The Wall Street Journal Reviews 361

Subscription Billing Scam = I subscribed to the WSJ digital bundle for $10 per month (a one year promotional lower rate offer.) Two weeks before the end of the 12th month the WSJ charged my credit card $49.99 as the new monthly rate, beginning a 13th month. The central problem is that I did not renew or agree to have my card charged at the higher rate, and the year I subscribed for had not yet expired when they processed a much higher payment for themselves. Luckily I had marked my calendar to call (as they require) in order to cancel one week before the end of the promotional period. I called and told the customer service rep that I wanted to cancel, and I wanted them to issue a credit as a refund for the $49.99. because I did not want to renew at that monthly rate. The CS rep informed me that he was not authorized to issue me a credit and there was nothing he could do about it. I explained that my subscription period had not expired yet, and the terms of my original deal explicitly stated "You can cancel anytime." Still he would not budge. So, I said I want to talk with a supervisor. I got one on the line after holding for over 25 minutes TWICE! Ms. Supervisor said the same thing: NO REFUND. No cogent explanation was offered. No reference number could be provided to me as a complaint ticket tracking number. Nothing to assist me in resolving this directly with WSJ was provided. So, I had to jump through hoops with my credit card provider, explain it again, provide evidence of the fraud, fill out a long form, etc. ADVICE: If you ever accept one of the attractively priced WSJ promotions make sure you mark your calendar to call and cancel your subscription at least 1.5 months in advance of the expiration. I looked at the 12 charges on my credit card history and found that, beginning in the 7th month of the term, they shaved 3 days per month off the monthly billing cycle, which effectively advanced the annual renewal date by 15 days. This is fraud, in my opinion.

I was also caught by the $4 switch to a $38.99 rate. However, the WSJ behaved in a dubious manner as far as I am concerned. My $4 subscription started Sept. 6, 2022. The welcome letter stated that the subscription would renew at the end of the 12 month trial at $38.99 per month. (It also stated that there is a "no refund" policy.) So, I set a calendar event for Sept. 1, 2023 to cancel the subscription. My credit card was charged on the 7th of each month between September 2022 and April 2023. However, in May and June of 2023 my card was charged on the 5th. Then in July, it was the 3rd. For August, they charged the card on July 31st. Then, before I had a chance to cancel the subscription, they billed me for $38.99 on August 26th. I cancelled the subscription online and was informed by email that my subscription would expire at the end of September. I am calling customer service Monday morning but I don't expect any different response from what others have experienced. That's an awful billing practice - changing the charge date over the last 4 months so you fall into this trap. I will follow up by filing complaints with the BBB and the FTC.

I enjoyed my digital subscription. Cancelling required a phone call but the process was dead easy and quick. I would subscribe again in the future if I need to read more on the financial news.

I don't understand all 1 star reviews, is making one phone call that lasts 3 minutes that difficult?

Once subscribed, cannot teminated! No cancellation button in the app and web portal. No response to cancellation email. No cancellation via phone call. I tried all these but eventually failed. I had to terminate my credit card to stop the charge.
Here's what I went through: When I called their US hotline, I was told to call the HK hotline as I am in Asia. In my first call to HK hotline, they suggested that I cancel via web portal as I cannot cancel via the app that I signed up with. When this failed, I called the second time and was told to write in to the email address in the WSJ website - but no one responded to my request for cancellation and they continue to charge me.
Finally, I called my credit card company and I was told that only way to stop this after all else failed is for me to terminate the credit card which I did.

Scam practise when it comes to cancelling your order. Can't be done online, requires you to call at stupid hours - unbelievable.

Great newspaper. Terrible customer service. Required call to cancel the service verged on customer abuse. Had to suffer through 20 minutes of appeals and offers and required to provide multiple information items to cancel. What a miserable experience. What a shame. You'd think a business paper would be more attune to customers.

Once you sign up they make it very difficult to cancel. There is no online option to cancel but instead you have to call through to their call centre. I was sucked in with a lick-bait headline and luckily I set myself a reminder to cancel, but they hide the option and prey on people who aren't persistent. I've been caught too many times by scam artists to let them get away with it. Shame on you WSJ.

I'm yet another sucker for their awful subscription scam. I contacted them to cancel my subscription in March of 2021. I made it very clear that I hadn't even logged in once in almost a year and already wanted a refund. Unfortunately I didn't keep close track of my account to make sure that cancelation went through and they've bene charging me ever since – almost $1000 since then of their insane $39/month rate for a digital subscription I've literally never accessed once. Customer service was a nightmare. As others report, they refuse to budge on any type of refund whatsoever. And they refuse to connect with a supervisor. Awful. I feel extorted. I can only pursue dispute through my bank now (which might be another waste of time). Avoid at all costs.

