PREDATORY HACKS, PART I: Gannett-owned Austin Statesman Fails to Deliver, Makes Cancelling Impossible and Continues to Criminally Charge Your Card
PREDATORY HACKS, PART I: Gannett-owned Austin Statesman Fails to Deliver, Makes Cancelling Impossible and Continues to Criminally Charge Your Card
Blockbuster IV part series bursting with overwhelming evidence that the Austin Snakeskin and sinister owner Gannett are running a predatory and downright criminal billing scam disguised as a newspaper
The main reason why this four-part quadruple bombshell is spread out over four posts is because of all the evidence I’m about to show you.
The evidence overwhelmingly proves that Gannett is using the Austin American-Statesman and hundreds of other local newspapers across 43 states as a front to operate a predatory billing scam where they continue to charge you every month for a product that never arrives.
NOTE: When I use the words ‘Austin American-Statesman’ or ‘Statesman’, I’m also referring to their corporate owners Gannett. They are the real culprits here.
Teddy will consider this investigation a failure unless:
Attorney generals in the 43 states where Gannett owns local newspapers join forces for an investigation and class-action lawsuit
Executives at Gannett are charged with fraud and indicted for stealing money from tens of thousands of angry, frustrated Americans.
Gannett owns local daily newspapers in 43 different U.S. states, and this investigation should trigger Attorney Generals to join forces and charge Gannett with multiple federal crimes.
Gannett’s furious subscribers have posted thousands of online complaints in 2023 alone (in all 43 states where the company owns and operates news media properties) voicing extreme anger at their local Gannett-owned newspaper.
Gannett makes it nearly impossible to contact them, and this appears to be a feature (not a bug) of their business plan.
Gannett refuses to cancel your subscription, so they can keep charging your card and stealing your money.
What percentage of Americans under age 50 still subscribe to a printed newspaper?
Maybe 2% (if we’re being generous).
The core demographic getting trapped in this billing scam?
America’s elderly.
October 2023: Yelp reviews from angry Austin Statesman customers accusing them of criminal billing practices
Gannett and the Austin American-Statesman’s online reputations are shockingly bad:
Hundreds of negative reviews about Gannett and the Austin Statesman’s shocking business practices have been posted online over the past two years.
Gannett is not BBB accredited.
They have a 1 star rating and 262 complaints closed in the past 12 months, and 854 complaints closed over the past three years (link).
The Austin-American Statesman is not BBB accredited and also has a one star rating (link).
From Yelp and Google Maps, to Reddit and the Better Business Bureau - you can read thousands of negative reviews from angry, frustrated customers who cannot believe that Gannett and their 100+ local newspaper brands can engage in criminal activity without being investigated.
Austin American-Statesman profile page on Yelp:
Despite 262 mostly negative customer reviews averaging 1.06 stars (out of five), the Statesman still has not claimed their business so they could contact customers and resolve their complaints.
Austin American-Statesman profile page on Google Maps:
The Austin American-Statesman page on Google Maps has a seemingly respectable rating of 2.9 stars out of five.
But if you sort the Google Maps reviews by “highest rated”, you’ll discover nearly all of the five star reviews for the Statesman have nothing to do with the newspaper or their terrible customer service.
The five star reviews are from people who watched the bats from the Statesman’s old property, or attended a trade show or an event (like Austin Fashion Week, the Austin Margarita Festival or a Motorcycle Show) at their old building.
Toss out all the 5 star reviews for bat watching and the motorcycle show, and the Statesman ends up with a one star rating.
Five star reviews of the Austin Statesman on Google Maps
INSPIRATION FOR THIS INVESTIGATION - R/AUSTIN
There was a post on Austin reddit on Sunday, October 22, with the headline:
‘The Statesmen is a Joke’ from redditor ladsam.
Here’s the post from two days ago (link):
It wasn’t the original post that fired me up.
It was all the angry comments.
AUSTIN REDDIT: PREDATORY BILLING AND AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE AT THE AUSTIN STATESMAN
"Husband called and cancelled 2 times, changed his CC number and they still charged him, he called to cancel again STILL charged and finally had to cancel his CC."
"I tried to cancel, and they said they would but kept charging my card. It was a pain in the ass to get rid of them.”
"The entire Statesman backend is farmed out to the lowest bidder. Communicating with them is next to impossible and getting them to do what you need when you DO get in contact is a miserable experience."
