I worked briefly at the Virginian-Pilot in the classified department. It was a basic typesetting job. I enjoyed typesetting classified ads, there was plenty to d,o and I stayed busy all day long. "The Pilot" as it is known, was founded in 1965 and is the largest daily newspaper in Virginia. The Pilot reports on various regional areas including Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Newport News, and Chesapeake. Thanks for hiring me, Virginian-Pilot! read more

I just moved from Portsmouth Va. To Norfolk, a distance of 6 miles. Portsmouth delivery service was excellent, Norfolk's is awful. Not only does my paper go to the wrong address every day but my six (6) phone messages NEVER go through. I have been a subscriber for sixty years, and I am almost 80 years old, and have to walk with a cane. My paper was always on my front porch in Portsmouth, and on Saturday it included the "What's On" T.V. guide. Do you even have a district manger? If so, is he asleep at the switch? read more

Maybe they could actually cancel a subscription when you ask the to, and not send you to collections for a $15 past due amount, from when it was cancelled. Poor customer service. Minimally acceptable journalism. Left of center slant to article. But I guess they are right of center when it comes to collecting money. read more

I have lived in Virginia Beach for 50 years, and have gotten the Virginia Pilot for for most of them. My parents, had the Virginia Pilot/Ledger Star. Over the years the paper has become thine and more expensive. Over the last few years we only got it on Wednesday and Sunday. Half the time we had to call the paper to have it "delivered " but if it was after 10:00 you couldn't get it until the next day. Now that we decided to stop, we asked for our remaining balance that we prepaid to be returned to us, they responded and said they sent a check to some anonymous post office box in Illinois. Two months later, still waiting on the refund. DO NOT SUBSCRIBE!!! read more

The have been charging me four times subscription rate for some time. Say they notified me but can find no notification of that. Had on automatic pay deduction and they took complete advantage . Cant talk to anyone from the Pilot because the out source to a third party. The may last a while longer , but it's going to catch up with them. impossible to get home delivery. Sad commentary for what it was at one time. read more

I had to call four times to cancel my subscription before they finally canceled it. They kept delivering the paper so they could keep billing me. read more

THEY ARE A SCAM!!!!! RUN AWAY DO NOT SUBSCRIBE AND IF YOU SEE CHARGES, CANCEL NOW. I haven't even subscribed to this and it keeps charging me amounts that make absolutely no sense and doesn't align with anything on their scamming, rinky dink website that my phone scans as fraudulent. They first charged $1 I suppose so the scammers can see if my card worked and then charges me $19.96 and none of their supposed tiers are that amount. I also live in Southwest Virginia and have NEVER received anything from this so called company. I try to call every single number available but it hangs up every time. I'm not sure of how to get my money back I needed desperately and was taken fraudulently. These people are pos, lying scammers. read more

Virginian-Pilot absolutely sucks. Their newspaper sucks, their online experience only works if you're a subscriber, customer service sucks. You get the idea. read more

SCAM. Zero stars Signed up at a Hampton gun show for a trial. Never received paper at all. Have called multiple times and emailed. None of my information was on the account except my card and my address. Still getting charged and have not received anything still Asked back in June to cancel and 4 months later getting charged again. read more

If I could give 0 stars I would. Imhad taken the paper for years in my lifetime and a few years ago I stopped. Recently I started it up again just for Wednesday's and Sunday's. I have had to call every week because I don't get the paper. when you call customer service, it is outsourced like everything these days. First you have to listen to a recording and it takes forever to get a live representative. when you do, it is hard to understand what the person is saying and you ask for a district Mgr. to call about the problem and the. you're told they don't have anyway for a manager to call. I once again didn't get my Wednesday paper and was told it would be deliver today! However, no paper has been delivered.. This is a rinky dink operation and good customer service is not provided. I'll give it one more week and if I don't get my paper as scheduled I will cancel the subscription. This newspaper has been around for years and it is going to fail because of poor customer service. My sons tell me I made a mistake in ordering the paper again when I could just get my news on line but I thought it would be nice to have the paper once again. my father and mother in the 50's and up to the early 90's took the paper. When they had the morning edition and the evening addition The Ledger Star they took both of them. it I'm a senior and it is very sad to get such horrible customer service, I would not recommend for anyone to sign up and pay for this newspaper. read more

