New Scientist Reviews 

In general a high-quality publication. However, the comments section occasionally contained comments suggesting ideas with a poor scientific basis which may lead to environmental degradation. The comments section could have been moderated or contained advice.

"Asteroid sampled by NASA may once have been part of an ocean world"... Or it may not. ;-)

"How menopause can make menstrual cycles longer and more unpredictable"... Or it can not. :-)

"A bold new take on quantum theory could reveal how reality emerges"... Or it could not! ;-D

For several years now, this has been the kind of BS that readers have been bombarded with. If I had to choose, I would rather have articles about menstruation, menopause, preparing dishes or losing weight because at least then they really know what they are writing about.

Do not get a subscription. We set up an electronic subscription years ago and only just realised they have been charging us for magazine delivery which we have never had - 2023 they charged us 4x£70 2022 4x65 and so on. They refuse to do anything about it no deal for subscriptions or refund or even apology. On the web there are loads of deals for new subscriptions but they just deny it. Amazingly appalling.

11/7/2023 advised auto renewal of subscription at £148.50 / yr
6/12/2023 Payment declined - credit card had expired
7/12/2023 Acknowledged receipt of new card details
Since then even after paying for the renewal on my subscriber portal twice (via credit card) their systems initially accepted the payment but then failed to renew the subscription and reversed the credit card payment!!
Their customer services are useless as is the subscription department - no escalation process - no complaints system. Staff with no authority and poor language skills. Will only renew at £170 pa in breach of contract law (as I was taught it). Promised phone calls are never made. After subscribing for more than 5 years I have given up with this shambolic company

Given the never ending horror stories about negative experiences with subscriptions and contributions that are simply being stolen, people would be crazy to still subscribe.
My irritation is about the feminization of this magazine: more than half of the articles - allegedly - come from female "scientists", which is not an accurate reflection of their actual representation in the scientific world. The result is lies, assumptions, fantasy stories and appropriation of research. No one, not even the biggest supporter of gender equality, can deny that this magazine is drifting into a women's magazine in which science is more a means of gender discrimination than a goal to promote scientific research.

WHAT A HORRIBLE COMPANY. I have asked them repeatedly to stop sending me unsolicited emails touting all of their products. I've asked them to unsubscribe me. BUT LISTEN TO THIS, first you have to register with them and create an account THEN you may actually be permitted to stop them spamming your inbox. Now I find that today's complaint was been blocked. Apparently THEY don't like unsolicited emails but think it's okay to bombard others with theirs. YOU ARE NOTHING BUT SPAMMERS

Much the same as previous reviews. Bank details given awaiting a full refund since 4/12/23 and responding to my emails after giving details are only automated responses. Very frustrating and a very unprofessional company. Do not subscribe no matter how tempting the offer for new subscribers is….long term frustration guaranteed. I will edit review if they respond and refund me in full

Money was taken out of my account even after I've canceled my subscription. Customer service promised a refund, but then they claimed that they weren't able to process the refund. They then asked for my bank account details to transfer the refund - which I provided - and now they have not responded to the 5 emails that I've sent to chase this.

Renewed membership in error. Very expensive and they are unwilling to refund. Has been difficult to access on line presentations, information dumbed down. Very disappointed.

The physics contains too much astrofizzix from academic press releases from institutions paid to ignore electricity in space and perpetuate the denial of Halton Arp's redshift findings. Or the editorial is unable to process fiction v. Reality. Either is not a good look.

I took out a digital subscription on 6th November for a trial period but decided to cancel before the trial period ended because it wasn't working well on my device. The £25 taken from my account on the 8th November has never been refunded despite phone calls and emails to the digital service. Lots of promises over the phone and by email but no refund. This service is clearly run by a call centre in India who seem incapable to deal with this refund. I've now taken it up with VISA as I paid with a Visa debit card and have given them all of the evidence. Shocking customer service from a supposedly reputable magazine. I've just read all the previous one star reviews. I wish that I had seen them before getting involved with NS subscriptions. Even more shocking that NS can treat so many people like this. The publisher of this magazine appears to be a crook. Now I understand. In March 2021 New Scientist was sold to the owner of the Daily Mail so no wonder that the subscriptions are in chaos and you can't get your refunds!

