The Wall Street JournalReviews 138

DO NOT SUBSCRIBE! If you want to maintain your sanity. The most unreliable delivery service for print I've ever seen. I had to report so many times it wasn't delivered that they stopped taking my reports online and forced me to call and wait on hold for 20 minutes or more. Then when I cancelled my subscription online out of sheer frustration, their system continued to charge me on my next credit card bill after the cancellation. They refused to issue a credit because "it's not our policy". Their customer service is the worst. Stay away. Other publications are just as good and actually have legitimate customer service policies and practices.

WSJ not does not notify when they've submiitted your account for a new subscription promo, they don't send the digital product so you dont realize you have unknowingly been enrolled in their scam unless you scrutinize and question WSJ charges, and finally, they don't notify when the monthly charge balloons ~900%

MORAL: KEEP OFF THESE CROOKS' RADAR

Offering no option to cancel your subscription online, only on an overcrowded callcenter where no one answers. Very low standard and questionable way of trying to trap people in subscriptions.

They rely on you not to notice that your monthly charge has gone up from the $5 promotional rate to $38 a month. Most people will cancel once they realize but they make enough off of people who don't. It's deliberately predatory. I went out of my way to pay in order to support journalism, but i've canceled and will never give them a cent again. $360 down the drain before I noticed-they know what they're doing.

I noticed a couple charges on my account months after I cancelled my subscription. Apparently my cancellation never went through. To make matters worse the price went from 4 dollars a month to 40 dollars a month! I talked to a woman who was completely unhelpful. Long story short, I'm out 120 bucks! I have been reading the WSJ on and off for almost 20 years with this one experience I can assure you that they lost a customer for good. Would not recommend to anyone. I will gladly take my money elsewhere for the rest of my life.

As said by other reviewers these guys are crooks. Terrible customer service and no heads up about your subscription being renewed at a higher price. And no refund. Crooks who wrote about crooks.

Only getting one star as newpaper info itself is good. However, they are SUBSCRIPTION CROOKS. Beware -- they will lure you in with a $4 month rate, then it will creep up to $20, then they will start doubling that -- all without notification. If you can get past a chatbot, to a live human outside of the USA, they will also attempt to not let you cancel until after they have taken another month from you at the doubled higher rate. All the while, the supposed out of country agent, will not provide you with a copy of your agreement they say you signed online, nor will they provide you with proof of cancellation with the actual date. It will refer to "Cancellation at the END of your term" which is left open-ended and vague to suit their crooked subscription practices. Turns out that means the end of another month. Consumers need to make sure they turn off automatic payment each month, as they will keep charging your card. Actually, you should do it every month so they cannot snatch another month when you try to cancel. Let them fight you for your money. They should be prosecuted for predatory, unscrupulous consumer subscription tactics. At least California has a subscription cancellation law in effect due to companies such as the WSJ/Barrons.

Do not subscribe! The discounted rate is a joke. If you read the small print, your monthly rate will go up 400 percent after a certain time period and if you noticed a month or two late- they won't credit any of it back! This is a rip off, be aware! Terrible customer service :((

Marina S.

In my opinion, Wall Street Journal used to be a reputable company. Over time it seems that the quality of their content has decreased. I have read very biased articles in the past year.

As others have mentioned, you cannot cancel your subscription without a phone call and when you do reach the person - they convince you to put the subscription on Hold - no cost to you. BUT after the 3 months hold, they restart the subscription with your credit card on file and you will see an unexpected charge and once charged, you cannot cancel. Can only wait until it expires. INSIST on cancelling your subscription and do not get "tricked" by the 3 month free period. Insist on the e-mail that shows you have cancelled it - if not, you will get an unexpected renewal charge.

I typically prefer to keep negative reviews to myself as a choice, but I couldn't help writing this one.
So I tried to cancel my subscription and I was told that I must call to cancel for security reasons.

Now, I have an idea of risks, and I do not see any such security risks or concerns that exist at cancellation, that didn't exist, even more so during subscription. Rather, I only see an effort to make cancellation of existing subscriptions difficult and force subscribers to stay.

Therefore, I think it is rather disingenuous and a very poor service to have an available service for SEAMLESS online subscriptions, but then have a compulsory requirement to make a call (with applicable charges) to cancel an existing subscription.

I honestly do not know why this sort of thing is not termed illegal and why the publication is able to get away with it. As I write this, I have not been able to reach the contact number I was asked to call, not to mention that I have do make this call internationally considering where I live. It's indeed terrible coming from a publication that out to be bigger and do better.

All I can say is, if you are planning to subscribe, note this little detail before you go further. I have had to resort to blocking the payment card registered with them, so that they never get access to it again.

