San Jose Mercury News

I subscribed to the Mercury for 30 years. I was paying 400 for a subscription. I received a call from the Merc and they said it would cost $ 98.50 for a year. I signed up. A few months latter the Merc called and said I owed them money. I told them about the offer and they said the called never let them know. I asked to speak to supervisor, they said none on duty. I cancelled the subscription. It was their fault and now they want me to pay.
Bad business.

Ordered the daily paper (6 months) about a year ago.
They have yet to consistently deliver the paper for more than a few days at a time. It will be delivered for 2 – 7 days then not delivered again. I’ve told them about this so many times that I got tired of it and asked for a refund, given that I’m too busy to call them every day that I don’t get the paper (and therefore go without it for weeks to months before I inform them). They just offer me more credit and to inform the carrier, who successfully delivers it shortly after I call but only for a few days after that, then the cycle repeats.
I later received a bill and called them to explain that I haven’t received the paper in months and was tired of calling them about it. They apologized and offered me credit for the months I didn’t receive. It’s not worth the hassle to even get the rest of my money’s worth from the subscription.
I’ve also yet to receive a promotional gift card offered with the subscription.

Just got latest subscription bill. Went up 40% from last time. Now up to $ 182 for six months of daily delivery!!! Price has been going up each billing cycle, but 40% is outrageous!!! Plus they now include the online version and you can not opt out of that!!! Seems to me they are really discouraging paper delivery and want us all to settle for the on line version. But 40% is really making us consider canceling !!!

5 weeks ago I accepted an offer to have the Mercury News digitally during the week and deliver the Sunday paper to my apartment patio. My neighbor next door to me receives the paper daily. I can see it on his patio. I have called several times to customer service and on Sunday mornings to report no delivery even when I can see the paper next door. One time they delivered after my Sunday call.
The digital paper is fine. But I have made severa l (6) calls to customer Service with nice people making sure they will have something done but to no avail. Today I talked to a supervisor so wish me luck that I will receive a paper this Sunday without making another call.

These people are idiots!!!
My subscription expired over six months ago and I called to cancel and yet they keep delivering the paper seven days a week.
Calling customer service has not stopped the paper from being delivered.
Why even have a customer service department?

I moved to online because of cost and delivery problems and now, I can t even access the paper on line in the app! The whole paper won’t load. The most frustrating part is that there is no help for technical problems; only help on how to use app.
I went to the web to log in that way but the same thing happens.
That’s why I came to Unilocal!It’s 6:10 am and normally I read the paper at 5. So frustrating.

Horrible, disgusting, deceptive business practices. The only way they get «subscribers» is through a scam.

Based upon a Sunday Edition: what a great local newspaper. It is thorough, covers scoops in San Francisco as well as the Silly Valley. The Business Section and Local news are impressive
The dining/​drinking section had a good list of brunch spots in Oakland, SF, Albany and San Jose.
Far superior to the tired old San Francisco Chronicle.

Another subscription call from (408) 413‑0276.
Filing a complaint requires only 60 seconds:
.

I have also been a victim of the same student scam, that other have talked about here. A student showed at my door saying that if I buy one months of subscription from Mercury News, he will receive his tuition fees from them. Out of trust and good-​will, I gave him a check of about $ 5. Since that day, I have received a total of only 2 news papers.
As I didn’t like the subscription, I cancelled it, but I continued to receive the bills asking for money. Just a few days, I receive a letter from Mercury News saying «Final Notice». On giving them a call, I was told that I either need to pay the full amount due 17.27/-
–OR–
they will refer it to the COLLECTIONS which will hurt my CREDIT SCORE.
I had not option but to make the payment for the services I didn’t use. If you are even slightly inclined to use a newspaper, for the love of God, please do not choose «Mercury News». At the time of writing this review, there is nothing in this world that I hate more than Mercury News. They are running a sales scam, and covering it up under the name of Donations for students.

