The Washington Post
Reviews and Complaints

I am disappointed with not receiving my paper today. I’m also not happy with constant changing of times I can call to notify you of this problem. When I call early in the morning at 6:00. I’m told it too early. When I call after 10:30 I’m told it too late. Please make up your mind.

As a subscriber of over 40 years I think I deserve better service.

You say it’s too late to deliver the paper however the old post would have delivered it no matter how late I called!

I signed up for a promotional subscription to The Washington Post which, as far as I know, did not automatically renew to the "standard rate" of $100. Without any notice that my promo subscription had expired, my credit card on file was charged $100 on October 2. When I discovered this, I immediately (still on October 2) emailed to cancel the subscription and received a reply that canceled my subscription ending October 2022. In other words, specifically against my wishes, I am being charged $100 for another year of a subscription I do not want. The response language was interesting: ". . . you WERE SWITCHED to our standard rate of $100," as if this was some magical happening out of their control.

I have called twice asking to have missed deliveries credited to my account with the representative saying that they would forward it to the billing department, but not saying that they would in fact credit the account. I was asked to wait 5 business days. Despite making 2 calls, no credits have been applied nor have they responded to me with any decision on whether to credit the account. In the 3 and half months I have subscribed to the Sunday only delivery, I have missed 5 papers. I did not receive the paper on 8/16, 8/30, 9/6, 9/27, 10/25. I notified them that I missed the paper on each occasion. Any other newspaper I have ever subscribed to would automatically credit for a missed delivery. This isn't rocket science.

We subscribe to The Washington Post and get it home delivered, bundled with The Frederick News Post. For the past two months, on weekends the paper is never delivered in the morning. After we call, sometimes twice, it arrives in the very late morning or in the afternoon. It's tossed at the bottom of two flights of steps (6 steps each) instead of on the porch or the landing between the steps, so we can't see if it's there until we get down to the sidewalk. Occasionally it's not delivered at all. Over the phone, the staff is courteous and apologetic. They say they're understaffed but the issue is obviously not addressed. This has been going on long enough. We are entitled to have the paper delivered daily and on the front of the house, not in the street.

On August 6th, I reached out to the Washington Post's contact number. I had been on short-term disability for about six months due to illness. Before falling ill, I had canceled my online subscription, which I used for school, and thought my account was settled. However, I discovered the Washington Post Online had continued to withdraw funds from my account. When I called to address this, I was issued a ticket and promised a full refund. Later, an email informed me that I would only receive a refund for three months, contrary to what was discussed on the call. I was told to expect the refund within 5-10 business days, but that period has passed without receiving it. On August 26th, I called again and was transferred to a representative at 1:15 PM. By 1:23 PM, the hold music ceased, and no one returned to the line until 1:37 PM, although I checked periodically. This lack of response is unacceptable!

I have a digital subscription to the Washington Post through a third-party service, for which I pay $6.35 monthly with my credit card. This setup has been reliable for months, with unchanged email and payment details. Yet, my access was cut off without notice, despite a recent charge. The service still lists an active subscription for me. I've sent screenshots to both parties, but the issue remains unresolved.

Wrong account was cancelled. It appears that I had two active subscription accounts: #*** (Daily & Sunday); paid with check #***; on 2/24; $160.43; Feb 2019 - 2/12; and #*** (Sunday only); around $54 I called customer service to discuss renewal and new invoice and was told about the two active accounts - I was not previously aware of. So, I explained that we have been receiving Daily & Sunday, I paid $160.43 did not need the other account for Sunday only. The rep said he would cancel the duplicate account. I believe the rep cancelled the wrong account. We did not receive a paper on Monday, Jan 27 - Friday, Jan 31, 2020. No paper Monday, Feb 3rd and today, Feb 4th 2020. I sent two emails to emails to Washington Post Customer Care and they say that I need to pay $117 and owe them money to resume my subscription. I still have some days left on my Daily & Sunday subscription that does not expire until 2/12.