"Quitting heroin is easier that quitting The Statesman"
A CLOSER LOOK AT GANNETT - THE CRIMINAL MASTERMINDS RUNNING A NATIONWIDE BILLING SCAM
From the Gannett website:
Gannett Co., Inc. is a subscription-led and digitally-focused media and marketing solutions company committed to empowering communities to thrive.
Gannett publishes USA TODAY along with hundreds of local media outlets across 43 U.S. states, and 120 local media brands in the United Kingdom.
Gannett’s BBB Page has over 800 complaints from angry customers accusing the company of fraudulent, criminal activity.
Here’s a sample:
Teddy’s mountain of evidence proves these criminals are running a billing scam and need to be indicted for their blatant crimes against thousands of citizens, from the elderly to all eleven campuses of Austin Community College.
Let’s examine how the Austin American-Statesman customer service department ignores, insults and antagonizes one of their biggest subscribers, Austin Community College.
If this is how Gannett and the Statesman are handling multiple BBB complaints from an educational institution that orders 110 daily newspapers and spends $40,000 per year - just imagine how they treat people with one individual subscription.
Exhibit A: ‘Austin Community College’
Austin Community College (ACC) has eleven campuses and ordered ten copies of the Statesman printed newspaper per campus, seven days a week.
ACC Campuses and Centers
Cypress Creek Campus
Eastview Campus
Elgin Campus
Hays Campus
Highland Campus
HLC Bldg 4000
Northridge Campus
Pinnacle Campus - (Closed)
Rio Grande Campus
Riverside Campus
Round Rock Campus
South Austin Campus
San Gabriel Campus
Austin Community College pays $39,600 per year for 110 daily subscriptions at $30 per issue across ACC.
That’s if ACC is paying the current published rate. However, I’m guessing the Statesman offers around a 50% discount rate for schools.
Even with a 50% discount, Gannett is still ripping ACC off by $20,000 every year. The Statesman rarely (if ever) delivers the newspaper, refuses to answer calls and ignores all emails.
Austin Community College officials became so frustrated with the Statesman’s non-existent customer service, they:
Contacted the BBB to escalate the situation
Aired out the Statesman’s dirty deeds in public
Tried get this nightmare resolved by a third-party public watchdog.
Instead of resolving the issue, the Statesman pours gasoline on the fire, antagonizes one of their top paying subscribers and makes the problem way worse.
Initial Complaint: January 6, 2023
Scroll down to read the initial complaint, followed by the smug, patronizing and condescending response from the Statesman customer service team to the ACC library staff.
Gannett treats an important Texas educational institution with thousands of students and $40,000 in yearly subscriptions like garbage.
Highlights from ACC’s initial complaint to the BBB:
Austin Community College libraries paid for 10 copies of the daily Austin Statesman to get delivered to each of their 11 campuses every day. That’s 110 daily papers.
Most of the campuses (Northridge in particular) “get NO papers delivered or it is very inconsistent”
Customer service doesn’t exist: “We cannot find anyone to talk to to remedy this situation. Please reach out so we can finally resolve this issue”
Business Response: January 12, 2023
The Austin Statesman customer service department has the audacity to respond back through the BBB with an insulting request for Austin Community College library officials.
Statesman Customer Service to ACC Library staff:
“We ask that she respond with the exact address at each location. Without this information, we are not able to assist with her delivery concerns.”
The Statesman antagonizes one of their highest paying customers - and an Austin taxpayer-funded educational institution - by saying they don’t have addresses for their campus libraries and don’t know things like Google Maps or the ACC ‘Campus Locations’ web page exist.
After receiving the list of eleven addresses, the Statesman promises to keep ignoring the problem, by sending the complaint “to our Single Copy manager to resolve their ongoing delivery issues.”
Wait, it gets even worse.
ACC replies back to the Statesman through the BBB:
We reject your insulting attempt at resolving this issue, you jerks!
We paid $40,000 to get 110 newspapers delivered to this list we are providing with addresses for our 11 libraries.
You can’t even pick up the phone and call us directly after the first BBB complaint. What’s wrong with you people?
Are you running a scam?
Wait - it gets way worse than that.
