Times Newspapers Ltd Reviews 1,034

Signed up for the free trial as I wanted to read one article. Went to cancel it on the app straightaway. Never read an article since or signed in therefore not used the service. As it said £1 for 3 months I presumed this was billed at £1 per month, so with no further payments presumed it had been cancelled successfully

Was then shocked to see £30 be taken from my account after 3 months! No warning that the trial was ending. Phoned them up same day, the customer service assistant admitted that there’d been some kind of bug on the app affecting cancellations, but that I ‘didn’t seem to be affected’. Doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence thst their own procedures were followed! Refused me a refund.

Followed this up with an email complaint to which a week later still no reply. Ended up requesting a chargeback through my bank. On a side note I can’t fault Chase bank who refunded my £30 straight away.

It’s very sneaky of The Times to not warn people that their subscription is ending and then to charge people £30 and refuse to refund. Their wording is also not clear. The girl on the phone told me I should’ve phoned to check my cancellation so they are not making it easy for people. There’s certain legislation coming in next year to protect consumers from these nefarious practices

Tip: use AI (eg chatGPT / Grok) to write your complaints and also in communication with your bank to strengthen your points

Would give zero stars if I could. I cancelled my subscription through my Apple ID in the same way I manage any subscription signed up through the App Store. As I didn’t telephone through to The Times to confirm my subscription cancellation, they took money from my bank without authorisation.

I cannot access my Times account. I get a server error message when trying to (hence the cancellation). Their customer services even confirmed to me they could see I haven’t ever accessed my account. They asked me to send a screenshot of the error message which I did. They replied and told me the error message is because I didn’t phone through to cancel and this should’ve prompted me to pick up the phone and call them, therefore it’s my fault. What?!

In this digital age, what company expects a subscriber to also phone the company to double check a subscription is cancelled? They could save a fortune in man power for a start and stop ripping us off! Nowhere does it warn you that you have to call them to cancel when you sign up. They are complete con artists, desperate to make money out of people who no longer want to be their customers. Avoid The Times and don’t be duped into a free trial period, because it’s next to impossible to cancel!

With what’s going on in the world right now the Times headline story on an iPhone is Primak introducing its own delivery online system.
Honestly how DUMPED down can a newspaper get?? You are truly a pathetic editorial nowadays.

Don’t respond when you want to cancel your subscription so take £30/m after £1/6m trial

Agreed with everyone else, very nasty tactic of tricking people into expensive subscriptions. Also, if you manage to cancel, they end the subscription straight away and don't let you finish the month you paid for!

The worst of the worst of greedy, dishonest, corporate news, masquerading as 'intellectual'. It better have a plan B because its attempt at appealing to a younger more diverse audience is clutching at straws. It's also highly racist. A paper for disgruntled 'boomers' and sycophantic Royalists.

Do not be fooled into signing up for the subscription service! I cancelled via email only to be told that I have to telephone to cancel. I cannot think of another company that allows cancellations via telephone, they usually insist that you put a cancellation in writing. Apparently though, if you live outside of the UK, you can cancel via email but if you live in Britain and try to cancel your subscription with this British company you can’t and have to suffer the inconvenience of queuing on a call. Appalling service. Feels like a scam

Have to call and wait ages to cancel. This should be made illegal.
I guess they won't be writing an article about this issue any time soon!

Took out a trial subscription in February. Yesterday Times Newspapers grabbed £30 from my account without informing me that my trial subscription was about to end. Managed to talk to two agents in customer services who couldn't help but escalated my complaint. Today received an email saying they wouldn't refund me ('read the small print' is their cry!) but would cancel my subscription from next month. Won't fall for it again, Mr Murdoch!

Like (apparently) everyone else here, signed up for a free trial, read one article which was enough to see that the quality of journalism here has gone through the floor, got charged £30 at the end of the trial with no notification or reminder, refused to refund. There's new legislation coming which will render such behaviour completely illegal.

