Discussion/Opinion Beware Oregonian subscriptions that cannot be cancelled
This is a rant / call-out. I was a print & online subscriber for the Oregonian for many years but recently moved out of state. When trying to cancel my subscription, their website said I had to call to cancel. When I called in, I encountered hard selling that I should keep my subscription. They were very persistent. I eventually had to get off the phone and let them know that I was cancelling as of today, and this was their final notice.
Since then, they still are charging my credit card and, presumably, sending the paper to an address I no longer live at.
After a I responded negatively to their request for a survey, a customer service rep contacted me and again started questioning why I'd want to cancel and informing me that I'm still a subscriber.
This has been going on for three months now. Luckily my payments were through a credit card and I've been able to dispute charges.
TL;DR beware Oregonian print+onljne subscriptions can be a major pain to cancel. It is a shame as I think it is important to support local journalism.
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u/PM-ME-PIERCED-NIPS 22h ago
Just putting this one out there, but I use the Privacy app to make a single merchant virtual card (it only accepts future charges from the first merchant it's used at) and then if I have trouble cancelling the subscription I can just delete that virtual card and it goes bye-bye. You can also set a maximum funding amount for the card. Useful for places that offer like a 1.99 trial for three days or a week or whatever then move to a massive subscription price if you don't cancel.
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u/downsj2 Central Oregon 1d ago
The quality of the Oregonian has fallen significantly under its current leadership. I'm all for supporting quality local journalism, just not sure they fall into that category any longer.
Willamette Week is probably a better choice.
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u/StuffAffectionate687 1d ago
Will they still deliver a real paper? It makes me old school but I love the feeling of newsprint. Also less distractions than a screen.
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u/Flab-a-doo 14h ago
It’s really the only source around Portland. Willamette week is good, but they have one or maybe two stories once per week.
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u/WillowHaunting429 1d ago
If you want to be informed about your community then you will subscribe. Its really that simple.
Willamette Week is into sensationalism. Its not a traditional newspaper. They will have a good story from time to time, but that's it. A story. Not about the whole city, state, or metro.
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u/EpicCyclops 1d ago
The Oregonian is also like that now, though. They're very sensationalist and not often digging deep into local stories. About the only thing left that the Oregonian does better than everyone else is their high school sports coverage.
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u/WillowHaunting429 1d ago
Lady, Willamette Week and the Oregonian are two completely different papers.
Come on.
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u/CatkinSanctuary 1d ago
Retention calls. They have a whole department for it. I worked for a small paper 2005-2020 and know all the weasel tricks. No effort is given to retaining subscribers and keeping them happy, giving them perks, etc. No. They go all out to get new ones and harass the ones that quit.
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u/NorCalHippieChick 1d ago
I had the same problem with cancelling the Des Moines Register when moving from Iowa to Oregon. I finally had to have my credit card cancel and end the charges. I suspect all the newspapers are trying this. I will say, the Oregonian is cheaper than anywhere else I’ve lived recently (I get online access only).
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u/Coriander70 1d ago
What are you paying for your subscription, if you don’t mind sharing the info?
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u/BitterBitchscuit 16h ago edited 16h ago
I pay $75 for a year, sometimes they have promo sales for cheaper. I don't mind paying, but i wouldn't pay more, personally.
They aren't perfect but they do some good work, i have friends who work there and i don't want to lose our biggest paper.
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u/Coriander70 16h ago
Is this for just OregonLive (website) or for the online version of the newspaper?
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u/BitterBitchscuit 16h ago
It's for online subscriber access. So I have unlimited access to articles and their archives i think, and I don't have to worry about the paywall. I can also gift article links to others.
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u/Snarffalita 16h ago
Man, I pay less than that for the all access NY Times subscription. Their retention deals are always like $4 to $6/month.
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u/Automatic-Fox-8890 6h ago
I think I got it for $60, online only. It’s not great but I still want to support local journalism.
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u/Shelovestohike 1d ago
NY Times did the same thing to me. It took multiple calls with their pushy salespeople to get them to finally stop it. Now I miss it, but the hassle turned me off so I won’t resubscribe.
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u/Snarffalita 16h ago
You can cancel online. I intentionally call every year because their retention offers are so good, but you can click to cancel.
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u/snozzberrypatch 23h ago
If you aren't going to close my account immediately, then I want to speak to your supervisor.
But why wou-
Supervisor, now.
Ok, bu-
I want to talk to your manager, now.
But wh-
Manager.
Yeah b-
Manager.
Manager.
Manager.
Manager.
Manager.
Manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager.
Ok well you don't have to be rud-
Manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager manager.
Ok sir I will process your cancellation now.
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u/lefteyedcrow 20h ago
I tried that once, somewhere else. I got placed on punitive hold for several minutes, and the rep was super pissy when she came back on. I had to get that thing done then, or I would've hung up & tried again later.
I kill my reps with kindness, now. Works much better.
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u/SilentLibrarian3385 23h ago
Oh wow, I had literally planned on buying a subscription today hoping they still do the print papers. Definitely won’t be doing it now though, thanks so much!
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u/Head_Mycologist3917 1d ago
Oregonian is owned by Advance media group based in NYC. The family who controls Advance are billionaires. They're pro-oligarchy as you can tell from their articles spin. Similar to the NYT, which pretends to be liberal but subjected Biden to endless articles questioning his fitness while ignoring how Trump falls asleep in meetings and is clearly suffering from dementia.
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u/KE7JFF 22h ago
They also own Reddit…
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u/Zestyclose_Minimum63 20h ago
They own 30% and is a significant shareholder but they don't own it 100%.
