The Athletic HQReviews of theathletic.com

SCAM! FRAUD! BEWARE! Venture funding to begin offering free trials, then suck you in and won't let you cancel. "Although the company declined to provide any specifics on revenue or average subscription rates, which can vary widely depending on which of the various introductory offers a subscriber takes advantage of, the most common figure analysts have used when ballparking the company’s finances is about $40 per subscriber per year. This would mean the Athletic Chicago alone brings in at least $1.2 million in annual revenue. Plus, the pricing structure incentivizes readers to pay for the full year upfront, giving the company immediate cash on hand to invest in attracting more subscribers." Article on slate.com (you can't post links in comments so I added a space after slate.com) Slate.com /culture/2018/09/the-athletic-is-poaching-from-local-sports-pages-and-reading-like-them-too.html

Awful company and an absolute scam. I tried the free trial and decided that it wasn't the product that I wanted, therefore I cancelled the free trial on the 4th February, within the trial period. I received an confirmation email from them stating the cancellation of the account and that I would still have access until the 8th February. On the 7th February I was charged the annual subscription amount from my account despite cancelling the free trial. There is no customer service number and you must email in which they will apparently respond within 1-3 working days. DO NOT USE!!! SCAM!!!

I agree with the majority of posters. Clicked on free trial because I saw a tweet about an article that looked interesting. Didn't read another thing because their content is no better than anything else you can get for free. At the end of my free trial period I got charged $60 for a year's renewal, with no prior notification. Tried to cancel on the same day they renewed but they say it's too late. This should be illegal. No company should be allowed to offer a free trial, and then not allow the subscriber to cancel. Learn a lesson and don't sign up for these scam "free trials."

Would give zero stars. Pathetic excuse for a firm. Malpractice at its worst. Thieves! They took the £60 from my account even though I had canceled the account. All other reviews are true. These guys are scammers ! Avoid

Like so many reviews posted prior to mine, I am completely dissatisfied with The Athletic. Not only is their content no better than numerous free of charge sports sites, but their “free trial” is a total come-on. I canceled my subscription 2 days after signing up for the free trial and they hit my credit card for the full year’s subscription cost. I’m contacting my credit card issuer to dispute the charge. I’m sorry I didn’t come here first to read these reviews, because as I was signing up for their service, I knew it was not going to end well. I’m such a fool.

You may cancel your The Athletic account at any time – however, there are no refunds for cancellation. To avoid auto-renewal, just go to link and cancel your plan. Stuck for another year for the full price. No email notification before the auto-renewal kicks in. No way to turn auto-renewal off unless cancelled. No refund after cancellation. What a joke.

The coverage of the teams I want to read about is almost non-existent. This was a waste of money and they won't refund a penny of it. In my search for a phone number for them (never found one) I did run across this interesting bit of information: They have a "C" rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Followed a link for a free 7 day trial, entered my details expect to have 7 days to cancel, was instantly charged for 1 month. Contacted the support email, was told we are sorry to see you go and we cant refund you!