I have been a subscriber for about 35 years. I pay for my paper a year at a time. Lately the delivery has been pretty lousy. About a month ago I called early enough and was told I would get a paper, nothing. Same thing happened again today. I'll save myself about $250 a year by cancelling and just buying a crossword puzzle book. Plus I won't feel obligated to give a year-end bonus to the driver. Bad job Modesto Bee. read more

Terrible service both with delivery and customer service. Nobody seems to care. They promise you the moon and you get nothing. Heard same speech each time I called to complain. So done!!! read more

Horrible customer service!!! I bought a groupon for a subscription and it took several months to get it started with much frustration on my end. When the year was up I wrote 'cancel' on my invoice and they keep sending bills with a past due payment. Of course I have tried calling but there is zero customer service! Tried again today at 1pm on a Wednesday and the automated reply says to call back during regular business hours!? read more

Not happy with Modesto bee at all. They forgot to deliver my paper and because they forgot I will not be getting my paper until tomorrow. It's my first delivery with this newspaper shame on them!!!! read more

Worst customer service ever. I buy the paper for my grandparents every year as a Christmas gift and every year the price has increased. This year it's almost 3 x the price it was 5 years ago. $300 for a yearly subscription to the paper for the elderly is ridiculous. THEN when you can renew online because their online services charge your card and then decline your card and you ask for a cancellation they won't cancel it, continue to send the paper, AND send you to "collections" for your accrued balance. AND THEN they call. And call. And call. But NEVER leave voicemails so those of us who work full time jobs have no idea why a random number is calling. THEN when you actually do speak to someone and you ask if they have any promotional rates so that you don't have to gouge your bank account for a newspaper they first tell you no, sorry. Ask to cancel again they say okay, AND CONTINUE TO SEND THE PAPER. You try to call no one answers, you can't find an online cancellation option so finally they get ahold of you on your day off, offer you a promotion of $150, AND STILL HAVE THE NERVE TO CHARGE YOU THE $57 ACCRUAL BALANCE, making it so you never got a promotional rate to begin with WHEN YOU ASKED FOR A CANCELLATION 3 MONTHS AGO!!!! I get that everyone is going digital and that hard copies of the paper are a dying art, but don't STEAL from the elderly just to make a few extra bucks. This is ridiculous and next year we won't be renewing and if you don't take my cancellation request seriously next year you can take your accrual balance and stick it where the sun dont Shine! Maybe listen to your customers instead of being a money hungry greedy company. Happy holiday Modesto Bee. You suck! read more

My grandfather made a subscription to the Modesto bee for year half now An there's been nothing but issues! Usually he wakes up and gets cup coffee An reads his paper but most of the time he has no paper to read! Throws off his whole routine! Sometimes the paper comes on time most of the time it's a peaking out the window game till about 10:30! By that time who wants to read the paper! He might just cancel his subscription An just watch the news at least we know the news won't be late always on time! read more

Deal Savers is a rip off. Advertised get $20 of food at my garden cafe for $10. Then when you pay you get 2 $10 coupons. Then when you take them to my garden they only let you use one coupon toward a $20 purchase. Then we have to go back again to use the other coupon toward another $20 purchase. So instead of getting a $20 meal for $10. You have to spend $30 to use the coupons. How rude to treat local residents going to a local restaurant in such a deceptive way. I will never, ever buy another "Deal Saver" from the Modesto Bee. read more

The Modesto Bee went from being a great newspaper to being a liberal rag over the last 10 - 15 years. They are so one sided that it is no longer worth reading unless you are just looking for local news. When it comes to politics they wouldn't know the truth or print the truth if they were forced to. I'm sure their declining business is largely due to their liberal bias. I personally would't buy a paper from them again. Save your money! read more

I was a subscriber for 13 years. When the carrier changed about 2 years ago, service has become sporatic. When i complain about missed or damaged papers, it has absolutly no effect....actually gets worse. The refuse to put the paper in the ModBee box and just drop it in the road.Thier solution is to deliver missed papers a few days later. I got not reponse untill i didn't pay the bill, then they were more worried about the bill than the service....needless to say, I cancelled and switched to the SF Chronicle. read more

