I'm due for renewal tomorrow. Having checked FAQs on the website after reading voulez-vous' earlier post I found a comment which said that after a site "upgrade" subs would not be automatically renewed and you'd need to set up a new recurring payment. However nothing on the site said how. Sent an e-mail saying "How?". Got a phone call back three days later from a guy who said that I could continue membership of crossword club by taking out a sub to the Times newspaper, No thanks, so he gave me a number to ring. Turned out to have changed recently. But, anyway, speak to customer service gal who said that she "thought" (sic) that you could no longer subscribe to the crosswrod club separately, but would have access to the site through a "similarly priced" sub to the paper. How much, then? £2 a week, she said. This turns out to be an introductory half price offer.
I read all this to mean that the Murdoch bean counters have twigged that £25 a year is too cheap for access to all the crosswords and are going to force us to pay eight times as much or do without. As someone who does the cryptics and the Listener regularly I'd happily pay more, but it would be nice to be dealt with honestly.
I'm delighted that your renewal went through OK, Calibax. Wait to see what happens to mine tomorrow.