Times Union

Don’t fall for their introductory offer’s. They will continue delivering the paper after the offer expires. They will threaten you with collection action if you don’t pay the full price. I paid to avoid a blemish on my credit. But the NYS attorney general got my money back by turning them in.

As as everyone has already stated, this paper lacks substantive content, is loaded with spelling, grammar, and even factual errors. Most of the writers appear to have little knowledge of what they are actually writing Some of the more «scandalous» articles on local situations are humorous but not the least bit objective. Many of the blogs are substandard, in particular Kristi Gustafson-​Bartlet whose high school clique of a blog is called «On the Edge.» I will say that the delivery to my area was excellent and I never had a problem. I just couldn’t be bothered spending the money anymore and I find myself these days giving the online version nothing more than a quick glance.

Never having been impressed by the content or quality of this newspaper, we never thought to purchase the paper at normal subscription rates. A year ago my wife was offered a trial subscription for 20 weeks for nearly no money. She was also promised there was no obligation to continue the subscription after the trial period.
After the trial period ended, we continued to receive the paper. Then we received a bill for about 150 dollars. My wife sent an e-​mail. She received a reply stating the bill was in error and delivery of the paper would be stopped.
Then her credit card was charged. She then called and was met with resistance to her complaint until she cited the previous correspondence by e-​mail. She was promised a refund and the refund to her credit card did show up a couple of days later.
However, we continued to receive the paper and bills. After some more phone calls, she finally was able to terminate delivery of the paper. Her last phone call was met with sympathy and apologies from Times Union staff.
Had this been the end, I may have never written this complaint, but. .. we are still receiving bills.

After being harassed for years with phone calls, a young man came to my door two months ago and asked me to sign up to help him go to college. I finally gave in and wrote him a check for $ 5 for 4 weeks of Sunday papers. The check has been cleared, but two months and 3 phone calls later, I have yet to receive a single copy of this mediocre paper. They DID, however, send me a bill for continuing my subscription. Never again

We deserve better. «Times Useless» is a well earned moniker as its highest utility is probably lining the bird cage. I have never seen a «major» news paper riddled with so many typos; hire a proofreader, or hell, turn on the «grammar check» on your word processing.
Like every other mainstream media outlet, you sensationalize the smallest thing and under report the important stuff.
I’m glad that I don’t pay for it and just read the obituaries on-​line.
It gets 2 stars only because there is no other option.

This newspaper is called the «Times Useless» for a reason. It’s nearly completely devoid of substantive content, being filled instead with advertisements and poorly re-​written AP news briefs. There website typically features, on the front page, a «Were You Seen?» feature that consists entirely of pictures taken at local events without any content whatsoever.
More concerning than the «quality» of reporting, however, is there complete disregard for customer service. We ordered a sunday-​only subscription through a «groupon» deal. After the deal expired, they continued to send us the newspaper, even though we had never requested that service continue. We tried to cancel the subscription on multiple occasions, but we could not get through to their customer service department (which apparently works for about 1 hour per week) and when we could get through, they could not help us. They then attempted to bill us and when we refused to pay, they assessed various late fees and sent our bill to a collections agency. We finally were able to settle that issue, but recently we discovered that they were again sending us the paper! I’m not sure why — we didn’t ask for it and it goes straight in the recycling bin.
The bottom line is, don’t sign up to receive this newspaper at any price!

An area the size of the Capital District deserves better print media than what we have. That we are a capital city of one of the most populous states in the union should afford us better journalistic practices than what the Times «Useless» actually gives us.
Their articles are filled with typos and grammatical errors. Their responses to reader questions and concerns are snarky at best and often degrading. Their blogs are censored by the content writers with no oversight. Their bloggers are thin-​skinned and often turn nasty when they don’t like the line of conversation.
Additionally, the focus seems to be on regional, national and international news more than on local news. The problem is that the people of the Capital District need a media outlet that is focused on local and state issues. We do not need bridges that bring national and world issues «closer to home».
The biggest problem is that this isn’t new. The Times Union got its nickname decades ago and it hasn’t gotten better. They think they’ve embraced the digital age, but they’re really using it as an excuse to let their journalistic standards slide even further.

The Times Union is the predominant newspaper of the Capital Region. Unfortunately, their customer service department and delivery services lack both organization and follow through. During a one year subscription for the «Saturday/​Sunday only» papers, there were several occasions when the paper was not delivered. After each one of these events, I would call the customer service line to report it; and would then receive an apology with an assurance that the delivery person would be contacted. The paper delivery continued to be inconsistent and each time, I received the same response, only for the same thing to happen again. I finally stopped calling seeing that the customer service department was not organized enough to meet the needs of their clients and the delivery continued to be inconsistent. When the subscription period elapsed, needless to say, I did not renew. Suddenly, papers were delivered, albeit inconsistently. I did not contact the Times Union thinking that perhaps they were making good on all of the missed papers and were delivering a few extra weeks as compensation. Then I received a COLLECTION NOTICE! The collection notice indicated that my subscription was overdue and I owed $ 40. Even after disputing this with the Times Union and the collection agency, I had to pay the collection note so that my credit would not be affected. To say that I was less than dissatisfied with the delivery service would be a gross understatement. Then to add insult to injury I was charged for a new subscription period and this bill was forwarded to collections — even more evidence of the lack of organization, follow through, and disregard for customer satisfaction. I will never again purchase this periodical and will denounce this organization to everyone I come into contact with.