The Athletic HQ Reviews 264

I would give a zero star rating if possible. Same problem as every one else. I had cancelled my subscription and they still auto renewed. Am I going to be stuck with this problem for the rest of my life? Better not. Do we all start a collective law suit?

I too was ripped off for a recurring subscription I did not authorize

The Athletic auto renewed my subscription, which I originally paid $9.99 CAD for, at $71.99. Absolute shysters! They say they don't issue refunds, but I haven't even accessed the services for which they just overcharged me. Avoid them at all costs - they are NOT a respectable business!

Shocking to find how many other people have been scammed by the NY times. long time subscriber of The Athletic, they have just charged me £59.99 for the year without authorising auto renewal.

They sent a template email back saying no refunds, with the Zendesk URL updated 6 months ago. I have now cancelled and will be reporting the payment to my CC company.

Can believe how much the athletic has gone downhill since the NY times acquisition.
Another example of short term gains over long term retention.
Will not be taking another subscription out.

They charged me 72 EUR without a Notify, even though it's 5 times more than I've always paid....

Also charged me $71 for my renewal and told me no refunds. This company is a joke. I was paying 7.99 for the year.

Do not subscribe to this company!!!!!!

Do NOT subscribe - the customer service is useless, and even complaining to the parent company (NYT) does NOTHING.

I actually cancelled my subscription in accordance with their terms and conditions.

Yet they STILL charged me their full-rate $71.99 subscription fee.

When I asked them to look into it - they ADMITTED THEY made a mistake and would give me a refund.

THEY ONLY REFUNDED $9.99.

So the Athletic/New York Times actually stole $62 from me for NO REASON

Randomly went from 5.99 to 71.99 with no notice and no number to call for refund. These are greedy tactics and you lost a customer.

Wish I'd come here before being duped into a cheap subscription which then autorenewed at 500% original price, with no warning. Custmer "service" then simply state it's their policy not to refund. Update. After complaining here and through PayPal they ended up giving a full refund, so changed from 1 star to 2

Terrible user experience. The interface is so congested with ads that you cant read headlines a lot of the time. Often I will open an article and get a blank page with just an ad. I’ll try different things to attempt to read the article with no luck.

Likewise, I couldnt cancel my sub through the app so it renewed without notifying me. I contacted customer service the next day asking for a refund and was denied. Now I have their crappy service/app for another full year. The Athletic has some good writers but their coverage is incomplete, they’ve over leveraged themselves on scoop merchants and let go of the actual talent.
Just a mess of an organization with no idea what they’re doing. Not surprising coming from the NY Times. Caveat emptor. Save your money.

They sucker you in with a "continue with Google or Twitter account", then when you do, they pull a fast one and STILL refuse to let you read the article unless you buy a subscription. I cannot stand that. GD scam artists.

Cancelled subscription. Still charged £60 renewal.
Have provided screenshots of cancellation and bank statement.

They don't care. Read other reviews. They will never stop charging you.

Scam tried to cancel several times. Garbage.

While attempting to subscribe to TSN, I got scammed into signing up to The Athletic which somehow appeared on my screen as I was setting up a TSN subscription. Realizing that this is what was occurring, I closed the site but not before payment information had been shared.

I tried a free month. Cancelled before the end of the month but was still charged a full year subscription. I contacted them on the day I was charged and an AI bot told me there is a no refund policy and they would be keeping my $75.00 for a year of access I do not want.
Horrible customer service. This site is a scam!

This “newspaper”,is part of the New York Times group which is surprising as that is thought of as a responsible,quality newspaper. One only has to read the reviews on Trustpilot,rated 1:3,to see The Athletic is anything but. They are particularly keen on bombarding potential customers with daily spam emails,which no matter what you do it seems there are impossible to stop.Avoid,is my advice.

This scam operation does not deserve even one star. Decided to try subscribing again after cancelling a few years ago because they promised daily emails and never once sent one. Have sent them three requests over a month letting them know I am properly subscribed but have never received an email from them. They send automated responses every time saying you must use your email address that you signed up with. Of course that is what everyone does. Checked them out for complaints online and found a myriad of articles talking about how much money they are losing and tons of complaints with the BBB and other similar organizations about how non responsive they are. Save your money. It's a shame because their journalists are top notch. Problem is no one can read them because they don't send an email with articles like every other legitimate subscription service. Total scam operation.

I was also auto-renewed at a 80$ per year rate - almost 4x the rate I was previously paying with no notice, receipt or any communication - despite them emailing me EVERY DAY for other issues.

Cancelled and was told by AI bot there's no refund or pro-ration on subscription. No means to contact a human.

Highly advise not to subscripe and if this happened to you protest through credit card and file complaint with your attorney general.

As below. Charged £60 despite not agreeing to auto renewal. No way to contact them for a refund and no prior notice of renewal.

They're zero tolerance for refunds and have intentionally terrible communication – which means you can't discuss anything. They just hope you'll forget and pay them an annual fee while they boast £1 a month to all new subscribers.

Awful customer service and they like it that way