• The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal

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Overview

The Wall Street Journal has a rating of 2.0 stars from 140 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about The Wall Street Journal most frequently mention customer service, street journal, and credit card problems. The Wall Street Journal ranks 256th among Sports News sites.

  • Service
    38
  • Value
    40
  • Shipping
    21
  • Returns
    27
  • Quality
    32
Positive reviews (last 12 months): 0%
Positive
0
Neutral
0
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How would you rate The Wall Street Journal?
Top Positive Review

“The Only Paper I'll Read”

Barbara C.
2/18/16

I like to keep up with current events, new technology, what my stocks are doing and this is the only paper I'll read. We call all the other papers mullet wrappers. The other papers like the New York Times are too slanted politically for our tastes. Their is nothing like honest journalism. People NEED to see both sides of the issues. I like to hold, feel and cutout (good articles) and the online addition just doesn't cut it for me. I often will find an article that's relevant for my kids, they don't have the time to read the Wall Street Journal cover to cover) so I send them articles they can use in their daily lives. Best paper in the market!

Top Critical Review

“Beware Introductory Subscriptions!”

Bob L.
9/25/24

Your rate will increase 10 fold after the introductory period! They will stick you for one month at the high rate even if you call and cancel on the day of the charge. I had a charge processed today (9/25/2024) (shows pending on my account) for a higher amount. I called today to cancel today but they would not cancel the subscription until 10/22. The pending charge will NOT be reversed. I will dispute the charge. Do do business with Dow Jones or Wall Street Journal! Unconscionable business practice!

Reviews (140)

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customer service (30)
Thumbnail of user amandac783
North Carolina
1 review
3 helpful votes
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May 21st, 2020

Be cautious when subscribing to the WSJ, make sure that it is 100% what you want to do because it took me 4 separate times to call in order to cancel my subscription. First, they try to advertise the different options, then say they will "extend" your account with no payment ONLY TO ACTUALLY CHARGE YOU, then when you call to get a refund they say they need a few business days to do it, only for over a week to pass and no changes. Then when you call again, they are able to refund AND cancel all at once in one phone call. It seems like my previous call was someone trying to keep me STILL subscribed considering it could have been refunded THAT SAME DAY, but they instead chose to tell me to "wait 4-5 business days." Extremely disappointed in this, and would no recommend this service to anyone.

Thumbnail of user robertw4431
New York
3 reviews
8 helpful votes
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September 1st, 2022

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

Thumbnail of user leonardob43
Brazil
1 review
4 helpful votes
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June 9th, 2020

IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION. THERE IS NO OPTIONS ONLINE TO DO SO AND THEY MADE ME CALL FROM BRAZIL JUST TO GET IT DONE. IT WAS AN EXTREMELY AND UNNECESSARILY HARD PROCESS AND I WARN ALL OF THOSE WHO ARE CONSIDERING SUBSCRIBING TO BE AWARE OF THAT.

Thumbnail of user dawns47
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
11 reviews
12 helpful votes
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June 1st, 2016

Actually I'm a business news seeker. Its my favorite news site, the way information are presented, its very convenient, its like i need to see it once in a day. Great Service, Highly Recommended.

Thumbnail of user felixp78
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
1 review
5 helpful votes
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August 6th, 2022

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.

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Thumbnail of user geoffr22
New Zealand
1 review
6 helpful votes
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July 5th, 2020

My wife had some work published in The Wall Street Journal, and wanted to see the layout. The WSJ offers a 3 month subscription for $1, so she thought she'd just cancel immediately after seeing her article.

Turns out there is no way of cancelling a subscription online, so she emailed customer support. When they didn't reply, she followed up.

Exactly 3 months after the subscription was made, she received an email from them saying that to cancel a subscription - you had to call them on the phone. This email came on the same day they charged our card, so was obviously deliberately timed as such.

We have called the bank, who have informed us that we have to cancel the debit card, and get a new one, as they are unable to block a specific company from taking any funds from the card. Super inconvenient.

Upon doing further research and reading anecdotal accounts on Reddit - it turns out this is standard practice and in fact part of their business model.

Some people on Reddit even suggested changing the billing details to a California address, as this brings up a subscription cancelation option - meaning that they were legally required to provide this service in the state of California. Meaning that it's not a "security issue" like they try to suggest it is.

This means that Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal is knowingly and willingly acting in bad faith.

Thumbnail of user marquesec
Texas
1 review
2 helpful votes
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July 22nd, 2022
Verified purchase

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.

Tip for consumers:
Don’t sign up. Even for the trial.

Products used:
Digital edition.

Thumbnail of user drewg72
Utah
1 review
2 helpful votes
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December 10th, 2021

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.

Tip for consumers:
Just go somehwere else.

Products used:
Digital Subscription

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Thumbnail of user christiank153
Washington
1 review
2 helpful votes
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October 28th, 2021

So you are all now Trumpsters at the Wall Street Journal by publishing a letter from the FORMER President that is filled with lies, untruths and wild conspiracy theories and now you expect me to trust you with money decisions? Go to hell Wall Street Journal. I've read your last publication and will not be reading anything you ever publish again since you support one of the biggest and dangerous pathologically liars ever to exist on the American Political Scene.

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Thumbnail of user susanv231
Wisconsin
1 review
1 helpful vote
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January 4th, 2019

If the paper does not want to be seen as an out of date, out of touch, sexist newspaper run by old white men they may need to stop acting like old white men.

Thumbnail of user markosg1
Illinois
1 review
3 helpful votes
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April 18th, 2019

I used this company for academic research for a MBA course. Their articles are useful for research but their subscription and sales pitch is inhumane. You can't cancel online, your subscription is automatically renewed and at a HIGHER RATE and it is non-refundable once its renewed. Put the customer back into CUSTOMER SERVICE please!