I'm very satisfied with the digital edition of wsj but i placed my order for the newspaper around Dec 15th 2021 and it's now January 22nd 2022. I still have not received hard copy paper. I've called 6x and was told to wait a few days each time for it to start. Eventually i started asking for answers on by the 3rd phone call, the 4th phone call they told me the courier died but the fifth and 6th phone call they provided no answers, placed me on hold, and would not transfer me to a manager, respectively. I'm really easy to please, just want honest answers and to talk with someone that is capable... more so than answers, i just want a simple print edition of the paper delivered. Didn't realize it would be so difficult to get a paper delivered to my door each morning. (They don't refund your money, they simply keep delivering the paper after you stop your subscription. Meaning it's a scam because they charge and don't deliver your paper other than digital.)

I signed up for a $4 per month digital subscription from the Wall Street Journal on October 18,2020. At the time they indicated that at the end of the subscription that I would be sent an email letting me know that my introductory one year offer was ending and that future billings would be at a much higher cost- ~$38 per month in my case. I called their customer service department and disputed the charge, but they said they sent me an email notice. I checked their claim and they never sent an email. My best guess is that they are attempting to scam me and others by not sending this anniversary email and that most would not notice excess billings for quite a while so that they can continue billing at the standard rate. I find this practice to be highly unethical.

Be aware that the WSJ will ONLY let you cancel your subscription if you phone into their Customer Service line IN PERSON. You will wait for up to 30 minutes of awful hold music and then be asked a long list of questions. Then you will ask to cancel your subscription. But that person cannot help you. You will be put through to another department who will ask another long list of questions. It is an outrage that they will take your subscription money so easily but make it so difficult to cancel. Some might say this is smart business but it is really a very low and intensely annoying trick. Shouldn't the Journal be above this?

I subscribed for a free trial and had to enter my card details. They said no charge will occur without asking me 1st. After the free trial was done, they charged me and when I tried to cancel the subscription they won't allow me. They say cancellation must be over the phone and they provide international phone numbers that won't pick up.

My wife noticed a WSJ charge for full charge after an introductory rate for a year. I called customer service to cancel and have the charge removed. I was told that they don't remove charges and that I was contractually responsible to cancel prior to beginning service at the full price. They don't notify customers of upcoming changes. If I was coming to the end of a regular subscription, I'd be notified months prior to the expiration date. This is very poor customer service!

Do NOT Subscribe (here's my N of 1 experience):

Just to get this out there, I love the news. I typically use NPR, etc., but I got WSJ for a class because it has an Economics emphasis. Well, after the class, I cancelled my subscription. Curiously, I was still charged the next month, so I call customer service, who can't give me a refund, (they're very, very sorry, though) so they offer me a free 3-month subscription and cancel the account. Well, come May, 2021, and the charges kick up agian. Frustrated, I call back and say, "Cancel my account!'.
"Oh, very sorry sir, that's cancelled now! So sorry about that inconvenience,"

(still can't offer a refund). Come to realize they're still charging me down through December. I haven't used the account in over a year at this point. I call back and Karen-demand a refund.
"No, no, we can't do that. I assure you, the account is now cancelled."
"Yep, I've heard that before. Sorry to be a pain about this, but what I'd like to hear this time is, 'and we'll return your money,' thanks."
" A refund is not possible. I can offer you a 3-month subscription at no extra charge, though!"
*10 seconds later* "... Hey, Mia..."
"Yes, sir?"
"I'm gonna hang up now. Have a good day." *click*

They may charge you until your *grandkids* are in college; don't subscribe to WSJ- think of the children.

It is a Disaster! Stay Away! You will end up with High Blood Pressure and Cardiac Arrest if you subscribe! My delivery has stopped since 10/13/2021 for no reason. They couldn't figure out why I couldn't have delivery. Until this moment 12/02/2021 I still do not receive the paper. It is sad that this is happening in the 21st Century.

I signed up for a college paper and needed to cancel afterwards due to the fact that I did not have a use for it afterwards. Not only was it very difficult, time consuming, and hidden on how to cancel, but to cancel you have to call someone from 8-4 EST, and be put on hold forever. As a college student on the west coast, and pretty much everyone in America, I do not have enough time to sit on hold in the middle of my day just to cancel a stupid subscription.

Don't subscribe unless you want to literally blow your brains out with frustration. The first phone announced a hold time of more than 30 minutes.

The second phone call I was on hold for 20 minutes, then 10 minutes to try to get me to keep the subscription, then five minutes to "register the cancellation".

35 minutes to cancel and no online ability to cancel. What a scam!