The Spectator Reviews 

Like several others have said, be aware of this company's subscriptions policy. I was on an introductory offer, and then without any warning (no email, no letter) they took £49.99 from my bank. When I contacted the company that run the subscriptions, I was told that "I've carefully reviewed your request and, unfortunately, we're unable to approve a refund on this occasion as your request falls outside our published Refund Policy."
Given the number of similar complaints that I have read, I feel that this is very damaging to the brand's reputation, and this company (OQS Support) is not acting in the best interests of the Spectator, nor its subscribers.
It doesn't take much to send an email warning that the discounted period is coming to an end, surely?

I was on a cheap Subscription, was planning on cancelling when I got the Renewal Notice.......It didn't come.....Just helped themselves to £49.99.....I protested that I thought that was Illegal........they replied....."Not until January 2027"....less than 3 months away......

I strongly recommend people do not sign up for The Spectator. No way to turn auto renewal off, I didn't want to cancel, just the option to renew or not when the time came. They then take 15% as an admin fee from a refund. Robbing ....... Articles started repeating themselves, got boring.

Impossible to cancel subscription. They don’t acknowledge email address. nor do they answer the phone. How do I stop payments? They have not given me a user number or any paperwork.

I signed up for the £3 for 3 months trial, cancelled my subscription (with confirmation), and found out today that they've been charging me £34.99 quarterly for a full year.

I contacted their support team, who claimed I started a second digital-only subscription after my initial one ended. I did not start a second trial, and didn't receive any communication telling my I had (which is a legal requirement).

Judging from the numerous similar complaints on here, they either have bad system issues that need to be resolved or (like many others) engage in predatory billing practices.

I shall now have to spent time contacting my bank to initiate a formal dispute, and reporting their billing practices to Trading Standards.

What a hassle, and a shame that journals must ruin their online reputation with shady tactics. They'd have a much higher rating on here if they weren't screwing over their readers...

I'm changing an earlier review, as it turns out it's far more Royal Mail than The Spectator at fault. Even our regular postie, has said they came back to chaos after having time off. The Spectator have done their best, responses can be a little slow, but replacements were sent always. One never turned up, and one week I got three all on the Friday, two of course a week out of date, which is why I was annoyed. I've amended my rating and this response.

My wife, Claire, and I have been to loads of Speccie events and it's about time we did a review. Simply superb every time. Great hosting by Johnny, Chloe, Laura et al, lovely quest speakers, meeting other readers and top notch food and wine without fail. From the indulgent BYOB lunches to Winemaker events and clays, claret, cognac and carnage on the Thames, every event has been a winner. Can't wait for the Napa trip (and Mustard Grill). If you haven't tried one of these events do give it a try - we love them.

Believing the Spectator was an unbiased and balanced view of current affairs, I paid for an annual subscription to receive it on a weekly basis.
In the beginning, everything was great, interesting articles, some quite humorous; I looked forward to the next delivery.
However, during the past couple of months, that belief of unbiase has gone, and they're constantly on the attack of those I follow and support; and it's tedious and unacceptable.
Earlier this year, one particular journalist wrote a piece disregarding a certain type of cancer, and because my spouse had survived that cancer, I was annoyed that it was seen as something that should be ignored, even though I advocate that a certain demographic should get checked.
I wrote in and complained. My view was dismissed.
Needless to say I have requested that my subscription is to be cancelled.
Very let down. If I'd wanted any of the above, I'd have subscribed to a daily newspaper.

I've enjoyed 3 Wine Lunches now. I attend alone and always feel part of the action and so well looked after. The afternoons are fun and informative, a great addition to my social life.
Top marks to Johnny who makes sure that everything is first class.....not just the wine and food.

There is no way of waiting to speak to someone, only TRY AGAIN LATER.
On 8 July I eventually emailed to complain and my renewal subscription was set up on 8 JULY 2026. However, since then I have not received the weekly magazine. According to the site I have a live subscrition.
I also emailed PAUL MARSHALL whose company now owns the Spectator. He replied "strange, I will pass it on".
The company which deals with subscriptions needs to be replaced with a company which responds to calls.
Today, 3 August, I have tried again to contact the company, obviously with no success.

