Newspapers Reviews 293

I wish I had browsed others’ newspapers.com reviews sooner. I’m into the third week of asking for help with zero response from the company after leaving an email and two phone calls. They have had plenty time in between to respond. Never have I experienced such terrible tech support! In the meantime, I’m not able to fully use my subscription and feel I should be reimbursed for my lost time.

Prior to this, I was finding lots of good info on my families through the site. I was given the extended version for Christmas and, to this point, haven’t had problems with being locked out of articles due to only having a basic membership. Knowing that I won’t be able to afford to keep my extended membership forever, I have been linking articles to Ancestry but also saving them to my computer both as pdf (includes citation) and jpg (a clean clipping). All worked beautifully until the jpg download function stopped working, and I began getting an error message instead - the pdf download feature still works fine. Apple says they can’t help as does Ancestry, and both say I need to talk to Newspapers. What a joke! I wish an ethical and interested company would buy this current group out and make it what it has the potential to be. Meanwhile, if anyone has experienced my same issue or has any ideas, I would be very grateful for your thoughts. So far, I have not been able to find a help group online that addresses problems rather than just normal search suggestions.

6/30/2021 - After this review, I reached out to newspapers.com again on 5/7/2021 by email and finally got a polite response from "Alexis". She said it was a known issue that was being addressed. After no fix, I followed up with Alexis on 5/19 and 6/13 and again got polite prompt responses that repair was still in the works. Today, I checked and it's finally working properly! I'm happy it's done and pleased with the service from Alexis, but why did it take so long and, mostly, why did they completely ignore my requests for help for over a month? Hoping for a better experience next time there is an issue.

Beware "free trial" to look at a newspaper
auto-enrols to "6 month subscription" at £50 / $75

trap is in the small print
billed in different name "ANC newspapers"
"free trial" is 7 days, £50 on day 8
hard to find T&Cs
if you find T&Cs they give 30 days for cancellation but cancellation page only offers "at the end of your subscription"
....
UPDATE: Writing a COMPLAINT / consumer rights letter to support-at-ancestry got a response + refund.

This is your basic upsell scam. Sign up for a $8.00 subscription. They offer a "Premium" version for $20.00. Now they've gated most of their content behind their premium. I suspect this is the newspapers up charging you for their information.
Ancestry.com own Newspapers.com. Ancestry is sort of the ultimate uncharge site. Also really expensive for selling public records. they've also paid off competitors to eliminate

It is virtually impossible to speak to anyone. You get an answering machine or an automated reply to your e-mail. This is the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

Terrible. They promise to send newspaper vouchers at a vastly reduced price. I have had the paper delivered by my newsagent but no vouchers have arrived almost a month after!

I have had an Ancestry.com subscription for years. Sometimes I let it lapse for a month so I can get a new member discount. It does not delete my tree; I just have a better price. I am not sure when I first got Newspapers.com. For a year or two before I subscribed, I would call and ask if they were planning on getting the Red Bank, NJ papers. They finally got them a year or two ago. I did not renew last year, but I had some extra money this year. I went to search for my mom and dad's wedding articles, and all but one article are now Publisher's Extra articles! They are articles from the same newspapers! I think articles with photos are now considered extra. I'd like to see the pictures, but I feel duped.

To everyone writing a review, did you know Newspapers.com is owned by Ancestry.com? I have had numerous problems lately with customer service at Ancestry and there is no phone number, that I can find, for Ancestry HQ in Lehi, Utah. I suggest you check Chronicling America - part of the Library of Congress where you can search America's historic newspaper pages from 1777-1963 - FREE. Just search for CHRONICLING AMERICA. Surprisingly I have found some interesting pieces - articles and business advertisements regarding family (one from my 3rd great grandfather advertising his blacksmith business from 1840 in Ohio). Shocked me because I did not find that info on newspapers in the local area of those ancestors. Newspapers.com is not worth the added money on Ancestry. It's used to attract newbies. As to Fold 3, I sign up independent of Ancestry. Fold 3 is good.

The only reason that I give it 2 stars is because I was able to find some information that I was looking for regarding my birth parents. That being said, I was only able to see a little bit about anything that I would look for, with the cheaper subscription. I got enticed by being able to see more information, if I upgraded my subscription. The upgrade was outrageous, and honestly didn't show anything additional. I canceled the upgrade and now, I cannot really see anything that I could before I upgraded.

Terrible. It tells you that "some" articles "may" require a Publisher Extra upgrade. Then you login with the basic package and realize you don't actually have access to anything. Everything requires a Publisher Extra upgrade. Ancestry is in on this scam. Both were great services seven years ago. Not anymore.

I enjoyed my newspaper subscription a lot. But when I got laid off I had to cut back on expenses. I tried numerous times to cancel my subscription. But they still 6 months later are taking $19.90 out of my account every month. The worse part is now they say I am registered as a ‘guest’ and can’t really access any articles!! I got another job and wouldn’t even mind paying for the subscription now as long as I could enjoy the service..but now I can’t do either one!! And customer service says they have no record of my account. But I can sign in on it!!?

I have given honest feedback to a phone operator and asked for a refund. I had purchased two years and the only thing she could offer is not to automatically renew. I have yet to find anything, or anyone, I am researching, on this site. I live in Tennessee. I get things from California, Nebraska, New York. I have the very newspaper article in my hand and give an EXACT date. Newspapers still cannot find the article. This is not a company anyone should invest money in and think they are going to be helped along with their research.

This is about the newspaper

“The Independent”.

Note: I am (unfortunately) a new subscriber!!

Hello

I posted a comment on an article on the day it was published (about the Labour Party’s “fury” against the ‘misleading anti-vax info on the press’ - to be banned (?!).