Dont trust there vendors that come to your home. Stole money then the bee wanted to send the paper but wanted more money to start it before I could even get a paper then gave the money and still no paper. time to cancel and just lose the money read more

The paper is okay, but the delivery of it is terrible. Like so many have stated, in past reviews, the customer service has been outsourced to people who just read a script. They really don't care that my paper doesn't get delivered for 3 days in a row, or is thrown in the street. If I don't get my paper delivered tomorrow morning, I am finished with the Modesto Bee forever. It is not difficult to drive by my house and fling a rolled up paper onto my driveway. Really, figure it out, please. read more

The whole Modesto Bee process from delivery to customer service sucks...You can only hear so many times, I'll let the delivery manager know...The only thing that is delivered on time is their bill...Customer service and delivery manager should know my name and address by heart by now...Don't answer "yes" when they ask would like us to bring you out a paper, they still don't bring one...I've taken the Bee for over 25 years, these last couple years have been a hit and miss to receiving the paper daily...I love the way the delivery guy always put a card in the paper at Christmas time for a tip, I told my wife this year I should send him a bill for all the papers we didn't get... read more

So I don't renew my subscription because you raised the rate through the roof- 3 times in one year. Then you start calling me begging me to renew and offering to give me the paper 7 days a week for $1 a month. When I politely tell the callers, "No Thank You, please remove me from your calling list," they continue to call in clear violation of the Federal No Call list rules. Then to top it off, you send me to collections because I didn't RENEW a subscription?? What kind of business are you? Go broke already and stop shaking people down for money they don't legally owe. read more

Modesto Bee has been delivering ads to my PO Box for 12 months despite 7 phone calls to them telling them to stop. The post office won't stop unless Mod Bee stops sending them. I am extremely frustrated and will continue to fight this in every way possible. read more

I used to read the Modesto Bee every Sunday morning, after taking a deep long breath of that hot cow ass air. Before I begin a long day of driving my SUV to Elephant Bar and then later to Apple Bee's and before ending the night at Sonic Burger, I like to just open the paper and check out the SUV ads. I also enjoy reading the obits. I just want to know which of my other large-bellied friends have passed from too much chain restaurant food. One day, I was shocked to see that the obits just weren't as interesting anymore. It seemed to lack emotion and heart. It was as if people were just entering them in on some confusing website rather than talking to a live person and pouring their hearts out. Well the Mod Bee has taken a turn not for the better, BUT I still get the paper every Sunday and I still enjoy reading up on the local happenings. GO PATRIOTS! read more

Bought a year long subscription for an elderly friend as a gift. Payed for it nearly a month ago and have never got a single paper delivered to her house. Called many times, and super hard to get a hold of a human. Dealt with humans on phone 2x who promised it would be delivered by the next 2 days. Still have never seen the paper. I am disgusted dealing with this company. Don't buy a gift of the newspaper for anyone- it has been the most embarrassing gift EVER!!!! It never comes. What a let down and a rip off. read more

I've subscribed to the Modesto Bee for over 25 years. This year I decided when the subscription was up I wouldn't renew. Well guess what they don't stop delivering the paper when your subscription runs out. They keep delivering it and then eventually send you a bill and expect you to pay it. Now the fun part. When you call to tell them you don't owe them any money guess where you're calling? You're right the Philippines! After 30 minutes of arguing they finally agree I don't owe the money. Whew glad that's over! Oh wait.... Then the rude phone calls start from a "Third Party Biller" and they could careless who you talked to in the Philippines. The calls continue until you ask for a supervisor. Finally the calls stop but guess what shows up in the mail? Yup another bill..... The moral of the story don't subscribe to the Modesto Bee because once you do you will never be free of them. 9/19/16: This was finally resolved thank you Vicky. Your help was very appreciated. Ooops! Wrong! Received yet another letter from collections after the above. Finally, finally after another set of calls and dealing with ARM Recovery Services and talking to the Bee a number of times again, we think now that this issue is finally closed. We now have paperwork from the Bee and concurrence from their billing company that no money is due and this is closed. However now we continue to get calls frequently from the Modesto Bee asking if we will consider taking the paper at a fraction of the normal billing cost for a years subscription. AND they continue to deliver the Modesto Bee to our residence. Finally, the Modesto Bee in this previous Sunday's paper provide guidance on how we are supposed to vote in the presidential election. In spite of all the illegal and/or corruption Hillary Clinton is involved in, the Modesto Bee sites that they recommend voting for Hillary for President!! Are you kidding me??? read more

