New Scientist Reviews 

On reviewing New Scientist reputation on Trustpilot I believe you have purposely made it difficult to unsubscribe. Signing into the account is easy, but it seems we have to sign into the same account again when we need to “easily” manage our subscriptions.

I could not cancel my subscription because I could not access my account a second time to do it myself - due to a constant message that my email does not match my subscription number, the same subscription number that could only be accessed by signing into my account for a third time. Unbelievably frustrating.

This is such a disappointment for a magazine that I highly regard. Your subscription cancellation process is infuriating.

The title is great, the customer service is not.

I have been subscribed to NS for 4 years now and love reading each issue. The problem comes when you need to speak to their customer services.

My subscription auto renews in December and I needed to change the account the payment it comes out of. I emailed several times only to be told my account couldn't be found, then finally was sent my subscriber number after 5 days of back and forth.

I called the customer service line with my number and spoke to the renewals team who couldn't find my account again, then hung up on me.

I called back and explained again what had happened, and was told that my subscription finished December 2024, and was put on hold to sign up for another year when I was hung up on again.

I called back for a third time and spoke to someone else who said that my auto renewal had already been processed to cover me until Dec 2025 and £199 had been taken from my account, the one I didn't want to pay with.

How can one customer service department get it so wrong? Hanging up on people and then giving them different stories entirely? I have had to ask for a refund of this payment and have cancelled my subscription.

Same rip off as others here. Rolled over my subscription without my permission. Then, by the time I’d noticed, they said I wasn’t eligible for a refund. Highway robbery.

The subscriber has passed and I'm trying to organize a cancellation and refund. I managed to do this successfully with 5 other magazines, but this seems to be too complicated for New Scientist who have promised a Supervisor call back, but can't seem to even organize that.

Exactly the same experience as many others. Cancelling is nigh impossible without calling them (an illegal practice now). Don't subscribe unless you want to lose several more instalment fees before they actually stop charging you.

Submitted a cancellation request within time. Have been charged.

UPDATE:

I called up and spoke with an associate who said I would be refunded etc. panicked today to receive my copy of new scientist and that my subscription was active until Jan ‘25.

Emailed and query was dealt with today and confirmed refund. Better than previous interactions, but still should not have happened.

New Scientist has great content, but the ABSOLUTE WORST customer experience possible. It's like trying to quit the gym. You have to call them to cancel, they make you wait on hold, then they try to hard-sell you into continuing your sub. Way to, you pissed me off.

A great magazine, full of interesting articles. They lose a star for making it impossible to change to a digital only subscription and/or cancel without having to contact them manually. A poor policy and one clearly designed to make it more difficult for subscribers to leave. Honestly, all of these companies that engage in this kind of behaviour (and there are many) really need to examine whether this is a good policy as it makes one far less likely to want to subscribe again and generally leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

EDIT: so they cancelled my subscription, but refunded no money. This is just brilliant New Scientist. Now I have paid for a subscription that I don't even get. This is either incompetence (less likely) or active thievery (more likely) but at this stage I can't tell for sure. I was intending to switch to a digital only subscription but this is increasingly becoming a very unlikely proposition.
New Scientist is actively engaging in the worst practices and really needs to examine what it stands for.

Scam for subscription

Had a subscription for the online access and print magazines. Paid £149 last year, a little more than the previous year. This year £249 was deducted from my account. A quick search showed the current fees for an annual online and print subscription are £165. Raised the issue with PayPal, but apparently New Scientist are disputing the discrepancy, for an existing subscriber it should be £249. Scam company tactics.

Why am I getting emails from "newsletter @ e.newscientist dot com" saying that to avoid suspension of my Xfinity account I should log on to the email and update my payment info.

I don't have Xfinity and know scams but is new scientist running a scam?

The most appalling service I have encountered from a Company, bar none. I got no warning my yearly subscription payment method had expired, just an email to say it had done so. Ok fine - I renewed through Paypal. The payment went through fine. Now 9 days later, I still haven't had my account updated as paid, I have had zero answers to my emails, and the telephone number on the email they originally sent doesn't even work. Each time I have spoken to someone on the phone about this, it's been like navigating a maze trying to get to the correct person, and each time they promised it was now resolved, nothing changed.