After posting my comment, it showed “awaiting moderation”.

However it never appeared to be published (?!)

No comment was saved in my (premium) account.

Following that, I sent three emails to their customer services email address.

Simply asking why it wasn’t published and what are their criteria for ‘moderation’.

I received no response!

The latest one I sent to another email address - which I found on their website - bounced back with a ‘postmaster -undeliverable’!

(It may have bounced back because they had blocked me(?)

Very frustrating and infuriating!
There was absolutely nothing inappropriate in my comment.

And anyway if that was the case, at least the courtesy of a response??

I feel cheated and totally undervalued.

I shan’t renew my subscription. No way!

Please STAY AWAY from this newspaper. You’ll waste time and your money.

This is a SCAM. STAY AWAY!! There is no visible way to cancel your 7-day free trial and now I have been charged for a 6 month subscription. Customer support doesn't even exist. I am hoping I get an email back. UGH.

I did the 7 day trial as I wanted to lookup a document, and I canceled it on day 4 and it acted like it canceled- I could no longer access newspaper files. Day 6 and voila! Suddenly I can access things again and I cannot cancel. The website claims i can "click to cancel subscription" but there is no such thing, only a thing to click to add more subscriptions/options. Of course calling and emailing get you nowhere. No way do I want to pay the $59, I do not authorize it.

If you collect the money you should provide the service!
I have had a subscription since around 2007 and loved the results I got. I also had Ancestry, but never was given the discount until last year. This year when it came time to renew I was given an offer of $29.95, and signed up. It worked for that day, then the next time I tried to get onto the site I got a message that I was only a guest, so it showed me the articles available but would not let me open them. That is a huge waste of time and energy.

Let me say I have from the very first had a annual account, but with this glitch I was offered a "special" of $59.90, which I had no choice but to pay. That was almost 3 weeks ago and after 2 phone calls and 2 emails, I still have only guest status and no response from them. Up to this mess, I would have given them 4-5 stars, but now I would give them NONE, so I averaged it out to 2, but I saw an earlier review that believes they are pulling a bait and switch. I think these groups need to provide what they offer and provide it when they collect their money! My next step is to contact my credit card company and have them file a claim....no one should have to be treated this way, customer service has gone completely out the window. If it were not for those paying them, they would not have a business.....I also have genealogybank, but that is not as user friendly and does not have the same papers.
A very dissatisfied customer....

Gary cox u r exactly right I figured after paying almost 150 for my dna test that I would be a .ember but I still have to pay for all 3 bc archives is a partner as well they each took out multiple payments then I called customer service and it was a porn hotline they said another customer told them the same thing when I finally did get through to cancel Wich they are still taking money out for ancestry did not do this YET but any site that newspaper.com links you to stay clear I promise it will be bad ...

I've been an Ancestry member for decades and have used Newspaper.com effectively during that period as I paid for an Ancestry Premium membership. Now called All Access Membership.

My account says ...
"Access billions of U.S. and international records on Ancestry, more than 142 million articles on Newspapers.com Basic, and more than 537 million military records on Fold3.com."

I am online with the Expert Help from Ancestry ... waiting and waiting for a response to the change in policy. When did Full Access become only Basic Newspaper.com?

I sent them "That is a FALSE statement and I am very angry about the "Bait and Switch" tactics. No warning to my account or to me about the change."

I tried twice to get a simple newspaper obituary of a relative from a newspaper ... no problem in the past ... and Now I have to "upgrade my account" I believe it was $59! It's called "Bait & Switch"

After and hour of trying to contact Expert Help to get a response ... I get disconnected with "We're sorry, an error has occurred, please bear with us" and I have to start the process over again.

This policy must be due to new management and the desire to maximize profits by increasing fees.

Here is their response to my question.

Here is a recent answer from our community expert, Brenda W. for your question...
12:37 PM
All Access subscriptions on Ancestry include BASIC level access to Newspapers.com and Fold3. Even though they are included they do have their own sign up and log in process separate from Ancestry. See some of the tips below on how to gain access to these records.
1) Once you have upgraded to All Access, you should receive welcome emails from Newspapers.com and Fold3 with instructions on how to access. If you have not received these emails see below on how to gain access.
Logging In To Newspaper Fold3

2) Newspapers.com has two levels of access, basic and Publishers Extra. If you are not able to access an article without an upgrade message, make sure it is not on the Publishers Extra subscription. This would require a small upgrade to access. The list of papers are below. Ones marked with an orange diamond are Publishers Extra and do require the upgrade outside of All Access.
Newspapers.com Paper List
3) If the image is blurred and you are getting an upgrade message this indicates you do not have the correct level access as mentioned above and would need to upgrade to Publishers Extra.
Did that answer your question?

COMPLETE SCAM - TOOK MY CREDIT CARD INFO, NEVER LET ME ACCESS THE SITE, AND STILL BILLING ME - STAY AWAY WHATEVER YOU DO - I AM 70 YEARS OLD AND THIS IS THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER BEEN DOOMED TO DEAL WITH - TOTAL THIEVES

Newspapers.com is a scam, as far as I can tell. They clearly say on their site that you can: "Easily cancel online from the Account Details page anytime before your free trial ends." There is no way to cancel on the Account Details page. It is a baldfaced lie.

I signed up with Newspapers.com in 2020 via my Ancestry account thinking, hoping, wishing it would give me access to the obituaries I have not had the ability to find. My word, do I regret it. To date (Sep 2020) I have only found a handful of useful obituaries for a family tree that contains over 5,000 people.
To be even more insulting now when I get a hint that there is an obituary available they are calling it a “Publisher Extra Subscription” obituary. Which means I must pay over and above my original subscription rate in order to view it. ???? Do not waste your money or time with this company. A complete disappointment.