Newspapers Reviews 293

If they have it then you can find it. So it's worth it for a month. My concern is that they push through a 6 month or yearly charge on the bank card you give them. They've reversed the charge but you've got to catch them quickly. It's a typical fraud for companies that are not ethical.

Absolutely worthless. Looking for the obituary for my grandfather, who passed away in January 1996 in Columbus, the state capital of Ohio. When searching a combination of his name, date and location, it yielded no results. In fact, they have no newspapers from Columbus, outside of a handful of years. So random. I immediately cancelled my free trial, so hopefully I won't get charged or have any further interactions with this website.

At first, the keyword searches would deliver a few bits of useful information. Now, the first result for each search has nothing to do with the topic. This is then followed with all the relative results - all blacked out, requiring an upgrade to another level subscription to view. Clearly an unethical business practice by newspapers.com and also present at parent company ancestry.com.

Update after response: Thanks for the condescending "advice" that deflects from answering the problem. I figured out how to use the search features all by myself.

Why were all the relevant search results available during the free trial now blacked out after paying for a subscription? How is that not a bait/switch scam?

While I had the initial complaint with Newspapers.com in February in March I looked into the result of the credits issued. Any reaction only came after my complaint on Trustpilot was viewed by Ancestry/Newspapers.com. I was contacted by the Ancestry person on this site in response. Also It does seem the credits came from the customer service person at Ancestry. It is obvious there is a relationship between both parties and I found one business thru the other. While I can easily look it up what matters is the fact was that while I had a problem it was resolved. Trustpilot served as the intermediary in this dispute. Positive results with all parties happy.

Rubbish I can’t find anything on there and they charged my card a small fortune

Of the three newspaper archive services, this one is the best. Much more content and easier search functions. I do wish the search could be limited to exact words. For example there’s no way to differentiate between THE SUPREMES and THE SUPREME COURT. The ability to clip has gone away. Customer service poor to nonexistent.

I upgraded my Ancestry account to All Access 2/28/23. I was able to search and find articles, but whenever I try yo Clip, Save to Ancestry, or Print, a banner comes up that says I do not have access at this time. After multiple calls to Ancestry and them seeing the same banner on my account, they said Newspapers.com needs to help me. Calls to them brings a automated response asking to leave your phone number. I have never received a call back after multiple try’s. I have emailed many times, getting an automated response saying I will be contacted in 1-2 days. A week later I might get a cryptic email with directions to clear my cache, or try another browser, or register my email. When I do those things with no changes and email them back, there is no response. And I try again. 3 emails from them in a month with no changes.

Just this week I made a mistake with this website believing it would charge in AUD as opposed to USD. I used the one week free trial and then realised that before I was able to cancel my subscription I was charged for a full year ($122 AUD). On Sunday I sent an email explaining my situation and the transaction statement and by Tuesday I was refunded in full in AUD. Wonderful prompt service.

Sorry to say that I have not had any problems in the past with your service BUT I made an upgrade and was charged for that upgrade with the promise of a pro-rated refund from my original purchase. I have contacted your business online, by phone and even written to ancestry with no action except for an automated response that indicated that I would be acknowledged in one to two business days. When this issue is resolved, I will update this site.

Update: I see that my charge card was credited with $59.90. I paid $74.90 for basic service on Dec. 18, 2022. I upgraded on Feb. 13, 2023 for $59.90. Today, February 28, 2023, I now am a registered guest with no service!!!!

Update: Problem resolved.

I have called several times, contacted support to cancel my account, but have had NO response from either. I tried the help section too. It says to click the cancel link, but I can't find it on the site. Very disappointed and frustrating to say the least.

I search often for obits and other news for genealogy purposes. So long as I subscribe, I can read the longer clips but I cannot share them in an Ancestry tree in a form that is readable and legible to non subscribers. I printed and transcribed an important long article about a famous distant relative that answered lots of questions I had about her family. It was too long to clip and read so I transcribed it, exported it as a pdf and attempted to load it to one of my galleries. But that pdf was rejected. My subscription to newspapers.com is essential for my many genealogical projects for relatives and friends but I would like to be able to share my results. I also understand the complexity of copyrights and newspaper demands for royalties. None of this comes free.

Stay away from this vendor. I've cancelled my account several months back and was told they would not charge me again... guess what? I'm still getting charged every month. I've called, I've complained online, I have no recourse but to cancel my card I guess.

I have notices of cancelations Because this is not a good service It says I would receive my money back but I have yet to receive it

Tried multiple times to cancel the 1 week trial after my credit card was charged - prior to seeing a notice that I was ineligible for the trial! Have submitted multiple online requests for help and calls have gone unanswered. This really smells.
UPDATE
A representative reached out and resolved my problem but only after I posted here. They would be advised to either change the stated rate of time to reply to a query to manage expectations or simply reply to queries more promptly.

Do not sign up for the trial. It’s a scam and they will attempt to charge you $74.90

I was thinking of signing up until I came across so many comments on being scammed through credit card purchases to not finding what you are looking for unless you get an upgrade for additional funds which still don't work.

I'm really disappointed with my experience with Newspapers.com and its customer service. I called them a few days ago to explain that I had canceled my free trial of their service yet I was still charged $74.90, and upon logging into my account it now says I am a member... I am still waiting for a response. I wanted to try out their service for a research project I am doing for my professor but I was dissatisfied with their platform as none of the articles would fully load and were full of glitches, and I did not find what I was looking for. Thus I canceled the trial the day it began. I am a college kid and can not afford such a charge, nor did I need the stress from their lack of response to me. Please, I would just like my money back and a response, that's all.

I'm an All Access member of Ancestry.  I've been an Ancestry member for years.  I have an All Access membership that will renew on 29 December 2022.  I understand from Ancestry that new and renewed All Access memberships will include Newspapers.com Publisher Extra.  I explained to Newspaper.com's customer service person that I had Ancestry's All Access membership and that it would renew at the end of December, but they insisted I had to pay for Publisher Extra.  They could have been honest and simply tell me that I would get Publisher Extra in a few weeks when my Ancestry membership renewed.  Unfortunately, honesty is rare. So I paid the $29.95 for a Publisher Extra subscription.  After finally getting clarification from Ancestry about their change in offerings, I cancelled the Publisher Extra subscription today.  For the next couple weeks, I'll have to struggle along with basic Newspapers.com, which from the other comments here, won't be of much use anyway. These little games are beyond annoying. These multiple levels of membership, combined with cross-memberships between organizations, are creating opportunities for scams.

I cancelled my subscription to this when I cancelled my subscription to Ancestry.com (or so I thought) however, today I see my credit card billed for $74.90! when the last charge was $29! so I am very angry about this.

I've just upgraded my Ancestry subscription so I could 'view' the Newspaper.com hints - only to find out you can't actually see anything extra unless you want to pay out even more for the Newspaper upgrade - so I've paid out for exactly 'NOTHING' - how is that right?