Buysubscriptions.com Reviews 2,378

Extremely predatory practices involving cancellation and auto-renewal.

I had selected no auto-renewal when purchasing and I guess they just ignored that

Cancellation process gives you multiple false positives regarding whether you've cancelled after selecting "cancel". So that it looks like you've cancelled when you select "cancel", however there are 3 "post cancellation" screens which need to be navigated in order to actually cancel. One involving your subscription id (as if they can't fetch this themselves). One involving a cancellation checkbox, and on then you also have to input your email too. All this is to confuse and convolute cancellation process.

The cancellation screen is also abstracted away from the "manage your subscriptions" screen meant to confuse those who struggle with web navigation are doomed to fail.

I bought a subscription last year. I never received a renewal notice or notification that the subscription was about to renew. I have been debited for another 12 months which I don't want. I have emailed them twice and filled out an online contact form but have not received anything in response. Not good customer service.

The most shocking company I think I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. I have contacted this company several times on numerous different occasions and still my query has not been dealt with or resolved.

I have had that many issues with this company, that I decided to cancel my subscription (3 issues for £5). I received an email confirmation confirming my cancellation, so I emailed to find out if the £5 would be refunded if I would not be receiving any issues. I have since received an email from a member of staff informing me that the first issue has been dispatched.

Why when I have cancelled my subscription has the first issue been dispatched? I wanted to cancel and have the £5 refunded, but apparently this is not the case and every email I have sent regarding this has been ignored.

I am absolutely disgusted that not only is this company extremely slow to acknowledge/respond to any emails, but when they do they completely disregard anything you have asked. It has been extremely frustrating and I am still non the wiser having my issue resolved.

My subscription number is 4056374442, so I would appreciate if someone would email me and resolve this issue or I will be left with no choice but to contact Trading Standards regarding getting my money back!!

radio Times not received on time (Christmas Issue), advised company and all you get is wait ! Dreadful service even when you follow their on line guidance about notifying them. Had to give a 1 star review as you cannot give anything less.

Bought a 12 month subscription to gardeners world, but needed to changed my address from May, after emailing at the time, phoning twice since, and recently emailing again this has not been done. All that has happening is they resend copies to my old address, despite outlining clearly that I am now owed 8 issues.

Signed up for Radio Times subscription as it was a good deal but 2 weeks in and I have not been sent a single copy despite should have received one almost a week ago. Emailed them but no response and asked for a replacement but still nothing. Think they just took my money and now have me signed up with no way of getting in touch to cancel or resolve.

Not sure how they are allowed to do this but absolutely shocking service. Better off going out and buying the physical copy, all they have done is sent me a PDF copy of the magazine but that’s not what I paid a subscription for

Avoid this scam website

Update

I cancelled my subscription and have had to go out and purchase a physical copy already. No need to send me another copy just refund my subscription.

Another note - please update your systems as I get late replies and differing information from people. Just improve your service, it’s broken completely

WOW. I mean Buysubscriptions has always been awful. But I've got a subscription to Good Food and Gardener's World and they sent me a renewal for six months, but I wanted a 12 month subscription for my friend.

Phoned them - unbelievably useless service. So I emailed them, only to find a 12 month sub (which is always cheaper than 2 x 6 month subs) was offered at £42.99

Emailed again, they offered me - LOL - you can't make it up - £44.99!

Utterly woeful customer service. I had believed these magazines were shipped by BBC direct, but knowing it's being shipped by this incompetent company, I think I'll just cancel.

And they wonder why the print media is dying!

Wonder no more.

Look. Response. £42.99 a year and £39.98 for 2 x 6 month subscriptions... Baffling. I say this from literally working in professional media publishing for 30 years. I've never seen a subscription higher for a year than two x 6 month subs.

Rubbish.

Subscribed to Radio Times for my Grandma in 2021 at a cost of £49.40 per 6 months. I had an email that this was being increased in Feb 2023 to £75.40 which I was okay with. This year they upped the direct debit to £117 without telling me! The subscription is now costing me £234 a year. I did not agree to this and there was no forward communication. It's still being advertised on the website at £52 per 6 months! Talk about rewarding loyal customers... I have complained to customer services who said it was a result of the increased cost of paper...

Update: They have now reached out personally and made this right by refunding me for the rest of this subscription. Thank you Kate who dealt with this for me.

Am reading similar experiences from other customers - communication is shocking. I have been paying £52 every 6 months for a magazine subscription and have noticed a payment yesterday of £128.70. I have had NO communication or courtesy e-mail to say that a) my payment was due, and b) it would be more than double. This has put my account into a negative balance, for which I will be charged. I have sent an e-mail asking for an immediate refund and cancellation. I would beware of this company, as this is not the first time they have messed up my bank account. I will be interested to see how long it takes to get a refund. I will be calling on Monday if this isn't actioned, as I will be charged to be overdrawn on a daily basis.

Beware!! They renewed my subscription without any email with the information about it. I asked for a refund a few hours after that. It's been a month and I haven't received it yet. Every time I email them they use half automatic email apologising for a glitch and ask me to wait another 5 working days.

Auto renew for subscriptions is on by default and they do not send you a courtesy email to let you know you're about to renew - for an annual subscription this will come as a surprise to most people. Their contact email address doesn't work and instead directs you to a webform so it's harder for you to track or demonstrate your attempts to contact the company. Their general enquiry form doesn't send you a copy of your communication to them. Their password reset form email never arrives (and isn't in junk) so you can't login to manage your preferences. Support were unable to resolve the issue and disconnected. The cancellation form doesn't work and just loops you back to the start.

I think it's just incompetent site design and lazy maintenance rather than a deliberate attempt to prevent cancellations - but boy is it tempting to think they've done this on purpose after you try THREE different ways to cancel and none of them get you anywhere.

Not impressed.

After looking at the different offers for the magazine I wanted I found on Buysubscriptions.com that there are various ways of paying I found the best option for me
It was easy to set up
I just wish they had asked for this review sooner as memory is not very good these days
Thank you

I paid for a subscription to Gardeners World magazine (subscription number 4056383229) on 30th September. This was being offered with a £10 M&S voucher. I still haven't received the voucher. I emailed you on 23rd October to complain. You replied, apologising and saying that I would have the voucher within 28 working days. Not impressed!

Not be uaing Buy subscriptions long. But so far so good.

A excellent and easy way to buy and renewal any magazine subscriptions.
As a reader of several magazines l find this a wonderful service.

FIRST CLASS MAG DELIVERED ON TIME

Gardeners world offered an M&S voucher for a subscription which I took out but it never arrived!! I won’t be renewing it!

Yet again this week there is an offer of 10 issues of the Radio Times for £10 followed by £52 for 26 weeks doing the rounds.
We had subscribed to Radio Times for many years with the payment of £52 taken in February 2024 for the next 26 issues.
In August this year, £117 was taken by our Direct Debit without warning for a further 26 issues despite my account showing £52 would be taken.
On contacting buysubscriptions by both email and phone I was informed that the £52 was no longer a sustainable price and the £117 every 6 months would stand. This equates to £4.50 per issue, the face price in shops. Every other magazine subscription we have offers a substantial discount off the face price.
My advice would be to take up the offer and then cancel it after the first £52 has been taken otherwise you will find that a some stage £117 will be removed from your bank account without warning.

I didn't receive my magazine in the time specified. I believed someone could have stolen it from my letter box. In any case they send out a new copy asap, with out any question. It was a simple and helpful process.