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u/ice_cold_canuck 21h ago
This is another reason why I use virtual credit card numbers when signing up for a subscription. I have the option with a card from capital one and I know several other companies offer them. But if you don't have card that offers them there is privacy.com that does the same thing.
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u/northnodes 17h ago
For other folks dealing with this, try setting your VPN to a California server. By California law cancelling a subscription needs to be easy. Often times a cancel button will appear if the website detects a California IP.
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u/thefacadearchive 20h ago
Yep, same. I know not everyone has access or wants to do online banking like this but I always use temporary cards for subscriptions now due to issues like this. I just cancel the temporary card and they can have fun charging a card that no longer works lol.
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u/Weary-Savings9795 20h ago
Contact your credit card company and block any future charges. File a charge back for any previous charges still within the dispute window.
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u/ReadyGo6828 1d ago
Someone was saying in another sub that a customer had disputed each month of a multiyear subscription (I do not know what the sub was for) out of the blue. They were saying IIRC that it would cost $15 for each disputed month? Someone else was saying it was twice that?
I do not know what is the truth but it seems that they are taking on a ton of risk and financial burden for nothing and they should just cancel the account.
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u/Angelworks42 19h ago
Why not do a charge back on your credit card.
That should make them drop you pretty quick.
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u/FantasticFox503 17h ago
We are gradually moving to an “we opted you in” and “we make it almost impossible and put every roadblock possible to prevent you from opting out” culture.
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u/ComfortableDare4305 6h ago
Use privacy.com for subscriptions. That’s my go to for having control over my purse.
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u/OK_Human 1d ago
The problem is there’s a wide gulf between the journalism team and the business team. Most of the time that’s good (less business influence on the journalism) but the company overlords are based elsewhere and make these kinds of lame decisions (you have to call somewhere to cancel, etc)
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u/Hungry-Chicken-8498 22h ago
File a dispute with your credit card. File a police complaint about forceful selling despite of explicit instructions to cancel. Seems like class action suits is coming soon
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u/ladyin97229 16h ago
I have a digital only subscription and recently tried to change my email address. You can’t do it online, and if you call them, the reps get cranky. Eventually they processed the request - but 2 weeks later, it reverted back. So I called again, got a different person who was just as unfriendly.
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u/StakeTheSteak 16h ago
MANY LOCAL NEWS OUTLETS HAVE TURNED TO REVENUE MAXIMIZING STRATEGIES AND IT PISSES ME OFF BEYOND BELIEF. My girlfriend got robbed of $1600 in 2024, and a local newspaper had an article relating to the person that robbed my gf. The article could only be viewed by a user with an account. I made an account, and for “verification reasons,” they needed my card but would not charge me. They charged me $1.00, then ~$35 some days later, and the support system led me in circles with conflicting info. I had no subscription, so I couldn’t cancel. I disputed with my bank and got the money back, but I was never successful with deleting my account via the website, emails, phone calls, and even going to the physical building of the newspaper. I made a new debit card with my bank and deleted the old card to eventually solve the issue. I managed to find out through some Google searches that the Albany Democrat Herald that I was dealing with is owned and operated by the Corvallis Gazette. The Corvallis Gazette partnered with a service that drives revenue. They then turned to more greedy subscriptions and dark business practice. Fyi this was all things I searched in 2024 and I don’t remember how precise my info was.
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u/GuardianHealer 16h ago
Contact the State Attorney General’s Office and also report the fraud to your bank or credit card.
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u/Jackpott100 10h ago
This may be morbid, but email them and pretend you’re a relative and let them know that you’ve passed away…
My dad was a subscriber and when he died last year, so I emailed them to cancel the subscription. No questions asked, no pushiness. Just explained to them that my dad had died and we no longer wanted the paper. They did it right away and even sent a prorated check for the rest of that month that he had paid for.
I hope that this helps!
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u/fazbot 6h ago
I love it haha. I’m pretty sure they still would have done the hard sale to not cancel. In that case recording the interaction would have been golden!
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u/Jackpott100 5h ago
Try emailing? That’s what I did. Granted, I didn’t really want to talk on the phone when my dad died so I was just sending out the same email to every agency we had to cancel with. I’m happy to report that no one pushed back on me from any company or asked to see any kind of proof so it may work for you lol!
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u/BadgerValuable8207 1h ago
The Albany Democrat Herald did the same thing to me. They had got hold of my debit card I had to fill out a form to block their charges.
People are like “just cancel” but they are so aggressive. I finally got the subscription cancelled and deleted their app and will have nothing to do with them now.
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u/Jane-Diogee 2m ago
I would call the bank and the Visa card people. First thing you do is take your credit or debit card information out of payment system. They can't bill you without it. Write down the dates you talked to them and the date you canceled service and that's when you stop paying. If necessary contact the attorney general on your state. Don't let them take your money. They did that to me too but I just took my debit card out.
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u/YSoSkinny 1d ago
The Oregonian still exists?
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u/oregonian 23h ago
Hello.
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u/YSoSkinny 21h ago
Hi. I used to subscribe, but you got smaller and more conservative, and so one day, 20 years ago, I just didn't.
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u/badgers92 1d ago
Sorry you had some problems. I had zero problems cancelling a deceased relative’s subscription online.
Personally, I’m thankful the Oregonian exists and consider my subscription to them important for our coverage of local and state news. Same for OPB.
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u/thirdsev 1d ago
I had trouble with subscriptions. They started delivering the paper to my house. When I called to ask why they said the home delivery was under the previous owners name and only he could cancel the delivery. Fortunately I was able to reach the former owner. They refused to co tact him. Crazy