On October 5 I noticed a charge on my credit card in the amount of $106.75 for a one year digital subscription to the Washington Post. I have not subscribed to the Washington Post in any form for several years. I called the Washington Post on October 5, and informed them of this fact , requesting that it issue a credit to my credit card in the above amount. The person I spoke with agreed to issue the credit I requested and issued a reference number for this refund transaction. This evening, I received an email referring to my earlier reference number stating, in relevant part, that "...there are no refunds or credits for partially used Billing Periods...". Given that I never subscribed to a digital subscription or any other form of subscription, the refusal by the Washington Post to issue a credit to my credit card as I requested and that the customer service representative agreed to do is patently absurd and, in my opinion, unethical.

I had signed up for promotional time period for online subscription. I was notified by my bank I was charged $100.00 on 6/18 at 11:18 am from WAPO which they explained was Washington Post. I called 12:27 pm same day, an hour and nine minutes after charge made, to notify I am cancelling subscription and was told I would be getting my $100.00 refund. I called on 7/12 stating I had still not received my refund (they verified my call on 6/18) and was told refund already done but per my request they were sending email to accounting to confirm date of the refund. Accounting would email me back. By 7/16 no email. I called 7/16 and now told refund had not been done and it would for $92.36 and not $100.00. After asking for and speaking to a manager I can not be told the phone number to reach accounting directly and they will email accounting. This is the total runaround. I need to be reimbursed the $100.00 back to my account as promised on 6/18 and 7/12.

I contacted the online customer service about the lack of sales papers in the Sunday post and decided to cancel the subscription. I had a credit of $25.21 and request that in a refund. But later I called the customer service to inquire about the refund. I then was informed that they would reduce the subscription and I agreed. Weeks later I received the invoice that included my credit for the past and future with a balance to pay $7.40. When I went on line to pay it stated I owed $32.61. It was the weekend so I contacted the customer service on line and they insisted that was right. So I cancelled again and told them I would not pay another cent. My complaint is that the online and phone customer service representative do not coordinate with each other in which they should. When I received the bill in July to pay the $7.40 that should be on my account. A check was sent for $25.21 date 8/6 and I will return voided bc it should have not been sent.

In order to cancel my subscription, I had to call their automated number and work through a maze to reach someone. This CANNOT be done on line! I was given many offers to remain a customer, but I just wanted to cancel. I could not get a confirmation # of my cancellation and was told an email confirmation would take 1-2 days to arrive. Then I was told I owed $8.96 for special issues I received throughout my subscription year. I was told that I could have called the same # and opted out of receiving them. While it's possible I did receive emails detailing this, I certainly never opened and read them. Why should I have to opt out of something for which I will incur an additional charge. I signed up for and paid upfront for a one year subscription. There was never any mention of any additional charges for this subscription. It is not legal to unilaterally charge additional fees without consent and require the customer to opt out or otherwise incur these fees.

Last year I tried unsuccessfully to sign up for a washingtonpost account with my educational discount. I was unsuccessful at doing this so I signed up for an account with my personal email address. I called the washingtonpost subscription service to make sure I was not going to be charged for my student subscription in addition to a regular subscription. They said they "had no record" of an account with my student email address ***@***.*** so I was only being charged for my personal (***) account. Yesterday I noticed a charged on my credit card statement from TWP*** $10 which has been recurring over the past several months. I called up subscription services and after I provided them with the credit card charge description they found an account associated with "***@***.***" which is not a real email address. They said they'd refund me $10 and refused to refund me the previous charges. Also I asked to speak to someone in the US and was told no one was available

Several months ago, I used airline miles in exchange for a 20-week print subscription to the Sunday edition of the Washington Post. That subscription ended at the end of 20 weeks. However, last week I received a bill for the weekday "special edition" papers that were delivered during the period that my 20-week subscription was active. (Apparently, Sunday subscribers also receive periodic, special-edition weekend papers.) I contacted the Post through its website and received a reply that I owed that money because those special weekday editions were not part of my subscription plan. I never requested those special editions nor was I given an option to decline delivery. On the contrary, I would receive an email prior enthusiastically explaining that as a Sunday subscriber I'd be receiving a special mid-week edition. If a subscription does not include those special editions, then those special editions ought not be delivered. That's a matter that needs to be sorted out at the Post, not passed to customers. And, if they are delivered, a customer should not be expected--nor should they be surprised to receive a bill--to pay for something they didn't request.

