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Business Profile

Newspaper

The State Media Company

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

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Complaints

Customer Complaints Summary

  • 28 total complaints in the last 3 years.
  • 3 complaints closed in the last 12 months.

If you've experienced an issue

Submit a Complaint

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

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Complaint status

Complaint type

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:01/23/2023

    Type:Delivery Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    For the whole year of 2022 I paid for and was not delivered Digital + Sunday print delivery. I never received a Sunday print delivery paper. They increased the price 3 times in 2022. I finally called and asked what I was paying for and they told me that in 2019 I requested Sunday print with digital service. THAT IS FALSE! So, honestly it looks as though I have been paying for services that I didn't not ask for from 2019-2022. When the bill got so high I finally called. I asked them for a refund and they told me no refunds are given. I said then I wan the digital only paper for 3 years FREE to cover the $523.07 that I paid them in 2022. (I thought I was being reasonable. This is absolutely ridiculous! I emailed The State Newspaper and called. They said they could not help me. Wanted to charge me $24.99 per month (as a deal) for digital service. NO THANK YOU!

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:12/09/2022

    Type:Billing Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    I’m filing this complaint on behalf of my mother which is Acct #********. Before I placed an order for a print subscription with this newpaper, I consulted with a customer service representative the day I ordered the subscription to ensure it could be delivered to their apartment. She looked up the route and ensured me it could be done. I ordered a three month subscription to begin in early October and end in early January. At no time has a paper been delivered to the apartment, their mailbox, nor the front office of the complex. According to the apartment manager, no one has contacted them about problems with delivery. I first contacted customer service by email on October 18th with a response from both an automatic reply and from one Jane, Customer Service Representative who said she would send a report to the distribution center to rectify the problem. After no resolution, I contacted the same email address on November 14th to cancel the subscription and return payment for services not rendered. There has been no return of payment, in full or in part, and no print delivery as of 12/08/22. No further contact has been made by The State besides an automated disclaimer message. Furthermore, the account online reads “active” to automatically deduct in January despite my emailed request to cancel. At no place within the webpages does it provide a place to click to cancel the subscription despite direction to manage the account online; the only recourse is to contact customer service according to their help menu either by email or phone, the latter which is only available from 8:00 AM-4:00 PM M-F during which time I have been on hold with them to talk to a representative for longer than is feasible for my work environment (>15 min).

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:11/28/2022

    Type:Billing Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    I am writing to you concerning fraud on my account from the SC State Newspaper. I have followed the correct way to cancel the paper over the past year and I have called the 803-771-6161 so many times over the past couple of months and each time I was transferred to the offshore team who argues with me and tries to convince me to keep the paper and finally gives up and re-assures me the paper will stop at the end of the month and the debit from my account will no longer happens, however that ends up being a lie and each month it continues and I have called every month and the same thing happens. I have asked to speak to someone in the Columbia SC office and each time told there is no one to talk to which I was shock to hear.

    My subscription also went up in from 13.83 to 17.77 to 26.87 and over the past two month 40.39 which is ridiculous for only the Sunday Edition- 4 papers a months without my authorization and the Sunday Edition only advertises for $12.99 a month. After trying to get the debit to stop on my account, my bank recommended I cancel the debit card that I have used for years in order to stop any additional unauthorized drafts taken by the State Newspaper and after all the money they have deducted from my account they have the nerve to send me a collection notice for $8.25 after realizing I change my bank card which blocked them.

    Over the past months the State Newspaper company has deducted the following amounts and I am requesting an immediate review from them and refund of these charges below as well as cancelation of so called final pay of $8.25

    Jan 17.77
    Feb 26.87
    March 26.87
    April 26.87
    May 26.87
    June 26.87
    July 6.20 and 26.87
    Aug 36.40
    Sept 40.39
    Oct 40.39 and 35.00- bank charge