Been missing my paper for numerous days call their number and just get the recording they never do bring out a paper I've given them several chances very hard to speak to a person so I can quit their services if I could give them a -5 stars I would their customer service sucks been a customer for 20 years and quit them twice already I will never give them another chance a little paper like the manteca bulletin is way better service and you can actually speak to a person you won't be in business much longer if you keep operating in this manner read more

Horrible! Signed up for Sunday only paper and it's been 3 WEEKS OF NO DELIVERY- but of course they billed me and TOOK my money! Their automated customer service, which they basically force you to use is absolutely USELESS! When I finally did get a "real" person, he wasn't any better. He reassured me he "fixed" the issue. Obviously not- because NO PAPER. This has been by far my WORST experience with a business- and the WORST customer service operation I've ever dealt with. I'm canceling and demanding a full refund tomorrow morning! read more

It appears that customer service is virtually nonexistent at the Modesto Bee - I have used their automated system - called - posted on facebook and reviewed on yelp (only to have my review hidden - 'filtered') Why do you suppose I cannot get the service I pay for? read more

first the Modesto bee moved out of town taking jobs, then down sized the paper , now stopping Saturday paper , while raising the subscription price . the delivery is very undependable . we need a local paper that cares about and is involved with Modesto read more

Absolute worst customer service. 6 weeks now with no delivery. 5 phone calls and at least that many email and still no paper. Brand new subscription too - wonder how long I'll have to wait for a refund .... read more

SCAMMERS! I had a teen come to the door asking if I would like to get the Modesto Bee for a year for only $20 and it would help them with some kinda school event. Well i'm all for kids and helping them. So I paid the $20. I normally get my news and info from the internet or TV but the Coupons were cool to have on sundays. Then Today I checked my mail and there was a bill for the modesto bee, after only having it for 3 months. it said Second notice. (I never got a first one) With Crazy prices on it. I called to cancel and they still charged me $11.31 for the 10 days. There hook is on the bottom of there page in real small letters. Saying "Service is continuous unless otherwise notified" In other words. its a SCAM! I will never sign up EVER AGAIN! nor will i ever fall for one on the kids going door to door with the lie of helping them. I have only been in Modesto a short time, and now I can see there handshake is bad! NEVER AGAIN! SCAM SCAM SCAM read more

18 came to my door and asked me if I can sign up for the paper for $20 for 5 weeks help school I said okay then I never got the paper delivered to my front door I call every day and every day they keep putting it out and driveway so just let me know be where I'm going to go down to the paper coming today and cancel the paper and get a receipt cuz I'm not going to get the bill for this read more

On Sunday, July 9, my paper had again been incomplete...Not all the ads or sections. Why is it so hard for your out of the country customer service to get a message to a live person at the Modesto Bee in Modesto? 4x I have called and I have yet to receive the sunday paper. Last time I went thru the advertising dept and was forwarded to a receptionist who helped me a great deal and got my Wed paper out to me the same day. You are the worst Customer - Service? I have ever run across. By the way your different prices per customer rates should be filed with Curtis and Better Biz Bureau. I may have time to do that very soon. read more

HORRIBLE is all I can say. Major issues with papers missing. The phone system is useless. Contact the cust service center, no record of me on file, have to be sent to the distribution center to contact the carrier as to why no paper, will take 24-48 hours to find this out. Very, very poor service....and I AM IN CUSTOMER SERVICE in a call center. I am in serious doubt if I will get a call back or even a response from this email. Very unlikely. This is why I went from a daily paper to weekend only, lack of accountability and lack of ownership with problem resolution. Cust service rep cannot give any type of update or status - where is the single point of contact member ownership - one call does it all rather than passing the buck to someone else or another department. Once I do get a response back by email two days later, they can't help me because they can't find my account. No kidding moron. That is what I told you two days ago. The company was SOMEWHAT reliable when they were in Modesto but since that shut down....ALL DOWN HILL. I don't want to receive emails back and forth trying to resolve my issue. That is why I used the phone. I would like to get a LIVE PERSON rather than some canned email response. I can see why print media is becoming extinct. Soon, so will this crappy company be extinct read more

