OT: The Athletic subscriptions

[Alydar]

Today I decided to subscribe to the Athletic for the rest of the season. They offered 2 plans, monthly and annually. I chose monthly and signed up. When I got the bill receipt from Paypal I weas charged $48 for an annual subscription and with a note that it will be about $72.00 in the 2nd year. The only way to contact The Athletic is by email and the only offer they make is to cancel my subscription. They of course will keep my $48.00 and cancel me when the year is up. (or bill me $72.00 for that 2nd year)
They have no mailing address and no phone. I of course have filed a complaint with Paypal.

I post this not to harm The Athletic writers, they write well, but to keep others from getting swindled by their bosses like I have been.

 

[Geew1992]

Today I decided to subscribe to the Athletic for the rest of the season. They offered 2 plans, monthly and annually. I chose monthly and signed up. When I got the bill receipt from Paypal I weas charged $48 for an annual subscription and with a note that it will be about $72.00 in the 2nd year. The only way to contact The Athletic is by email and the only offer they make is to cancel my subscription. They of course will keep my $48.00 and cancel me when the year is up. (or bill me $72.00 for that 2nd year)
They have no mailing address and no phone. I of course have filed a complaint with Paypal.

I post this not to harm The Athletic writers, they write well, but to keep others from getting swindled by their bosses like I have been.

You should contact PayPal. They are really good at giving you your money back. I have had a few problems where I couldn't get my money back from the vendor. I contacted PayPal, showed them where I contacted the vendor, they did their research and gave me back my money.

 

[Alydar]

You should contact PayPal. They are really good at giving you your money back. I have had a few problems where I couldn't get my money back from the vendor. I contacted PayPal, showed them where I contacted the vendor, they did their research and gave me back my money.

Thanks. Yes, the first thing I did was to file a claim with PP. I've had prior issues over the years and hey have always been good to deal with.

 

[TeamFirst!]

I don't see the problem. If you don't want the 2nd year you can cancel. They are just telling you that the cost will go up after the initial deal is over. This is very common. The New York Times, Washington Post and many other subscription services do the same thing. At least that is my understanding from what you said.

 

[Alydar]

7:30 pm update. After hearing from Paypal I received a few emails from The Athletic and they kindly refunded me. I can re-subscribe at a monthly rate. Just wanted to close the loop.

 

[Alydar]

I don't see the problem. If you don't want the 2nd year you can cancel. They are just telling you that the cost will go up after the initial deal is over. This is very common. The New York Times, Washington Post and many other subscription services do the same thing. At least that is my understanding from what you said.

I only wanted to subscribe for the next 2 months for about $16.00. And that's what I did. Somehow it changed. I run into this at Amazon where they seem determined that I use my credit card and I always have to switch back to my preferred payment a couple of times until they show it on my invoice.

 

[Magic32]

My subscription was like $20 the first year and was going to $60 in subsequent years on auto-renewal. Just saw that it went to $72 (had not seen this post). Tried calling but automatically says caller busy. I went to cancel hoping that someone would reach out with no luck. However, by going through cancellation process they offer you under $24 subscription at next renewal but nothing off current and mine renewed less than a week ago. It's frustrating because I really enjoy the writing but $72 is too much for a digital subscription.

 

[TeamFirst!]

The Arhletic may well be worth $72 a year as their content is the best out there. They have a current deal for a dollar a month for a while. I’ve had it at that rate for several months now. You should be able to cancel at any time.