They keep charging my card EVERY THREE DAYS. I call to cancel and keep being told I don't have an account. I've filed a BBB complaint and will be contacting my bank. A bunch of thieves. When I called the Norfolk line surprise surprise, clearly no one who actually works/lives in VA. I will be seeking recourse. PLEASE BE AWARE OF THIS AWFUL SCAMMING COMPANY. THE BELOW REVIEWS SUPPORT MY CLAIMS AS WELL. DISGUSTING. SAVE YOUR MONEY. I am not stopping until has been taken care of. Freaking thieves, it boils my blood. read more

With today's technology we have to continue to pay for news? Virginian Pilot will purposely provide information other avenues such as Wavy or WVEC don't provide so you will require pay their services. Not to mention, my grandfather is in assisted living and loves to read his news paper and they charge him $100 a month $1200 a year to receive it as a paper copy daily. If you sign up as a promotion you can get for 13 weeks at $51.87 for a seven day delivery. Whatever happened to loyalty?! I know the copy of the paper is expensive to print and going out with the times but $1200 a year for someone that has been subscribed for 10+ years? Very inappropriate words come to mind! read more

The Virginian-Pilot - Print Media Near Me - Norfolk, Virginia

Absolutely the WORST customer service! Constant delivery problems. They tell you it will be fixed, but it won't be. Then when I cancelled my subscription, the continued to charge my credit card (which required bank intervention). Then, today, I received a bill from these people stating I am past due over $40. I think it is past time that this company's business practices were thoroughly investigated by the State's Attorney General. read more

I have written before and I am here again to complain about the delivery service of the newspaper on Wednesday It is so frustrating because they assured me they will send it right out and I get it on Thursday. read more

I would give this paper zero stars if possible. After over 30 years as a faithful subscriber I simply couldn't afford it any longer. After stopping my subscription I got a card in the mail that said get 13 weeks for $1.99 and then 25.87 after that period of time for just the full digital and the Wednesday and Sunday physical paper. I figured that was in my range so I subscribed. Next day the charged my credit card twice in one day for $25.87! No deal, no promised discount as stated in their advertisement on the card I got? Two days later they changed me a third time? When I called support the agent was in the Phillipines and could barely speak English. I had to repeat myself multiple times and still no resolution. I also emailed them an attachment of my credit card bill and they totally disagreed with it? What???? To top it off, the local news is never news and is usually found days earlier in other sources. You have sold your soul to the corporate monster!! Shame on you!!! read more

I started "supposedly" to get my news paper back in August. I have NOT received far more than I have received. Always being to I would get it tge next day however I guess Va-Pilot does not know what the next day meant. I also would NEVER had subscribed if I knew ahead of time that they no longer handled their own business because every time I called about not getting a paper it went to the Philippines* read more

I just cancelled my and my mother's subscriptions to the pilot. We have subscribed for over 20 year to the print paper, however, a recent audit of my credit card (with which I have been paying for both accounts) showed that they have been overcharging me. The original $24.70 for 12 weeks each, that we agreed to, was shortened to 8 weeks without my permission for "premium editions" - whatever that is - we get less and less content in the paper each month. Then my mother's got increased to $34.20 without the Pilot informing us. I attempted to manage my subscription online, but was unable to to do that as "manage subscription" on the Pilot's website does not allow you to see current charges, see billing history, or make any changes to subscriptions. I spoke with a customer service rep, who, although he was professional, was unable to explain or assist. I am disgusted with the Pilots deceitful billing practices. I know print papers are struggling to survive, be aware, that the way to keep people subscribing is not to rip off loyal customers. read more

Seven weeks after ending my subscription I recieved a nastygram from a collection outfit say i owed the pilot more money! Mind you my subscription was tied to a credit card on a auto renewal. And when i ended my subscription i was assured i owed nothing more and my delivery would just die off I called the billing office who couldn't get off the you owe us money with no explanation. Just as well...i have never read a more biased newspaper with most of the opinions coming from the far, far left read more

I have subscribed to the Pilot over 40 years. Several years ago, the delivery service became unreliable so I switched to digital. When they increased the cost significantly several months ago, I called to cancel. The customer rep offered to give me a subscription at 1/2 the price of the current price and I agreed. What he did not tell me is that he simply added a new account and did not cancel the old one. After three miserable phone calls with argumentative customer reps, we finally discovered the duplicate account and were able to cancel the original but they will not refund the extra billing. This goes beyond ineptitude! read more