I agree with the review by Carol S. We have had delivery problems since we started our subscription 6 months ago. Despite numerous complaints by us, IF we find our paper, it is generally in the street, too, or on our damp lawn from condensation. We have asked to speak to a delivery supervisor but, despite promises that someone will return the call, never heard from anyone so we could complain about our carrier. We are so frustrated !! We also take the Manteca Bulletin and it is on our driveway every morning without fail. read more

Modesto Bee Deal Savers is a rip off. They advertise half price tickets and the venue provides lesser value ticket that was advertised. When you contact them, they do nothing but defend the venue. I understand you are the middleman, but when your vendor falls short and I paid you...you are responsible. I have never had any issues with other on-line discount providers like: Travelzoo, Groupon, Living Social and Goldstar. Dealsavers is a scam! read more

HORRIBLE customer service these days! They have obviously moved the customer service out of the country. I would give them 0 stars if I could. I had many delivery problems and could not get it resolved, kept happening. Then I moved and that improved, due to a new delivery person I assume. I have emailed them many times and never got a response. I did not renew my subscription and they continued it, then started calling me all the time to pay it. I was going to pay for what I had gotten, but when I went to pay online said I did not have an account. I admit I forgot about it for a bit and never received another bill,letter or anything until a credit agency sent a collection note for $51. Freaking seriously!! For a paper I did not renew!! I will NEVER order that paper again and very sad to see what has become of it. Back when it was all taken care of in Modesto it was great! read more

I wish I could have given no stars, they don't deserve 1...4 times last week I didn't get my paper delivered...Called for paper each time, can never get a live person, you get the "we will credit your account" automated person...I don't buy the paper to have my account get a credit, I buy it to read it...I love when you read, less & less people are buying the paper...NO, it's more & more people quitting the paper...Modesto Bee sucks... read more

I have purchased the Sunday edition of the Modesto Bee for several years and enjoyed the local news and the sale ads. I recently moved and went online to change my address that was never updated. I called 7 times to try to reestablish my delivery to my new address and found out that you cannot reach anyone in the Modesto office, my calls were forwarded to another country where every call was scripted and promises of delivery the next day never produced a paper. I called so much I thought I had a personal relationship with a guy in India named Mike. I became so frustrated I cancelled the paper that I really enjoyed and decided to put in a yelp. It has been over a month and could never get a single paper, but if they could produce a paper I would consider going back. The Manteca Bulletin found my house! read more

I have had nothing but issues with this company. I only subscribe to the newspaper on Sundays so I can look at the ads and clip out the coupons to save money on my groceries, but I'm tempted to subscribe to the online edition and get store ads/coupons from other sources. The delivery of the paper is always late for some stupid-ass reason! If it isn't a fucking printing issue, it is an issue with the delivery truck! When you call their customer service line, you get a piece of shit automated system that doesn't respond to the numbers you punch in. One time, I wrote to them via their Facebook page regarding a delivery issue, and was given a toll-free phone number to call. Turns out, it was a printing company way the hell in South Carolina! These greedy corporate assholes really don't care, but I guess that's what happens with limited competition: You get higher prices and piss-poor customer service. read more

Our subscription expired. After the newspaper itself is down to about half what it used to be, we were sent a renewal notice with an increase of 33%. So after finding a Sunday only subscription from Groupon, I decided to take advantage of it. But I was told I would have to wait 60 days because I was a current customer. But - I asked - my subscription was expired - I was no longer a customer. Oh no, I was told - they had automatically extended my subscription for 90 days as a favor to me. But I didn't want any favors, I said - well, too bad. I would take the favor whether I wanted it or not, and pay the extra money. Well, no thanks, Modesto Bee. Less paper for more money - I think not!! read more

