The Athletic HQReviews of theathletic.com

Took a one year subscription, forgot. Used the site about three times. Missed the auto-renewal deadline by a couple of days. Requested a cancellation with a one month reduction, was told that this was not company policy. Asked to escalate to a manager, no reply. Eight subsequent emails, no reply. This is rude and callous. Probably a decent sports service, worst customer service I have ever encountered.

Cancelled my subscription one month before the renewal and they still took the charge for another year. Mistakes happen so I didn’t judge them terribly on this but when I contacted them for a refund of the charge I was laughed off and told there was no chance I would be refunded. Criminals.

I accepted an introductory subscription offer to The Athletic on August 13, 2019 at a 40% discount for $35.99. The terms of the offer gave me a 15-month subscription given my status as a student at the time. I used the service frequently at the start but less and less over time to the point of rarely using the service as of summer 2020. I was NOT NOTIFIED AT ALL of my impending subscription period coming to an end nor reminded that I would soon be auto-renewed at the full price of $59.99. Upon seeing this charge while reviewing my credit card statement at month end, I contacted The Athletic customer service to request a refund based on my lack of usage. I was told The Athletic is "unable to offer refunds" and informed I "can find our full payment terms" at the appropriate link, the prior statement being directly contradictory to the terms which state refunds are offered at discretion. Be forewarned, this is clearly a predatory practice taking advantage of typical passiveness. On my attempt to handle this in a fair manner, the reply is a callous \throwing of the book'. This is no way to treat people, let alone customers. Shame on The Athletic for this.

Terrible Experience, I bought the trial for a year for £20 and then was not aware of auto-renew, they took £59.99 from me when the year was up and now when i contact them for a refund they don't answer my emails, as everyone else on here has said they are fraudulent, avoid at all costs

Just discovered I had auto renewed to the Athletic for the SECOND year since I subscribed in 2018 and also bought a gift subscription. Not a single message from the Athletic to its "subscriber" the entire time. No warning about the renewal coming up. They refused a refund for for 2019 if I'd keep 2020 (which only renewed two weeks ago). I got a terse note that I could re-set the renewal myself. I've asked to speak to someone else.

Terrible company, don't get lured in by their offers. The content is below average. They don't issue refunds, even if you cancel before it is supposed to renew. They also don't send reminders of renewals upcoming. Horrible company, don't bother.

Avoid! They give no warning when auto renewal is coming up and charge you £59.99 with a no chance of a refund. They lure you in with a great offer and then you forget about it just to be charged £59.99. Don't do it, it's not very good anyway and definitely not worth the extortionate fee.

I signed up for a 3 month free trial. When I noticed that I wasn’t really taken by the content, approximately one month, I cancelled my subscription and thought all was good. A month later I noticed that I had been charged $59 and it had not been credited back. When I emailed them, they said they can’t/won’t credit it back, with no reason given; just a pleasant PFO reply. The Athletic’s business model is FRAUD. Please beware and pass the message along. Unfortunately, the only thing one can do if you run into an issue is email. As much as I enjoy certain aspects of the internet, I won’t be dealing with any company that doesn’t have a phone number for customer service. Based on my and many others experience, The Athletic is a company that preys on sports fans by offering free trials and subscription discounts and charging the customer whatever they want. Absolute Scam!