Absolutely ridiculous. I had already canceled my digital subscription over the phone 2 months ago, and now I have a new charge over email for $44. They didn't cancel my subscription as I instructed previously, and also charged me an insane new price for a single month of the digital version. The customer service on the phone was so odd. I unfortunately couldn't understand most of what she was saying in a thick accent, and therefore didn't feel comfortable paying the invoice over the phone. This subscription feels like a trap that I am now trying to free myself from. I was just trying to be a good local citizen and keep up with what is happening in my city. read more

This is got to be the worse service possible, we pay for seven days a week and are lucky if we get three papers in one week, I don't know how they are still in busines, we call in and they it's on the way and never get. unbelievable BAD service. read more

I rarely write reviews and am usually careful about negative ones. I used to deliver papers for the Va Pilot and the Ledger Star throughout my teenage years. I dutifully kept subscribing to the Va Pilot and was loyal for many years. When I began having delivery issues, I attempted to speak with them. There was little to no interest in correcting the issues. Now they've been sold and have been re-sold. The local family is no longer a part of it. I even tried one last time on the e-version. No evidence of any customer service remains and all good aspects of the Pilot are gone. I will never again subscribe to anything they have to offer. read more

Canceled and prepaid to April. But charges keep coming! Customer service can't explain. Now a collection gerbil is harassing me for payment for a subscription that has ended. When I call, customer service, I get a new amount due. They have not sent me anything describing what I am paying for now that I don't have a subscription. Logging into the self service portal is futile, you can't do or determine anything. read more

Be careful with this company. They are dishonest. I signed up by phone for a six-month digital subscription. They refused to honor this subscription and charged me every month. Given that this was done by phone, there is no way contest this dishonest tactic. read more

Paper might come or might not come. It sucks. Now there is hardly any coupons. Paper sales are not included anymore. Sunday paper are so thin now. read more

I'm a prepaid customer and have been experiencing delivery problems for several months now. I've called the delivery service & sent emails to the Virginian-Pilot about my NO DELIVERY problems over the past few months to No avail! It appears NO ONE at this business CARES about you receiving a printed paper. Is this not a NEWSPAPER COMPANY or do they just want your money & expect their customers to read this printed material from a smartphone. For me no way I can't read that small print! Also I don't get the local sale inserts from digital paper. Please get on the ball & deliver my already paid for newspaper. Sincerely, A very dissatisfied customer read more

I have been a subscriber to the Virginia Pilot newspaper for more than 20 years. In that time. I have seen the quality of the newspaper as well as the quality of customer service steadily decline. The newspaper was once filled with an "A" section which contained top stories as well as national and global news. The "B" section was dedicated to local news. These were accompanied by the Daily Break (as a SEPARATE section) and Sports. On weekends, each Hampton Roads city had a dedicated leisure section (Norfolk Compass, Virginia Beach Beacon, Chesapeake Clipper, etc.) as well as Parade and other inserts. Today's paper is a puny mix of yesterday's news and a TON of ads. All sections are now combined and contain primarily recycled stories from national publications. The local news is merely okay, not outstanding, as it was in years past. Then there's the customer service. OH! The customer service! When I first subscribed, an actual human being knocked on my door to collect subscription fees (and a hefty tip for excellent service). My paper was on my doorstep by 5:30 each morning. I never had to hunt in the bushes or walk out into the rain to find my paper in the middle of my yard. Over the years, I had delivery persons who likely tossed my paper in the general direction of my property from their vehicle, judging by location each morning. Some days, my paper looked as if it had been hosed down before being placed in its plastic sleeve. When I called customer service about it, I was told that I had to give "special directions" if I wanted my paper actually placed on my porch, or if it should be double-bagged on rainy days. Really?? In recent years, my paper is delivered to my doorstep, but it is never, ever on time. The Virginian Pilot advertises a "guaranteed" delivery time of 6:00 am on weekdays and 7:30 on weekends. My paper is traditionally more than an hour late, often 2-3 hours late. When I complain to "customer service" they simply record my complaint, tell me I can always cancel and hang up. No offer of how to make it right. Nothing. I complained to my actual carrier and was told, "Well, I can't be there at that time. You can cancel." Wow! Just WOW! At nearly $80.00 each month, I expect far more than I am getting in both content and service. The Virginian Pilot/Daily Press (publication) is the only source of local print news available to me, and apparently, they know it because their attitude is they couldn't care less if I am a customer or not. I am sure I am just yelling into the void, and I am so sad to say, Virginian Pilot, you have lost a very loyal customer. read more