I am in shock to just have paid $ 2.50 for a Saturday, San Jose Mercury Newspaper at SAFEWAY, Gilroy. With tax, that came to $ 2.73…
Is this a SAFEWAY overcharge, or has the weekend newspaper price increased $ 1.00 since I purchased one, last weekend? :-(

I have an affinity for newspapers. The good old feel of paper and the sound you hear when you flip a page to follow a story. They were an important part of culture and now, physical papers are hanging on for life.
The San Jose Mercury News has some good writers. I especially love Tim Kawakami and his sports stories /​the TK show podcast.
So you are asking why I am giving a 1 star?
Simple — their sales tactics are slimy. Twice within the past 6 months, «high school students,» maybe real, but maybe not, have been soliciting door to door in my neighborhood claiming that they are selling papers in order to raise money for college and if a paper was not desired, a simple donation would do.
That’s fine. I can respect the hard work that goes into door to door work of any kind whether it be campaigning or sales. However, this student was pushy. I said I wasn’t interested several times and I said no thank you. I was about to close the door and he kept asking why not while trying to keep my door open and from closing. Not only was the guilt trip tactic concerning, but the fact that the door was being pushed opened was a bit frightening. If you do something like that, to me that is grounds for a police call, and my self defense mechanism turned on to level 100.
I had done research and read other reviews and apparently other newspapers have this same business structure. But I do not like to feel badgered or threatened at my home.
If you want to sell more papers Merc, have a good staff, solid writers and maybe an online presence. The Bay Area could use a South Bay /​Silicon Valley «SF Chronicle.» Content is king and the old guard of traditional cable TV /​newspapers is changing — adopting these practices might be better long term strategic initiatives…

A student came door-​to-​door in my neighborhood and asked people to sign up for the newspapers. If I signed up, he would receive credit towards his college tuition. I paid $ 20 cash for the San Jose Mercury News. However, since that day, I have never seen a single newspaper delivered. We realized it was a SCAM. He probably took the cash. The reason I paid cash because I heard that if you are using your credit cards, the newspaper would charge directly to your credit card.
Months later… I received the invoice from San Jose Mercury News for $ 12.78
Not only I lost $ 20 and did not get a single newspaper, San Jose Mercury News billed me. I called them and the representative was so very unprofessional. He claimed that he had «Computer problems», put me on hold and hanged up the phone. They always used «computer problems» to avoid your call.
STAY AWAY from ALL NEWSPAPERS… they all are in the same BAY AREA NEWS GROUP.

We don’t read newspapers at all, it’s archaic and a waste. But a teenager came to our door selling subscriptions to earn some money. We gave him $ 20 but told him we don’t want a subscription (because the headaches we had to go through last time to cancel). Several weeks later we started receiving Mercury newspapers. We first thought «Oh, what a nice guy who wanted us deliveries anyways.» How wrong that was, they get credit for writing up number of subscriptions. So I called the office to stop the delivery, it was just a $ 20 donation to the teenager. They told me it can’t be stopped until the the subscription ends. Okay, it’s going straight to recycling bin, but whatever.
Subscription near its end, I called to remind them not to renew. Several weeks later, a renewal notice arrived in mail. Called again that I’m not renewing and to stop delivery. A month later, a second notice for renewal arrives. 3 months after the subscription ended, I’m still getting renewal notices and paper delivered. I call again today, their system crashed and while I was on hold they hung up on me. THE WORST, INEPT company I’ve encountered!

Their sales tactic is a SCAM. I took pity on a young woman, who told me she was a struggling student wanting to go to college and if I signed up for the paper, she would get money towards her tuition. However the money she receives is just a paycheck, not going towards college. And I figure she lied about the whole thing, as literally everyone commenting below has been told a sob story and schemed into signing up. TOTAL SCAM by getting compassionate people to sign up for a newspaper subscription under FALSE pretenses. I had to cancel my check. Thankfully I found this site before the situation could progress, as many people are saying they continue to charge them even after they have canceled their subscriptions. But I am still going to call and cancel my subscription as a precaution, as i DON’T TRUST THEM.

No comment.

I had someone come at my doorstep requesting to subscribe for this newspaper. My wife gave about 20 $ for the subscription. First of all the paper was never delivered and we gave up. I got a renewal notice to which I did not respond thinking that they will cancel the subscription. To my surprise they renewed it automatically and are now asking me to pay up more money to close the account. Again I have never received any paper till date.