I would leave "No Stars" if that were possible.
I called the Spectator today on their general number and found them to be most unhelpful. I was confronted by a certain amount of attitude when I eventually managed to get through after six attempts.
I am not a subscriber, I checked on their website having discovered this morning on my Co-op Bank app that they have taken £34.99 from my bank account.
As there was apparently nobody available to deal with this in a timely manner, I asked for an approximate time scale when I could expect their call; which was met with obfuscation. This reinforces my previous opinion and past experience of their administration - which is that it is totally unfit for purpose.
How an organisation such as this can claim to have customer service as part of its raison d'etre is totally beyond me. Now, more than 5 hours later, still no contact. Thankfully,though, my Bank has intervened and has cancelled the DD.

I took their 3 month, £3 introductory trial offer and cancelled it before it ended. They then offered me another 3 months at £3. I accepted. They then charged me full price (£50). Attempts to get them to engage with me over a refund have come to naught. I’ll have to recover it through my credit card which is a huge faff and not what you’d expect from a supposedly respectable publication. Maybe it’s the baleful influence of Michael Gove? Anyway, I’ll stay well clear in future and suggest others do too.
UPDATE: They now agreed to reimburse me £49.99 but they have helped themselves to a FURTHER £49.99 - no sign of the refund. It’s either incompetence or malice. Scam merchants.

Despite telling The Spectator via their subscriptions line not to renew the subscription no fewer than five times, they went ahead and did it. Yes the news reporting is good but they are nothing more than scammers.

Questionable practices, they do not make it possible to cancel the subscription inside the app.

Good journalism. Had joined on an introductory offer with auto-renewal. At renewal they took the renewal fee three days early. No renewal notice was sent out - they don't do that they told me. They told me that I had to cancel 15 days prior to the renewal date. They said I could cancel but that a 15% "administration fee" would be charged. Not sending a renewal notice; not allowing a contract to be cancelled without a fee is contrary to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) guidance on auto-renewals. I pointed out the CMA guidance and they immediately cancelled my subscription, without an "administration fee". Shocking and surprising that a supposedly reputable company behaves like this. (Mind you, they then sent me an e-mail saying I could renew at less than 50% of the annual charge, and less than I had paid previously!)

Needed to cancel a subscription erroneously paid for due to a tight student budget. The spectator and Georgia in Particular were incredibly accommodating, and refunded my money which is a rarity for online subscriptions and a touch of class.

Wonderful journalism and a welcome fresh prospective unbiased.
Subscription service is 💯% especially Georgia who minds my ROI post, albeit a slight delay ( but thats Royal Mail problem.

I was considering whether to renew my subscription to the Spectator.
Georgia moved me to a more attractive annual scheme and generously gave me a refund for a quarterly payment which had recently been debited from my account.
Thanks.

I phoned on the 15th of December about my subscription renewal. The person I got put through to could not give me the answers I needed, so I emailed the same day. I got an automated response to say I should expect a reply in 72 hours. On the 19th of December I chased a response by email. No reply at all. I then phoned at 10:13 on the 23rd to get an automated message saying the lines were open from 10:00 to 17:30 and to call back then!!! I've been a subscriber for years, but just cancelled.

Coming to the end of a trial of a magazine that promises much but somehow disappoints.
The often stylish writing masks some pretty thin analysis, leaning with little originality on the usual right-wing themes of cultural dilution, loss of personal responsibility etc. Once commentary is separated so completely from news content as it is in The Spectator, a decline in quality quickly follows if the editor isn't extremely vigilant. Obviously Gove isn't.
Often the titles look enticing - "The Devil rides out...the dangers of the new occult" announces the 1 November edition. Yet having read the three articles elaborating on this theme, I can't remember a single thing about them. And as for Rod Liddle on the Middle East, you'd think Israel had only ever fired a peashooter at Gaza. Talk about selective reporting! No wonder he writes mostly for the tabloids.
It isn't all bad- Michael Henderson's take-down of Miriam Margolyes was very funny. But the main articles can be as turgid as the political slant is predictable.