RADIO TIMES Reviews 209

After my post "Avoid" of 27th Febuary I was contacted by David Hodges of RT who explained the delivery problems they've been experiencing (Invariably caused by Royal Mail) and apologised for the loss of issues over the preceding few months.
He then offered to cancel our subscription and make a full refund which we accepted and has now been completed.

Despite the recent problems I really cannot complain about the customer service that Mr. Hodges has provided hence the rating.

Just awful. I have been trying to link and manage my gift subscription since the website changed in October last year. It won’t link at all and I’ve been passed from pillar to post with no way to manage or access my subscription online. I have sent many emails and made several phone calls and still the issue is not resolved. Usually my emails are ignored, other times I get AI generated responses that make no sense whatsoever. When I get through to a human they say they have no record of any correspondence. It’s a nightmare dealing with this company and I will definitely NOT be renewing once the annual subscription ends. It’s a shame as the gift recipient loves the magazine but I can’t be dealing with this stress. All I want to do is access and manage my subscription!

Radio Times changed distributors in October 2025. No warning or advisorys sent to subscribers. Since the changes were made the delivery was either very late or the magazine did not arrive at all. Customer Services whilst polite, did nothing to resolve the problems. I had been a RT purchaser since 1977, BUT NO LONGER!!
So not only have RT lost a subscriber but also a customer of long standing. SHAMEFULL!!

I had a problem in November last year when the Radio Times I had been subscribing to for many years stopped arriving and I could not read the digital version. After several phone calls they could not find my account or any record of my payment. After a month I took out another subscription which didn’t arrive until December 24th. So then I had I had two subscriptions because the first one also resumed in December with an apology from the company. I have tried to cancel the second subscription and was promised a refund. It has not arrived. I agree with all the comments. Immediate Media is a dreadful company with poor customer service. I will not renew my subscription again.

If I could give zero stars, I would! I echo all the comments made in Feb 2026 from unhappy Radio Times (would be) subscribers. I live in NL but have happily and successfully made an RT gift subscription for several years to my mum in the UK via buysubscriptions.com. However since it has been taken over by Immediate Media / radiotimes. com or whichever joker it is now, I have been unable to link my existing account or even simply purchase a new subscription. I reach the point of payment and it comes up with a "problem" each time. I give up!! As a Brit living in NL I am already totally cheesed off with the way the BBC has treated "Brits abroad" by blocking us out of listening to BBC radio through the BBC Sounds app ... don't get me started! Anyway, this is the last straw ... they are not worthy of our custom!

Very disappointed! I have had a subscription to the Radio Times for many years now and although ,over the years there were sometimes postal problems the previous customer service always replied promptly and were very helpful . Having the digital version as well as the paper was a great help too if the post failed.
Now ..the big change ,after two months of trying I still can’t put my subscription number in my account so I do as asked and contact the customer service. It says they are “dedicated “ ,to what I wonder ,definitely not to solving customers problems .I have emailed for help and when they eventually reply, (well ,Africa is a long way away after all ) they are not able to solve the problem so I can write my subscription number in place and renew my subscription….The suggestion to phone is not a good one and I can’t see how that can be better in this case .Stuck in a queue to speak to someone in Africa won’t solve my problem.
The Radio Times subscription is coming to an end now, I wrote again but no reply so I cannot renew and here in Netherland they are not available in the shops so it’s a sad end to an enjoyable magazine. I can subscribe to the digital version via apple but it’s not the same ; I don’t have a smart phone so it is on my IPad and I will have to copy down the listings of what I want to watch every day and the puzzel pages although possible, are more difficult to do digitally. Reading other reviews, it looks as if making a new ,recurring type subscription looks very risky indeed. The trustworthiness has gone.

Never had an issue with buysubscriptions.com but now it has moved to radiotimes.com I can't see any of my subscription details, and despite contacting them via the help page I'm still waiting for a response. Tried calling them but you just wait on the line for someone to answer so eventually gave up. Previously buysubscriptions.com answered the calls within minutes. What has gone so wrong? I'm due to renew my subscription in May but if nothing improves I won't bother.

I have subscribed to this magazine for well over 30 years. I was brought up on it as the go to magazine, even before it merged with TVTimes magazine. No problems with it until Immediate Media took over last year. I was charged a double direct debit in Feb then March. I was refunded, but it happened again in Aug & Sept! Since then i had been attempting to obtain the refund with no success. They agreed immediately that I should & would have a refund within 7 working days, but even after numerous calls to chase (each time being told it would be escalated), numerous contacts using email & their web contact box (all of which never got past the automatic response stage) & a formal complaint in writing & by email to the CEO (which got a sincere apology response & assurance it would be dealt with swiftly) I still hadn't received my refund. Finally I went to my bank and through their assistance got my refund within 5 days of contacting them as it was clear that there was no dispute about my entitlement yo a refund.
One month later I still hadn't received any contact from RT customer services, until I contacted them this week to say that I have cancelled my direct debit and that I wished to cancel future subscriptions because of their appalling untrustworthy services. I got an apologetic reply within 2 days saying how sad they were & confirming i would receive copies until my current subscription ended! Enough said!

