I'm doing this for a 78 year old woman I know quite well. She was paying quite a bit of money for a daily paper at the Star Tribune and when it was about to renew it was even higher. I found her a better deal with the St Paul Pioneer Press at $229 for seven days a week for one year. She signed up on line and started getting the paper daily. She had quit them a few years before because she would get on average 5 or six papers a week. But this time she was hoping for the best. Everything went fine with some missed deliveries up until April when they stopped delivering. She called and they informed her that since she had not opted out of the "Special Editions" they had shorten her subscription. She didn't know anything about "Special editions" except they would, once a month send out a type of magazine that she would throw out. She didn't realize that those paper like magazines were costing her $20 dollars a time. So they shortened her subscription without advising her about the special addition and what it was was costing her. They informed her that since she had not opted out she was behind and owed them money for the period that they shortened her subscription. She was angry but told them to renew it thinking it would be about $230 like when she took it out to begin with, and she started getting the paper again. When she looked at her Visa bill the next month they had charged her $702 dollars. Be very careful when dealing with these people. They have no qualms about confusing and taking advantage of senior citizens. It seems like they prey on them. Oh and be very careful because they have a no refund policy. Use Visa and Visa will go after them if you feel you were bamboozled. read more

Horrible delivery service. Repeated failure to deliver in Hastings Minnesota. Although phone calls are met with positive verbal response, we must make repeated calls to get our paper.... or not get it paper! Choose the Minneapolis paper instead read more

I emailed them on Sept 16 telling them that I did not want to renew my subscription. They claim they emailed me back, asking why. I did not receive this email, so could not respond, so they went ahead and auto-renewed my subscription for an entire year. First of all, I already said I didn't want to renew. Second, it doesn't matter why - I said I didn't want to renew. They said they could not reverse anything since it renewed already, so cannot provide a refund or cancel my subscription. I just submitted a complaint with the Mn Attorney General since this business plan is so bad, it is at best horrible customer service, and at worst fraudulent. There is no reason why they cannot refund or cancel my subscription. They can figure it out rather than me posting this. I think a complaint with the BBB is next. read more

I was tempted to write about all my frustrations with the paper until I read all the other reviews. Ditto for me. I would actually like to read the physical paper, but my delivery person was awful. The online version visually assaults you with ads even if you sign up for no ads. And canceling, as everyone else attests, is ridiculously difficult. read more

I ty to read the Legacy.com Obits online daily. The Pioneer Press this morning showed 7. I will go and purchase a paper, which has gotten rid of most of their writers, has very few coupons, is hardly enough to use to line your bird's cage and it will show about 60 obits. Just another reason to avoid it until if finally folds up. I did try a subscription, but their billing system is nuts and I gave that up. read more

Please run from this unethical company. They have been double billing me (every 3-5 days) and refuse to refund. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, as well as my bank. My heart breaks for all of the elderly and vulnerable people that this so called company is scamming. DON'T EVER GIVE THEM YOUR ACCOUNT NUMBERS read more

I subscribed digitally to the St. Paul Pioneer Press for a time to try their service. I didn't find time to read the paper daily, and went on line to cancel. Here is what you should know: 1. You can't cancel on line 2. I waited after calling the phone number listed for cancellation for over 15 minutes of holds to cancel. 3. The person with whom I spoke took much more time than necessary to cancel my subscription. Bottom line - I won't be back read more

