How to cancel The Economist subscription and stop it from auto-renewing

I always harp on about giving your finances a shot in the arm by cutting any subscriptions that you don’t use. Even though I enjoy the content for The Economist, it would be the first of my subscriptions to go if I wanted to boost my personal profit. In this article, I’ll walk you through how to cancel The Economist subscription.

How to cancel The Economist

Unlike most companies nowadays, they push you towards chatting to an agent via live chat or over the phone before you are able to cancel.

They explicitly state that they will find out if there is a more flexible or more affordable package that they can offer you before you cancel – so you may be able to save some ££s and still have access to their content.

However, we find this lack of self-serve very frustrating. The additional friction required in having to actually talk to a customer service agent is very likely to keep lots of subscribers paying when they would have preferred to have cancelled – if only there was an easier option.

Go to their cancellation page: https://www.economist.com/help/cancelsubscription
Either select the “Chat” hyperlink (it is in the 2nd paragraph towards the bottom) or the “Live Chat” popup tab in the bottom right of the webpage
Or use the customer service numbers they’ve provided for your country (make sure you have your customer reference number to hand – see below for how to find it out)

For the UK (which also covers Europe, Africa and the Middle East) the customer service numbers are:

+44 207 576 8448
0333 230 9200

And they are manned Monday-Friday 8am-8pm GMT.

This will put you through to a customer service agent who will be able to help.

How to find your customer reference number for The Economist

To speed up your conversation with the customer service agent, you’ll need to have your customer reference number to hand.

Print copy: if you have a physical copy of The Economist delivered, you should be able to find your customer reference number above your address (8 digits)

Digital copy: if you have an online The Economist account you can find your customer reference number by:

Logging into your account on The Economist site (log in button in top right hand corner)
Press “My Account” in the top right hand corner
Select “Manage my Account”
Scroll down to “Subscription and Delivery Address” and select it to open your details
Under your type of subscription will be your customer reference number clearly labelled

How to stop your The Economist subscription from auto-renewing?

You’ll need to follow the exact process above to cancel your subscription. There is no self-serve option to stop your subscription from automatically renewing.

FAQs

Will I be charged for calling an 0333 number?

These will cost no more than a standard call to local 01 or 02 numbers, so if your phone package includes unlimited calls, it will just be included in those.

Does The Economist subscription auto-renew?

Yes. But there is no way to self-serve the cancellation of the subscription. To stop your subscription from auto-renewing, you need to follow the instructions above to cancel your subscription. This is by either live chat or phone. See here for the relevant contact details.

How do I contact The Economist

You can find their various contact details on their Subscription Centre help page: https://www.economist.com/help/subscription-centre

Where is my customer reference number (CRN) for The Economist?

A little tricky to find, but if you go to your Account and under the section “Subscription and Delivery Address” it should be labelled. If you still can’t find it, then you can get it sent to you via email by going to this link and following the instructions for “do not know your customer reference number?”.

What does CRN stand for?

Customer reference number. You’ll need this number when you’re speaking to The Economist customer service team or sending them any emails/post so that they can easily find your account.

Do The Economist cancellation team pressure you to stay?

From looking at user experiences on Quora, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Most people say it has been a smooth experience for them and they take your reason (i.e “did not want”). Remember, if you have made your decision to leave then you shouldn’t feel pressured into continuing to pay.

I hope this helped show you how to cancel The Economist subscription. How was your experience calling up their customer service team? I’d love to hear about your experience below which can help other readers.