Chicago Tribune review: Manipulative billing & subscription practices

I had a 1 year subscription for the Trib for $1.99 monthly. 14 months after subscribing, I get a bill for $19.99 monthly. I have no interest in continuing to subscribe. I rarely read the Tri and $240 a year for a digital subscription is ridiculously expensive.

I called yesterday, told the lady I didn't want to subscribe. She said she'd stop the subscription and asked me if I would like a subscription for $4 monthly. I said no. She said thank you and we ended the call.

Today I get a call from a lady saying she's with the Tribune and that I have a past due balance. ? This is odd as the lady I spoke to yesterday said nothing about owing them any money.

I called to speak to a supervisor and no one ever answered after getting transferred to one. The phone line stays active but there is dead silence while I sat and waited.

After waiting for 8 minutes, I hung up and called again. The only reason I got thru to someone this time was because I picked the menu option to start a new subscription. (It seems this is the only department they staff well since customer service doesn't answer their phones.)

This lady told me yes, you owe $29. I asked her why the Tribune automatically continues to bill the customer and comes up with such a high amount. Yesterday the lady wanted $4 monthly for a new subscription. Today they want $29 for the one month period since my prepaid subscription ran out? Huge rip off.

And for a company that tinkers around with its rates so much and must make a good profit doing so, they need more staffing so you don't have to call multiple times and sit and wait for someone intelligent to answer the phone. Customer service seems to be offshore and offshore typically gets paid alot less than onshore employees.

I will never subscribe again to this paper. Horrible service, horrible business practices.