The Economist

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The Economist

Basic information
Founded	1843
Legal Structure	Private
Industry	Newspapers
Official website	https://www.economist.com/

The Economist is a weekly digital and printed newspaper founded in 1843.

Consumer-impact summary

User Privacy: data from all website visitors is collected and shared with no possibility to opt out.

User Freedom: users can sign up for a subscription through the website but can only cancel it by calling customer support or using an online customer service chat function.

Incidents

Difficult Cancellation Process

Signing up for a subscription is really easy and can be done through the website, but canceling, on the other hand, is only possible by calling customer support or by using the customer service chat function on the website. Subscription made through App Store and Google Play Store can be easily cancelled through Apple ID or the Play Store app, while website ones online offer a "manage your account" page without a cancel button.

The economist cancelation form. Uploaded on Reddit

Many users claim that The Economist deliberately obfuscates the cancellation process once a user pays for a subscription. Frequent complaints cite the lack of quality customer service. Many users attempting to cancel or change their subscription repeated uses of The Economist's online customer service chat bot ending the help session unexpectedly and forcing the customers to start the chat bot process over, and customer service employees being unable to transfer customers on the phone to a manager or telling customers their issue is with another team and will take 3-5 business days to resolve. When users attempt to cancel, they are often repeatedly offered continuing subscriptions at lower rates. Sometimes this is enough to persuade customers not to cancel, but for those users that continue asking for subscriptions to be cancelled or for refunds on automatically renewing subscriptions, chatting online or speaking over the phone can take upwards of 30 minutes to be told their subscription will be cancelled. [1] Some customers report customer service verbally confirming subscription cancellation but seeing continuing charges to their payment method. Depending on the user's country, some users find it easier to cancel than others. [2] Generally, in the US, users claim it is difficult to cancel since the only way is by speaking on the phone with customer service of using the website's online support chat.

According to TrustPilot, a website that claims to not allow companies to pay for or remove reviews, The Economist had a 1.2/5 star rating out of 812 reviews on the date accessed with many users citing the extreme difficulty of cancelling their subscription as the reason for poor experience with the company. One reviewer wrote on May 17, 2025: "Trying to cancel my subscription has been a nightmare — the chatbot is useless, the website is a maze, and getting in touch with an actual human being feels like a bad joke. I’ve wasted hours navigating their broken system, only to be met with automated dead ends and unresponsive links. Their so-called “customer support” is an insult to paying subscribers. This is not just poor service — it's deliberate obstruction." [3]

Some users have complained about not being able to use the "cancel subscription" button on The Economist's website due to "pending changes to my subscription" without giving a time frame of when cancellation would be available. This user also claims the contact page link the website showed was broken, resulting in a page not found error. Even those who were able to somehow cancel their subscriptions without using the customer service online chat or by calling customer service needed to confirm their subscription cancellation 3 distinct times on the website before their subscription stopped auto-renewing. [4]

Lack of Service Delivery

According to additional reviews on TrustPilot, many reviewers claim they paid for a subscription but never received deliveries of the physical content, or they received deliveries in the beginning but service was disrupted without notice or explanation. One reviewer wrote on June 21, 2025: "I've had late delivery almost every week this year despite contacting them at least 10 times to complain. I have now cancelled my subscription. Great newspaper, appalling delivery service." Another TrustPilot reviewer wrote on June 20, 2025: "customer service is non-existent. I paid for a years [sic] subscription and received nothing. No amount of time with customer Service [sic] could resolve the issue." [5]

One user encountered a glitch or issue with their account where they were unable to access any benefits of their digital subscription. After reaching out to customer service multiple times, no fix was made. After about one month after the problems began, the user requested their subscription be cancelled and a refund be sent to them for the time they did not receive the promise digital access. After more calls and emails and finally speaking to a manager, the user was told they would receive a full refund. However, the refund was short $11.42 according to the user. The user reports the remainder of their refund was eventually received after more email contact with The Economist's customer service department. [6]

Repeated Price Increases without Added Value and Lack of Refunds

Users with annual subscriptions frequently report large price increases, sometimes notified beforehand via email, sometimes without notification.