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:10/31/2022

    Type:Billing Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    We were getting The Sunday State Paper for several years and were paying about $68.00 every 3 months. When the new company took over, they raised our price to $159.00 for 3 months. We tried to cancel in the first week of April 2022 but the representative was extremely rude and told us we could NOT cancel in April. They reduced our payment to $117.00 and took it out of our account with automatic withdrawal. We went to our bank and ******* ******* the branch manager canceled our debit card and issued a new debit card with a new number. In June 2022 they stole the $117.00 from our account again and we do not know how they got the new number. We went back to the bank on June 27, 2022, and ******* ******* drew up a ATM/Check Card/ Electronic Check/Error Resolution form **** ******** ********** She also called and spoke to a representative and they were extremely rude to her as well. ******* changed our debit number once again and got our $117.00 back in our account. We started getting harassing phone calls up to 3 times a day until we finally blocked the number. We received a 'Final Notice' for $117.00 on October 14, 2022 (see attached document). On October 24, 2022, we received a collections letter from A.R.M. Solutions, Inc. in the amount of $117.00 (see attached document). I tried to call A.R.M. Solutions, Inc. and got nowhere. HELP

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:10/18/2022

    Type:Customer Service Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    The State Newspaper makes it impossible to cancel their service and they ignore cancelation requests.
    I requested that they cancel my subscription a year ago. It was ignored.
    Now in order to cancel they tell me I owe them $12 and won't cancel my subscription.
    The subscription is digital only. There is no reason for owing them any money.
    This is a dishonest business practice.

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:09/19/2022

    Type:Billing Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    After my mother passed on 11/30/2021 I called the State newspaper and asked them to transfer her Sunday subscription to me until the subscription ended. They said that they would do that without any other instruction or providing an end date. After they stopped delivering the paper, I received a bill for $127.16. When I contacted them, they said that they continued to deliver the paper because I did not follow the proper cancellation policy. This was not my subscription in the first place, so I had no idea of their policy. This seems like a way to take advantage of the situation and try to get money for the failing newspaper business. I never had the paper delivered to my home in the past and do not want it in the future. I only took over the subscription so the money already spent would not go to waste. I only read the comics and threw the rest away.

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:08/31/2022

    Type:Billing Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    I renewed my subscription with the state and then noticed that it was going to cost me a almost 50.00 just to receive the paper on Sunday only. I called the next day to cancel my subscription and get my money back for services I was no longer going to receive. They told me they could cancel my subscription, but they would not be issuing me a refund because they no longer do that. I told them they were stealing my money if I was no longer going to receive the services, but they wouldn't give me my money back. I called the bank to place a stop payment, but they couldn't since it was a debit card and not a check. I called today to change my subscription to all digital since they wouldn't give me my money back and they told me that the 15,99 listed on their website was for new customers only and I had to pay 19.00 a month. I changed it because I would rather receive something than nothing, but I really want my money back. This is a ridiculous practice and false advertising. I have been a valued customer for them for years and now they treat me like ****.

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:08/29/2022

    Type:Billing Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    I have had terrible delivery problems with the newspaper so much that last time I had a missed paper, I informed them to cut it off after the last delivery. The company continues to send papers, even when I switched my subscriptions they continued to send papers I did not want. I informed them to stop delivery, they sent papers (which I can give back) and now want around $24.00 to stop the delivery. I refuse to pay for this as I did not order it. My name alone is on they acccount, yet, somehow they had my husbands number (never given as a contact) and called him repeatedly at while he was at work, not calling me once, when my numbr is the only one on the account.

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:08/12/2022

    Type:Service or Repair Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    The State Newspaper did not deliver the purchased product (online newspaper) for over 2 1/2 weeks. Five calls were made to customer service to resolve the non delivery problem. Each time assurances were made by The State customer service rep that the problem would be resolved. It was not resolved.

    This problem started started about July 26th.

    Newspaper still has not been delivered. However, the bill for the service has been delivered via email.

    I attempted to cancel this service on August 9th or 10th. I talked to another customer service rep at this time requesting cancellation. The rep said the subscription would be cancelled but could not give a confirmation that the subscriptions was in fact cancelled even though they have my email address and seem to have no problem sending me a bill.

    My subscription is paid up through August 28th. I do not want to renew. I do not want pay any more. I have cancelled the subscription. I want confirmation that the subscription has been cancelled and I will no longer be billed after my subscriptions ends on August 28th.

    Customer service is totally ineffective and very difficult to deal with.

The State Media Company is NOT a BBB Accredited Business.

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