How to make sure you don’t lose your Crossword Club only membership

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Announcement
Latest news: These instructions are only valid for renewals up to the end of this month. On July 1st, no further Crossword Club renewals will be processed and all Worldpay agreements will be cancelled. This means that if your renewal comes due before 1st July, you get Crossword Club only access until 30th June 2014 (and they also throw in complimentary Web pack access to the full Times and Sunday Times for free for the whole period). If it’s after 1st July, you won’t be able to renew and will have to take one of their full subscription options, the cheapest of which is £2 per week.

A couple of weeks ago, as I’m sure you’re all aware, there were rumblings about The Times taking away Crossword-Club-only access and replacing it with full access to the online edition of the paper, but with a 400% increase in the price. Naturally, a lot of us (me included) were very unhappy with that and ready to jack it in completely.

This was particularly critical for me, as I knew my subscription was due for renewal on 21st May, but to my surprise it went through without a problem. So here’s what I believe the situation to be currently:

If you have a Worldpay Futurepay agreement in place with a valid credit/debit card registered, they’ll continue to take your £24.99 a year payment. However, if the card you had registered has expired when they try to renew your subscription, they’ll cancel the agreement and won’t set up another one when you update your card details. So you need to make sure that the card you have registered with Worldpay is current.

If you’re super-efficient and keep details of all usernames and passwords you’ve ever used, you won’t need to read past 4a below. Just login to Worldpay and change your card details if you need to. If (like most of us) you’ve forgotten your Worldpay login, it’s a bit more complicated, but just follow these instructions and you’ll be fine.

1. Go to http://www.worldpay.com
2. Click on the “Account login” link (near top right corner).
3. On the next page, click on the link “Shopper Agreement / Shopper Management System”.
4a. If you know your Username/Password, click on the “Login to the Shopper Management System” link.
4b. If you don’t, click on the “Forgotten your password” link underneath. The next screen will ask you for an Agreement ID and an email address.
You can get your Agreement ID by logging in to the Crossword Club and going to My Profile | My Invoices and noting your Worldpay FuturePay ID.
Your login details will be sent to the email address you give, in two emails. One with your username, the other with your password.
5. When you’ve received these, go back to stage 2 above.
6. Enter the username and password given in the emails. Your agreement details will be listed. If you click on the Agreement ID, a new window will open with the full details listed. There you can edit your contact details and your payment details by clicking on the relevant tabs.

Please let me know if you find these instructions useful, or if you have any difficulty following them.

Sorry, I’ve had to disable any more comments on this article, as the spammers have found it!

24 comments on “How to make sure you don’t lose your Crossword Club only membership”

  1. Thank you, Linxit. very clear and helpful. fortunately, I am good for this year and next year.
  3. My log-in is also current for a couple of years, but I have no doubt it’s well worth having this info on the record for future reference (I’ve also taken the liberty of adding it to Memories, so it can be easily findable by those who will inevitably ask the question again at some far-off date).

  5. Yo da MAN, linxit (Or, in proper English: Thank you very much).

    I am very much hoping that existing CC members with in-date credit cards are in fact grandfathered in. There is a possibility that linxit got renewed recently because the new rules aren’t yet in effect. I come up in July, so we’ll see.

    Meantime, not exactly the right place, but perhaps better here than in a daily puzzle blog — is anyone aware of an iPad app which runs the Times cryptic for CC access(as opposed to access via a full Times digital subscriptions, which I think is supported)?

    1. The problem is that the crossword club site requires Flash, which is not supported by the standard iPad browsers (including Safari). However, you can download “Puffin Browser” from the app store, which is free for a period and then £1.99. This allows access to Flash content via the cloud and then pushes it to your iPad (or in other words, solves the problem).

      I have been using it for several weeks; it works very well for me.

      Will
      (a regular TFT reader who might one day complete a crossword and post a time)

      1. Thanks, Will. Ill try that. And maybe one day I too will complete a puzzle in a time worth posting.
  8. Thanks Andy, that looks straightforward. IIRC my current CC subscription runs to October but my credit card expires in July so I’ll have to put this to the test. Thsnks therefore to Tim for adding it to memories.
  9. Thanks much linxit! I printed it out and stuck it my address book with my worldpay log-in info.
  10. The worldpay site says the amount payable is adjustable by merchant so what is stopping the Australian bandits minions from charging the 400% increase without telling you?
    1. Horrible thought. I don’t believe even he will try it on but will keep a close eye on my balance in September. Thanks, I think!
  11. My renewal was 25th April, the worldpay agreement then failed because my regd credit card had expired, I logged on to WP and updated the credit card, then it went through in half an hour without me doing anything more and I am subbed again, no problems.
    So it isn’t necessary to update your CC before the expiry of your sub. Or at least it wasn’t 2 weeks ago.
    1. The first we heard of a problem was 10th May, so you probably got in a couple of weeks before they changed the policy.
  14. This is a marvellous help linxit – thanks a lot. Going through the procedure however I’ve been instructed to get in touch with my administrator – do you know how this is done? – joekobi
    1. Hmm, not sure. You might get a message like that if you’re trying to access it from work and the proxy is set up to deny worldpay.com. There might be other conditions where you’d see that error too, but you don’t actually have to get in touch with an administrator at the site – it’s your browser being prevented from reaching the site and trying to offer useful suggestions.
  16. I’d noticed the “we’re not accepting new logins” message on the front page, and knew that my card had expired, so was very worried. I don’t want the paper, and certainly wouldn’t pay for access to something I’d never read, but I’d hate to lose my membership. Thanks so much for your instructions which were simple enough for me to follow. I work in IT, but would have given up and waited for the card which has expired, to be declined, and then been disappointed when they wouldn’t take a new card. Phew, and thanks _so_much!
  17. Thank you for your very helpful instructions. My registered card had expired so I was in danger of losing my access when next due. I have now following your instructions and am safe! FelixTT
  18. Thank you very much. Since my credit card had been “borrowed” by an anonymous user, my new card would not have been on file with Worldplay. Your instructions are very clear; you may have saved my morning routine. RB

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