The St. Paul Pioneer Press uses billing practices and sales techniques that rank about a half step below those telephone scams that originate in other countries, and they target the same group of victims: The elderly and vulnerable. One way they do this is to send bills through the mail so that they arrive days after the subscription period ends, resulting in the subscriber paying additional fees for being "late". Secondly, you need to read the fine print on the billing statement which says you must "opt out" of "other premium content editions" of which, according to the fine print, there are "four to eight" editions. If you fail to opt out, those additional editions shorten your subscription term and will be billed to you automatically. I speak from experience here when I say that calling their customer service to opt out is no guarantee you'll be opted out. Clearly it's a scam designed to make you pay more money. Another method they use to target the elderly or those with memory issues is to continue charging you, at a higher rate, if you fail to cancel your subscription before the subscription end date. By doing this, they are creating an extra burden on those with memory issues who may not remember that they need to physically call to cancel their subscription if they no longer want it. In the good old days, they stopped delivering the paper when your subscription ended, but now it's just another easy way to scam money from vulnerable people. The Pioneer Press, in my opinion, takes special advantage of senior citizens, especially those who are confined to nursing homes, memory care facilities, and assisted living facilities. Those people have been reading the paper for much of their lives and they don't necessarily read the fine print, so they generally just pay the bill when it arrives. My Dad lives in one of those facilities and he doesn't understand his bill or what the Pioneer Press is doing, so I manage all of his bills and subscriptions. Unfortunately, he enjoys getting the paper, so I keep his subscription up. Of course, I have to call the paper each subscription period to make sure he's "opted out", and on more than one occasion they had opted him back in. On this most recent renewal invoice, they had raised the cost of his paper nearly $100 over what he paid 3 months ago for a 12 week subscription. The best customer service would do is take $15 off for the next subscription period. I'd be willing to bet that most vulnerable adults living in facilities, on very fixed incomes, simply pay their bill without realizing how much they're being gouged. I have cancelled the paper subscription for my wife and I, so now we have to deal with the constant phone calls from the Pioneer Press trying to get us to subscribe again. I have also filed a complaint with the MN Attorney General's office, but our current Attorney General, Keith Ellison, only concerns himself with issues involving one segment of Minnesota's population, which clearly does not include vulnerable adults, so no action has been taken. The Pioneer Press (and Ellison) deserve less than a 1-star review. read more

Ordered the newspaper online for the Sunday edition on 27 March 2023 and paid with a credit card. She is in Long Term Care with hospice. Today I told her LTC that I had started the Sunday edition for my mother and it was to start on 2 April. I was immediately told that she (LTC-Harmony) has been dealing with the Pioneer Press now for quite some time and told me to immediately cancel her subscription. She stated that the Pioneer Press does not have anyone to deliver for that area in Maplewood. When I went home today I called the customer service for the paper and was told that the earliest he could cancel the subscription was 4 April. So she has to pay for the 2 April Sunday edition even though she will not be receiving it! That is totally wrong. If they can not deliver the paper, then she should not have to pay for ANY newspaper. read more

I agree with all the other bad reviews about this company's billing department. I signed up for a $1 "trial" online subscription and they couldn't even get that right - I was double billed. And yes it was just $1 but if I can't trust them to charge my bank $1 I can't trust them to do anything. You can NOT cancel online which is insane. Called and was on hold for a very long time and when I finally reached someone they put me on hold again to talk to someone else - who would not stop pressuring me NOT to cancel until I started asking to speak to a manager/supervisor then he finally cancelled (I hope.) But - that wasn't the end of it! They started calling my phone every day for about 10 days so I just blocked them. It happened an 11th time so I called back to ask why they were calling me, the lady who answered said it was a "billing issue" -- but then she just started trying to pressure me into re-subscribing? WHAT A SCAM TRASH company this is!!!! read more

The worst service, I have ever encountered. I went on line to place a ad. There computer crashed and it was that awful. When, I called back a lady screamed at me and said, you placed your ad on Sunday. What does that really matter? What day, I place the ad? I give you credit card you place the order. Your computer system is awful and customer service is terrible. I am a paying customer. End of story. Is this how you treat paying customers? I will simply pay somewhere else. My friend complained about this paper and I truly never understood until I went through it. Being on hold for several hours is unacceptable business. How do you stay in business? read more

Signed up for free trial, never recieved them. Then got a renewal bill. Called to cancel, was spoken to very rudely when I declined their pushy sales. Then for a week after got multiple calls a day from them trying to get me to renew. Finally had to call them to get put on do not call list. Now that the snow is melted I am seeing discarded Pioneer Press newspapers all over the neighborhood no where near houses, and plugging up gutters. This company is literally throwing money and resources into the gutter while running what seems to be a scam. read more

Promotion department will spam you for years, even if you move out of the state, to get you to buy a subscription. I've asked to remove my number from thier calling list and still I get calls. read more