I have been subscribing to the Virginian-Pilot for many many years and have made very few complaints. The delivery was exceptional for the majority of those years, the paper was always on my front porch. I have given the delivery person a generous gift at Christmas. I am 87 years old and have difficulty walking. I have called three times and asked to have the new person put the paper on the front porch, was told it would be taken care but nothing change. The delivery person drives by and throws the paper, not stopping nor caring where it lands. This is the reason I have canceled my subscription. Also there is less and less news and the cost keeps increasing. If it were not for the obituaries and advertisements the paper would be two pages. read more

Personally, I don't have any use for a so called "local home town paper" operated by some MediaNews Group in Denver Colorado. Buyer beware: you cannot cancel your subscription. After laboring for hours, trying to cancel my subscription, I discover a few months later that my credit card is still being billed! read more

The Virginian Pilot has by far the worst customer service of any business I have delt with. Some time ago I received a bill that was to have covered me through August 6, 2023. I paid the bill well in advance of the due date. I started receiving phone calls from the billing department saying I owed money even when I said I had paid the bill already. One call they asked me for an exact date of me sending in my payment and I said hold on and I retrieved my file and started talking and realized the person had hung up. A week or so later I got another call, and I mentioned my previous call and he apologized for the hangup and when I explained things to him, he said wait until you get another bill and the call ended. A week or so later another call and same conservation but this time they said I owed something like $21.00 and I said OK this is wrong as I was paid up but to clear the account, I said I would pay the amount and did so that day and asked to cancel the paper which I have been receiving for many years. They offered a deal, and I said you are kidding right? The call ended with payment and a cancel request. The paper didn't stop so I called the paper and low and behold I got the same person from the first call and hangup as I had her name. I asked for some help reminding her we had spoken, and she said your subscription went up maybe and that I owed another $15.00 even after paying a few weeks ago as she could see that payment. I asked for a bill and to make sure the subscription was cancelled. She said that would happen and the call ended. Well, August 6, 2023, has come and gone and I still get the paper, August 7, 2023, I had a call to my home from the Pilot from less than friendly customer service person telling my daughter I was behind on my account and that I needed to make a payment. My daughter explained what had been going on and all the calls asked about billing and the person said I have nothing to do with billing and my daughter asked, "well why are you telling me what is owed for a subscription?" and person hung up. I sent a letter to customer service for clarification on how my subscription is good through August 6, 2023, and I am behind according to multiple phone calls. And if a subscription has a cost increase shouldn't that start with the next billing cycle? Very sad to say the least what happened to the Virginian Pilot? read more

Horrible newspaper. Only read it as a last resort in a doc's office, and they aren't getting it now. Tuesday after Devon Archer's testimony. Nothing. Pilot runs with NY Times, WaPo, AP, and yet not one story? Typical of the Pilot that they always miss the news of the day. Always. Watch that self-licking ice cream cone work come awards time though. read more

I subscribed in January, and here it is April, and I have received zero newspapers. I report it every time, on the website or on the phone. My next door neighbor gets the paper, why can't they throw one more paper out the window two seconds later?! I used to get the pilot years ago and it was nice. Just wish they would actually bring the papers I paid for now. read more

Was getting paper for my elderly father who has dementia and alltimers. To add to it he has to use a walker because of severe arthritis. Origionaly the paper service was above and beyond paper on porch every day. About seven or so started getting paper at bottom of porch stairs then started getting it outside of gate, and the last 3 to 5 weeks has been way over in gravel driveway. I have literally called between 6 and 8 times and submitted by email once and was told it would be corrected. No body cares about the elderly paper was still in driveway had enough canceled subscription. read more

