Barron's

I always thought of Barron's as a reputable company so when I came across an article from them I really wanted to read, I didn't hesitate to sign up for the $1 trial period, since I could "cancel at any time". Well good luck cancelling! There's no way to cancel online! They make you call them, and of course only during business hours. I've been on-hold 19 min. Now, listening to terrible hold music and repeated bouts of "Due to heavy call volume, you may experience longer hold times", blah blah. It's 2PM PST on Wed. So I don't know why it would be unusually heavy. So while I'm on hold waiting for my chance to speak to someone to cancel (20+ min. Now), what better way to spend my time than to write a negative review about how pissed-off I am? Since I'm still waiting (23 min.) I tried logging in to change my payment method to a debit Mastercard with no available balance so the next payment would fail, but of course there's no place to change my payment method. AVOID THIS COMPANY!

They charged my card for a supposed "auto-renewal" WITHOUT my authorization or approval. No 1 month notice beforehand, no notice the day of charge, no email explaining how to opt out. I mean, this is like some juvenile 1990 internet scam. Does Barrons have no one with customer service experience? WORSE, is customer service refused to do anything about it. So I disputed the charge.
(customer service rep claimed that somewhere, somehow, deep in some fineprint 10 clicks away is some mention of auto renewal). SHAME on you Barrons!

After being a subscriber for a few months I noted the following:
I was never sent an invoice or reminder that I was being charged.
I got a notification saying that my card had failed, so that let me know I was being charged.
I went to canel online but found that I was not able to cancel unless I called in.
So the phone number given for my country was invalid and the link to other phone numbers doesn't go anywhere useful. You can't even email them about cancellation, it can only be about renewal.
I cannot delete my payment information and so I have to cancel my card to stop being charged.
I wish I had read the other reviews before signing up and putting my card details into this website.

I called to cancel my subscription on February 3rd. I was subsequently charged on February 15th, and again on March 15th. When I called to dispute this, the customer service rep said she could only refund me for one month but would have a manger call me back. One week later-- no call back. I called again. The customer service rep again said she could not do anything, but a manger would call me back. Finally a manager called me back and said she would have to go and listen to my recorded call from February 3rd to verify that I actually tried to cancel. Terrible customer service. Oh, and no surprise-- that manager also never called me back. Finally I gave up trying and submitted the claim to my credit card company and was instantly refunded for the months I was incorrectly charged. Shame on Barron's.

I first went online to report that I did not receive the paper. Did so the second week. When I tried the third week I got a message that I would have to call Customer Service. I have called them THREE weeks in a row and no paper. Didn't get a paper this past weekend either! I'm not calling this week because I have better things to do Christmas week. But, I will be calling to cancel my subscription in January when my PRE-PAID so-called "trial" period is up.
Gerushka in Michigan

Cancelled but they continued to charge me several months. I discovered it when I checked my CC. I should do that every month.

One would think a supposedly respectable company like Barron's would provide excellent customer service and make it as easy, as most sites do, to alter or cancel subscriptions. This is most definitely not the case with Barron's. They want to hook you in and make it terribly inconvenient to cancel.

I tried to cancel a 1-month trial using their website, where I discovered that they have obviously gone to great lengths to hide this option. So, I finally sent them an email and received a reply saying they only accepted cancelation if you phone them. Meanwhile, they sneakily charged my credit card for the first month, even though I canceled the free trial by email within the 30 days. They then refused to issue a refund.

This is not about a $20 charge for me. This is about the shocking lack of ethics this company has shown.

As a result of this horrific customer service, I also canceled my subscription to the Wall Street Journal (all part of the same company), as I have no desire to have any association with such a surprisingly sleazy company.