Business Response: January 24, 2023
After insulting Austin Community College by (a) asking for the list of addresses and (b) continuing to use the third-party BBB as a conduit, instead of being a reputable business (much less mature adults) and contacting them directly.
The Statesman takes this customer service nightmare to an evem darker dimension by replying back with:
Your accounts have been sent to our Circulation Manager
Their “delivery escalation team” is requesting an immediate resolution
Starting now, each location that does not receive a newspaper must report it as it happens
This can be done via phone, email or within each of the eleven accounts management portals online
It’s the only way to ensure accurate credit is applied
We need to ensure each carrier is held responsible
Austin Community College already tried to resolve this issue via phone, email and online.
That’s the reason why they contacted the BBB to intervene - they could never reach anyone.
Now Statesman customer service informs ACC that each individual library must report their own delivery issues on a daily basis.
Using three methods (phone, email, web) that never work. Pure class.
Gannett and Austin Statesman exacerbate the issue by:
Failing to fix it
Throwing the burden back onto 11 different contacts across the ACC campus library network to resolve their own delivery issues
Forcing ACC librarians to file reports every 24 hours on how badly the Statesman failed at delivering the newspaper that day, so they can “receive credit”
Blame the problem on their criminally underpaid newspaper carriers, saying they need each library to submit their own reports, as it’s the only way to “ensure each carrier is held responsible”
NOTE: We do NOT blame the newspaper carriers for Gannett’s delivery issues. Austin Statesman newspaper carriers are criminally underpaid, treated horribly and in an abusive relationship with their employer.
If this how Gannett and the Austin American-Statesman treat a $40,000 yearly subscriber like Austin Community College, just imagine how they treat regular, average citizens when they attempt to contact the Statesman customer service department.
Across Reddit, Google Maps, the BBB and Yelp!, there are hundreds of negative online reviews from angry people who give the Statesman their credit or debit card information to order a subscription, never ger the product, try every possible method to cancel, and keep getting billed.
What Gannett and the Austin American-Statesman are doing is criminal
People are so desperate to stop getting billed, they end up cancelling their entire card, since it’s the only possible way to end the nightmare.
The Austin Statesman lies to customers by stating: “No commitment required. Cancel anytime.”
Now let’s hear from some of the individual subscribers who are trapped in Gannett’s billing scam.
This quote from Dolly is a hoot. She calls the Austin Statesman customer service line several times and gets trapped in a maze with no one to speak with “live”.
Finally she gets someone on the phone. But Dolly says the person is super lazy, obviously working from home, and gave her a “call back” number for a completely different business.
James D and everyone in his neighborhood has issues with Statesman home delivery. He’s tried to contact them many times, but nothing gets fixed.
Kim M subscribed to daily home delivery less than two months ago, and is lucky to get 3 papers per week.
She is shocked at the Austin Statesman’s lack of professionalism and respect for customers.
Tommy B has paid for his Statesman subscription multiple times, but they don’t deliver. When he tries to cancel, they call him back to sign him up again. Still no paper.
Leonard S paid for a subscription, hasn’t received a paper in two months, and is getting completely ignored.
Linda C ordered a subscription and 6 months ago and still hasn’t received a single paper after countless attempts to contact the Statesman.
Tommy, Leonard and Linda were so angry, they also filed BBB reports against the Statesman.
Hundreds of people echo the same complaints about the Statesman. Thousands of people report the same issues with Gannett-owned newspapers.
Yet Gannett is still operating and stealing money from thousands of Americans every single month.
In Part II, we’ll show how Gannett and the Austin American-Statesman lure gullible customers into their billing scam by offering heavily reduced discounts (up to 99% off!) for the first couple months of your subscription, just to get your billing info.
In Parts III and IV, we will show you dozens of similar complaints from furious individuals who never received the product they paid for, can’t reach anyone in customer service, can’t cancel and keep getting charged.
Then they jack up the monthly rate, don’t deliver the paper, make it impossible for you to cancel and keep on billing until you cancel the card.
TOMORROW ON AUSTIN TEXAS TIMES:
PREDATORY HACKS, PART II: How the Gannett-owned Austin Statesman Lures Unsuspecting Customers Into Their Billing Scam
Part II of the shocking, exclusive IV part series bursting with overwhelming evidence that the Austin Snakeskin and sinister owner Gannett are running a predatory and downright criminal billing scam.
Disguised as a newspaper.
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