After many years of subscribing to NS I decided to cancel my subscription (my reasons were the same as many commentators here - the magazine has deteriorated dreadfully). In November I sent an email to cancel my subscription with effect from 23. January 2024 and received a confirmation mail.
I was then out of the country until mid January and was surprised to find no copies of NS had been delivered. On ringing up (an unpleasant excercise itself) I was informed that my subscription had been cancelled in November with immediate effect. Since then I have been trying to get NS to refund me for the missing copies. They have lied to me (saying that they had transferred the money), claimen that they couldn't find my original payment, promised me that the money will arrive in 10 days, apologised and ignored emails.
Their customer service and finance departments are useless and their senior management have no idea of how to be customer friendly.
Do not subscribe to this magazine!

On 2nd April 2024, my quarterly subscription was due to renew. On that date New Scientist debited my bank account with £257, simultaneously attempting to debit a further £55 (repeatedly) using a different (expired) debit card.
After 7 weeks, 11 emails to "Customer Services" asking for repayment of £257, sending evidence from my bank multiple times, and receiving replies such as "I can confirm you only have one account with us" and similar drivel, I have now commenced legal action for recovery.
I would add that the magazine quality has visibly declined over recent months, and I'm quite pleased to be rid of it.
-----UPDATE. 10 June 2024-----
Launched an online 'small claim' legal action against New Scientist. Heard today that "The Defendant's Response..." (that's NS) says:
"I ADMIT ALL THE CLAIM" and is now legally obliged to refund the amount they stole from me, by 15 June 2024.
I don't expect an apology however - and anyway, what would it be worth?
-----UPDATE. 12 June 2024-----
Have received a pretty genuine apology, plus a full refund, so we are friends again. Their external 'Customer Support' does need a root & branch shake up though, and my impression is that NS is now taking this seriously, having recognised the reputational damage tsunami that was going on.

I've been a New Scientist (NS) fan and subscriber for 36 years. Over most of this period I've enjoyed a fascinating, educational journey that's had a huge impact on the way I perceive this world. For that, I thank you sincerely. But here’s the rub…

Recently things have changed for the worst. Content and admin have deteriorated (admin is appalling) and pricing has gone through the roof. The magazine is thinner with childish, sensationalised covers and many articles that lack detail and depth... typical Daily Mail publishing style (Daily Mail are the new owners of NS; consider, for a moment, the intellectual dissonance involved).

There is also the irritating push-promotion of overpriced cruises, trips and other unwanted rubbish that now fills the magazine and my inbox every week. Apparently you can unsubscribe from this spam, but best of luck navigating the menus on NS's (deliberately?) confusing website. The same goes for trying to stop their site harvesting your personal data.

Today's NS is focussed on just one thing - maximising short term profit for the owners. There's no concern for the heavy impact on product value, intellectual integrity or subscriber satisfaction. In short, NS is being milked for cash and has ceased to be a professional magazine.

So, it is with great regret that I shall not be renewing when my current subscription expires. There's now an abundance of good quality, on-line science feeds and my advice is to save your money and try these instead. If not, consider opting for a respected publication that takes pride in reputation.

RIP (old) New Scientist, you are sorely missed.

Same experience as others below, no possibility to cancel your subscription online, you have to send an e-mail and then they make it complicated to unsubscribe.
now, I took a subscription on Nature, even if New Scientist is a quality magazine, I've had enough of their customer service.

Signed up for £20 student subscription in January 2024. Cancelled in February 2024 but was still charged £45 in April, despite multiple emails assuring me my subscription was cancelled and I would not be charged. There is no option to remove your debit card details from their records.

Emailed on April 1st 2024 and was assured that a refund would be given within 5 days. Called up today April 10th to be told my refunded was cancelled and my subscription was renewed again. No help via emails or phone calls, just empty reassurances that I will be refunded but no refund arrives. I have now had to escalate this with my bank's fraud department and will be reporting to the financial ombudsman.

Appalling customer service and cancellation policy. Tricked into a subscription through a trial and the promise afterwards I could cancel at any time and would be refunded for outstanding issues. When I did that I was told it was only possible within 14 days after payment was taken (I cancelled 3 days later!) and I’d had to pay for the full period. They even had the audacity to offer me a discount for a later subscription… as if anybody would want that after such an experience! Such a poor customer service makes me doubt if that’s still a reputable publication on the editorial side! Never agsin without checking reviews first!

Intentionally deceitful sale of data option on site. Turning it off causes a confirm all button to pop up. Turning it on causes it to disappear. When you read the description it seems more like an opt out of sale of data option but is misleadingly titled the opposite way. Trying to trick people into giving up their data by making this confusing.

This is a con - do not subscribe!! I purchased a subscription on offer and clearly ticked for no renewal and do not save my account details but after the 3months they took £45 without permission. I now have to wait in excess of 10 days for a refund (not yet received ) So don’t fall for the trickery - avoid any dealings.