I bought a gift subscription for a friend for Christmas. He wanted 12 months with print delivered to the door. We checked the website approaching Black Friday, and there was a gift deal for 12 months with web access, app access and print for £99 to commence after Christmas. I discussed this with my friend whilst making the purchase to make sure he was getting what he wanted. Letters arrived and I had confirmation emails, but I foolishly did not open them and the emails were automatically sorted to spam and deleted (so I had no evidence - I know: stupid).
Anyway, I decided to open the letter on the 18th December, and it said that it was digital access only to commence on the day of purchase. I rang customer service the following day, and I was told that was exactly what I had purchased. I said I wanted to cancel the subscription and get a refund, but I couldn't because it was beyond the 14 day cooling off period. I could, however, upgrade the subscription to what I thought I had purchased for ANOTHER £99. I said no, so they came back at me with another offer that involved more money (£50), so I said no. I said I would rather cancel the subscription, so he said he would do that, did it, and said there would be no further payment when the subscription expired. I told him there shouldn't be anyway, because it was a gift subscription and should have been a one-off payment. Anyway, I found another offer on their website whilst we were talking, for 6 months gift subscription for print and digital access. I told the man on the phone, who didn't seem to be aware of this offer - I had to read it all out to him. Eventually he found it, and I asked if he could change my gift to that one. To be fair, he did this, but why did he not offer this in the first place instead of offering to take more money off me, seemingly on a repeat basis? There was a lot of noise in the background - chattering and laughing. It sounded like a Christmas party. I was a bit disappointed with my experience because I would not have paid £99 for digital only access - I don't think this is good value. I'm sure there was a mistake with my purchase. The lesson I have learned is not to be so trusting and not to let emails go unread!

Very, very poor customer service. I have issues almost every week logging in and repeatedly have to activate my account.
please be aware that reputed magazine like this is utterly managed by poor customer support and the system is built so poorly too.
Customer service is not helpful and simply repeat with the same comments as system is down, supervisor not here etc and just put you on hold for hours without any resolution. After quite a few year, i will end my subscription now!
Any suggestions?

The people who head up this company just thieve money. They took money from my account without my permission and I have been waiting for a refund for 2 months. They keep saying that they are going to pay it back, but after 8 emails and 4 telephone calls, they still have £40 of my money! This is despite me giving them account details in order to do a Bacs payment. How are they allowed to get away with this?!? I cancelled my subscription, because I found their articles to be highly bias and very inaccurate. Total waste of money. Don't bother subscribing!

I would like to know if New Scientist is going broke? I have now been waiting for more than 4 months for a refund. I have asked more than 7 times and been told by your staff more than 7 times that it will be made in 5 business days!

Avoid this company!

Review Update on 22nd October:
After many months they finally refunded!

I find the subscription cancellation process to be quite dubious. First, there is no email notification when a charge is made to your account; the only evidence appears on your credit card statement. Second, their website lacks a "self-cancellation" feature, which is commonly available on other internet services. The only way to cancel is by calling their customer service. Additionally, charging $50 for a 3-month web news subscription is exorbitant! I remember the initial entry-level fee was just a few dollars, but then they hike it up to this absurd rate for a quarter! To me, this IS a SCAM!

Very confusing and antiquated website. Despite being on a 'Print' package I was told I was only on a digital version. For a magazine that prides itself on new, innovative and cutting edge ideas, this is comical. I might have a look at the American Scientist for a better system.

Updated : It's interesting to see that the 5 star review got a reply from 'New Scientist'. The only way the subscription service can improve is to look at the 1 star reviews, otherwise you will remain very poor.

An excellent source of scientific information, marred by an inadequate subscriptions service.

I have mentioned this before but three years later and New Scientist has still done nothing about their auto renewal process and there is still no option to cancel subscription in the app or the website (without directly emailing customer services).

The most inefficient delivery of magazine DO NOT SUBSCRIBE

I have subscribed for this magazine in June 2023. I did not receive a single magazine in July though I was told I would receive back issues. I received 4 issues in August and 2 in September and have not received the last two issues. The customer service team seems utterly helpless too, saying back issues may take upto 8 weeks. Although the reading material is good, it doesn’t help much if one doesn’t receive the magazine. A thumbs down on all fronts.

Absolutely appalling customer service. Such a disappointment for a well-respected publication. I will never subscribe again.

I thought I was signing up for a 10 week trial for £10. However, I was charged £270 for a year's annual subscription. I didn't notice this had happened until the magazines kept arriving beyond the 10 weeks offer period. I phoned and was told I could have a partial refund, but the magazines kept arriving and no refund. I emailed again, to be told I couldn't cancel as I was outside the 14 days cooling off period. I am in the process of emailing again. I am not hopeful. What a rip off. Totally unhelpful and unprofessional.