The Athletic HQ Reviews 264

Overall it’s okay, I like the concept of the service. The articles are usually too long and a bit boring though. Also no F1 coverage here.

Support manager helped me to get a refund since I had forgotten about the app a long time ago - this is a good practice.

Terrible. Site wont log you in and their app is a joke.

Site is crawling with neobig posters who try to banhammer anyone who calls them out.

Writers are terrible and push politics over reporting.

After being pummelled by some of the trolls they allow to roam free on their boards, I cancelled my sub. Well low and behold they started communicating with me begging me to come back. Absolutely not......

NYT bought them so that should tell you everything.

Clowns attract clowns, and this is a 3 ring circus.

Please, please, please pay attention to these reviews before parting with your cash. There’s a reason that all of the online reviews of this organisation are terrible, several reasons actually.

The main one is that customer support is non existent. If you have an issue, tough. This includes if you can’t use the app and have paid your money, tough. They’re keeping it and there’s nothing you can do about it.

They also arbitrarily stop people from commenting on posts if another subscriber ‘flags’ a comment. You will find whole comments sections filled with the most vile, despicable, racism you could imagine, and The Athletic leaves all of these in place. If you’re summarily gagged by them, as stated above, there’s no way of talking to anyone, so you’re stuck with it. They simply do not care once they have your money.

The app itself is almost unusable. For an organisation that has over one million subscribers, that is absolutely shameful. The app crashes constantly, is hard to navigate, looks cheap and the podcasts don’t work 90% of the time.

If you follow a big team, the coverage of your club is alright. But anyone else, forget about it.

Just avoid this awful outfit. Look at the reviews here and elsewhere. Despite their undoubted attempts to doctor them, they’re still appalling which should tell you all you need to know. Save your money and just Google things…

Don’t go near this subscription service . It’s a scam . You cannot close you account and they keep repeatedly charging you ..AVOID AVOID AVOID .

The score would be a minus if this was allowed !! Very poor customer service... took a free trial for 2 days yet they still took 2 payments of £59.99 off the bank card given to allow the free trial and they cant refund us them both!! They are acknowledging they shouldn't have taken the money but cant do a full refund!! So please do not take out any subscription with these crooks!
STAY AWAY FROM THESE SCAMMERS.... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!

The articles are terrible, and some have been proven to be lies that ruined ruined careers of athletes. Their response is shadow fire writers who cause issues. You will find NO breaking news or insight here.

Continually devolving into embarrassment. They got rid of all the good beat writers to cut costs so the New York Times would finally buy them. One NFL writer called child abuse "spunky." And the support team they have with Zendesk is an absolute joke. No answers. No replies. Just runaround. There's so much free sports content, don't waste your money.

Reading the articles in the Athletic is like being given a lecture by the most boring school teacher we can remember. The articles never stop each piece reminds me of an insomniacs sleeping pill, yes it is guaranteed to send you to sleep whilst reading it. The Athletic is a saddos buzz

I would rate a zero I could! I signed up for a trial period. Never subscribed, I have no account with my information. I was charged $71.99 and I don't have a subscription. I think they're running a scam by telling me to to go my account which doesn't exist and cancel my subscription that I don't have! Then tells me to read the refund policy. Like come on I'm not dumb. They're probably doing this alot and that's why there's no refunds. Last I checked you give a service and get paid. Not get paid and give me nothing in return. Sorry you picked the right one. I've filed a complaint with the platform the set up the trial with and they're investigating this. Next is the BBB and Consumer Protection. This is fraudulent and it will stop. I also emailed Google pay to let them know what these scammers are doing!

Despite cancelling my subscription they have continued billing me for three months. There is no way of contacting them besides an online form where you simply get an automated response. They are stealing from me and I want my money back

My ability to post comments was taken away due to someone else flagging me for perceived abuse. I have always used logical commentary with ZERO profanity. I asked customer service to provide me the comment I posted for the reason for the ban. ZERO RESPONSE. In effect, I was canceled by a liberal media outlet without a fair review. It’s a shame really, but I’ll never have anything to do with the Athletic moving forward.

Raising prices with zero notice/intimation and no possibility of a refund.
There's also no hope to hear from a person here. Their customer service is automated

Brilliant. Definitely worth the subscription the writing is second to none, no adds, all sports covered in unbelievable detail.

Bunch of fraudsters. They've taken £59.99 again even though I cancelled last year.

Terrible service, unbelievably terrible automated support, and is a borderline scam.

Stay away from this site

It's actually a decent site with some good writers. However, their customer service and business practices are beyond awful. They claim that "we're sorry to hear you weren't aware of the upcoming charge. You can find all of your subscription info at....." yet you cannot actually see anything there other than your previous payments, so when they hike the subscription charge up without warning, you have no way of knowing until you see your bank statement.

If you've used a debit card, you should try the chargeback service to see if you can get your money back because "there are no refunds for cancellation".

The irony is that I quite like the site and some of the articles, but because of their attitude, I will never use it again.

I like the product and I have had the Subs since the outset and did pay 59.99 a year
But please check your bank statements with them.

I noticed they changed my direct debit recently from 59.99 a year which had just been taken to 59.99 per quarter as they added pending payments for 59.99 been set up for Feb, May and August! So they would have taken out c240.00 in 2022. I looked on their website and the price was nowhere near that

So, I queried it sent them a screenshot from my bank - they have no customer support number or online chat . I was not asking for a cancellation just an apology as it looked like a mistake .

They immediately cancelled my subscription. Dead. No explanation.

Appalling full subscription charge of £60 for the full year 5 days after free trial runs out, looking at other reviews it feels like they are desperate for the money and just scamming people out of it. No refunds, i expect I will have to read in depth articles on championship football players at £5 an article from now on.

Another one hit by the "subscription renewal without notification" issue, and the auto response to queries gives the impression this is a tactic rather than an oversight. They do produce a few good articles, but not enough to justify the annual subscription if you're not a fan of one of the bigger teams.

Get you to sign up for a lower priced deal and then charge you annually at a higher rate with a no refunds policy. Cancelled my sub three days before the renewal date, but was still charged £60 like I hadn't changed a thing. Support is also so so poor, basic responses via Zendesk which are pre made. Also, the content itself is so hit and miss. A lot of "sources of the athletic" backing up footballing stories. I'd stay away from them...