One Reddit thread details a 93% price increase over a 3 year period, from $180 in 2022 to $350 in 2025 that one user experienced for a print & digital subscription. [7] This experience seems to trend among those with complaints about The Economist subscriptions. Some users express high amounts of frustration due to lack of consistent pricing. For many users, the first annual subscription price is relatively low, and consecutive years are much higher in price unless the user threatens cancellation or otherwise haggles the subscription price down. One past customer subscribed for one year at £153 but was offered a renewal at £329, a 120% year over year increase. This user ultimately cancelled their subscription and wrote "sometimes high prices - especially when subject to staggering increase, with no concomitant increase in the offer, or in quality - simply feels exploitative". [8] Another user on the same thread wrote "It (the cost increase) would be easier to stomach if they were offering more for our money" and compared the features between The Economist and the New York Times subscriptions.

Many users who cancel also complain about not getting refunds that customer service employees verbally confirmed they would receive. On March 30, 2025, one reviewer wrote they cancelled their annual subscription after "the sum they (The Economist) took was more than twice my current subscription! ... To add insult to injury they did not refund all the money they took." Another TrustPilot review from March 8, 2025 states "I was promised a refund of over £300 given that I was being charged for two subscriptions on the same account. Having finally realised [sic] this discrepancy, I contact customer services. After going back and forth with customer services, sharing bank statements and account details and screenshots of my account (which felt more than slightly uncomfortable), two weeks later and my promises refund has still not arrived! It is incredibly poor service. Just return the money you owe me please!" [9] Another user was dissatisfied when customer service told them over the phone that the user's subscription would be cancelled and their money refunded, but later found out the customer service representative never followed through. [10]

Data collection and sharing

Users that open the main webpage, economist.com, are immediately stopped by a pop-up that says:

We value your privacy. By continuing, you agree to our terms of use and our privacy policy. Manage your cookies.

When clicking on "Manage your cookies", users must opt out of The Economist selling and sharing user information to third party marketers.

You can ask us not to share your data with our partners by toggling ON below. Please note that even if you choose not to share your data, we may still share certain information with our trusted partners where it is essential to run our services.

The Economist does not specify which kinds of information are "essential to run our services".

Suggested User Action

In the US, according to the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) statement on 10/22/2021, thousands of complaints are made regarding "negative option" practices, including those about recurring subscriptions and inability to cancel the auto-renewing services. Users can submit complaints to the FTC via https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/. Section 5 of the FTC Act requires that "marketers must not erect unreasonable barriers to cancellation or impede the effective operation of promised cancellation procedures, and must honor cancellation requests that comply with such procedures" [11]

Some users suggest linking payment through Paypal to make it easier to block unwanted recurring charges. Others suggest disputing the unwanted charges with their credit card provider if cancelling via phone or online chat is not successful. [12] When using the online customer support tool, it is recommended by some users to screenshot or screen record the chat log, which can help support any disputes with users' credit card or payment method companies. Some users also turn to other third-party companies to purchase annual subscriptions at a more consistent price without the potential downsides of auto-renewing.

See also

• Click-to-cancel
• Winston-Salem Journal

References

https://www.economistgroup.com/ (last accessed 8/16/2025)

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.economist.com (last accessed 8/16/2025)

https://www.reddit.com/r/theeconomist/comments/1lu0bkf/incredibly_scummy_subscription_practices_cant/ (last accessed 8/16/2025)

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/1598063/negative_option_policy_statement-10-22-2021-tobureau.pdf (last accessed 8/16/2025)

https://www.reddit.com/r/theeconomist/comments/1l1lcj1/i_was_able_to_cancel_my_subscription_without/ (last accessed 8/16/2025)

https://www.reddit.com/r/theeconomist/comments/1k8w94u/how_to_cancel_your_subscription_without_getting/ (last accessed 8/16/2025)

https://www.reddit.com/r/theeconomist/comments/1jwbroz/be_careful_when_cancelling_a_subscription/ (last accessed 8/16/2025)

https://www.reddit.com/r/theeconomist/comments/190p5cb/the_economists_attempt_to_keep_you_from/ (last accessed 8/16/2025)

https://www.reddit.com/r/theeconomist/comments/1fte9x1/economist_wont_allow_me_to_cancel_my_subscription/ (last accessed 8/16/2025)

https://www.newindianexpress.com/web-only/2024/Jun/19/why-i-ended-my-subscription-to-the-economist (last accessed 8/16/2025)