Ventura County Star

I cancelled my Sunday paper subscription because I just don’t think it’s that great of a paper. I called and cancelled easily. The paper immediately stopped, and I wasn’t charged anymore.
Until this past month. After two months of no service and no charges, I have randomly been charged for a month of service, although I didn’t receive the paper. Very strange.
I called to speak to someone about it, and they picked up the phone then promptly hung it up. Annoyed, I called back again and got a message saying the office was closed. Oh, now I understand why they hung up — they didn’t want to deal with one last call at the end of the day. How professional.
I will have to update once I actually get through to someone to have this taken care of. But so far, I think it’s pretty safe to say that the VCS is a hot mess.

We have Sunday delivery only. Can’t seem to get that right. No paper was delivered. Last Sunday it didn’t come until well after 11. Now we have to wait until sometime this week to get a replacement paper delivered. It’s not the first time this has happened and it shouldn’t happen at all. I miss the days when kids delivered the paper, it was always there. I wish there was another local paper, then maybe things would improve.

So after getting the paper delivered 3 days in a row with no problems, we now haven’t received the paper for the last 3 days. Talking to customer service is pretty much a waste of time because all they tell you is «We’ll have it re-​delivered. «but it never is. I even requested a new courier for delivering the paper which is the only way to fix our delivery problem and they laughed and said they couldn’t do that. So it’s time to cancel our subscription for this worthless publication and get one that cares about their customers and doesn’t lie about deliveries they won’t make. I seriously hope they go out of business.

I made a comment on one of their recent Facebook posts making the observation that the way they worded their post left several readers confused. Reading the comments, it was clear that they misunderstood the story, as I had. Only after a subscriber with access to the full article posted a clarifying comment were the facts made clear. I simply suggested they reword it to clear up confusion. This sparked an amicable conversation among other readers who felt the same. Rather than thank us for our concern, our comments were deleted and I was blocked from their page. Ridiculously irresponsible journalism.

As an ex employee of the Ventura County Star, I continually see poor print quality, weak story lines, the obituaries are horrible, their customer service is not very good and as a whole, I choose to subscribe to another newspaper. Their advertising has seen better days and the advertising manager, Brad Lanfranco, in my opinion, well, let’s just say they could have made a better choice. As a matter of fact, their claim to be the main news agency in Ventura County is true as there are not really many other avenues to choose from. I hope they can pull it together.

Customer service is a joke! I purchased a 1 year subscription, paid in full in advance (there were several delivery issues during this one year subscription). At the end of the year, I elected to not renew, figuring that since I had paid up front and the subscription had expired, I was done. Well, they had a different idea. I wound up with an «in house collection account» from them for less than $ 7.00. I called to take care of that, paid it off, figuring I was done. Again, they had a different idea. SOMEHOW, they got the idea that «pay off what I owe you» REALLY meant «restart my subscription»!!! At NO TIME during the call I made to pay off the small balance did I ever agree to restart my subscription, so I’m not sure how they made this leap. I dislike having to call back and deal with customer service YET AGAIN to get this resolved. I’m now waiting to make sure that they really did cancel this «renewal», and making damned sure that nothing shows up on my credit card statement.
Horrible, bordering on fraudulent, excuse for customer service.

This newspaper is in a sad state. They are so desperate they have teenage thugs casing your neighborhood door to door with the pushiest sales pitch. They cling onto you like s barnacle when you tell them no, and they finally leave kicking and screaming and insulting you for not being a sucker to have their trash delivered to your door. VC reporter sucks.

Customer service is awful!!! I bought the paper because I felt bad for the little girl selling them. She didn’t tell me I needed to cancel the paper after the papers I had paid for in cash were over. I never got a notice. (In fact she asked for food and drinks when she came to our home.) They just kept sending them. I had moved from this address 6 months ago and just received a bill. I called to get the charges removed and they would not. I asked to speak to a manager and I’ve been on hold for 20 minutes. I’m ashamed to have this as our local businesses. Shady shady shady business practices!

This company has really gone down the crapper. Its a complete joke to have to subscribe to read storys online. Maybe if they had better delivery service I wouldnt have to subcribe. Thanks for nothing VC star.

