A new lawsuit accuses The Columbus Dispatch and its parent company of using deceptive practices by billing customers for content they did not request and then changing their subscriptions.
from Dispatch subscribers John Ewalt and Steve Wylie says the paper鈥檚 owner, GateHouse Media, puts unsolicited 鈥減remium鈥� content inside subscribers' papers. The suit says the paper then decreases the length of those subscriptions based on the determined value of those premium editions.
鈥淚n most instances," the suit reads, "these so-called premium editions have no connection to the subscriptions to The Dispatch鈥攖he item for which those customers agreed to pay鈥攁nd are all but worthless.鈥�
Examples listed in the lawsuit include a cook book, calendar, health guide and a dog magazine.
GateHouse鈥檚 policy on 鈥減remium content鈥� is listed on the Dispatch website and in print editions, but the lawsuit claims 鈥渢o reduce the likelihood that its customers would notice charges for premium editions, GateHouse does not separately bill customers for those premium editions. Rather鈥� Gatehouse reduces the length of its customers鈥� subscriptions based on the arbitrary value that GateHouse assigns to these premium editions.鈥�
Bradley Harmon, The Dispatch鈥檚 president and publisher, and Joseph Rolfe, the paper鈥檚 director of sales operations, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An email to GateHouse Media also was not immediately returned.
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages and asks the court to make it a class action suit.