I used to enjoy getting up in the morning, making a cup of coffee and perusing through my «dead tree» (paper) copy of the newspaper. An old habit dies hard, they say. Mine is. Why? — Well, because my morning paper stopped showing up in a timely way.
I am not complaining about the price, nor wasting time complaining about fake scams from young miscreants at my door.
In my case, something happened in January, and now, like the US post office — delivery is sort of random — sometimes the paper is there for me, and sometimes it’s less timely. It arrives eventually, but it doesn’t help me when it appears after I leave for work. Those are the days I longingly look at my empty driveway as the sun rises and am sad.
Of course, there is little recourse — the official delivery window being what it is, and all that. So, I guess I will learn to miss the paper every day now instead of every third day.

I’m a long-​time Mercury News subscriber (for several decades). My experience with my bill today was the worst I have ever had with phone support. The person and her supervisor couldn’t explain the bill to me – why did I loose a month of subscription. They couldn’t explain why my subscription price jumped by 70%. All of this non-​information took about 45 minutes on the phone.
I realize that the new media is struggling and, as an industry, in crisis mode. But shortening a subscription and excessive price increases without any ability to explain (except we need more money and there’s nothing we can do about it) is very unsatisfactory.
I’ve noticed that the paper is getting thinner and that most of the news is soft (not events that happened within the last 24 hours). I can accept that as a necessity to control costs even though it reduces the value of the paper.
Regrettably, I’m giving serious consideration to unsubscribing. I have to look into how I might otherwise get local news or how much I really need to local news.

I have been reading the prices people are paying for subscriptions to the San Jose Mercury News. I am paying 108.00 for a (10) week period which comes out to $ 561.60 for the year. One of my friends in Saratoga is paying $ 189.00 per year and another friend in Cupertino is being charged $ 205.00 per year. My bill is including the electronic copy of the Mercury News which I never asked for and don’t want. I sent a message to
which is stated on the bill I have received. Do you think I have gotten a reply? NO! I am about to go on line and post my frustrations on Facebook, Twitter and any other electronic social network I can find. This is outrageous.

This is a follow-​up review for the 9÷2÷14 review below. There was intermittent improvement for a while but service has dropped off to an even more dismal level than before. Now, the majority of the time I receive either the wrong paper, a paper missing a major section or no paper at all. With one exception, when I call the circulation people I receive conciliatory remarks about how unfortunate it is that I missed the paper; they say the’ll send another paper out; they will pass on my request to speak to someone in management. One operator looked up my account history and asked wheteher I had received specific re-​deliveries. After looking at the history, he sounded concerned. He said he’d escalate my issues and see that something was done. It didn’t work.
Let’s be clear. I HAVE NEVER RECEIVED A SINGLE RE_​DELIVERY. In the «good old days» the missed paper would come with the next day’s paper. I guess by doing that they could claim that the paper was delivered from the printers, it was just an oversight that it didn’t make it to my house. I still got charged for it. Now, it’s just gone. If I didn’t report it online, I’d still get charged for it; I just wouldn’t get the day late paper.
I’d like to point out that the very helpful operator is I worked with was offset by at least two operators who insisted that there is no problem with the Mercury’s delivery system, that it’s «clearly» the fault of my delivery person. These closed-​minded, incurious and unhelpful people should be dismissed. If only contempt for those getting who read the paper wasn’t somehow rewarded and accepted within the Mercury.
I once insisted that I talk with a manager immediately; I said that redeliveries and calls back never happen. Naturally I was told that all the managers were in a meeting. My God — at least have someone with talent think up a good excuse! I held out and eventually talked with someone who sounded familiar with my account and offered to help. She offered to comp me a for a week and said to give her a week to work on things. Since then, I received two days’ service as expected. Today, my Sunday paper consisted of sections A and B — not even the ads.
I must point out that this is not my delivery person’s issue. He never, ever, fails to deliver a properly assembled Chronicle. When it does show up, the Chronicle and Mercury are rubber-​banded together. I’ve seen them thrown out of his car a the same time. No, the problem is with the Mercury organization. Whoever provides papers to my delivery person is blazingly incompetent

