Highlights for Children Reviews 

I bought a gift subscription for my nephew and purchased it in Canadian dollars. As a Canadian, I always check if it’s CAD and USD. I subscribed and my receipt even said CAD. However I was charged in USD so the price was higher because of the exchange rate. I thought it would be an easy fix but it wasn’t. I called 5 times and was given 3 different people to email, screenshot from my bank, send the receipts etc. I spent probably 5 hours trying to deal with this and it never got resolved. The “supervisors” I was given their emails to handle this. 2 different ones, apparently, completely ignored me. No one cared. No one helped. Pretty shortsighted really, because I had such nostalgic feelings for highlights magazine from my own childhood, I would’ve continued the subscription for multiple years, but I felt like they scammed me for $15 or so dollars and I didn’t renew. I would never ever purchase anything from highlights again. Not very reputable. Not very moral.

Ordered a 1 year subscription in January 2026. Q/A says orders in January ship in April. End of June and still no magazine. Had to threaten a charge back to get a refund.

While this magazine is a fun experience. It's too hard to manage and almost a level of fraud when you try to handle it with customer service. I recently just went on their page without subscribing to anything I was logged in. I then received an email saying, "did you forget something?"
3 Days later I had a new subscription I didn't sign up for for 12 months and a charge of $50.
When I contacted them to change it, there was absolutely no response. That seems like fraud to me. I highly discourage anyone from using this because of that issue alone.

Because I love the actual Highlights magazine, I continue to give subscriptions in spite of the massive frustration of dealing with these people. Every.Single.Time I begin or change a subscription, the magazine does not arrive for months. I call. They say it must have been lost in the mail - we’ll extend your subscription. A guaranteed headache dealing with them.

Do not engage with these people. They are the absolute worst. I cannot understand how the are able to stay in business. Months waiting for an issue. Emails saying it sent, it will be sent and then sent again. Ridiculous. Don’t waste your time and money with this business.

It's a scam. If you get it as a gift, you can't cancel it. They ignore all communication.

Terrible and Shameful customer service. They have 80 complaints on BBB not including mine which will be added today. Ordered subscription, my credit card was charged but I did not receive a confirmation. I spoke to customer service Joy, then transferred to supervisor Josh, then transferred to Supervisor Terry who all told me the same thing "the confirmation will come in 2-3 days". None of the people I spoke to could not speak English clearly and were very hard to understand. They all obviously read from a script and not trying to solve to my complaint. I strongly suggest you do not order on line from this company. Great kids’ books company, but TERRIBLE on line ordering. Will stop payment and get the books some other way. Very hard to believe they cannot do better in these days and times, especially with a company that is 75 years old. Definitely not customer relation friendly!!

Zero stars would be better. We ordered a on year subscription for my niece and they just continued to charge us without communication or agreement on our part. Trying to contact them and get a resolution has been a nightmare. Even after they agreed to cancel it they still charged us again at least two times. The refund we were supposedly getting for the rest of the subscription doesn’t cover it. I won’t be surprised they do it again. They are thieves. Watch your credit card charges. They will steal from you.

If I could give a half star I would. The total lack of communication and access is appalling. Do not send these has gifts. Unless you received them in person. They will run your credit card out of town uu call, write or telegraph. Have yet to get a simple cancelation after a direct phone call and giving information. No confirmation and forced to stop payment by my CC company.

Ordered for my son, a preschooler. The VERY first book we received, Danny and the Dinosaur, had inappropriate materials added at the end of the book. When I looked up what book this was for, it was for an older child/young adult and had insults and such in it that a 4 year old should NOT be reading. When I reached out to Highlights about it, they refused to address it and asked me to email an invalid email address. Two separate CS reps gave me that email address, so they are not interested in resolutions

Yet another customer who ordered in Mid-November and haven't received any issues. Was supposed to be a Christmas gift. Highlights used to be an amazing subscription for DECADES, but clearly, not anymore.

