Times Newspapers Ltd Reviews 

As with so many others I have been caught by The Times not informing me that my offer had ended and they took £25.99 from my creditcard. Phoned them up to argue the point and was "accidentally" cut off when I asked for a refund and how I didn't think them taking money without warning me was legal.
Long and short, read the terms, Mark the dates in your diary and TBH there are better and cheaper newspapers out there.

I signed up for an offer on subscription and just seen full payment taken so I tried to cancel in app. Impossible! I live abroad and had to ring. On that basis alone I confirmed cancellation. No reminder of subscription renewal and no online way to cancel. Very dubious practice. Last time I subscribe to the times.

Was only using the app to scan through the news on a daily basis so felt the price was way to high at £26pm. Spoke to cancel and said as I was a casual reader they would reduce right down to £6-7 per month which was fair however just realised that this was only for 6months and reverted back up without any notification and this was not made clear. Please do not fall into the same trap

Extremely scummy business practices from the Times. Attempted to cancel my subscription only to find this can’t be done through a button on the website like most subscriptions instead you have to phone them up. I did so and an extremely rude lady picked up and acted like I was the first person ever to want to cancel. She said that she couldn’t cancel my subscription as I had opted for a discounted rate and could only cancel it from 2028 but even this took some persuading from my side to achieve.

Don’t deal with this rip-off company under any circumstances! I (allegedly) took out a 12-month discounted subscription and was charged the full price as soon as it ended. WARNING: You don’t receive ANY reminders that it’s expiring. I called customer services and was treated HORRIBLY. Staff had no idea how to treat customers: computer says no, argumentative. I was shocked. Had they been reasonable, I would’ve considered taking out a new subscription but will no longer be giving this rip-off merchant ANYTHING. ALWAYS take out subscriptions using PayPal so you can stop them from taking future payments.

I cancelled my subscription to The Times and The Sunday Times via email in early November, but they continued to charge me. Only later did I find out that they require cancellations to be made by phone – something that wasn’t clearly stated. This feels like a deliberate barrier to prevent users from leaving. Still waiting for a refund. Disappointing experience for what I expected to be a reputable publication.

Made the mistake of signing up on a discounted trial period, only to realise once I had been billed for a few months at full price £26pm that the only way to cancel is to call up. Represenative I spoke to was very polite, but spent more time trying to sell the benefits and avoid cancellation than just processing my request. Won't make the same mistake again!

Won’t cancel my subscription! I’ve asked repeatedly. A scam business with practices more akin to internet scam companies

I suffered from the same fate as others. After 12 years as a loyal subscriber my new offer was an increase of over 500%!
Yep, subscription cancelled immediately.
Total greed on their part and I hope that they suffer from the consequences of it.

I called to cancel my subscription and was told it was cancelled but was charged every month since £13/month!!

Someone needs to do something about these horrible newspaper subscriptions - this is a scam

Mental that you have to call up to cancel a subscription in this day and age, but dont worry you can change everything else about payment details and whatnot on the website just not cancel the subscription. Wild

Absolutely horrible customer experience. I signed up by accident to their subscription and was charged £26/month for half a year. When I realised and called them, they said they'll cancel but I had credits left and I could use them over the next 4 month. 4 months later I was charged again!
When I said to one of their CS people that there has been no communication about upcoming charges, they said that they're not obliged to do it and, dismissively, directed me to the cancellation team.

Stuck in the dark ages. I tried to cancel my subscription the day it was due for payment but got told that wasn't possible and to 'miss the payment for 2 months and your account will terminate. It’s shocking that they do not allow people to cancel online via their account.

Disgusting service. I tried to cancel my subscription the day it was due for payment but no capacity to do this online. Ended up having to call a telephone number and was met with hard sell techniques. I’m flabbergasted that the times can get away with this. Refused to refund my £26 monthly payment. I have never been met with such poor service via a subscription service. It’s shocking that they do not allow people to cancel online via their account.

If any other company increased its subscription price by 516% after making pre-tax profits of £61 million, I would expect your journalists to be interested in the story.
No chance of that, is there ?
Profits at Times Media, the publisher of The Times and The Sunday Times, grew last year as the group added 29,000 digital-only subscribers. According to newly published accounts, pre-tax profit rose to £61 million in the year to the end of June 2024, up from £60.9 million the year before.29 Mar 2025
That's £13 per month you will be losing. But with profits like yours, you don't care how you treat people, do you ?
"This offer is valid for the life of your membership."
I will, in the future be getting my news from a source with more honesty and integrity. who don't say one thing but mean another, both in print and verbally, and use your money-grabbing small print as a reason. I hope Abdullah enjoys his bonus this year
Goodbye,

After being a subscriber for many years the Times has just increased my subscription by 500%, yes 5 times the current amount. They blame this on inflation - well correct me if I'm wrong but inflation is not 500%, even if you go back to the 1970s. Needless to say I've cancelled.

I have been a subscriber for many years (paper and website). There has been a price increase of nearly 41%. I was not willing to pay this increased amount, and wanted to cancel with immediate effect. The unhelpful answer was that I was required to give 3 months notice of cancellation. Surely it can't be right to insist that I remain a subscriber at an amount which I never agreed to?

Similarly to the other 892 negative reviews on this site, The Times online subscription makes it difficult to cancel (by phone only, in office hours), their customer service staff seem universally rude, and they continue to take money / refuse to refund subscription costs to cancelled subscribers. Avoid at all costs! For what seems a credible brand, they are scammers.

Just another example of a horrendous experience trying to cancel a simple subscription. In 2025 making you cancel via a phone call is simply ridiculous. Then (convinced you’ve cancelled) they keep taking your money. After calling again they said we suggested it was a cooling off period. Made them listen the call and threatened a dispute prices through bank. Finally cancelled.
Utter sharks

These clowns think that a viable way to build a business is to trap people in a subscription rather than create content that someone wants to pay for.