I learned today that Fox News owns the Wall Street Journal. Goodbye Wall Street Journal. Bad association spoils useful information. 1 Cor. 15:33

Delivery service is an ongoing problem, this time lasting nearly a month. Neither the Customer Service nor Support Department can come up with a solution to get my paper to me, let alone on time, but they're very good at sending boilerplate apologetic emails. I've not been able to communicate with the same person about the issue so it's starting from scratch with each attempt. Nobody can give an explanation for non-delivery. I tried to cancel my subscription yesterday but got a Customer Service commitment that I would get my paper today. Didn't happen!

no consistancy in delivery. they dont care or follow up.
10 missed days in one year.
customer service is non reponsive.

Can't cancel. When you call is you get some guy in India who can barely speak English and they just lie to you. They say they will cancel, but they do not.

Signed up for print and e version. Never received a print copy. Canceled whole thing 2 weeks into subscription

As others have written in here, this service is impossible to cancel. I have tried to do that via e-mail but they want cancelling to be done via phone. And when I have called them they have promised to cancel the subscription and refund the last payment but they just never do that and my credit card keeps getting charged (this has now happened over a year)! I now understand why it is convenient to ask to do this only by calling them because then you do not have anything in writing. And I don't even have an account for them so that I could read the articles!!!! So there is no active account for me (therefore I have no product from them) but somehow they always justify charging my credit card!

I subscribed to the WSJ because a lot of news out there is inflammatory and biased. WSJ had articles that seemed more even handed, and I appreciated that.

After $4/month for a year, I got my first warning email saying my monthly rate would be $39/month, starting in a few days. Turns out I'd been charged the new rate for the last 2 months without warning.

I called the WSJ, and they refused to give me a refund for increasing my monthly payment tenfold without proper warning. They gave me the usual run around, offering the absolute "lowest possible offer" which wasn't, since they kept "finding" a better one when I rejected the last one.

Can the integrity of their journalism be safe when their sales tactics are so low? I wont be signing up with them again.

Delivery is atrocious, when it's delivered at all. I'm supposed to get the paper by 7am. Today it was delivered at 8:30am EDT. The call service is no help and now, all of a sudden, more than 1 phone number is associated with my account, so I have to put in my 12-digit subscription number to even speak with someone. Frankly, the issue of non- or late-delivery has been "escalated" so many times, the automated system won't even let me report it that way. I have to speak with some inane person calling me "mum" who promises to do something about this. This has been going on in Miami Beach, Florida for months now. I see the Sarasota, FL reviewer and feel your pain.

Unable to get credit for a missed delivery. There does not seem to be a way to get a credit for a missed delivery. Is there?

Called to cancel, since that’s the only way you can do so. He tried to offer me other deals, etc. finally agreed to cancel my subscription. The next day I received an email saying I was resigned up for a subscription. They do have good articles, but not worth this hassle

I cancelled my digital subscription of $4.48 per month on their website and I have a screenshot from mid December 2023 showing "subscription expiring soon".
I did not renew and assumed that this terminated the subscription.
There was nothing on the page about autorenewal.
Customer service told me when I complained that its impossible to cancel a subscription without phoning.
How would I know this since I was also on the same day able to cancel a cheap Barrons subscription successfully online without phoning.
So I ask them how would I know I had to phone and why did they renew the subscription when their website stated my subscription was expiring soon.
He said I would have had to read their terms of service - in other words - I would have to delve into the fine print.
As of two days ago when I discovered these large erroneous billings of over $60 Canadian per month for 3 months I looked at my account and it states "subscription expired" and yet WSJ support says my account is still active.
There is no customer service. The support person did not listen to me and was unable to explain why "subscription expiring soon" and subscription expired" means the exact opposite in the world of WSJ
What a disgraceful outfit.
Expect the worst

The Wall Street Journal is a great paper but their renewal process is super shady and underhanded. I can't believe a company like Dow Jones operates in such a way. I received an email notification that my annual "promotional rate" of $8 a month was set to expire in 3 weeks. I called to renegotiate my rate because it was set to go up to $43 a month! When I logged in to look at my account I saw that they already charged me the new exorbitant amount for the Jan and Feb. I called and they refused to refund me. Crazy! I told them I only got the email notification yesterday. They said there are no refunds. Awful business practices! I tried to take the phone survey after my unsatisfactory call with customer service and the stupid survey call got disconnected. UGH!