Their customer retention department called me up, and took my credit card number for a new promotion. They have never put that charge to my account and account has been stopped. I called customer service and explained what happened. Their answer «I don’t know which 3^rd vendor gave you that kind of promotion but we don’t have customer retention department. So I can’t give you any number to call. Wow, they take credit card info from customer over the phone but no history. Moreover, it was a customer service dept supervisor, who has no clue. I do not know if any of the personal info /​credit card info are safe in their system…

I’ve been paying $ 89 for daily delivery of the Mercury News for a 10 week period. My bill this month shot up to $ 114 for 10 weeks. I called customer service and they said «we had a rate increase»…geez…5 or 10% increase would be significant, but a 28% increase???
Come on, do you really want me as a customer… I think not.

sanjose mercury news has become so «communist» in their actions this day and time so i don’t pay no more mind to «the san jose mercury news » any more …
in fact while on this subject: when i think of «sanjose mercury news» it reminds me of «donald trump » the drunkard and the fabricated conspired wanna be american, however outcome is: identified as a preditor impersonator «SO THAT IS WHAT THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS REMINDS ME OF » …
46 YRS IN SAN JOSE CALIFORNIA SILICONVALLEY !!!
IN JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH …
12 — 16 — 15. — 10:03 a.m.

Also got scammed by them. Only now I am connecting the facts.
I got a call a week ago from «San Jose Mercury News» saying they wanted to confirm information about my subscription, I thought it was strange (I never subscribed to this newspaper), thought it was a marketing call, and told them to add me to the Do Not Call List and forget about me.
Today a «Welcome to The Mercury News» pamphlet came saying my account on file was charged $ 25. I looked over my credit card transaction history and my checking account history and couldn’t find any charge to this company or suspicious charges around $ 25. Thinking it was still a marketing ploy, I decided to look up online and there you go… found Unilocal reviews about the «poor, foster child looking for money for college». Then I remembered, I had a similar visit a few weeks ago.
I feel terrible for falling into this scam.

In July, My daughter was approached by a «college student» selling subscriptions the the San Jose Mercury News. She paid with check «thank god» for Sunday Only delivery for 20 @$ 23.95. We finally started getting the paper in late August. Only thing is, it came every day. Less than 2 months into the cycle, we started getting bills from SJ Mercury News for a renewal of Daily and Sunday service. But, I’m not done… we also got bills for San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday only! HELLO!!! We never subscribed for the SF Chronicle nor did we ever receive it.
When I called the SJ Mercury, they were very cordial, and immediately cancelled the paper and «zero’d» out the balance. For this I give 2 stars.
When I called SF Chronicle, the agent asked me how I was going to pay my balance. This was after I told him we never subscribed, nor received their paper. After telling him 3 times, I finally blew and told him if he couldn’t handle the problem, to refer me to a supervisor. All of sudden he couldn’t hear me. Eventually he was able to hear what I said, and was able to figure out a way to zero out my «account». He told me I would no longer be getting the paper on Sunday. ARGH!!! SF Chronicle deserves no stars.
I put these together because i believe it was part of the same SCAM.
Just be careful of these sneaky door-​to-​door vendors.

Ok, I admit, I feel for the sales pitch and honestly believed that I would 1) get the paper delivered and 2) get the $ 10 gift card incentive gift. Hummmm, lets see — NOT!!! Do not, I repeat… DO NOT FALL FOR THE SALES PITCH. I just called to cancel my subscription for a paper that I have never received and the pitch continues with the guy on the phone… «I can correct all of this and get you your gift card but you will have to sign up again and pay another,» this is where I cut him off and said I will NOT be signing up for anything else with their company.

At 9:15pm tonight, a young man in his early twenties claiming to be from «the local high school,» which he couldn’t name, pounded on my door yelling «HELLOOOOOOO.»
He wanted to sell me newspapers, specifically the San Jose Mercury News. He wouldn’t take, again, no for an answer. I closed the door in his face and told him I would phone the police. I did; they checked the area, but he had already taken off on foot.
Sunnyvale Municipal Code 5.28.080 prohibits peddlers, licensed or unlicensed, from entering upon any residential premises between nine p.m. and eight a. m, per ord. 2729-​03 sec 1. You’d think an established business would be aware of the governing municipal code; alas, Bay Area News Group (the parent company of SJMN) apparently isn’t, and does not care.