This paper is getting smaller by the day. Service is also getting bad. Two of the last three days they missed my home delivery. When you call in to get the paper late delivered they don’t even do that. The handwriting is on the wall and the end is near. Don’t bother subscribing to the print edition. It’s a rip off.

Oh boy I like this paper. I go online as well. I don’t know any other paper as this helpful to buy a car. Better check Thursday mornings if you need a better deals.

Less than 1 star should be an option for this company. Do not subject yourself to the drama of signing up with Ventura County Star. They should be ashamed of themselves for how they sell their product. Don’t fall for the sweet faced 16 year olds that come to your door and bribe you by convincing you that your helping with their education. This company roped me into 6 months of service paid up front with cash, which wasn’t a big deal and I felt good for helping the high school student. Then, I received a renewal bill stating that if I wish to continue service to pay a certain amount, which I did not want. I ignored the bill and figured everything had been canceled, 3 months later I get a notice that $ 27 has been sent to collections for past due services. No correspondence, no nothing. When i called to clear up the situation they informed me that I would have to pay the amount owed in order to remove it from collections. I asked how this could have happened and she says that the girl who sold me the paper should have informed me. This company and their sales ethics are a joke… they damaged my credit without even a letter or call to let me know. And now I have to pay for something I didn’t even want. I will never be a subscriber of this company now or any time in the future given this is how they treat their customers.

I really enjoy the Ventura County Star. Although we subscribe to the newspaper, I most often utilize the online version.
It’s up to date and on top of the current news events. I particularly like Lisa’s McKinnon’s column on Sunday morning.

Good for local news but way over priced for what you get. There website is a total joke.

As far as daily newspapers, this one is well laid out. Local news is very good, world and national really suck, but that’s what you expect from a «hometown» rag. Per most sheets, it lists so far Left it’s a joke. If you live in the area, it sure beats the LA Times by a mile at least.

Unfortuneately you have to click at least one star!
BUYER BEWARE!!!
In my opinion this paper is a bunch of Fraudulant Thieves. A salesperson came to the door and made us an offer of three months for $ 19.34, and that we would not make a payment until after the third month had passed. Well, three days after the paper started our checking account was charged for $ 22.66 without permission. We called and were told this was the first months payment. We asked what happend to the special offer and then we were told that the $ 22.66 was the $ 19.34 with tax added on for the first month. You do the math, the total is well over the current tax rate. We were told buy the sales person that we could cancel anytime before the three months were up and our money would be totaly refunded. We called, we cancelled, still no refund. I suggest everyone get their news from the net or TV. The Ventura County Star is a waste of your hard earned money, and they are a bunch of lying thieves.

Came in looking for a special copy of the paper & Ashtin (hope I spelled that right) at the front counter went above & beyond to help me out. Definition of customer service. Somebody give that girl a bonus or something. Haha! Thanks again.

Used to love reading the news on their website, but now you have to be a subscriber to read full stories? I hate it!!!

We have been receiving the Ventura County Star for years. Recently, we decided since we have iPads, to only receive the Sunday paper. We do the same with the LA Times.
So far the Star’s «E» edition is a nightmare. We can not depend on it to be published and released in the morning. When I called to complain, the person on the phone could care less. I took my complaints to their Facebook page and that person actually lies, telling me the paper was sent out via email and it must be my email provider. Today, after telling me it had been sent out, I double checked and they then admitted there was a problem. Today’s paper was emailed at 12:56 PM. Real good for a morning paper with mostly AP stories.
The L.A. Time «E» edition works flawlessly and is delivered before 6: am.

I love the Ventura County Star!
Even though I do not read the newspaper as much as I used to the Ventura County Star is the place to get your news just about anywhere in Ventura County.
They do a good job of writing and their photographers are top notch. They do a good job of balancing world, national, state and local stories. So many papers have a habit of either focusing on local or national but the Star does a great job of focusing on both.
They seem to be doing a good job of finding new ways to supplement their income and revenue stream in these days when many people get their news online or from a phone app. Not a Sunday goes by in Ventura County where you do not see someone on the corner of a busy intersection selling the Sunday paper for a buck. Seems like a pretty good deal if you ask me.
We have a subscription here at my residence but I have no problem buying the paper when I am getting ready to sit down for lunch or even if I am just looking for the regular Fry’s Electronic ad. This is a hometown paper I always have no problem supporting.
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