Newsday

Long Island, NY

Rene of Oakdale, NY February 20, 2009

I am a new customer with Newday. While shopping at a supermarket I was offered a FREE 100 gift card immediately to Shop Rite. I signed a contract and received the gift card. I questioned the salesperson what were the strings attached and he said only that I am locked into a year subscription. I also asked the salesperson if I am really getting a free gift card or am I paying for the card in my subscription fee and he said absolutely not.

My parents also has a daily subscription to Newsday and their charge for 8 weeks is 24 and my charge is 40. I called Newday customer service this morning and was told yes I am paying for the gift card and that they salesperson should have made it clear and they are unable to do anything about it. I fell Newsday knows exactly how they are misrepresenting the consumer and their only goal was to get another subscription. Of course, I should have read the very fine print but I fell that a representative of Newsday should be honest.

The economic complaint is that I am paying for a FREE 100 gift card. And I would appreciate this to be stopped.

Colleen of Amityville, NY January 26, 2009

Upon entering Babies R Us I was approached by a Newsday Rep, who asked me to sign up for a Newsday subscription. When I said I wasn't interested he continued by telling me that they were offering 100 Gift Card promotion. I asked him if I was contracted into anything by accepting the Gift Card and he said that I was not, I could cancel at any time, but I would have to pay for the initial 5 weeks up front. I stated again, I am not bound to any sort of contract and he said no.

I gave him a credit card to pay for the first 5 weeks and he asked me to sign my name. I did not read the contract, but who would really have the time to read the contract in the middle of Babies R Us with a baby on their hip. I trusted that the rep was telling me the truth and I took my Gift Card, bought formula and was on my way. Fast forward a couple of weeks, my husband gets laid off and I am going through my current bills to see where I can save a little money. Naturally, the Newsday subscription is not a priority, so I call to cancel only to be told that I am indeed contracted to a year, because I took the gift card.

I explained to the rep what happened in the store and she said that she has received a lot of complaints and the agent with whom I signed up would be reprimanded. To me that is not a solution, it does me no good. I now am told in order to get out of the subscription I have to pay Newsday 100. I instead offer to take the remaining 75 worth of papers and call it even. The woman becomes rude and I ask to speak to a supervisor.

After a week of phone tag, I finally reach Lisa. She repeats the same thing to me and is no help at all. Since the last phone call,I have found out from my father that he only pays 2.99 a week anyway, so the promotion I signed up for is no promotion at all, because it works out to be the exact same as if I was just to call up and order Newsday on my own.

This is an extremely irritating situation which has caused me distractions at work as well as money that I don't currently have.

John of Bay Shore, NY January 26, 2009

This newspaper was recently bought by Cablevision, a long island cable company. Because Cablevision has been ripping off Long Island for years, many people are switching to Verizon FIOS. Newsday refuses to print TV listings for FIOS. They will only print them for Cablevision, which they own. Seems like a big conflict of interest to me. I have written them 3 times, only to be ignored.

No real damage incurred. The unfairness and Do what we want attitude of Newsday just bothers me.

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