Hearst Magazines UK Reviews 

I am so upset with this company, I do not believe they are operating in line with UK consumer law. I found a £37.50 charge from them on my credit card (initially I thought it was a fraudulent transaction as I had not bought anything from Hearst recently). I checked my online account with Hearst and it did not show any current or previous subscriptions. I then called customer services who said it was an auto-renewal for a magazine subscription I knew nothing about. As the charge had only just gone out of my account I asked for a refund and to cancel the subscription, but they said no this was not possible, and auto-renewal was in the small print of the original deal I signed up for. There was no transparency though as I received no email warning me of the auto-renewal, the extremely long cancellation period required, and my subscription was also not showing on my online account so there was literally no way for me to be aware of any auto-renewals, or any dates by which I had to cancel. I also believe according to UK consumer law I am entitled to a 14 day cooling off period - however, after a long phone call to customer services this morning I was told they would not refund me. This is completely unacceptable and I want a full refund. I can't believe all these 1 star reviews on Trust pilot from people who have all been scammed like me - does Hearst not take customer feedback seriously? Avoid this company at all costs.

Extremely unclear and misleading renewal practices.

I purchased a 12-month gift subscription in December 2024. The confirmation email stated it would “renew every 12 months”, and the company’s own website says renewal payments are taken “after 12 months”.

Despite this, Hearst took a renewal payment of £54.99 from my account on 3 November 2025, before the 12-month period had ended. No clear renewal reminder was provided beforehand, and the timing was completely unexpected.

Customer service hid behind small-print, issue-based wording rather than acknowledging how misleading this is for a gift buyer. The lack of transparency around renewal dates feels deliberate.

I would strongly advise anyone considering a subscription — especially as a gift — to be extremely cautious and cancel well in advance.

I purchased a subscription from Hearst on Black Friday, with the promise of a £10 John Lewis voucher to be delivered within 28 days. It is now two months later and I still haven't received this. Having contacted customer services a fortnight ago, I was told the voucher would be issued within 7 working days. It is significantly longer now and I still haven't received it. I have had to chase up once again which seems like a waste of time and energy. If I don't receive it soon, I will be reporting to Trading Standards as this is false advertising and, judging by the below reviews, I am certainly not alone in being misled in this way. I would not recommend purchasing from this company; they are lax and dishonest and their business practices need to be reconsidered.

I am extremely disappointed with the level of service I received. I contacted the company via the website a week before the £59 payment was due to be taken, clearly outlining my personal circumstances.

When I later spoke with a representative named Sam, I was accused of being untruthful, despite providing the reference number from my original enquiry. She insisted that the company had emailed me, yet when she asked for my email address, she stated she could not locate it on the system. This raises a serious question as to how any email could have been sent in the first place.

Throughout the conversation, Sam repeatedly referred to “terms and conditions,” demonstrating a complete lack of empathy, poor customer service skills, and an overreliance on scripted responses. At no point did I feel that my situation was understood or handled with any degree of professionalism or care.

I have never encountered a company that shows such little respect for its customers—prioritising payment above service, support, or basic courtesy.

I strongly advise others to avoid this company

I’m finding it impossible to get a reply email from this company I’m trying to g to cancel a subscription!!!! 😡

Recently purchased a subscription but was charged twice. Emailed customer service and was asked to send proof which I sent on (copies of bank statements and order confirmation email) well over a month ago. Keep being promised an update and that this is being looked into but surprise surprise no update and no refund. I'm £60 out of pocked for a magazine that hasn't turned up - and waiting on my refund for half of that! Should have read these reviews before purchasing - absolutely appalling customer service and I've a right mind to report to trading standards.

Shocking company to deal with. As with a lot of these sheisters its v easy to sign up for special offers then impossible to cancel once the offer period is up. ❌Avoid ❌

for several years I have given a subscription of Good Housekeeping to my daughter in law. Every year I manually renewed the subscription. This last Christmas 2025 my daughter in law asked for Prima instead . I ordered Prima I did not order Good Housekeeping.When I discovered that on the 3rd January Hearst had taken a £59.95 out of my account I ws amazed and shocked.I contacted Hearst and asked that they sent no more magazines and they would refund.. They replied that it was company policy not to give refunds..
it was then I learnt about their auto renewal policy so I am now in the process of cancelling the auto renewal for Prima..I contacted Hearst again on the 12th January but have not heard from them. This is why I feel that it is a shabby dishonest company.
auto renewal of subscription that ones doesn't want.
obviously desperate for money and could not care about customer satisfaction
do not buy from this company

Hearst have resolved all my concerns and I am very grateful

bridget

Sent the advertised M&S voucher; it had NOTHING on it. Zero. They haven't responded to three emails.