Avoid the scammers who claim to be students working with the SJ Mercury News.
Just now, there was some middle-​aged guy canvassing my apartment complex claiming to be a student asking for $ 20 donations that will help out with his college tuition. The donations come with a reward: subscriptions to the SJ Mercury News… yay?
After I turned him down several times (he was very pushy), I googled his story because he was giving me red flags. Turns out this is a SCAM. See the other Unilocal postings. This is the same exact story.
Red flags:
1) Claimed to be a high school graduate/​foster child, but did not provide any contact info when I asked him. He said he was going to study electrical engineering, but did not have a cell phone # or email. This is 2015. What tech-​savvy high school student in Silicon Valley doesn’t have email, at the very least?
2) Used a classic pressure salesman tactic to get me to fork over cash, credit, or check on the spot. I told him I’d «think about it» (i.e. a polite way to turn him down), but he said this is «his last chance» for tuition credits and that I’d need to give cash to him now.
3) Says he is a «neighbor from downstairs» but contradicted himself by saying that he just graduated from Willow Glen High (very far away from my apartment in Sunnyvale).
4) He already collected a few checks from our neighbors. He showed me them as «proof» that this was a legitimate organization.
5) He looked like he was in his mid-​30s, with a wrinkly complexion that neither a high school or college student would have.
6) He knocked at my door around 8pm in a gated apartment complex.
Disgusting.
The funniest part about the whole situation is when I said no for the last time, he got angry with me, ripped the donation form out of my hands, turned away with a TON of sass, and proceeded to knock on my neighbors door. Such a drama queen.

SJ Mercury News started sending me papers. I never subscribed. The papers first began arriving after a door-​to-​door salesperson tried to trick me into filling out subscription forms. He told me the forms were to sign up a school for a subscription, but they were clearly intended to sign me up. I did not consent to any of this, and sent him away.

In early August a young man came to my place trying to sign me up for the San José Mercury News newspaper. He claimed that in exchange for me signing up he would get help to continue his studies in college. We had a long enough conversation for me to taste the waters and I felt the deal sounded legitimate. Since I did not plan to spend money for receiving a paper that I would hardly read since I’m busy and I get news on the radio and the Internet I told him that I was not interested. He told me a customer initially signed up for a $ 25 20-​week subscription that he eventually did not want anymore so he could sign me up with that money. I made sure I did not did not place any monetary amount or check any box. I also did not use my e-​mail and I just put my name, address and phone number. At the end of it I got a pink slip.
A few weeks later I started to receive the paper. The problem was that the paper was not delivered daily. In about 6 weeks I received 6 papers and, on several occasions, the paper was not delivered to my door but it was thrown under the mailbox for my apartment complex so that anybody could walk by and pick it up.
I came to this page to read some reviews and I started to realize what the situation is. Basically, there is plenty of discontent and there is plenty of negative feedback. I resorted to call 1 800 870 6397 and I was connected to a lady in Pennsylvania. First I asked what the frequency of the delivery of the paper was and she confirmed that it should come once a week. I asked her to file a complaint because the paper is not delivered. I also asked her to make sure I would be contacted by somebody to tell me what is the problem with the delivery. She said they could contact me within 24 – 48 hours. She also credited a month of papers that I never received and extended my subscription by a month.
I waited for a couple of weeks until today. Nobody ever called me and I got 2 more papers. I called the same number I called before and I canceled my subscription telling the guy on the other side of the line that I do not plan to contribute to a business that does not know how to do business. The problem is not necessarily who prints the paper, its content or the name of the newspaper. My problem is with unreliable and unprofessional distribution and management. If the delivery does not happen and management does not do anything about it they deserve to lose all the customers they have.
The San José Mercury News is owned by the Bay Area News Group (BANG) which it in turn owned by Digital First Media. You can read about them on Wikipedia at these links:
,
and
.