Predatory subscription practice. You would be well advised to avoid accepting their £1 for 3 months offer. You will regret being seduced by this seemingly attractive offer. The website is extremely clunky and prone to crashes and delayed loading. I don't recall a cancellation process as archaic and unpleasant since AOL was still a market leader. You don't have to call, send an email stating you are cancelling and do not require or need a 'discussion'. Ensure you receive an confirmation email. Don't engage!

Zero stars!
Like everyone else (£1, cancelled, £30 taken, won’t refund) OUTRAGEOUS, shoddy, useless, deceitful …
How are they allowed to get away with it?!

Very bad cancelation process designed to trick the customer where they force you to call in. I provided cancelation notice via email but they refused to carry it out and charged my card £30 after a free trial.

Dark ages. These people live in the dark ages. Comments rejected every time on Times & Sunday Times for no apparent reason.

Customer service? What a joke. We have escalated and will be back in touch. Never a reply nor an update. No wonder subscriptions fall and your business model is under threat. You need to wake up and raise the bar.

Signed up for a trial subscription and automatically renewed on to a higher price, called up the same day (why do you have to ring them?) to cancel and request refund, to be told you have to request at least 2 days before and it's embedded into their Terms and Conditions???

This unscrupulous predatory practise is now having to be written into law against requiring companies to adhere to a 14 day cooling off period when trial periods end.

No notification from the company to say the trial was ending.

I do not get why companies do this, yes you get a short term gain, but I would never ever touch a Times product again and nor will anyone else who has been subjected to this.

Same experience as most reviewers here. Trial subscription at £1 but the it keep charging £10 per month without any notification or reminder email. It is very unethical and not UK practice for subscription services. After blindly direct debit paying 3.5 years, total £420, today I called their hotline to cancel it which is the only way. Hope anyone read this experience before starting their trial.

I understand how subscriptions work but after doing the 3 month £1 trial and then a £30 payment coming out, I thought that was £30 for the year and decided to leave it. I’m the horrified to have another £30 come out again the next month with no email in advance to say a payment would be coming out. I cannot believe that anyone would be £30 for digital only. I called and requested the refund and the person on the phone had a terrible attitude and manner, I look after customer service teams so know how to handle calls. As the payment was only taken yesterday, I would have expected them to still be able to refund me. I will never read the times again (and had this happened, I would have). What’s even worse is that I only looked at it a handful of times anyway. They are clearly doing this knowingly to rip people off

The Times’ subscription cancellation and refund policies are completely predatory, immoral, and unethical.

You can sign up digitally, but the only way to cancel is to call up by phone. There are no reminders for when a trial or discount period is about to end and when you will be charged full price. And they will absolutely not refund you even if you are just a few days late and haven’t read a single article.

The new laws surrounding subscriptions and cancellation policies can’t come soon enough.

Really hope The Times enjoys that £20 they’ve got from me! They won’t ever receive another penny from me.

This is their response after 2 emails saying the customer cannot cancel by phone because they are partially deaf !!!

Thank you for contacting us regarding your subscription. I noticed this is the second time you have reached out to request a cancellation, and I want to clarify our process.

For security and service reasons, cancellations can only be completed by telephone. We ask customers to call us so that we can:
Provide immediate confirmation of the cancellation, including the official end date of your subscription and any details relating to print delivery (if applicable).
Ensure that all payments are up to date and address any outstanding account matters.
Understand your feedback, as there may be areas for us to improve and drive positive change.
Address any service related problems, as some cancellations stem from issues we may be able to resolve quickly.
Our Customer Service team is available on 0800 018 5177:
Monday to Friday: 8am – 7pm
Weekends: 8am – 4pm

I appreciate your understanding and hope we can assist you promptly when you call.


Kind regards,

Cwaka

The cancelation process is awful as you have to ring them. No other option available. Its basically impossible to unsubscribe unless you're a really strong person. They coerce you into staying for a further 3 months and don't remind you of when the trial is up. The money is out of your account before you realise its up.