Newspaper billing problems

15 years ago

I'm hoping someone can help with this.

My mother just got in three bills from the Washington Post for the Sunday paper. One was from the carrier and the other two are from the Washington Post. Apparently, the Washington Post has changed their billing practices and instead of paying the carrier, you now pay directly to the Washinton Post. Anyway, the bill from the carrier is for $72.00 and the bills from the Washington Post are for $43.50 and $33.00. The first one is dated 3/25/09 and says there's a current balance of $31.50 for service through 3/25/09 and "you have currently paid for home delivery until 11/1/2008". The second bill is dated 3/31/09 and says there's a current balance of $21.00 for service through 3/31/09 and "you have currently paid for home delivery until 12/27/2008". There's also a credit of $12.00. My mother says she hasn't paid the bill in over six months. So I went to my mother's account on their website and it says she owes $21.00 on 12/27/08. She also says that the carrier had overcharged her before which is why she didn't pay months ago - She was prolonging a confrontation.

Can anyone make any sense out of this? My mother is really good with numbers but these bills are confusing her. Neither of us are sure what to do or what amount she should pay. She knows she should owe less than $72.00 but more than $33.00. All the bills say to contact the carrier for billing questions. But I don't think the carrier knows what the heck he's doing. There certainly was never a problem with the previous carrier. But we've had several problems with this current carrier since he first started.

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Comments (4)

mariend
15 years ago
Call the subscription department and ask them what is going on. It seems to me that if they have changed their billing practice, you should get a letter from the paper. I would not pay the carrier anything until you get this straightened out. Here we pay the paper, and then if we choose to it is a 'tip' to the carrier. The carrier is hired by the paper, not you. If we pay the carrier are we responsibile for taxes, insurance etc?
wanda_va
15 years ago
Since they started the new billing practice, I pay for the Washington Post online. That's probably the best way to get accurate information. I would check there before calling the Post. We have a great carrier (have had him for more than 15 years), so we never had a problem with billing. Good luck!
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azzalea
15 years ago
Are you saying they've been delivering the newspaper WITHOUT being paid for it? I'm not getting that at all. Around here (and I'm only a couple of hours from DC) you pay in advance for newspapers. They don't deliver otherwise.

I think you need to contact the billing dept., and get their explanation and a bottom line price. My guess is she's got a back bill somewhere in the neighborhood of $30, and with the new billing practice they're billing in advance for the next 3 months or so (as is customary in the industry)--yielding the larger bill. But you need to get the answers and exact amount due from someone at the paper--none of us can really tell you what your mother owes or why.
cynic
15 years ago
Yes, I'd call the paper to find out. The bills should say how long the subscription is for and the amount so you know how much per paper. Could be different bills for different subscription lengths. Maybe the carrier is putting in for 6 months instead of 3 months for instance. It could be there was a reduced rate for a time period and if it's not paid promptly they jack the price. That's what they did here. When I subscribed last year I only wanted the Sunday paper. Normal price $2/wk, special price of 75Â¢/wk. When I renewed they sent the bill for $2.05/wk. I called to cancel but they would give it for 99Â¢/wk. OK. Next time, same thing and it went to $1.12. Then I didn't get a bill and when I called them, they got mad and charged me for what I had already paid for at the $2.10 price! I told them to forget it and they corrected it, I paid what I owed and promptly cancelled. And they're wondering why they're in financial trouble. The only thing I wanted the paper for was the Sunday ads but I was sick of the headaches. I didn't keep close track but I think they scammed me on the number of weeks too.

So maybe I'll resubscribe this summer if they put out another special price. And this time I had a pretty good carrier unlike years past. And I used to deliver newspapers so I know what they go through.

Good luck. From my experience with our local papers, none of them know what they're doing.

Newspaper billing problems

Comments (4)

mariend

wanda_va

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azzalea

cynic

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