I’m fine with picking up a copy of the SJ Mercury in the gym, but the door-​to-​door solicitation by «students» must stop!!! Your business model cannot prey on people’s ill-​placed trust and sympathy!!!
During the short time I lived in my apartment, I have been approached 2 times by 3 different «students» running exactly the same script:
— none of them appeared to be particulrly young (late 20s or even early 30s) but somehow they claimed to be college kids aspiring to transfer to some journalist program @ Berkeley and emphasized their 3.5+ GPA;
— they wanted me to sign up for SJ Mercury as a good cause to support their education;
— no cash or credit card information needed (this point was contradicted later on);
— signing up for SJ Mercury will help them gain educational points which would convert to some college fund;
— some «Brian”/“John» folk down the road just signed up;
— they would come personally to help me recycle the papers…
The first time I turned the guy down I felt bad. But the second time, 2 guys showed up at my door, one clearly a newbie «shadowing» the other, and started selling the SAME story. The leader/​trainer guy was so fluent and pushy.. . I said no three times, and they finally asked me if I would give a donation in cash.
Who just said no cash upfront, huh?
Apparently another variation of the story involved a foster child on a college football scholarship.
This «student» solicitation scam has been running since 2008, and people who were trying to help out some desperate kids even got automatic renewals or collection calls afterwards:
The story hasn’t changed much since 2008, except now the subscription price has increased to $ 23.95 … Inflation?

There was a time when i read the paper every morning with breakfast. As time went on being able to get news over network means just got simpler and at some point the paper just stacked up. It’s hard to see print media dying off but unfortunately that is the way of the world. It’s not compelling as it once was though regardless of print or electronic, content and creative are still the most important

If I could give 0 Stars, I would.
A scam through and through. Had a young man come to my door saying he was trying to get to college, that his parents died, that he was going to UCLA to play football, that his foster family couldn’t afford tuition so he was doing this ‘embarrassing job’.
I mean come on? Total joke of a company. Avoid or get a full refund ASAP.

— I’m Oleg
— Hi Oleg!
— I’m here to tell a story about a foster child who made me feel so sorry for him that I decided to make a donation. I’m all for donations, and periodically donate to stations like kcsm in exchange for 1 year membership (NOT subscription). But it appeared that Mercury News did not accept donations, and after reading reviews here I have no intent to subscribe. I’m stopping my check.

At one time this was a good newspaper, but after being bought by BANG, it has really become a rag. The local coverage is O.K. and the sports, but don’t bother with the front section. Mostly ads. No in-​depth coverage of things.
I find that their educational reporting is very biased against teachers and public schools. The paper definitely has an agenda.
It’s hard to believe that the people of San Jose cannot have a good newspaper with integrity.

Yet another marketing call even though I asked them a number of times to take me off the call list…
and new spoofing ID
When people sign up for the no call list, it doesn’t mean you hire outside marketing /​sales call centers to drop call everyone in Silicon Valley and more so using a spoof ID like this (V40610552200014413−0276) That my friends is a sure spoof caller ID and number and these are the types of people they hire to try to get you back.
everytime I get a marketing call I add a review and file a complaint with the FCC

Today… I got the paper even after this email from customer service. Unbelievable. When will this stop?
Hi Connie,
I apologize for all the inconvenience you have experienced. It feels like it was a long time ago that you originally messaged me to stop your account. I do not understand why it took a long time for us to process your account. I can confirm that your account has been canceled. I deleted your phone number and email from our records. I will message your carrier to inform him/​her not to deliver the newspaper anymore. Please let me know if I can be of additional assistance.
Thank you.
–
Sincerely,
Arnaldo Ponce
Customer Advocate Team Member
So.I emailed them right when it happened the next day and for the whole week customer service told me there is no subscription with your address in it. Then 3 weeks later, I get a call from SJMN. I immediately called their customer service and said I want to cancel. The guy acted like he didn’t hear me and asked me TWICE, if you keep the subscription, I will give you 4 weeks free. Seriously I’m irritated that this should not have happened and now you want to pressure me to stay with it. NO!