After puttng up with non delivery of the daily paper for several months I canceled my subscription. In order to be able to still see the obits I tried to suscribe to the on line edition, the money was withdrawn from my account, but I still could not read the paper. And calling "customer service" I reached a lady in a different country. I give up!! read more

The Virginia pilot from Norfolk does not even take calls The call get sent out of the United States to another country. I want to speak to some one that speaks English well. I do not like my money going over seas Customer service is terrible Delivery service is terrible They charged my CC card 2 months in a row for different amounts I am over this news paper read more

I have had an ongoing problem with numerous missed newspapers. I have requested THREE times to be contacted by a District Manager to discuss. Each time I was promised and each time I was ignored. When todays paper did not arrive. That was the last straw. I contacted customer service again, demanded to speak to a supervisor . Was refused until I continued to demand. Finally, a level 2 "Customer Advocate came on, verified all of my ignored requests and promised me a call today. You guessed it. Ignored again. I sent an email to Mark Quan, Circulation director and Shaun Fogerty, executive Director of Sales and also copied customer service. Still nothing. I now plan to take my concerns to social media, and also to my neighbor, who happens to work for the Pilot. We are an older couple, who enjoys a physical paper with our morning coffee. If there was some sort of alternative option that we could subscribe to, we would. Does anyone have any possible recourse for us? Customer service is non existent. They simply do not care Like Comment Share read more

I have subscribed to the Va.pilot at different times and the service is worse than shifty. Never get the paper. Call to complain and get a third party who can't do anything. Now I know why the Pilot subs out because they can't keep up with the complaints. Their is no complaint number. What a crappie way to run a newspaper. Hope the Va.pilot goes out of business soon and gets replaced by a real paper who cares about customers. read more

How many times must I tell you I do not want your newspaper? My husband died, he read it, I did not & do not, bc I don't have time. I called end of September 2023 shortly after he died & wasted 45 minutes of my time attempting to explain to someone who barely spoke English to please stop sending it. He must have taken in part of what I said bc (a few weeks later) it started arriving 2 x a week instead of every day. That was about 4 months ago, now you call me demanding more money, saying it is overdue, for a subscription I tried my best to cancel in September 2023. The Virginian Pilot is not the only problem I must deal with, many other problems I must attempt to fix, with the death of my husband (and my son). He, the Virginian Pilot employee who called me today, January 22, 2023, told me I must now start over. Had it been up to me - we would have canceled the Virginian Pilot the same day you canceled Mal Vincent, who was your renowned movie critic. I absolutely refuse to pay for a newspaper I spent much time trying to cancel back in September 2023. You have lousy customer service, perhaps you should hire people who actually listen on the phone, neither one was listening to me. From a DISGUSTED subscriber who tried to unsubscribe four months ago. read more

I received an email saying that my rate for the digital pilot was going to go up from 20 to 34 per 4 weeks. The email says that I would now have a "premium" account....wow thanks. I tried to find out online what other options I had besides this no-ad premium account. There was nothing....they make you call their pathetic customer service department. The guy "Seth" would not answer my questions directly. When I told him I wanted to downgrade to the ad version at 16 per month, he tells me that they are going to charge 34 because it was a pending charge in their system. However the charge is not due to take place until 1/30/24. I asked why he could not change that pending charge to the 16 that will be the amount going forward. He gave some unintelligible answer. I finally got so fed up that I said I wanted to cancel. He put on his slick salesman persona. I finally had to tell him to stop talking and cancel my service. I had the Pilot. read more

I dropped my subscription to the Virginian Pilot after 12 years, and loyalty as a former employee. Here is what happened: on a Wednesday back in April, I didn't receive my twice weekly newspaper. I called and reported, and was promised a Sunday paper, none received, and reported. I was told a Circulation Manager would call me--never happened. I was also advised I would receive a Wednesday paper, didn't happen. I was told on that Wednesday, I would definitely be getting a Sunday paper, and guess what, no paper. On Monday after no deliveries for four times I cancelled--4 missed papers, 2 promises of Circulation Manager called, and no contacts by CM. The Call Center is in the Phillipines, and apparently Tribune, Owner of the VP, doesn't seem to care to even have the Call Center in the U.S. Tribune outsourced the Production of the VP newspaper in 2020, as I was an employee of the Virginia Beach Production Building. Therefore, I am posting this so that maybe the VP Management can address these concerns. read more