Alabama Media Group is a conglomerate comprised primarily of AL.com. From the media group's…read morewebsites: "AL.com is Alabama's largest news site, providing up-to-the minute coverage of the news from around the state. Our journalists cover breaking news as it happens and dig into the state's most pressing issues through award-winning investigative reporting and smart commentary." I believe AL.com launched around 1995 or 1996. I worked at the twice-daily hard copy newspaper, The Huntsville Times at that time in the Creative Services Department and The Huntsville Times was a twice daily newspaper with a sizeable distribution, the morning paper was The Huntsville News and the evening paper was The Huntsville Times. Now that the newspaper industry has, for the most part, gone by the wayside, we have AL.com. I would describe it as my "go to" if I loved Alabama/Auburn football or wanted the latest information on the Orange Beach Musical Festival, "The Hangout Music Fest." In other words, not hard hitting journalism at all. Not even close. I used to read Matt Wake's restaurant reviews, but he is not publishing many, if any at all, and I enjoyed his musician interviews, again, not much activity on that front either. If feel good news is your "jam" then by all means read the "news" on AL.com or download their app. You will get an abundance of state football "news" and similar fluff.

ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!! With print newspapers quickly going the way of the dinosaurs and stone…read moretablets, this local newspaper persists. Unfortunately, their HORRIBLE business practices will be their demise! In August, 2018, they had a booth at the Huntsville Fall Home and Garden Show, and we were stopped as they gave us their schpiel. Reluctantly, I agreed to sign up for what was supposed to be ONLY ONE MONTH of Sunday papers - and ONLY because they have a service where they provide free Sunday papers to local nursing homes with the subscription. Because we don't really have a need for a print newspaper, I SPECIFICALLY asked the person at the booth if I had to cancel the subscription or if it would stop after the month subscription was done. She replied that the subscription would STOP AUTOMATICALLY. So, I agreed to sign up for the one month of Sunday papers just to support providing the free copies to local nursing homes. The subscription started in September, 2018. However, after the month was finished (and the subscription, as I had been informed when I signed up), Sunday papers were still being delivered. I did not worry about it too much because I figured the delivery agent just had made a mistake. However, after two months, we kept receiving them, but my card was never charged again. So again, I figured they would stop delivering once they caught their mistake. Then, we started receiving notifications to remit payment. I had no reason to remit payment for a subscription I never signed up for and had specifically gotten assurance that it would stop automatically at the end of the agreed-upon one month term. Fast forward to February 8, 2019, and I receive a letter from Huntsville Times that this my subscription had been halted for non payment - AS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT THE END OF THE ONE MONTH - and that this was the final notice before they send it out for collection. Now, I AM PISSED!! So, I call them on February 11, 2019, to discuss this matter and get it straightened out. After the customer service agent pulls up my account, she informs me that delivery has been halted for non payment and that I owe them $29.19. REALLY?! Gee, thanks for telling me what I already knew! Of course, I immediately stop her and inform her that I do not owe them anything because I never signed up for anything more than one month of delivery. Then, she informs me that I had been signed up for 10 weeks (which would explain the extra papers) and that I still owed them for the papers that were delivered after that. I feel my blood pressure starting to rise now! So, I immediately correct her and tell her exactly what I signed up for and what was told to me by their agent who submitted the subscription. Now (get your "big surprise" faces ready), she tells me that could not possibly be the case because they don't do one-month subscriptions or automatic cancellations. She also feels the need to interject that the persons who sell subscriptions for them at trade shows, etc. are third-party contractors and that she is sorry if they gave me incorrect information. WRONG ANSWER! Now, I am LIVID! So, of course, I inform her that the problem is indeed The Huntsville Times and NOT mine because they are responsible for the information being disseminated by anyone acting as an agent for them. This is BASIC BUSINESS law! So, she asks if I still have the carbon of the subscription form from last August. Umm, NO. Why would I for a subscription that was only supposed to be for one month and that was supposed to cancel at the end of that term??!! Fortunately, I do still have the e-mail confirmation that was sent after my payment was processed, and I inform her that the receipt (which has the Huntsville Times logo at the top) states nothing about the supposed 10-week subscription term, nor does it state that I am supposed to cancel. So, as I am reading this to her, she is feigning confusion as if what I'm telling her can't possibly be true. Not smart, lady! You've already insulted my intelligence at the outset, and now, you're basically calling me a liar! At this point she is USELESS to me, and I immediately asked to be transferred to a manager. Then, after once again feigning confusion, she tells me that she can't transfer me to a manager because I already had been transferred once on the call. SERIOUSLY??!! She honestly must think I am severely mentally deficient to believe the truckload of CRAP that she is trying to sell me!! Then, she tells me that she can put in a request to have a manager call me back. So, I tell her to give me the names of all four of the managers, which she grudgingly does. So, it is now February 13, and I still have not received a call from a manager. So, I will be calling them back directly and it WILL NOT BE a pleasant conversation!!!

I am a business owner that lives in a completely different state than this newspaper. I am over 40…read moremiles away from their target demographics. Yet, for some unknown reason, one of their paper delivery people left my business with a huge stack of their papers. For free, they said. Nobody in my area cares about the local events happening in another small town in a completely different state. The next time they came in, I declined the papers, telling them that we has to haul off all of the others because nobody wanted them. Recently I had to close early to attend my daughter's graduation. Want to guess what I found? 23 copies of their newspaper, which they sell for 50¢ each in their area, with a note that said "Free, Take One" Once the weekend is over, I will actually be taking the hour and a half round trip to personally dump these papers back onto the doorsteps of the newspapers with explicit instructions NOT to ask us to take anymore. I have a no solicitation sign on my door for a reason.

We have a very nice paper box that our carrier doesn't know how to put the paper in. On Wednesday…read moreit was soak and wet could to read it had to go buy one, Saturday dog took off with it Sunday it did come until 10:30 I think we may stop getting it..very unhappy with our carrier. Today still haven't got it yet and it's 10:06 am

While the content of the paper is still acceptable, customer service is not. This paper is late…read moremore than it is on time. They will not make up papers the carrier did not deliver. I am thinking about cancelling again.

Mack Media is a fantastic company to work with. Super fast turn around time, competitive pricing,…read moreand superior customer service. Nothing more that someone could ask for!

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