Nov 5, 2009 8:19 pm US/Pacific
Call Kurtis: Buzz On The Bee
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ―
A Woodland man enjoyed receiving the Sacramento Bee, but became frustrated over billing errors and cancelled. Then he found himself in collections and called Kurtis.
Narayan Rau always enjoyed reading the Sacramento Bee, but cancelled it a year-and-a-half ago out of frustration. They kept billing him after he'd paid them. But Narayan says:
"Then came January of 2009."
Narayan and his wife Kusum received a customer service call from the Bee…they wanted them back. He says the Bee told him;
"There was a problem and it has been corrected now, and I promise you that it will not happen again. You won't be disappointed."
So they agreed to subscribe for three months, paying $26.00 up front. But Narayan got billed again, not once but twice, after he'd paid.
"So then I got very mad and wrote them quite a nasty letter."
In his letter Narayan told the Bee to cancel his subscription at the end of the 13 weeks. But in April Kusum received another bill.
"What's this bill honey? Oh it's the Sac Bee. But I thought we already told them we didn't want them."
Papers also kept coming. Narayan tried cancelling by letter and phone.
"Then the first letter came from the collection agency"
The papers stopped, but the Bee had turned the Rau's over to collections for $20.97. That's when they called us for help.
"I sought your help then because I thought this inefficiency had to stop."
We contacted the Sacramento Bee and spoke with their "Membership Loyalty and Retention Manager", Steve Nutter. He admitted to some billing issues and assured us the Bee was working to straighten them out. When we explained this to Narayan he had a warning for the Bee.
"Some of these people in your organization might make you unemployed in the long run if you don't fix it."
Steve personally called Narayan to apologize. He removed him from collections and zeroed out the bill.
"If they promise not to harangue me about bills after I've paid them, I'd be glad to be a part of the community to support them."
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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