Amazon.com Review: It's a newspaper, it's a Web site--it's all of the information that comes rolled up in every edition of The Wall Street Journal and much more, available online. Anyone who wants to stay on top of U.S. and international news, especially economic and technology-oriented stories, will find The Wall Street Journal Online to be a valuable asset. Forbes has called it "simply the best business news site on the Web."
The interactive Journal delivers stock quotes on demand, continually updated news, a customized news- and portfolio-tracking service, access to extensive archives, and "briefing books" for 22,000 companies and more than 7,000 U.S. mutual funds.
Readers who are familiar with the print edition will not be surprised by the interactive Journal's personality: it looks a lot like the paper version, and it's just as staid as its paper counterpart. Navigation is intuitive and ease of use is... easy.
Unlike the print journal, this version follows you to work and around the world. All you need is your password and laptop to carry this invaluable business partner to any meeting, anywhere. --Stefanie Durbin
Horrible Customer Service I have been a subscriber of WSJ online since the beginning (over 10 years), and recently got an unexpected 20% increase in the annual renewal rate ($120) put on my AE card. I love the Journal, and read it every day, but 20% was enough to make me rethink my subscription. I called to cancel, and couldn't get through after 3 tries and long waits. After reading here I find I am stuck with the renewal. I then went to cancel my CC which was not possible. This reminds me of the old AOL which made it impossible to cancel their service. I never received notice of the price increase, and now know they are deceiving their customers. WSJ is a great online newspaper, but it appears they are now being run by dishonest folks. Contractors, I suspect. You have been warned so be careful giving them your CC #. I will have my CC number changed, and will keep trying to cancel my renewal which is in May of 2009. I will not subscribe again unless I can do it without a CC#.
Great value I have now bought this service to the Wall Street Journal on-line for a second year. The WSJ on line provides great value since one can read articles from the paper journal every day anywhere where there is web access. It also provides email alerts on all sorts of topics and news cataglories. My only problems were 1- it is hard to locate the on-line item on the Amazon network; 2- Amazon does not clearly explain that they will first send a letter (which takes one week) to the subscriber and then one calls the WSJ to start the subscription; and 3- since I was renewing an existing subscription, I thought it would just continue- but first it was cancelled and then I had to verbally get it started anew.
Worth its price; and yes - auto renewal can be canceled
The Wall Street Journal on-line (or paper edition) is definitely worth its subscription price and is definitely a 5 Star - no question about it.
In response to reviewers that complained about automatic renewal on their credit card, and an the inability to obtain a refund, the WSJ specifically spells out its policy in its Subscriber Agreement and Terms of Use, which you need to accept (and therefore you need to read first) before you subscribe.
I repeat the important excerpts from the WSJ agreement below, but in essence ... you will be notified 30 days before auto-renewal which you can then cancel by phone, mail or e-mail BEFORE the renewal. But once it's renewed, no refunds are available. This may seem harsh, but they state these terms up front - and again, the benefits of subscribing to the WSJ On-Line greatly outweigh this additional "hassle" is worth it.
Excerpts from WSJ Subscriber Agreement ...
3. Fees and Payments ... Subscription fees will be billed at the beginning of your subscription or any renewal. Unless we state in writing otherwise, all fees and charges are nonrefundable.
4. Renewal. Your subscription will renew automatically, unless we terminate it or you notify us by telephone, mail, or e-mail (receipt of which must be confirmed by email reply from us) of your decision to terminate your subscription. For annual subscriptions, we will notify you of the pending renewal of your subscription at least 30 days prior to the date your subscription renews, except as otherwise required by law. You must cancel your subscription before it renews in order to avoid billing of subscription fees for the renewal term to your credit card.
SLOW NEWS IN A FAST PACED WORLD The Wall Street Journel invented and is still the best at fair and balenced reporting , inspite of what fox news may think. They have great writers who care and if they edit your comments it is only to allow space for it to fit. In short this is the only American news company that can be trusted on a day to day basis. So this begs the question , why do I only give them 2 stars. Thier front page news stories are brought out to slow to be of value if the story has time value. It is still a great paper (web site) if in todays fast paced world you can find time for it. Dow Jones Market Watch ( same company ) is a better site for up to the minuite finacial information and it is free.
Incredible value for general news as well I've been a subscriber for two years. They pack a lot of quality into this very professional site and regularly introduce useful new features. (Example: select & right-click on any word, and it displays a pop-up with all recent articles containing that word!) You can get news alerts by phone or e-mail for specifically what interests you: technology, air travel, Asian Markets, a couple dozen categories in all. "The Numbers Guy" examines and debunks statistics that no one had thought to question.
The service is excellent: whenever I've had a question or suggestion they responded within 24 hours and with satisfactory answers. The Markets Data Center complements my broker's tools, allowing me to "drill down" for more details about a stock: key facts, who the officers are, how many shares they own and transactions they've made, etc.
Last week they e-mailed a story and TWO DAYS later I walked by a newspaper rack and saw it on the front page of the LA Times! Ha! (That happens a lot.) Any article about the economy will contain a concise, instructive "Economics 101" sentence (or two) to spell out the main point for the rest of us who did not major in Econ. I can e-mail full articles to my non-subscribing friends, and none of them have gotten spam. You can also download the the front page of any section of the paper journal in *.pdf format, and that goes for the European and Asian editions, too. I'd give it six stars if I could. :-)
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