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Customers Complain It's Hard To "Opt Out" Of Post-Gazette Magazine

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Chances are good that this "PGH Insiders Guide" magazine was slipped into your Sunday Post-Gazette, and it will cost you extra -- just under $2 each for six magazines expected this year.

The Post-Gazette says you can opt out, but some customers say that turns out to be harder than many expected.

"It's been about an hour of my time trying to opt out of something that I didn't order, that I was going to be charged for, and I was just ready to cancel my Post-Gazette subscription altogether," Ed Uniatowski of Monroeville told KDKA money editor Jon Delano on Monday.

Uniatowski said he tried the phone number the PG said to call and, "Nobody answered the phone. There was no human contact."

Rosetta Dufalla of Moon was also never able to connect.

"As soon as I called, the voice mail said the mailbox is full and they were unable to take any messages," said Dufalla.

She got the magazine on Sunday.

"I really don't think that is fair for any consumer," she said.

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The Post-Gazette defends the practice saying other newspapers like the Chicago Tribune do the same; again, unless customers opt out.

So how easy is it to opt out of this magazine at the Post-Gazette?

KDKA went to the Post-Gazette homepage, clicked on the icon that says "Premium Magazine Information," and found a telephone number to call.

But once the number is dialed, it just rings and rings with no answer at all.

There is another way to opt out -- online -- and you can send an email directly to the PG.

And the Post-Gazette says if you got the "PGH Insiders Guide" magazine on Sunday and don't want it, just contact them for a full refund.

To "opt out" or cancel delivery of the Post-Gazette's premium magazines, for which customers will be charged an additional $1.99 for each, do one of the following:

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