Chicago TribuneReviews of chicagotribune.com

Despite having settled a class action lawsuit over deceptive billing in the past, the Chicago Tribune continues with very questionable billing tactics. I had been paying $6.50 every 6 months for digital access only. Imagine my shock when I received a text message from my credit card that the Chicago Tribune had charged me $103.74 for 6 months of digital only access. No email, no letter, no notification at all from the Chicago Tribune about the ridiculous rate increase. When I called and spoke with customer service, they initially refused to cancel my subscription and immediately refund me. I had to request a supervisor to cancel my subscription and refund me. Customer service, including the supervisor, lied to me about my subscription and could have cared less to assist me. I am a long time Tribune subscriber and that meant nothing to them. I seriously think the Chicago Tribune needs an investigation into their continued deceptive billing and lies being told to customers. I will never return and will take every opportunity to warn people to stay away from the Tribune due to their continued deceptive billing practices.

I had been reading the Tribune for close to 30 years and was pleased to receive a promotional offer for digital access at only $4/year. Of course I should have expected the rate to increase after the first year but not to $300 annually. This does not even include physical delivery of the paper. Just ridiculous. Making matters worse, I called the billing department and was routed to a very rude overseas call center agent. I was given no other option but to pay up or risk having this sent to collections. Great way to treat your customers in an era where local newspapers are struggling.

The Tribune overcharges regular, long term customers. My next bill is $124.00 for less than 8 weeks. Online a new customer can purchase the same subscription of Sunday & Wednesday delivery plus daily digital for$155.00 for 52 weeks. I asked for that and was denied. I was offered $9.50 a week for 8 weeks, which will increase after. I refused asking for the 52 week price. I was denied. I was also told that when I cancelled today I then had to wait 30 days to subscribe to a new subscription. I told her I likely wouldn't come back then and she just didn't care. How is that good even for Tribune? So my subscription completely ends 4/2.25. And there is nowhere to call that accepts complaints. Bad business. Kathy Russell

Subscribed for a 25 cents/week promotion and was immediately charged $23.96/month. Called and was told that "rates are subject to change" and no refund would be issued. This is outright fraud. Cancelled and will never again be a customer.

Chicahg Tribune has deceptive billing practices. It all started when i switched to on line payment. My bill went from @38.00 every three mont to $45.00 per month and today i get a charge on my card for $53.00 for this month with no explanation, I have been a cutomer for 50 years and this is what happens when you get greedy people buying up companies. Im done, Im cancelling tomorrow.

I have been a subscriber to the Chicago Tribune since 1974. For decades the print edition served me well. When it went digital so did I following them into new ways of delivering the news. Everything went pretty well for another decade while I still got home delivery and digital access. During the pandemic it was really good to have both versions of the paper available. Like many other publishers the Tribune Company saw a decline in their fortunes. The printed form of news declined while digital content (largely unedited) grew. The Tribune's management foolishly squandered the goodwill they had developed over a century or more of quality reporting, editorial and publishing. They were so distracted with their radio stations, television stations and the ridiculous Chicago Cubs that they allowed the New York Times to assume the most prominent space in journalism - including incredible digital access. They are the 800 pound gorilla of the news - digital and print. Now that Alden Capital owns what's left of the paper their focus is sucking every penny out of the shell that is left. The just announced increase in the price of the digital edition to $44.00 per month was the last straw for me. I am cancelling my subscription on Monday. I will no longer help fund their lust for cash. I have many reasons for this decision. They have been building up over the last few years. The price increase, though, is the straw that broke the camel's back. I frequently have had issues with the digital edition arriving (the pdf form) improperly formatted. Columns/stories would not open. Stories that were across multiple pages did not open in one document. Whole sections of the paper were not in the digital edition they email me daily (often the comics/puzzles). Alerts to their customer service people might get a response in a few days (well after the edition I was alerting them too was stale). Alden fired or forced out almost all the columnists, reviewers, critics, and editorial opinion writers. There still are many quality people writing for the Tribune but they are a skeleton of what used to be a robust source of news and culture. They started to fill the daily editions with reprints from the AP, NY Times, LA Times, etc. (I already see most of those in the NYT digital subscription I have). I will not longer pay to see the same stories reprinted in the ChiTrib that I have already read in the original source (the reprints are always a few days later than the original). I am guessing this delayed reprinting is required by the contract for using another paper's content. Alden turned the Trib into a joke. It is not a newspaper any longer. It is masquerading as a newspaper while serving only one need: satisfying Alden Capital's unrelenting greed. They now expect me to pay $528 per year for the paper. The NYT costs $328 per year for full access (the paper, the Sunday extras, food and cooking, Wirecutter (product reviews), etc.). The price of the ChiTrib, by comparison, is a rip off. I am not alone. Many of the people I know and see regularly are fed up too. We have moved to the Chicago Sun-Times for local reporting (they work on a donation model). I suspect Alden will see a wave of cancellations in the coming weeks. I am sorry for the hard working employees who still try to put out a quality product every day. Despite my warm feelings for the workers and their plight my 50 year relationship with the ChiTrib ends in 48 hours.

Ownership of the Chicago Tribune, Alden Global Capital, is a hedge fund whose leaders don't read newspapers. Among other activities, they special in very aggressive and deceptive billing including extreme price increases, no billing statements unless you pay $7 a month extra, 13-week billing cycles that get chewed up in 6 weeks due to extra expenses and customer service like robots. BEWARE!

Been a Chicago Tribune subscriber since the early 1980's. Cancelled subscription for 3rd time in the last 30 years. Invoice came at double the last statement. No records of paid statements on Tribune web site. About a month after I cancelled last time I received a call from Chicago Tribune customer service as to why I cancelled. I explained that my subscription had doubled and cancelled. Customer service resumed my subscription at standard rate and all was fine until last invoice.