The Athletic HQ Reviews 264

Auto-renewal scam. I've been a subscriber for a few years, paying $1-2 per month. Today I got a notice that I'd been charged $71.99 from my bank. I got no notice that my renewal was coming up. I get the site's newsletters every day, so they have my contact info.

Every other subscription I have tells me when a renewal is coming up. Usually a couple of months in advance.

I emailed and The Athletic responded that they "don't refund subscriptions". This is total BS. I've cancelled digital subscriptions before and always gotten a refund for the unused portion.

I'm contesting this with PayPal, but I will never subscribe to The Athletic again. This is really shady and slimy.

Just got done with this auto renewal scam. Surely this isn't legal?
To the people that managed to get a refund, how did you do it??

I was charged for an auto renewal of £59.99 by the Athletic. I went through their customer service portal and requested a refund. One of their staff members, Hayley, could not have been more helpful and sorted out a cancellation and a refund very quickly. I understand others have had difficulty but I could not have had a better experience with their customer service

Great website but bills after you canceled very poor customer service a fraud

Once again, it's the same story. £1 a month deal which expired. Then 15 months later £59.99 taken without warning. They issue no refunds. It is basically stealing money from people and a very underhand way of running a business

Free week trial auto turning into a £59.99 annual subscription. Contacted them straight away when this happened and they refused a refund. Really poor customer experience and would never recommend.

I signed in to my account that I purchased TWICE from two different email addresses....but still - when I try to view a story - I get a cover up and an invitation to...you guessed it...subscribe.

Impossible to cancel!!
The link (YOU JUST REQUESTED) is expired. Click here for a new link.
This is a loop you will enter for ALL ETERNITY!

No phone support.

The writing seems to be really good but something here is very, very wrong.

Calling my bank to cancel.

ARE YOU JOKING ME?!?

I HAD NO IDEA THIS WAS AUTO-RENEW. IVE NEVER USED THIS SINCE DOWNLOADING. IVE HAD ONE REPLY SAYING NO REFUND FOR CANCELATION. SO IVE PAID FOR A FULL YEAR THAT IM NEVER GOING TO USE. APPALLING. HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN TO ALL OF US AND THEY ARE STILL IN BUSINESS?!?

I contacted the athletic as the full £45 payment came out for 2022-23 even though I had previously or so I thought cancelled the subscription. I contacted customer service who said we don’t do refunds and can’t help! This is really poor customer service and I don’t even read the app it was free with my EE contract. Hailey at the athletic was not helpful and I am still waiting on a response explanation. Avoid!

Same as everyone else… Lure people in with offers and then auto renew you on the sly without any warning / contact. Take an annual charge as it’s the most they can take before you act on it, but most are paying monthly at the time. Basically a scam. Not sure how they’re are getting away with it.

Awful. As many others are saying. They sign you up with the attraction of £1 a month, then make it absolutely impossible to cancel. I can’t even access the site after paying £1 as it keeps saying im not a member.

Currently on a 30 Minute phone call with my bank to make sure they don’t get another £1 out of me.

Right now they are basically running a scam

On October 28, 2022, I had the same renewal process as those that already posted. I was alerted to the renewal charge of $71.99 from an e-mail from PayPal. I immediately went to their website and cancelled my subscription. They responded that they cancelled the subscription as of one year from now as they do not do refunds.

I then went to my PayPal account to cancel the charge and they stated that they would contact The Athletic and that could take up to a week.

My PayPal is linked to a Discover Credit card and I also went to my account there and tried to refuse the charge, but they require me to wait 10 days until I can dispute the transaction.

On November 7, I received an email from Paypal stating that they have decided in my favor and are refunding the full amount of $71.99. They stated it may take up to 30 days to show up on my credit card but it posted to my credit card that same day.

Note: Like the others below, I never received any notice from The Athletic that the charge was coming. Only an apology that I wasn't aware of the upcoming charge. They said I can cancel at anytime however there will be no refunds.

Charged £60 despite cancelling subscription. Shameful practice.

Didn’t use the service. Signed up for free trial then got stung for the auto renew. Despite the automated response from the system saying no refunds, after several emails from me I received a response from customer support offering a full refund. For clarity my request was less that a week after the charge. Thanks to the team for their help.

Awful company. Had a free trial through a mobile contract my wife had, didn't subscribe, didn't request a subscription, don't even know how they got my card details. However, this week they took £44.99, unannounced and without permission. Logged into their website, subscription not even showing up on my account, so can't even cancel it. Emailed them asking for refund, got automated response saying they do not do refunds, emailed to ask how I cancel to make sure it happens again, was directed to the page with my 'subscription' which doesn't even show up. Just poor customer service and in my mind, theft/fraud for taking that payment. Had a raise a dispute with my own bank to recover this. Avoid this company like the plague!

Same as everyone else: duped into an auto-renewing annual subscription that hit me for over $70 and no possibility of a refund by the time I saw the charge.

The content is decent but funds being stolen from peoples' accounts is unforgivable. Disgraceful business practices, avoid these racketeers.

Same experience as all the other posters below, so no point repeating except to say AVOID. Very poor practice and unwilling to engage with you at all.

I had my subscription renewed 1 year ago without proper notification that has now finished.
If I had received decent notification I would have cancelled.
It’s for me not that great material for its price, has a portfolio of sports included in its price that I have no interest in.
I would consider a football platform at about £2 a month.
Overpriced and sneaky renewal policy.

Avoid

Would be zero. No notification of renewal and stung for £60. Impossible to contact and zero customer service.
Disgusted with them. A joke and I am sure won’t be around for long with such a lack of principles

Awful. Not worth 99p/month, let alone the £7.99/month they think their awful 'journalism' is worth. Avoid like the plague.