I’ve been chasing Hearst for over a month as my subscription payment in September was obviously not allocated to my account as no issues of the magazine have been delivered. They have proof of payment by a copy of my bank statement but will still not refund my money, I have been passed to several different customer service employees but still nothing has been sorted out, they are supposedly investigating. My payment is clearly somewhere in their system but trying to get a refund due to their gross error is proving impossible.

My mother in law renewed my subscription to Red magazine last year and I have not received any copies as they have allocated the payment to a completely different account. She has been trying to get a refund for over a month but all the customer service staff have been extremely unhelpful and rude. The issue still has not been resolved and she has not received a refund. Customer service agents have told her that the payment has been misallocated but they will not sort out a refund. She has wasted hours trying to sort this out unsuccessfully - this is a disgraceful way to treat a pensioner and take her money without providing a magazine or a refund. We are still battling them to get the refund so my advice would be not to use them.

Terrible advertisement.
Was promised John Lewis voucher with the subscription. Chased a number of times and was given awful excuses by the customer service. I used to subscribe very often to Home Beautiful, but have now cancelled and will never do it again. Cannot stand awful customer service where they are lying to customers and providing fake advertisement. Awful!

I generally like the Hearst magazines, Women's Health, Elle, etc, so took a Black Friday offer which included a £10 John Lewis giftcard. Handy for Xmas was my thinking.

It was supposed to arrive within 10 days. I chased and chased and finally got them on January 13th. If I hadn't chased I don't think I would have got them.

The customer service was so poor and so vague about how and when I was going to get what I'd signed up for that in the end I just cancelled all my subscriptions. I figured if anything goes wrong, e.g. a magazine doesn't arrive, I'll just spend my life chasing them for what I paid for.

So easy to subscribe to special offers, so difficult to cancel.
Phone calls take over 30 minutes to get through, emails are ignored, they take a future payment without notice and no offer to refund
Basically - just don’t use this company

I bought a 12 month subscription for my brother 2 years ago. I thought that this would be the end of it but I have been paying for the last two years...as there was no correspondence from Hearst to let me know that they had auto-renewed without my knowledge. This is very poor practice and underhand and I will not be taking any subscription with Hearts in the future

Terrible company, impossible to deal with! Cancellations take an age and you have to call, be on hold for an age!

DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY! Currently on the phone now, they have taken out two payments of £59, earlier then what was stated and despite me cancelling, now got a extremely rude, unprofessional lady, Divine on the phone implying I am lying and of no help! They also promosed a free gift of a John Lewis voucher, I didnt get and when I chased, they said they have run out and awaiting more. This company is a scam!

I totally agree with other reviewers. My subscription is on auto renew, and it has increased by £5 with no notification or communication. It is really time consuming to find where to cancel or change your subscription. Hearst are not transparent- you can only cancel on the phone (so obviously get subjected to sale techniques!) I was on hold for 30 mins whilst waiting to cancel and was told constantly during that time that I could use the website for my enquiry - but if you do hang up to use the website you will loose your place and you will just be told you need to call. Do not take up a cheap subscription unless you are prepared for a lengthy time on the phone and heavy sale techniques when you want to cancel. If Hearst followed other companies by being more transparent and user friendly I.e emailed you before your subscription is due, explained costs and increases and allowed cancellations via their website, I may have considered staying. I do not like feeling ripped off with no explanation or communication.

As everyone else has already said (wish I’d read the reviews first) ….. absolute scammers! Automatically renewed at double the price without warning. Attempted to cancel, impossible online. Subscription due to restart in Feb 26, unable to cancel in December 25 …… only noticed as money taken from credit card. Disgusting customer service, not interested, no intention of refunding. Avoid at all costs.

Auto renewed with no warning , when viewing my account online it states auto renewal but can't find anywhere where it states the actual date it does so they catch you out by taking it months in advance of the current subscription ending. Can't cancel online either, have to phone. Avoid!