I received a call from the Pioneer press one week prior to Thanksgiving 2020. I said if they could start my subscription by Thanksgiving (for black Friday adds) I would sign up for 6 months. She said no problem. 3 months later still no paper. I called and requested a refund. The person who took my call said she could not refund my money but would pass this information on to customer service and they could vend a check to me. Another lie! Two months later I received another call from promotions asking me to sign up for a great deal. I asked if he could first refund my $42.50 I had already paid, as I have not received a paper. I only wanted my hard earned money back. He gave me the local number to call which I did again. I got Customer Service who said we do not give refunds to prepaid service. I said I received no papers ever so I do not care what your policy is I want a refund, so transfer me to your Supervisor. After several minutes the Supervisor gave me the same line "we do not give refunds". I replied you don't give papers either, I want my money back as you broke the verbal contract by not delivering any papers. I asked for his manager and he replied that he was out but could take my number and he would call me back. I said all I want is a refund as they did not preform. After several minutes of my badgering him he confessed that they do not call anyone back. Now we all know why no one in these reviews has gotten a promised call back. They lie! So my next email is to the MN Attorney General's office. As you can see I am not alone here. What a pathetic attitude towards your customers. In my case they are thief's nothing less. Beware. read more

Obviously this newspaper outfit does not care about its paying public. I made two phone calls at the beginning of October to report an issue and request a refund of $.75. To date, no one has either called me back or issued a refund. The issue was that on Oct. 1, around 9:30 am, at the Union Depot's newspaper sale box, I paid to get an issue of that day's newspaper to take with me on my (delayed) Amtrak ride. While reading the paper once on the train, I found it was a newspaper from Sept. 30, the day before. I called the newspaper office on Oct. 6 and spoke with some woman who (might have) listened to my complaint and (said) she took down my info and would have a supervisor return my call, and no later than by the following day. I received no return call. The following week, I called again and spoke to a woman in a different department and she, too, listened to my concern, took down my info and said she'd have someone return my call. Ha! Nothing! My advice to you - don't put your money into one of their sale boxes unless you can see through a window to make sure it's the current day's paper. Or, better yet, save your money or buy a different newspaper. read more

The paper has improved recently, but their billing practices stink. I've been a subscriber for over 30 years, but their billing cost increased 50% over last years billing notice. (this seems way out of line) I paid for 52 weeks of service but without notice they cut my service 4 months short based on their new rates. Last years billing gave me a false or misleading promise of cost and then they made it effectively retro active based on service remit date. read more

TwinCities.com (St. Paul Pioneer Press) will not let you cancel a subscription without numerous tries, half-hour or longer being put on hold, and actually being hung up on by so-called "Account Specialists" when they find out you want to cancel. What a rip-off. read more

I have had terrible service with my subscription to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. I have had to call numerous times when my paper was not delivered. If I called early enough that I hadn't received my paper, I would be told they, "would do their best to have someone deliver me a paper" that day, then it would not come. Another time I was told they have a problem in my area with deliveries. Let me tell you that it has been a huge disappointment to me and I wasted way to much time dealing with them, each time I didn't receive my newspaper. Definitely not worth the frustration!! read more

The sales people from Pioneer Press are rude and inconsiderate. My rate has historically been really low. But they wanted to increase it at renewal. I told them I wasn't interested if they rate was going that high. The sales person said rates go up not down and hung up on me. Very immature! read more

Unbelievable, Customer service could not be worse. Clearly the St.Paul Pioneer Press is running some kind of scam to get money from people, by harassing with daily calls, sending bills for papers that were never ordered, or received. The customer service people are nice on the phone, but never do anything to resolve an issue. The last scam was to tell me that I had a credit, and that they wanted to deliver papers to use up the credit. Then they send a bill, and say they know nothing of the credit. I would recommend not getting involved with the paper in anyway, It is just a shell of the paper it was 10 years ago. read more

Worst customer service ever! After three months of calling weekly because I had not been receiving the newspaper, which I paid for, I finally contacted the Attorney General's Office. PP has given me every excuse in the book as to why my paper has not been delivered. I requested to speak to a supervisor several times and nobody called me back. I was told I could cancel the paper but would not receive a refund. I was once told that it wasn't their problem that I had not been receiving my paper. I will never subscribe to this paper again. read more

