Newspaper ad problem

[gwonline]

I have been running an ad in a local colorado paper for a few months. Recently (Sept. 24) I paid a bill and
asked for the ad to be removed over the phone. After trying to convince me to continue the ad the agent finally
agreed and said she would "stop the ad now". Well, This month I received a bill for september which included
three days past the date I asked for the ad to be stopped. When I called the paper today the ad is was still
running. I have officially stopped the ad now and will check the paper tomorrow to verify but now my account
has almost a month of additional run time. When I called the paper's billing dept. I was told that I have been
billed the wrong rate for the past three months. The agent/manager said she would take care of the additional
time that my ad ran but she would have to adjust my rate almost three dollars a day for the other two months I
had been running the ad. This can't be legal? What should I tell them?
Thanks so much for your help,
GW

 

[lawrat]

I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.

Very easy.

You tell them you specifically stated the ad to stop running on the date you requested and you should not be billed for any date after that. (do you remember the agent's name? and time and date you made that call?)

As to the other payments -- you already paid and that is deemed a contract. They CANNOT change the price after the fact. That is a breach of contract, against the Uniform Commercial Code and state law.

Their mistake is called a unilateral mistake. They made the mistake as to price and you had no reason to believe it was wrong in the first place. You are not legally bound to suffer or answer for their mistake....they must eat the cost.

if they do, it is called deceptive billing practice and fraud and believe me, they can have their license yanked, and criminal charges filed and be in debt to you for much more than they think.

 

[gwonline]

I had a feeling they had no leg to stand on. Thanks for your help! With the info you provided I should be able to solve this problem in just one more phone call.
GW