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For those that did the Avios/amex offer last year, remember the auto renewal is approaching.
FYI – whilst clicking through to cancel I was initially offered 30% off the regular £199 fee. I declined and ticked the “too expensive” option – just for the sake of ticking something.
Annoyingly you are then forced to speak to online chat to actually process the cancellation. During this I was offered a 50% discount for the next year, apparently because I had suggested it was too expensive.
Yes it’s a pain to persuade them to cancel the sub, make sure you get confirmation of cancellation
50% off is a standard offer from them. They keep sending emails with this offer even after cancellation.
Thanks for the reminder, just cancelled mine. Selected a different option to you but still ended at the live chat, and after refusing half a dozen offers and opportunities to try and retain me, finally cancelled.
With things like the balance booster now in existence, I don’t think opportunities like The Economist are worthwhile given the hassle, delay with awarding, potential for non-tracking, and cancellation hurdles, so doubt I shall ever repeat.
Thank you for the reminder!
Thanks for the reminder, just cancelled mine. Selected a different option to you but still ended at the live chat, and after refusing half a dozen offers and opportunities to try and retain me, finally cancelled.
A way to cut through all the offers and attempts to retain your custom is to tell them that you’re going to jail. Then they cancel straight away.
Thanks for the reminder, just cancelled mine. Selected a different option to you but still ended at the live chat, and after refusing half a dozen offers and opportunities to try and retain me, finally cancelled.
A way to cut through all the offers and attempts to retain your custom is to tell them that you’re going to jail. Then they cancel straight away.
Haha will have to remember that for another time.
Can confirm this was the first time I’ve used the phrase “oh for goodness sake can you please just do what I’ve asked” on any live chat 😂
Can confirm this was the first time I’ve used the phrase “oh for goodness sake can you please just do what I’ve asked” on any live chat 😂
Agreed, cancelling my Economist subscription was one of the most annoying experiences of anything I’ve ever had to cancel, along with the constant reminder emails etc. BA probably takes the prize for wasting their staff and customer’s time when they disabled online cancellation during the pandemic, though. I really don’t like it when companies make it purposefully a big hassle to cancel.
I have just cancelled my Economist subscription which I took out with the avios offer (my subscription ends next month). The online chat person wanted to offer me various discounts so I just replied to the first two messages with “I want to cancel” and then to third said “it will save your time and my time if you can please just process the cancellation of the contract”. Which they then did, straightaway. Whole thing took less than five minutes! But agreed having to cancel via a live chat is a pain.
Thank-you very much indeed for this reminder! Was about to be charged £265 on Sunday!
@NigelHamilton you are very welcome! When I took out the subscription last year I put a reminder in my Google calendar for yesterday to cancel it. Tempus fugit!
50% off is a standard offer from them. They keep sending emails with this offer even after cancellation.
They are worse than the Reader’s Digest! They keep sending me hard copy marketing to take another sub when the last one I cancelled with them was over 6 years ago!
I even threatened reporting them for breaching GDPR as they’ve continued sending me junk mail after they’ve been told at least 4 times to stop…and they’ve kept sending.
And the subscription offers they encumber my mailbox with are in fact very poor. There’s been much better in articles and mentions by commenters, always on HfP over the years.
If anyone is hoping to take advantage of an Avios offer again, just googled and found this on the FAQ pages:
“Can I earn Avios points with a subscription to The Economist?
Please note that effective January 5th, 2024, we will no longer sell subscriptions with avios points”If anyone is hoping to take advantage of an Avios offer again, just googled and found this on the FAQ pages:
“Can I earn Avios points with a subscription to The Economist?
Please note that effective January 5th, 2024, we will no longer sell subscriptions with avios points”Sad, but not entirely surprising as the renewal/retention rate, even at ‘special’ renewal prices must have been terrible. In latter years they had even removed the requirement to be a ‘new’ subscriber and ran the Avios offer concurrently with Amex offers, all for a product my wife and I were both happy to pay for anyway.
It was a great gravy train – looking back in my emails since at least 2015. Will have to work out how to get cheapo subscription once last Avios subscriptions expires this summer.
If your son wants a subscription there are usually a few offers coming up for students that can be quite good.
If your son wants a subscription there are usually a few offers coming up for students that can be quite good.
If talking about university students, it might be relevant to point out that many universities will offer staff and students access to the Economist, Financial Times, etc. through their respective libraries.
It was a great gravy train – looking back in my emails since at least 2015. Will have to work out how to get cheapo subscription once last Avios subscriptions expires this summer.
I can access it for free (along with hundreds of other titles) using Pressreader with my local library. Best ever tip from HfP – zero cost; and something I use just about every day!
It was a great gravy train – looking back in my emails since at least 2015. Will have to work out how to get cheapo subscription once last Avios subscriptions expires this summer.
I can access it for free (along with hundreds of other titles) using Pressreader with my local library. Best ever tip from HfP – zero cost; and something I use just about every day!
Does it work well with a kindle? I don’t want to use it on a tablet with backlight.
I am in a regular 50% off offer. I agree in the chat, and it gets renewed immediately. I then immediately cancel the autorenewal on chat, and am offered a further 50% off the autorenewal price (so keeps the 50% for two years, all in 20 mins work). I repeat this every 2 years. Usually ~£130/year for print and digital (I prefer the physical copy)
I am in a regular 50% off offer. I agree in the chat, and it gets renewed immediately. I then immediately cancel the autorenewal on chat, and am offered a further 50% off the autorenewal price (so keeps the 50% for two years, all in 20 mins work). I repeat this every 2 years. Usually ~£130/year for print and digital (I prefer the physical copy)
50% off isn’t enough! It was significantly less with the Avios offer. We too like the physical copy for one of our two subscriptions; they have tried to up the price for that.
I am in a regular 50% off offer. I agree in the chat, and it gets renewed immediately. I then immediately cancel the autorenewal on chat, and am offered a further 50% off the autorenewal price (so keeps the 50% for two years, all in 20 mins work). I repeat this every 2 years. Usually ~£130/year for print and digital (I prefer the physical copy)
50% off isn’t enough! It was significantly less with the Avios offer. We too like the physical copy for one of our two subscriptions; they have tried to up the price for that.
You can get more than 50% off? Well done! I have never got more than this.
I had set mine to not auto-renew, but it renewed today!
5 mins on live chat and it’s sorted with a refund on its way. They did offer 50% off but I don’t read it any more.
Amex £65 off
Wondering if the economist offer makes sense without any avios being offered. Their website makes clear there are no more avios offers.
£199 for digital only and £265 for digi+print.
Or just ask the customer services if they can offer 50% off for £140 approx and charge it to the amex with the offer .Amex £65 off
Wondering if the economist offer makes sense without any avios being offered. Their website makes clear there are no more avios offers.
£199 for digital only and £265 for digi+print.
Or just ask the customer services if they can offer 50% off for £140 approx and charge it to the amex with the offer .Ignore the last line as the offer wouldnt trigger unless £199 was charged.
Data point – I clicked cancel, selected because it’s ‘too expensive’, they immediately offer a deal that’s 30% off, continue to click the cancel button. At that point you need to enter live chat and I cut to the chase on chat – 50% off or I’d like to proceed to cancel. The agent agreed right away and proceeded to set up the new sub.
Pity Avios aren’t offered any longer, the first year deal was sweet and the Avios arrived promptly.
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