My father has been a subscriber to the Pioneer Press for 40 years. We never had any issues up until this past two months aside from the INSANE price increase on their year long subscriptions once everything went "online". The past two months our paper has been thrown where ever the carrier pleased. My father called FIVE times to ask them nicely to please put the paper between our storm and front door since he cannot balance well enough to pick the paper out of our rocks or from the end of our driveway which if that's where we wanted it delivered we would get it from their competitor. FIVE times we were told "no problem, we will make sure this happens." It happened for about a week and then it was back willy nilly wherever the carrier pleased. The last time he contacted them he spoke to a supervisor who then told him "We cannot obligate them to place the paper between the doors." Okay, why couldn't that have been said before? Also what happened to the PAYING customer has a right to get what they want??? read more

Any one who advertises or pays for an obituary is getting screwed as most of the subscribers haven't gotten their Sunday paper in months

I definitely read the Pioneer Press before other papers. It's a well written paper with clean design - it's not only the readers choice, it's typically the journalists choice (at least the ones I know) as well. It's pretty good and isn't too pricey. read more

First, it's better than the Red Star Tribune, which is continually trying to be more left-wing the Wash Post and NY Times. Paper content itself is not bad. Home delivery is TERRIBLE. I am lucky if I get the paper by 9am, 1/3 of the time I am calling after 10am asking for a delivery. Then I put on a vacation hold and they delivered every day I was gone. I don't pay my bill on time and wait until they call. And then I say: see, now you know how I feel. And they usually give me a few more free weeks. read more

I've been a subscriber for years but it's becoming less essential. Mondays are laughable - thinner than many Sunday inserts. I guess not much happens on Sunday afternoons/evenings. Even so, I would pick it every time over the MPLS Star. Better columnists and besides I like St Paul news. read more

This is an email sent to me after not recieving paper, calling 2nd time to Requested refund. Hello, I apologize you still have not received your refund. The refund request was sent on 12/08/17. It can take up to two weeks to receive the refund. ThanksJ Tesha Lenoir Customer Service Rep Pioneer Press Still have not received refund - its been 4 months. Unethical business practice!!!! Now they sent another bill today. 2/7/18. Paper was cancelled last year late summer/early fall. Dont subscribe!!!! read more

Joe Soucheray - my favorite Garage Logic columnist.

I constantly get phone calls from the Pioneer Press asking me to subscribe and I continually tell them I am not interested yet they keep calling me. I think the callers who work for the Pioneer Press are intrusive and unorganized. I also don't know why I would pay for a newspaper when I can just look news online. No thanks Pioneer Press. read more

The regular price for a Sunday paper is $1.50. My subscription rate for 12 weeks is $41.88, which is $3.49 a week for the same $1.50 paper. I was told by a supervisor that I am paying for luxury of having it delivered. Because of this and other billing problems, once this subscription period is over, I will cancel it. read more

I just called knowing my subscription is running thru May this year. I have had at least 2 paper issues so I was trying to find out if it would be ending June 3rd. Customer Service just wanted to Argue saying no it ends May 20th. Will never be a customer again. VERY RUDE!! read more

I just recently moved and called the Pioneer Press to change my address. It's been three weeks now and I am still not getting my paper. I have called four times and have been told each time that my address change did not go through and they will credit my account. Still no paper. read more

- Have never had consistant delivery and the online customer service is non-existant. - Put a week long vacation stop through and couldn't get the paper for a month following. - Been trying to cancel for a month and they won't stop delivering the paper. - Even missed us on the Black Friday delivery which ended my need for this paper at all. Hoping for much better service from their main competitor! :) read more

My call to the Pioneer Press promised my paper would be delivered later today. It is now 3:20pm and still no paper. This lack of delivery is not a one day occurrence. I call three to four times weekly to get my newspaper. Customer service is a non event at the Pioneer Press. This has been going on for two or three months. I guess it's time to dump the paper altogether. PRC Eagan read more

Ive had the pioneer press on and off for years..their customer service is terrible. Ive paid for gift subscriptions that never were delivered. They made excuses. I don't get my paper, and they tell me to wait. They are terrible read more

I would give zero stars if I could; these people do not care about their paying costumers. After 3 weeks of delivery, they suddenly stopped delivering. I contacted customer service after 2 weeks of not receiving my papers. I got a response on the same day, then I didn't get another response until a week! I had asked for a refund, and the first time I told Taylor Toothman I wasn't receiving my papers, he/she did not even acknowledge or apologize for the terrible service. It took 3 more emails and me repeating myself before he apologized and said he will contact the carrier to find out what happened. That was 3 days before my next delivery. Thursday comes, still nothing! And I had asked for a refund twice and it's like he/she is playing blind because he/she has refused to acknowledge that I want a refund. I don't care if it's only a few dollars, I will not give my money to people like these. Oh, and the girl who sold me the paper - Brittany Cummings - she said she was selling to win college scholarship money. I doubt it! read more

