Times Newspapers Ltd Reviews 

Do not be fooled into signing up for the subscription service! I cancelled via email only to be told that I have to telephone to cancel. I cannot think of another company that allows cancellations via telephone, they usually insist that you put a cancellation in writing. Apparently though, if you live outside of the UK, you can cancel via email but if you live in Britain and try to cancel your subscription with this British company you can’t and have to suffer the inconvenience of queuing on a call. Appalling service. Feels like a scam

Have to call and wait ages to cancel. This should be made illegal.
I guess they won't be writing an article about this issue any time soon!

Took out a trial subscription in February. Yesterday Times Newspapers grabbed £30 from my account without informing me that my trial subscription was about to end. Managed to talk to two agents in customer services who couldn't help but escalated my complaint. Today received an email saying they wouldn't refund me ('read the small print' is their cry!) but would cancel my subscription from next month. Won't fall for it again, Mr Murdoch!

Like (apparently) everyone else here, signed up for a free trial, read one article which was enough to see that the quality of journalism here has gone through the floor, got charged £30 at the end of the trial with no notification or reminder, refused to refund. There's new legislation coming which will render such behaviour completely illegal.

Predatory subscription practice. You would be well advised to avoid accepting their £1 for 3 months offer. You will regret being seduced by this seemingly attractive offer. The website is extremely clunky and prone to crashes and delayed loading. I don't recall a cancellation process as archaic and unpleasant since AOL was still a market leader. You don't have to call, send an email stating you are cancelling and do not require or need a 'discussion'. Ensure you receive an confirmation email. Don't engage!

Zero stars!
Like everyone else (£1, cancelled, £30 taken, won’t refund) OUTRAGEOUS, shoddy, useless, deceitful …
How are they allowed to get away with it?!

Very bad cancelation process designed to trick the customer where they force you to call in. I provided cancelation notice via email but they refused to carry it out and charged my card £30 after a free trial.

Dark ages. These people live in the dark ages. Comments rejected every time on Times & Sunday Times for no apparent reason.

Customer service? What a joke. We have escalated and will be back in touch. Never a reply nor an update. No wonder subscriptions fall and your business model is under threat. You need to wake up and raise the bar.

Signed up for a trial subscription and automatically renewed on to a higher price, called up the same day (why do you have to ring them?) to cancel and request refund, to be told you have to request at least 2 days before and it's embedded into their Terms and Conditions???

This unscrupulous predatory practise is now having to be written into law against requiring companies to adhere to a 14 day cooling off period when trial periods end.

No notification from the company to say the trial was ending.

I do not get why companies do this, yes you get a short term gain, but I would never ever touch a Times product again and nor will anyone else who has been subjected to this.

Same experience as most reviewers here. Trial subscription at £1 but the it keep charging £10 per month without any notification or reminder email. It is very unethical and not UK practice for subscription services. After blindly direct debit paying 3.5 years, total £420, today I called their hotline to cancel it which is the only way. Hope anyone read this experience before starting their trial.

I understand how subscriptions work but after doing the 3 month £1 trial and then a £30 payment coming out, I thought that was £30 for the year and decided to leave it. I’m the horrified to have another £30 come out again the next month with no email in advance to say a payment would be coming out. I cannot believe that anyone would be £30 for digital only. I called and requested the refund and the person on the phone had a terrible attitude and manner, I look after customer service teams so know how to handle calls. As the payment was only taken yesterday, I would have expected them to still be able to refund me. I will never read the times again (and had this happened, I would have). What’s even worse is that I only looked at it a handful of times anyway. They are clearly doing this knowingly to rip people off

The Times’ subscription cancellation and refund policies are completely predatory, immoral, and unethical.

You can sign up digitally, but the only way to cancel is to call up by phone. There are no reminders for when a trial or discount period is about to end and when you will be charged full price. And they will absolutely not refund you even if you are just a few days late and haven’t read a single article.

The new laws surrounding subscriptions and cancellation policies can’t come soon enough.

Really hope The Times enjoys that £20 they’ve got from me! They won’t ever receive another penny from me.

This is their response after 2 emails saying the customer cannot cancel by phone because they are partially deaf !!!

Thank you for contacting us regarding your subscription. I noticed this is the second time you have reached out to request a cancellation, and I want to clarify our process.

For security and service reasons, cancellations can only be completed by telephone. We ask customers to call us so that we can:
Provide immediate confirmation of the cancellation, including the official end date of your subscription and any details relating to print delivery (if applicable).
Ensure that all payments are up to date and address any outstanding account matters.
Understand your feedback, as there may be areas for us to improve and drive positive change.
Address any service related problems, as some cancellations stem from issues we may be able to resolve quickly.
Our Customer Service team is available on 0800 018 5177:
Monday to Friday: 8am – 7pm
Weekends: 8am – 4pm

I appreciate your understanding and hope we can assist you promptly when you call.


Kind regards,

Cwaka

The cancelation process is awful as you have to ring them. No other option available. Its basically impossible to unsubscribe unless you're a really strong person. They coerce you into staying for a further 3 months and don't remind you of when the trial is up. The money is out of your account before you realise its up.

They are really scammers. First you sign up for £1 a month trial and then there is email confirmation or notification to say they charge £30 after that. Only when the transaction went through I noticed. When i contacted them they said its part of terms and condition. Honestly they are really making customers go from pillar to post to cancel.. Its absolute joke! They dont refund the unauthorised transaction either.

Awful time cancelling after signing up for £1 for three months offer. They insisted I phone, as that is not legally required I refused and sent this: Dear Customer Service,

I am writing again regarding my subscription.

I notified you in writing on the same day that the subscription was taken out that I wished to cancel. This email reiterates that I am exercising my right to cancel within the 14-day cooling-off period under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

My written notice constitutes a valid cancellation under UK consumer law. A requirement to cancel only by telephone does not override my statutory right to cancel in writing.

Recent developments in UK consumer protection law, including the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, also emphasise that subscription arrangements must be transparent and that cancelling should not be unnecessarily difficult for consumers. Your refusal to process a written cancellation appears inconsistent with these principles.

Please confirm in writing that my subscription has been cancelled with immediate effect and that no further payments will be taken.

As I cancelled the subscription on the same day it was purchased, I also request a refund of the £1 introductory charge.

If any further payments are taken despite this notice, I will dispute the charge with my bank, request cancellation of any future recurring payments, and seek advice from Citizens Advice regarding the matter.

This worked - please use if helpful. Refuse to call them: long queues and not required. I will also instruct my bank.

Promotional £1 month subscription cancelled 3 weeks before full price came into effect.
Just been billed £30 for a subscription that has been cancelled .
I explained that I am hard of hearing and couldn’t cancel on the phone so did it online and they confirmed cancellation but still billed weeks later.

What a shocking app the times has nothing works jumps all over the place lagging no comments, utterly pathetic. Perhaps ask your IT guys to extract themselves from the local pub!

terrible service!

tried a subscription.

wanted to cancel.

when i cancel you have to call a number, wait, then be put through to ' cancellations '

i was waiting for 45 minutes.

another 50 minutes.

impossible,

the most terrible experience i have experienced with a company.

The product trial for £1/ 3 month access is good if you want it. Take it up at your own risk, this newspaper makes their revenue stream through charging "customers" for unwanted subscriptions that they make it virtually impossible to cancel until they have taken a full months payment (£30)