Thumbnail of user eddiel
Indiana
38 reviews
169 helpful votes
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September 16th, 2008

The new Wall Street Journal site design is horrible - Call me old fashion, but I do not like the new Wall Street Journal website design. I can't skim the headlines in a single column like I used to...

Thumbnail of user ginikanwau
Canada
1 review
5 helpful votes
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February 23rd, 2022

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.

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Quality
Thumbnail of user francistlopaz
Pennsylvania
27 reviews
90 helpful votes
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October 19th, 2023

All I wanted was to read an article about the reinstatement of Net Neutrality, but this website just plain sucks by not allowing you to real the whole damn article!

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Thumbnail of user jb2212
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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October 29th, 2022

Forget the paper- once you cancel, you get multiply daily emails for their products. When you unsubscribes,
It takes 10 business days, during which, they spam you hourly. I now hate this paper.

Thumbnail of user edp154
Arkansas
3 reviews
5 helpful votes
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August 16th, 2020

Your a joke I would like to be there when somebody ask what you do for a living I'm a journalist for Wall Street Journal and watch the people bust out laughing I wished you was here and listen to me laughing what a joke but appreciate the laugh.

Thumbnail of user maryp3124
Australia
1 review
2 helpful votes
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January 7th, 2023

WSJ needs to learn about a thing called "dark practices" - where a company makes it difficult/nearly impossible to cancel your subscription.

I work full time and had to sign up for the paid subscription for a university assignment... went to cancel it and realised that you cannot cancel online as "at this time they are unable to process this request online". You contact their chatbot function, this also doesn't understand what "cancel subscription" means. You then have to contact Dow Jones which has a customer service team which only works Monday-Friday 9:30AM to 5PM on Hong Kong time.

DO NOT SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TRIAL, find your information elsewhere as they will make it difficult/impossible for you to cancel your "free" trial... Disgusting

Thumbnail of user customerr9
Virginia
1 review
3 helpful votes
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September 20th, 2019

I'm going to help y'all out. If you want to cancel online change your address in the customer center to a California address, residents in CA ca cancel online, if you want a refund (prorated) tell the customer services rep you want to downgrade to online only or if you only have online say you want to upgrade to print+digital they will then cancel the current subscription and refund the remaining balance when they start to set up a new subscription tell them you changed your mind, now you got a refund, if you want a cheaper rate simply call in and say you want to cancel, they will then transfer you to the subscription management team where they will offer you lower prices and if you keep declining offers eventually you will get a cheap rate, if you want to cancel and they tell you, you have to wait 180 days you can call back 30 days later and get the promo price again... YOU'RE WELCOME

Thumbnail of user tobyem96
Arkansas
1 review
2 helpful votes
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September 27th, 2023

I purchased a subscription for $8 for 6 months. At the end of 6 months I received an email that states in writing that my subscription would renew every 4 weeks for $8...there was NO fine print that I missed in this email (screen shot attached). They then began to charge my card $37.99 for 3 months before I caught it on my credit card statement. When I called the first time I was cutoff in the middle of the conversation I was sent to a survey. The 2nd time I called after about 30 minutes of being on hold and transferred at least once I was told there was no record of that email that I received and was told an email to forward it to. I re-read the email address to the attendant to which she confirmed. The email bounced back as a BAD email. I then had to call a 3rd time to wait for over 45 minutes to get the same answer with a different email. They will steal your money and not give it back! I will NEVER buy another subscription or article from them EVER! Don't sign up...you will regret it!

Thumbnail of user alexusa2
Missouri
1 review
4 helpful votes
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May 26th, 2020

This company has awful customer service. I had to get a subscription in order to read a couple articles for school. There was no option to get a student subscription. I tried to cancel the day before I was charged, and the customer service person hung up on me after I said I wanted to cancel. I called again the day I was charged, and it took forever for the person to find my account, then they had to transfer me to cancel and the next person had to find my account again. I explained I wanted to cancel because I'm no longer using it for school. He then kept telling me he'd keep my subscription and change it to student, even when I said I 100% wanted to cancel, over and over again. I'd get refunded and charged the student rate, but that'd mean I'd have to call and cancel again. Finally he accepted that I was canceling, but would not refund me even though I was just charged a couple hours prior. I emailed customer service and they said the same thing. I've never had such a poor customer service experience with a subscription company. They must be doing poorly if they have to screw over poor college students. Also it's ridiculous I couldn't just cancel online like every other company out there- another strategy to keep people from canceling. Especially when it's also so difficult to convince customer service to actually cancel the subscription. I hope they're at least paying those people well because they sure have them trained to make canceling as difficult as possible.

Thumbnail of user kimm1777
California
2 reviews
3 helpful votes
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May 26th, 2022

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.

Tip for consumers:
Do Not Subscribe -- Difficult to Cance, double rates with notification, and they will not refund.

Products used:
Wall Street Journal Digital Subscription.

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Thumbnail of user ngigerf
New York
1 review
1 helpful vote
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February 11th, 2023

You can't even read 25% of an article on their website without them begging you to purchase a subscription. People shouldn't have to pay to read an article ONLINE of all places.

Tip for consumers:
Don't waste your time. Screw off.

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Thumbnail of user alexj48
India
5 reviews
8 helpful votes
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November 20th, 2014

Not only the news we can also updates about the market, Wall Street Journal is a good one digital news paper where you can updates about all the things.

Thumbnail of user georgess
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
6 reviews
23 helpful votes
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January 19th, 2016

I love this website, it's very informative. Especially if you're a business owner. It keeps you up to date with all the latest business trends

Thumbnail of user charlesa224
Tennessee
1 review
3 helpful votes
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August 6th, 2019

Although they solicit using the promise that you can cancel anytime, they make it difficult to do so.

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