Total TV Guide is half the price to buy in the shops & will give me what I need. Quids in!

Disgraceful lack of customer service. I took out an annual subscription and approx 20% of issues did not arrive. The Radio Times call centre was appalling - I
made so many calls with no resolution. Finally I contacted my credit card company. They logged the details snd asked me to email full details. It can be cumbersome but it is worth keeping details of missing issues and call centre conversations. I received a refund from the credit card company a few days later. As the cost was over £100, they processed a Section 75 refund. The credit card company can do a recharge if under £100.
My recommendation is that don’t deal with the ridiculous behaviour of Radio Times call centre staff but go to your card provider. I would always pay by credit card for the extra protection. Also if you have an iPad or similar, many libraries offer it for free on their book/magazine app. You can also set up a subscription to notify you weekly about the latest issue.
I just had enough of Immediate Media. Don’t let them wear you down!
Never again! They lost a long-standing customer as they have no customer service.

Have been a customer for over 10 years when it was managed by Buysubscriptions. Deliveries to France were sometimes late, but a quick phone call and an extra issue was added to my subscription. Now they won't answer the phone and rarely reply to emails. I was missing 4 issues, and have eventually been offered a credit in sterling not euros. As I have no intention of renewing this is worthless. A good, reliable service has been totally ruined! DO NOT SIGN UP !

Not delivered AGAIN. Speaking to the subscription service is useless and, believe me, I've tried.

My mother had a subscription, which we had to cancel due to blindness from cataracts. On 23rd December we were promised a refund of £113.25, that would be in her account within 10 days. This never happened, despite numerous attempts to contact them, they are now ignoring our emails. My mother is elderly & disabled and has to pay for care, she has been a loyal reader of the Radio Times for over 40 years & this is an awful way to treat her.

Utterly abysmal website that doesn’t work.
The old website for subscribing to Radio Times magazine - buysubscription.com - wasn’t great, but at least it worked. Renewing my subscription was simple and easy.
Since that was abandoned by Immediate Media and my account moved to radiotimes.com, my subscription is in limbo. The website will not display any details.
I have repeatedly tried linking my subscription, but it never works. And asking for help via customer service is no use. If they even bother to reply, which often they don’t, the replies are many days later and offer no help whatsoever, usually just explaining how to link my subscription, which I have told them over and over again doesn’t work.
They have admitted occasionally that there are problems with the website, but will offer no timescale for when it will be fixed (it’s been broken for months now), then revert back to denying there are problems and blaming me for not knowing how to log in.
Last time I logged in the subscription page was a mixture of random upper and lower case letters, as if the programmers were having trouble with their caps lock key. Not exactly reassuring.
My subscription is nearing renewal time, but until the website is fixed I won’t be renewing even by phone because I can’t trust them. And even then, I will be wary...

Also, the magazine is rarely delivered on time. Used to regularly arrive on Tuesday. Now we’re lucky to get it on Friday or Saturday. Two issues this year did not arrive until after the listings had finished, rendering the magazine useless. This is because of poor delivery by Royal Mail though, not the magazine’s fault.

I have had Radio Times on subscription for several years, with only the occasional missing copy (when an extra week would be added to my account). But since November 2025, I have missed 3 issues. Last week's was the Winter Olympics special, which I particularly wanted. No reply to my query so I had to buy it from the Radio Times online shop. This week's was delivered by Yodel! I'll stick it out until my subscription finishes if possible, but I can't log in to cancel as it won't recognise my sub number! So I'll just cancel the direct debit through my bank

I've telephoned and emailed as I am not receiving the Radio Times until the following week if at all. I've asked for a refund on my subscription and have heard absolutely nothing. We've had the subscription for YEARS. Never had this bad a service. I can see from other reviews this seems what is happening since Immediate Media took over the magazine. I would NOT recommend.

Another copy has simply not arrived at all. I've tried reporting this via the website drop down form but keep getting an error message telling me to try later. Delivery is abysmal, used to arrive regularly on Tuesdays, now it's Friday or even Saturday, except when it doesn't arrive at al. Not acceptable, I'm seriously thinking of cancelling.

Tried twice before and four times after renewal notice to cancel subscription for an elderly relative who due to their declining health no longer wants the magazine. Despite all these phone calls and wanting a manager to call back have heard absolutely nothing. Their Complaints & Customer Service Procedures are in need of a review to bring them up to standards that companies have in place today.

Like many customers very dissatisfied one copy turned up the week after it was due & have had numerous problems with late or no delivery. I am now going to cancel my subscription I would rather pay extra at my local shop than keep going through this shambles of a delivery service.

I have just had an email about my Radio Times direct debit for the next 6 months telling me that it will cost
£260.00, and this money has been taken from my bank. You can't get through to them on the website so I will try to phone them tomorrow, but judging from other reviews I'm not confident how this will turn out.

Took out a years subscription, two copies have not arrived , asked for a refund and told they would credit next years subscription .At 84 thats not an attractive offer!!! Shame on you RT. will contact Rip off Britain .