Ordered the magazine in November 2025 and still have not received it. I ordered in plenty of time for my granddaughter to get this as her Christmas present and we waited the last two weeks of December every day for the mail to come, and the magazine never arrived. My granddaughter was disappointed, and I was disappointed as this was her Christmas present. Which she has still not received! What heartache for my little granddaughter. Customer service just gives you the runaround. I think this is a scam.

Called to shop for magazine subscription and inquire about activity boxes child age 6. The agent pressed for my credit card number to renew magazine. When I asked what age category was just purchased told age 3 to 6 even after I told her the child was 6 and wanted age 6 to 12. The agent told me when the credit card was processed which could not happen while on the phone she would update the age group. Good bye! I told her I wanted to purchase activity box subscription but have chosen to not do so and stressed I want the subcription to not renew. The agents have no idea as to what the products provide. I had asked for example if the child is age 6 does that weigh into what magazine she receives. I don't want a magazine geared for a 12 year old nor do I want one geared for a 3 year old. How is it done? She said it is all done "in the office" and said my question was a good one but she did not know nor did she give me a way to find out. She took my money and ran. I have not idea what I bought yet. And I don't trust Highlights any longer because of their choice in agents who have no knowledge about the products but know how to take your money.

I have ordered High Five (and paid TWICE THIS YEAR thru PayPal), for two years in a row. Highlights Consumer Services withdrew $48 on Sept. 9, and Conde Nast again on September 12th. ( I just learned that my grandchild never received the magazine last year either) This is a rip-off. Do not order from Conde Nast. I thought ordering from the publisher directly would be safe. Shame on them for ripping off the public and our little ones. They owe me $144. ($48 x 3).

This is not a review of the magazine. It is a wonderful publication. This is a complaint about Customer Service, specifically getting the magazine and then not renewing the subscription.I had to dog the original delivery. Finally received. Down the road, the subscription was ending in November of 2025. I wrote to them and asked that it not be renewed after the last issue. They cancelled the subscription 2 months before it was going to expire anyway and then said they would refund the credit to my PayPal (original payment). After the credit did not post, I contacted them and they said it would take 1-2 billing cycles to show up on my credit card statement. What? I didn't pay by CC. Then they said they couldn't credit my PayPal (they had no problem debiting it) and they are now sending me a check which will take 2-4 weeks. UGH!

Now October 22nd and still no check. I have reached out to Highlights and they have responded that they have forwarded my inquiry to another department. When I asked what department? Crickets! I will now dispute my original payment to see if that gets any movement.

Received this later in the day on the 22nd....

"Hi, thank you for contacting Highlights.

We have found the error with the refund of $xx.xx. We have fix the error in the processing and we are releasing the refund today. It should arrive to you within the next 10-15 business days.

We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused."

So they have been lying to me for months!

The package still has not arrived outside of the promised delivery window. The customer experience was poor and the encounter with their Care team frustrating. They refused to help in any way. I loved them as a kid and purchased the item for my son's birthday. Very disappointing.

Ordered highlights and high-five as gifts for 2 kids. Only asked for 1 year subscriptions. Without my consent, I was billed for a second year. Called, threatened report to BBB and second billing is being refunded. Would not recommend ordering from them.

The magazine subscription has not arrived.
It is three months past due.
They have been contacted repeatedly.
They keep saying "so sorry, will extend your subscription" and nothing.

Update: They have apologized and refunded and are sending the current magazine edition. That is appreciated.

Poor quality product, really horrible customer service practices.

Activity books are bound together poorly by glue so that after a couple uses, the pages fall out.

Their return process is so archaic that there are no return numbers or tracking; all onus is on the consumer. Even when you have proof of delivery, they will claim that they never received it and will continue to invoice you even after your credit card company completed an investigation.

When you call customer service, they are trained by script so you aren’t treated like a human and they cannot/will not try to be understanding or empathetic to you. They are only interested in collecting money and protecting themselves.

Caution: Bought a year’s subscription as a gift. Initially told the first issue would arrive in 4-6 weeks. Week 8 and counting no sight of an issue. Customer service was unable to explain why the delay nor provide an estimated delivery date. Think twice before ordering as a gift! Poor customer service and will never purchase or order from Highlights.