newspaperarchive.com/ reference

I had to use my credit card to subscribe to this service to see if it were

anything I could use. I was very disappointed with the service and

requested they not bill my credit card before the seven day grace period and

they still charged me. There may very well be people who could utilize

their service but it was far from what I required.

I only found out after I had been charged that they allow you to sign up

over the Internet yet to cancel they have some hoops for you to jump

through.

I do a considerable amount of business on the Internet and this is the first

time I have had a situation like this arise. It will because of merchants

of this sort that the great freedoms and services we enjoy now will become

strictly regulated and become very costly to do business thru this great

resource.

Most retailers I do business with do have fine print to protect themselves

from abuse, damaged merchandise, excessive miles or hours on a rental unit,

out of warranty, etc, etc. but if a customer is truly dissatisfied with the

product or service they gladly return the customers money. These are the

companies that one would wish to do business with because of their integrity

and commitment to customer service. They understand that the customer is

not always right but he is never wrong about his or her needs and would

rather keep good relationships with their customers so they will keep coming

back.

I feel my integrity is worth a lot more then the $95.40 this lesson taught

me. I guess newspaperarchive.com's integrity is only worth $95.40.

To all those who read this REMEMBER:

1. KNOW WHO YOU ARE ABOUT TO DO BUISNESS WITH

2. CHECK THEM OUT IF YOU DO NOT KNOW THEM

3. READ THE FINE PRINT, IF YOU CAN FIND IT

4. REPORT ANY SUSPICIOUS SITES TO THE APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES

5. THE MORE THAT CITIZENS POLICE THE NET, THE LESS OUR GOVERNMENT WILL HAVE

TO POLICE THE NET.

Bob Foster

Mr. Foster,

With all due respect your account is not eligible for a refund. I have

pointed out to you clearly the actions that should have been taken and they

weren't. I apologize that you feel I am in the wrong, however; account

maintenance is the subscriber's responsibility, not mine.

Your account will not be refunded because the proper cancellation steps were

not followed.

Jason Krueger

From: Bob Foster [mailto:Email User]

Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 5:39 PM

To: Jason Krueger

Subject: RE: Refund Request from NewspaperARCHIVE.com

Mr. Krueger,

I do not wish to use your service as I previously stated and only wish the

refund I requested. Your service and search system does not meet my

expectations. I mentioned this before and if I have not received a refund

shortly I will pursue this issue and forward my displeasure with you company

to the appropriate WEB Sites legal channels and state officials.

Bob Foster

-----Original Message-----

From: Jason Krueger [mailto:Email User]

Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 4:03 PM

To: Email User

Subject: FW: Refund Request from NewspaperARCHIVE.com

Mr. Foster,

I have reviewed your account and request for refund and unfortunately you

are not eligible for a refund. Per our records you attempted to cancel your

account via email on 12/27/2006 at which time you were sent an email stating

the proper cancellation method(s). (attached) You again emailed us to

request cancellation on 1/6/2007 and you were sent another email stating the

proper cancellation method(s). (attached) Per the terms and conditions to

which you agreed to during the sign up process you would have needed to

contact us via mail, phone or fax prior to the expiration of your free

trial. This did not happen so your account is not eligible for a refund.

You will have access to our site for a full year.

I apologize for any inconvenience(s) this may cause you, however; it's the

subscriber's responsibility to maintain their account.

Respectfully,

Jason Krueger

Comment On This

My recommendation is that NO ONE should subscribe to newspaperarchive.com.

I am currently attempting to cancel, but I the obstacles are great and I fear that I have been scammed.

I signed up for a monthly renewing membership on April 6, for $11.95 per month. This was billed to my credit card, and that is of course fine.

It is now May/2 and I am attempting to cancel. They provide erroneous cancellation instructions on their support page (https://secure2.newspaperarchive.com/HtmlViewer.aspx?ctl=Support#accountquest4 ). When I followed the instructions, there was no option to cancel my subscription.

So I attempted to call to cancel by phone. As it is not regular business hours this cannot be done. A message informs you that you cannot cancel by voice mail. I note that they did not bother to tell me when normal business hours would be.

Then I sent my cancellation by fax, using the form they provide on the support page. Note that the fax number given for cancellation is not the same one given in bold at the top of the page.

Also not that they claim that cancellation by fax is not official until you receive a confirmation email, and that they can take 48 hours before processing your fax. This is in direct disagreement with the statement, from their terms and agreement, that "You may cancel your membership to NewspaperARCHIVE at anytime, and cancellation will be effective immediately.".

As I noted above, all of this makes me worry that they are about to delay my cancellation until after they bill my card four days from now.

Comment On This

On December 2, 2008, I discovered that my subscription had been renewed without my knowledge. I wrote the following to Newspaperarchive.com:

On November 27, my your company debited $95.88 renewal fee for my subscription to Newspapararchive.com. While I appreciated your service, I no longer need it, nor do I have the money to pay for it. Please credit my account immediately and CLOSE MY SUBSCRIPTION!

Barbara G

On December 3, they answered:

Dear Barbara G,

Your membership has been cancelled and you will not be re-billed. Cancelled indicates that the billing has been disabled, you will not be charged again but you are not eligible for a refund. You will have access to the service until the end of your subscription. This means that you can still login and search the archive. Our services will still be available to you until: 11/27/2009 6:12:26 PM. Unfortunately, we are unable to refund the amount you have already paid for your subscription. All our accounts are automatically renewing. According to our Terms and Conditions, to avoid further charges the account must be cancelled prior to the renewal date.

Sincerely,

Customer Service

NewspaperARCHIVE.com®

customerservice AT NewspaperARCHIVE.com

Comment On This

I am very grateful to Mr. Krueger for the refund.

Comment On This

Report Abuse Okay, we'll look into Complaint #4518! Thanks for helping us make complaints.com a better site! Wrong Button..wanted to reply.

My recommendation is my personal opinion...don't do business with newspaperarchive.com.

I hadn't used their service in some time...didn't have the "largest" database I needed for simple obit lookups.

Between the time of that last look up...2007...my computer crashed and I had to completely reinstall...operating system and programs.

Lost all logins and such. However, I completely forgot about ole' newspaperarchive.com.

Until 1/3/08 when reconciling online banking and there was a charge from them on 1/2/08.

Now let me put it this way...forgot about them period. Hadn't utilized the site in a long time period. Didn't have the login or password to cancel period. They are a 3 ring circus according to others who have complained elsewhere regarding the cancellation aspects of account.

Now account canceled. Sent the email they requested...for refund. At least most web access for genealogy asks if you want to renew. Best thing is don't go there....and change that card so they can't charge again.

Nan