Times Newspapers Ltd Reviews 

Made the mistake of signing up on a discounted trial period, only to realise once I had been billed for a few months at full price £26pm that the only way to cancel is to call up. Represenative I spoke to was very polite, but spent more time trying to sell the benefits and avoid cancellation than just processing my request. Won't make the same mistake again!

Won’t cancel my subscription! I’ve asked repeatedly. A scam business with practices more akin to internet scam companies

I suffered from the same fate as others. After 12 years as a loyal subscriber my new offer was an increase of over 500%!
Yep, subscription cancelled immediately.
Total greed on their part and I hope that they suffer from the consequences of it.

I called to cancel my subscription and was told it was cancelled but was charged every month since £13/month!!

Someone needs to do something about these horrible newspaper subscriptions - this is a scam

Mental that you have to call up to cancel a subscription in this day and age, but dont worry you can change everything else about payment details and whatnot on the website just not cancel the subscription. Wild

Absolutely horrible customer experience. I signed up by accident to their subscription and was charged £26/month for half a year. When I realised and called them, they said they'll cancel but I had credits left and I could use them over the next 4 month. 4 months later I was charged again!
When I said to one of their CS people that there has been no communication about upcoming charges, they said that they're not obliged to do it and, dismissively, directed me to the cancellation team.

Stuck in the dark ages. I tried to cancel my subscription the day it was due for payment but got told that wasn't possible and to 'miss the payment for 2 months and your account will terminate. It’s shocking that they do not allow people to cancel online via their account.

Disgusting service. I tried to cancel my subscription the day it was due for payment but no capacity to do this online. Ended up having to call a telephone number and was met with hard sell techniques. I’m flabbergasted that the times can get away with this. Refused to refund my £26 monthly payment. I have never been met with such poor service via a subscription service. It’s shocking that they do not allow people to cancel online via their account.

If any other company increased its subscription price by 516% after making pre-tax profits of £61 million, I would expect your journalists to be interested in the story.
No chance of that, is there ?
Profits at Times Media, the publisher of The Times and The Sunday Times, grew last year as the group added 29,000 digital-only subscribers. According to newly published accounts, pre-tax profit rose to £61 million in the year to the end of June 2024, up from £60.9 million the year before.29 Mar 2025
That's £13 per month you will be losing. But with profits like yours, you don't care how you treat people, do you ?
"This offer is valid for the life of your membership."
I will, in the future be getting my news from a source with more honesty and integrity. who don't say one thing but mean another, both in print and verbally, and use your money-grabbing small print as a reason. I hope Abdullah enjoys his bonus this year
Goodbye,

After being a subscriber for many years the Times has just increased my subscription by 500%, yes 5 times the current amount. They blame this on inflation - well correct me if I'm wrong but inflation is not 500%, even if you go back to the 1970s. Needless to say I've cancelled.

I have been a subscriber for many years (paper and website). There has been a price increase of nearly 41%. I was not willing to pay this increased amount, and wanted to cancel with immediate effect. The unhelpful answer was that I was required to give 3 months notice of cancellation. Surely it can't be right to insist that I remain a subscriber at an amount which I never agreed to?

Similarly to the other 892 negative reviews on this site, The Times online subscription makes it difficult to cancel (by phone only, in office hours), their customer service staff seem universally rude, and they continue to take money / refuse to refund subscription costs to cancelled subscribers. Avoid at all costs! For what seems a credible brand, they are scammers.

Just another example of a horrendous experience trying to cancel a simple subscription. In 2025 making you cancel via a phone call is simply ridiculous. Then (convinced you’ve cancelled) they keep taking your money. After calling again they said we suggested it was a cooling off period. Made them listen the call and threatened a dispute prices through bank. Finally cancelled.
Utter sharks

These clowns think that a viable way to build a business is to trap people in a subscription rather than create content that someone wants to pay for.

ABSOLUTE SCAM. I singed up for the 3 month trial and then made a note in the diary to call them before the end of the trial to ensure I wouldnt be charged beyond that date. They continued to take £26 every month for 8 months. I have called customer services a number of times to raise a complaint. They say that they received my cancellation call back in Aug and can see I havent accessed the subscription once since the free trial, but that they will not refund me. They say they've listed to the cancellation call and feel that it was made clear to me that I was in a 'cooling off' period at the time of the call and I needed to call back AGAIN to cancel. I was happy that Id cancelled it. So BEWARE - its very hard to get out of these trials once you're signed up. Im computer literate and organised, but imagine the amount of elderly people who are being CONNED by this scam. FURIOUS and now strongly dislike The Times.

I have just phoned to cancel - completely ridiculous in this day and age to have to telephone - before 7pm gmt and no one picks up!! I feel foolish for forgetting to cancel after trial but no communication at all from them about subscription and now no way apparently to cancel. Highway robbery as should have just bought Apple News+! Don’t get tricked by free trial. Another example of dodgy customer service in the UK unfortunately now becoming the norm.

Don't sign up for the trial unless you are prepared to subscribe. You have to call to cancel, which is not clearly communicated, and they won't offer you a refund even if you flag it when they take the first payment.

Don't Subscribe to Times Newspaper! It is a scam!

I signed up for the free trial and tried to cancel at the end of it, but it was impossible!

You can only cancel by calling the helpline, and No one ever answered the phone. I emailed, and there was no reply. I ended up contacting my credit card company. They have blocked it from their end. But, Times Newspaper used a different payment platform each month and still managed to steal my money.

I ended up cancelling my credit card. Finally, Times Newspaper called me today and asked me to provide another credit card. There is absolutely no chance.

Don't touch this paper, I hope someone reported them to Trading Standard to stop their thief behaviour.

The latest update is awful & doesn’t work .Who are you employing & to make these mistakes .Please sort it out asap

I paid for a year's subscription, and I asked them to cancel my auto-renewal at the end of the year.

They promoptly cancelled my CURRENT subscription less than a week into my one year subscription.

So I have lost my year's worth of subscription payment.

This company is a money grabbing scam.