I’m a sports fan. I follow sports from Chicago teams most, because that’s where I grew up and that’s how sports fandom work. Since I left Chicago in 2004 I’ve been forced to find ways to follow my teams online. Some have been easy (MLB.TV). Some have been harder — going to a bar most Sundays to watch the Bears. However, a big part of what brings me joy is reading about the daily moves, plans, practices and outcomes for the teams I follow. For a good part of that time I’ve been using the Chicago Tribune to feed my insatiable need to do that.
In the beginning they had a simple package which was reasonably priced and only gave access to the sports pages. I willingly paid this money to feed my cravings. After a time they got rid of that and only offered a higher priced full subscription package. I canceled, and they started bugging me to ask why. I explained it wasn’t worth the extra money to just read the sports articles, and I no longer cared about local Chicago news. They offered me a discounted rate for a full subscription about the same price as the sports package cost — for 6 months. I accepted and then every 6 months when the price went up to full price, I would have to call in and threaten to leave if they didn’t continue the lower price. This went on for several years. I don’t know how long exactly but we fell into a kind of rhythm and I admit it was frustrating to have to call up to get the lower price every 6 months.
Over time more options became available and I signed up for The Athletic a few years ago on a discounted rate and then continued at full price since the coverage was so good. Shortly thereafter, I got fed up with having to call the Tribune every 6 months and gave them their walking papers. They worked hard to convince me otherwise but would not bend to a multi-year request for the reduced rate, so in the end we parted ways.
Then came football season this year. On a whim I went to the website to see if I could access one of my favorite summary articles after the weekly pre-season game. Even with 4 articles free I could not access it because it was subscriber only (guess they know it’s popular). I was about to signoff and walk away when I noticed a small banner at the top of the page. It offered a great deal “$6 for one year subscription”. The Tribune was having a flash sale.
Okay, that’s too good of 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 in when I had to call in because I couldn’t access the article mentioned above after the next football game. Turns out they didn’t have the “new account” linked to the subscription, but once that was done things were fine and I was happy.
Then I paid my September credit card bill and while scrolling through the charges to make sure everything looked right, I came across a charge from the tribune for $17.70 for a subscription. Obviously, I was surprised, and I called to ask what was going on. The man who answered the phone had a fairly thick accent, and with my hearing loss I was struggling to understand what he was saying. I did manage to get most of the money refunded and canceled the subscription, but couldn’t get an answer about why I was getting charged at all. He gave me the customer service email address so I used it.
Then the fun began. The first reply to my inquiry merely mentioned the cancelation of my account and the refund that had been processed. No mention of the $6 subscription I had paid form but they did call me a “valued subscriber”. Now, I’m starting to get frustrated and angry, but I managed to retype my email reply enough times to express frustration without directly calling the person who had replied a braindead jackass. The next reply asked me for proof of the $6 payment, so I went back online printed that payment receipt as a PDF and sent it in. The next reply didn’t improve on anything but after a few more frustrating interactions I was urged to send in a full PDF of my whole credit card statement showing the proof of the $6 payment so it could be sent to the finance department to track down what happened.
That was Friday 10/23. I sent that proof that day knowing full well nothing would come of it over the weekend. Since then I’ve had a couple more email exchanges with them but no movement, only a vague promise to push the finance department for a reply again.
Now call me naïve, but it seems that anyone with half a brain could take a look at the credit card statement I sent in, see the payment for $6 on or around the day they were offering a $6 for one year flash sale, put two and two together and simply gift me the years subscription, but… that’s asking a bit much from a company with only a few billion in yearly revenue, so the battle continues.
I’m giving them until the end of the day today then I’m sending one final email explaining next steps. I don’t know if the CFPB is interested in a $6 fraud charge, but that will be first. I’m also planning on hitting Twitter hard with claims of #baitandswitch, #fraud and #badcustomerservice. Twitter always is a good way to get attention from companies, but right now I’m not expecting much. Eventually, hopefully I can reach someone with the necessary intelligence to make the fix whether that’s finding the actual payment or just deciding to push the necessary buttons to keep this “valued subscriber”.
