New Scientist Reviews 246

Tricked into signing up for New Scientist. Opted in for a $10 one month subscription, then discovered 2 x $44 debited from my account. I emailed and asked to unsubscribe - no response. So I managed contact via a phone number through my account page. I asked for a refund of $88 & was told no. If I don't get refund, I'll go to the media!!!

Thank goodness I read the reviews. I won’t be subscribing after all seeing how hard it is to stop subscribing

Have raised formal complaint. No acknowledgement. Have requested cancellation of subscription 5 times. No result. A good read but absolutely terrible service. How do I cancel?? How do I raise legitimate complaint??

I ticked the box for the trial offer and paid.They said It couldn’t be found until I showed evidence so had to send copy of bank statement.I have just been billed £45 as it seems I have renewed and I can’t access my account.I have sent an email to cancel.
Totally bad experience and the magazine is so dumbed down now.

My daughter bought a subscription to New Scientist as a Christmas present. The magazines are delivered with no problem. However, when I go online using the app it tells me that I do not have a subscription. This happens even when we use her phone with her address and password. Because of this we not be renewing our subscription. Also cannot find a way of complaining from the website. Not happy.
19/02/2026. Still no reply from New Scientist.
26/02/2026
App still not working! I log in with the correct details and it still tells me that I do not have an account.

Being able to cancel the subscription - website fails, and as it turns out you have to email/phone. The phone lines aren't great.

They don't respond to support emails.

I can't restore my purchases in my iPad App. I emailed them on 16th December and they haven't replied yet.

They're not a serious organisation, and publish and promote ill informed opinions at best, or more likely misinformation for cash.

Their take on Bitcoin, for example, is infantile. It demostrates no research, that they have an agenda, and they have no regard for disemminating science and facts to their readers.

It can, therefore, only be considered a scam.

As others say it is impossible to cancel on the website or app. In their FAQ it tells you to go to a nonexistent tab in your account settings.

Awful scam from such a trusted magazine.

I thought I'd subscribe to New Scientist as I used to read the occasional copy in the early 2000's. I came on here to see if the mag had retained its high-quality and was shocked to find that it's now a subscription racket with poorly advertised prices and an intentionally opaque cancellation process.

What's worse though is all their replies to the reviews are making it clear to everybody that this model of legalised theft is fully intentional and there's obviously no desire whatsoever from them to improve their practices and procedures to help stop people from inadvertently paying for things they didn't really want.

It's scummy behaviour and so I've closed the checkout page and would encourage others to boycott until they begin to show some respect and integrity.

After reading other reviews I chose not to spend money on this periodical. Seems it's seeking to cater to trendy interests and issues rather than critically discerning recent developments and discoveries.

Update: They did say below that they wanted to make this right. But they didn't. 1-year still means 350-days according to NS and they don't want to accept that a year has a very finite definition. Sad.

Original: For such a trusted magazine I'm very disappointed. I bought a subscription as a present in early Dec. Haven't see a copy yet. I went on their website where they very easily allow you to select back copies that have been missed, only to be told that the "annual", "for 1-year" subscription is actually for 50 weeks, and they email they sent me showing the issue from Dec, telling me I was going to get the issue, is a mistake of some sort. I still have an enquiry in with them to confirm this, so I will update.

If you are thinking about subscribing to New Scientist - PLEASE DON'T DO IT! You WILL regret it!
You will find it difficult to cancel your subscription. The worst part being that although they will bombard you with emails all year for offers etc you will not receive any notice at all that your subscription is due for renewal, and how much they will take from your bank account and when. The first you will know about it is when you look at your bank statement and see that money has been taken. I understand that this practice of rolling over subscription without providing written notice to the customer is now illegal. However New Scientist publications appear to be blatantly ignoring this requirement. I have been a loyal reader of the New Scientist for many, many years. Over that time I have felt that the editorial content that was once excellent is now simply just acceptable. In the last year I have also been aware that the advertising has certainly become more 'down market' and questionably at odds with the supposed scientific principles of the magazine.

Scam because no unsubscribe button. Ok content but this feature makes it a scam for me.

Impossible to cancel. Their FAQ says it is possible to do so in the 'help' section of the 'my account' but that is nowhere to be found.

There way of taking money is a 'subscription trap'. I intended to take the magazine for only year, as a present to my wife. At no point did I think I had a rolling subscription until they took £199 out of my bank account. I only became aware when my credit card statement arrived, by which time the 14 day cancellation period had expired. I'm feeling ripped off

Cannot cancel subscription. I wanted to cancel my subscription. There is no automated function. Impossible to find how to do it. I eventually found an email and requested cancellation. They have charged me again. Abysmal service.

Signed up before and used their subscription for a short while and cancelled due to not using. Requested they delete the account and associated data as I don’t want this stored unnecessarily. They’ve ignored two data deletion requests as you have to fill in some silly form on their website. In breach of GDPR regulations and not good enough.

Update: I replied to their reply asking for more information. They have then proceeded to ignore me and have not deleted my account or reached out.

Like a lot of reviews, poor experience. Ordered a gift subscription without reading trustpilot. Gift was for Christmas but stipulated next issue following Christmas. First issue will be 6th December, when I rang to query it, they said nothing can be done it’s already processed. Enough said.

Horrible experience. I bought a subscription for my dad as a gift. Purchasing the product was a nightmare through their broken website. The app would not work. Customer service was horrible and incompetent.

In the end, I wasted hours trying to get this online. I bought a year subscription and it never got used once.