This complaint against The Washington Post (the "Post") involves their billing, account services, and renewal procedures. Specifically, since I have moved, the Post has made it difficult to update any account information including address, payment information, or modify my type of subscription. In fact, when I first moved I sought to update my address and was unable to, so my Sunday-only subscription (and renewal notices) were only updated as a result of having been returned to sender. Lately, I have attempted on several occasions to modify my subscription and update my billing information online. I have been unable to do so because the website only shows a upsell page: https://subscribe.washingtonpost.com/acq/#/offers/promo/o8 when attempting to use any of the suggested links on the help page to actually manage my account. Under "My Subscriptions" it only provides offers to activate or purchase subscriptions but no opportunity to activate or modify my current account number for which I keep getting renewal notices. Finally, I strongly object to the lack of an online cancellation option. The Post states "you can cancel anytime" but that is clearly incorrect when online and in mailed renewal notices the only option for cancellation is to "call." In addition to being wildly and unfairly inaccessible, under the call center timing restrictions the Post is operating under, it also limits significantly the "time" in which one "can cancel"

On the 7th of May, the Washington Post charged me $100. I understand that it is a renewal on my subscription, which I was about to cancel. But, not one notice was received. No "renewal notice". Nothing. They took the money without any notice at all, so I attempted to reach them. I got a recording on their phone telling me that everyone was busy and that I could try back later. Then I used the "contact us" on their website - I called on the 7th and the 8th. I used the contact us link, 7 times over the 7th, 8th, and 9th. Nothing. Not even a response acknowledging the contact. I wrote them an email on Saturday morning and intend on doing the same next week. The subscription was cancelled, actually I think it was cancelled at about the same time they charged it, although I had no idea when it was due until I was on their cancellation page. ***, The ***, and the *** send notices out when a renewal is due. I see no reason why a company, owned by a man who has more cloud computing power at his fingertips than most, could not work up an email to warn their subscribers when they would be charged. I have written to request a refund. I not only do not want the paper, I also don't want to deal with someone who has a "snake oil salesman" attitude about their billing. My attorney agrees and is looking into what can be done, including small claims court, to get my $$ back from this company. In the meantime, I've told them in the contact information to stop the subscription effective the 7th, and to refund my money. Not a very difficult request, but I have, to date, received NOTHING, from them, not even an acknowledgement.

I saw a series I wanted to read and was required to purchase a digital subscription from the WaPo to do so. I saw a $1 offer, that said I could cancel at any time, so purchased that on or about May 23. I was never sent a receipt, but that's when the debit was made to my bank account. When I attempted to find the information to cancel the subscription, I saw that the Post makes this unnecessarily complicated. Since I had no receipt, I wasn't sure what email they had or account information. Finally, I found a "contact us" link, and sent a message to cancel on June 12 when I was paying bills. Again, this was through their site, and I received no confirmation message in return and never heard from them. I saw the charge on June 20 and thought they didn't get my message in time. I sent another one. Got charged again on Jul 18. Then, I forgot about it. On Aug 17, I saw the Aug 15 charge on my bank account. I sent another message through the contact us button on their website on 8/17. Again, no return message. I called last night and got the message to call during business hours to cancel a digital subscription. I called this morning and finally talked to a live person, who inexplicably told me to call back at noon as she was handling delivery cancellations. I can't call back at noon; I have to work. WaPo's deceptive business practices use loss-leader emails to gain subscriptions, and clearly state that on can "cancel at any time". Without confirmation emails, receipts sent, and a clear method to cancel, they ripped me off for two, possibly three months depending on how generous I am feeling. Also, all the time They also continue to advertise $29 unlimited access, though I have paid more than that since May 23. How many people subscribe again, since I never got a "thank you for your subscription email and continual advertising to subscribe? The Washington Post should send confirmation emails and clear information like any good business and give a clear way to cancel services.