The Athletic HQReviews of theathletic.com

I had subscribed to The Athletic for 1 yr subscription of $59.99 which was supposed to end April 21. I went into my Athletic account to cancel and it showed that I had no subscription? So I emailed the company and they replied that they didn’t see that I had a subscription? So I ignored it, figuring I was gonna cancel anyway. Low & behold on April 21 I was charged $59.99. I went to my Athletic account and it’s still showing I don’t have a subscription but i still have access to the site but shows I have no subscription? I’ve sent numerous emails stating I want my money returned and cancel my subscription but so far no answer! Not sure why they would scam people because they have good content and writers! Frustrated as hell

Like so many others, after an interesting article appeared on facebook, I started the free trial to read it in full. After reading the article (which wasn't as interesting as I thought it was going to be), I went into settings and turned off the subscription price, which had been set to a year at £59.99. A couple of days later I've been billed at the year's price. Very angry at this and naturally in lock down there appears to be no-one to handle my complaint. I feel like I've been robbed. Avoid 'free trial' at all costs!!!

My bad for not turning off auto renew earlier, but I just forked over AU$100 for a subscription to a sports journalism website during a global pandemic with ABSOLUTELY NO SPORT HAPPENING ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, weeks after losing my job. Doesn't seem like any way out of it. They gave absolutely no notice that it was up for renewal and didn't even send me confirmation of re-subscribing, i just learned it from my bank statement.

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.