The Modesto Bee is very bad service, I got a subscription last year and never received the news paper, now they are threatening me through a A.R.M Solution to submit a negative credit report to a credit agency, even is only $20.57 usd, I had not to pay for something I don't received. I will file a claim at the Federal Trade commission to avoid this kind of issues. read more

terrible delivery service in Empire..terrible customer service over the phone..Kim,the telephone operator would not let me talk to a supervisor about my service.She said a supervisor would call the next day or two.Day two...no one has called.I pay for a newspaper my carrier often forgets and I have to call the gentleman in charge of her and he delivers it to me late.How can a reputable business treat their customers this way.They will not let you talk to anyone who can resolve your problem.I have never heard of of a company acting this way and it is disgraceful! I have been a customer for many years! read more

Beeware! The Modesto Bee is running a subscription scam! I have been a subscriber for approximately 18 years. The paper has steadily declined in content over the past few years. My subscription came due with an increase of $104.40 over last years subscription! The bill was for $426.40! I was shocked. I decided not to renew my subscription and sent no money. The Modesto Bee continued to deliver the paper. I was then contacted by a Bee representative and told my subscription had expired. I said I did not want to renew and to stop the paper delivery. The paper kept being delivered! Again I called and talked to a Bee representative and told them to stop the paper. I was told at that time I had a balance on my account (for the papers I never subscriped for), and in the fine print at the bottom of the statements they had added that the paper would automaticly renew my subscription unless I personal contacted them to cancel! I checked previous statements and that fine print clause was not there! A dying paper grasping at any means to get money out of their subscribers! I told them I had done that but the paper was still being delivered! Another week goes by and the paper is still being delivered! I spoke to the Better Business Bureau and got another customer service number for the Bee! At last the paper has stopped being delivered! A very sorry state of affairs for The Modesto Bee! read more

My mom bought a subscription from one of those kids trying to sell for their end of year school trip. It was the WORST MISTAKE, she probably got her paper 3 times that year, when the subscription was up, she obviously decided not to renew, well the Modesto Bee didn't agree and they then started harassing her and telling her she was going to be sent to collections. At one point she got annoyed and told the woman on the phone "stop billing me!", this woman had the gall to answer "well if you paid your bill we would!". Finally she got it taken care of. Last week she got a call from the Modesto Bee asking her to come back, she said no, told the guy they had been nothing but trouble and not to call her again, he told her to hold on, he wanted her to talk to his manager, she then hung up and that was the end of it, or so she thought. This week she received a bill saying her subscription had been renewed and that she would be receiving the paper Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Since these morons don't listen, it looks like it's time to look into legal action. read more

We have been subscribers to the Modesto Bee for over 40 years. The content of the paper has gone down over the years, yet the price has went up. We decided to not renew our subscription, yet they kept delivering the paper. The bill asked us not to put any correspondence in the envelope, so we figured they would stop the subscription when we didn't pay. Someone called us once, but when we said that we didn't' want to renew, they couldn't find our information. We were comtacted again, and they said we had to pay for the month that they kept delivering. What business continues to give service without payment? They told us to contact customer service, but they are only open from 8 to 12. Really?? We called back the net day, and had to wait a half hour to tell them we were done. They then demanded $45 dollars for the past month. We decided to pay through the end of June just to end it all. And guess what? On the 30th, they didn't even deliver the paper. They have the WORST customer service we have ever seen. We will subscribe to another local paper who cares about their customers. read more

This is my follow up to my previous review where I was charged after my subscription ended. I called the following day and explained the situation and, after a heated explanation on my part, they agreed to not charge me. Although they did not charge me I have left only one star again due to the underhanded methods and presentation of their "collection" agency. They explained it was not an actual collection agency but merely part of the Bee itself. I told them that was bogus as the bill was not sent on their letterhead but rather listed that it was from a company called A.R.M. and further presented the Modesto Bee as its client, not it's employer. It was meant to intimidate not facilitate. I understand in this, or any, economy companies must collect on their bills, but such tactics are wrong. I would write a letter to my local paper and complain of such shoddy practices, but as the Bee is my local paper it would likely never see print. Read the Bee if you must but subscribe at your own risk. read more