk away when I noticed a small banner at the top of the page. It was offering a great deal “$6 for a 1 year subscription”. La Tribune was organizing a flash sale.
Agree, it’s too good a price to pass up. I’ll take it. So I did. I paid my $6 and looked forward to a full year of sports coverage again. There was a hiccup about a week when I had to call because I couldn’t access the above mentioned item after the next football game. Turns out they didn’t have the “new account” attached to the subscription, but once that was done everything was fine and I was happy.
Then I paid my September credit card bill and while looking through the charges to make sure everything was ok I came across a grandstand charge of $17.70 for a subscription. Obviously I was surprised and called to ask what was going on. The man who answered the phone had quite a heavy accent and with my hearing loss I had trouble understanding what he was saying. I managed to get most of the money back and canceled the subscription, but couldn’t get a response on why I was being charged. He gave me the customer service email address so I used that.
Then the fun began. The first response to my request simply mentioned the cancellation of my account and the refund that had been processed. No mention of the $6 subscription I paid for, but they called me a “valuable subscriber”. Now I’m starting to get frustrated and angry, but I managed to retype my email response enough times to express my frustration without directly calling the person who replied a dead jerk. The next answer asked me for proof of the $6 payment, so I went back online, printed that PDF payment receipt, and sent it. The following answer didn’t improve anything, but after a few more frustrating interactions I was prompted to send in a full PDF of my credit card statement showing proof of the $6 payment so it could be sent to the finance department to trace what happened.
It was Friday 10/23. I sent this proof that day knowing full well that nothing would come out of it over the weekend. Since then, I’ve had a few more email exchanges with them, but no movement, only a vague promise to push the finance department to respond again.
Call me naive, but it seems like anyone with half a brain could peek at the credit card statement I sent, see the $6 payment on or around the day they were offering a $6 flash sale for a year, put two and two together and just give me the one year subscription, but… that’s a bit too much to ask of a company with only a couple billion in annual revenue, so the battle continues.
I give them until the end of the day today, then send a final email explaining the next steps. I don’t know if the CFPB is interested in a $6 fraud charge, but that will be the first. I also plan to hit Twitter hard with allegations of #baitandswitch, #fraud and #badcustomerservice. Twitter is always a great way to get business attention, but right now I’m not expecting much. Eventually, I’m hoping I can reach someone with the smarts to fix the problem, whether it’s figuring out the actual payment or just deciding to push the buttons necessary to keep that “valuable subscriber.” “.