We wanted to give this newspaper chance. We tried it out for 3 months and decided it just was not something we were interested in receiving any longer. When I called customer service, they informed my that they would not be able to refund the difference of the unused portion of my subscription. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, they indicated that all supervisors were busy. I provide my phone number for a callback from a supervisor but never received the call. I called back again to speak to a supervisor 2 days later and was again told that they would not be able to provide me a refund for my unused portion of my subscription. This is a poor way to conduct business in my opinion. read more

I've been a subscriber to the Pioneer Press since probably at least the 1980s. I lived in Inver Grove Hts. from 1986-2000 and don't recall that there were any significant issues with the delivery of my paper. However, the INSTANT I moved to St. Paul, there were problems. I had cancelled my IGH delivery with the last day to be a Friday; my St. Paul delivery was to start the next day but didn't. I had called at least a week before my move date so the start date for my St. Paul paper shouldn't have been a problem. A week or two after I moved to St. Paul, I was going to be out of town for a couple days so I had requested that my paper be held several days before this. I ended up leaving a day later than planned. When I opened my front door that a.m., a paper was on my front porch. When I called the paper, I was told they had no record of my temporary stoppage. During my sort absence, the paper continued to be delivered. I had ongoing problems with delivery over the years (same carrier) and finally became so fed up that I cancelled my subscription. I continued to buy the paper (which is more expensive than subscribing). One time when I went grocery shopping at the Larpenteur Rainbow Foods years ago, a guy was in the lobby area and was hawking the Pioneer Press. When I said that I had cancelled a subscription due to delivery issues, this guy assured me that there were new policies in place (i.e., for each missed delivery, the carrier was fined $1.00) that had pretty much eliminated delivery issues. So, I subscribed again. There continued to be intermittent delivery issues. A couple years back there was a change in carriers and things seemed to be better. However, in the last few months there have been times when I haven't gotten my paper or it's landed in bushes or other places so I have to hunt for it (one time I found the paper 3-4 days later). It's still the same carrier so I'm not sure why there is an uptick in delivery problems. When I recently went to my doc for my annual wellness exam, I learned that Kate, the nurse, lives about five blocks due south from me. Kate and I chatted about different things. She mentioned that she had cancelled her PP subscription because of all the delivery issues (paper in bushes, etc.). Turns out she had the same carrier as me. This past Saturday (3/26/16) I did not get a paper. I hunted around in my yard and still couldn't find it. I called the customer service line only to learn that it was under maintenance so I couldn't use the automated system to report a problem. I ended up going to the PP's website and sending an e-mail to the customer service office. I'm not expecting a reply because one other time years ago I sent an online complaint and never got a response. Today, I called the customer service line again. Apparently, there were a lot of calls so I was put on hold. After 10 minutes I was disconnected. Once this subscription runs it's course, I will not renew nor will I ever subscribe to the PP again. The Star Tribune is not an option--I like the PP better and the PP carrier also delivers the Strib (at least the weekend as I get the Sunday Strib). The only reason I'm giving this two stars instead of one is that I like the paper. read more

I got a two year deal for the Pioneer Press. When I paid the renewal fee a few months ago for a Friday and Sunday delivery for an additional year, all of a sudden the deliveries stopped. After contacting the company FOUR times, I've only received only one e-mail response saying they will credit my account for the papers I haven't received (this was the first e-mail I sent). Since then, I haven't received any response to the e-mails I've sent nor has the papers been delivered. After this subscription is exhausted, the Star Trib will have my business. Sad, because I've always preferred the Pioneer Press's paper over the Trib, but I want the papers I've paid for delivered to my house. read more

I subscribed to the St Paul Pioneer Press in February 2017. This was one of those stands in a grocery store. Told him I already had subscribed a couple of years ago and never received the paper. He assured me that would not happen again. Here we are on May 13th 2017 and I have not seen a paper yet. I've called them at least three times maybe four. Have been assured I would have a paper within a couple of days. Still have not seen a paper. Highly recommend not subscribing to the paper through grocery store sales. read more