Busuu

I enjoyed using Busuu to help me learn Mandarin. I was happy to sign up to the Premium Service. However, I have now had my subscription renewed with absolutely no warning or reminder.

While I may have decided to renew my subscription anyways, I think it is a very very sneaky way of getting money out of customers. They use the excuse of 'not wanting to interrupt your learning experience'... which is a load of rubbish. It's just a way of taking £70 out of your bank account without any warning, for a service you may no longer be using.

They know that if they send reminder emails, a significant proportion of people may decide not to renew.

To be honest, I enjoy using Busuu... but this approach and their rude customer service has left a bad taste. I will be cancelling my subscription in the future and next year, will be looking for a learning tool with better morals and customer service,

I'm another unhappy customer whose account was auto-renewed without any notice. They charged twice as much as I paid the first time. When I contacted Customer Service, they refused to issue a refund. Horrible business practice!

Busuu has automatic renewal of Busuu Premium. They tell you the day before that it renews, but you are not allowed to cancel at that time. So not impressed with policies listed in the fine print. Product is OK, but probably not worth 80 euros per year.

My experience with Busuu was nothing short of a complete disappointment. My son signed up for their language-learning app one year ago, paying for an entire year in advance. However, the app proved to be ineffective for him, and he only used it for a mere three months.

Despite the lack of use, Busuu yesterday charged us an $69.99 for a one-year renewal without notifying the Paypal account used to pay for the subscription. When I immediately reached out to their customer support team to request a refund, they callously refused to grant one, citing their one-sided terms and conditions.

It's clear that Busuu is a company that cares only about their profits, rather than the satisfaction and loyalty of their users. By resorting to deceitful practices to take money from unsuspecting customers, they have lost any credibility they may have once had. Save yourself the frustration and financial loss by avoiding Busuu at all costs.

Busuu took my money for a premium membership and then locked me out of the system saying they can't find my info. I provided them with my actual proof of purchase from PayPal and Apple and still they refuse to help. I provided them with how I originally logged in and still the same answer. That they can't find my info. This is a real shame that you would be scammed under the guise of education. Please be careful when dealing with them. I would definitely not give them your money or access to your payment methods. Very untrustworthy company

I signed up for a yearly subscription with Busuu two years ago. I was using the service for a few months, but then I forgot that I had it. A few days ago, my subscription auto renewed for another year. I emailed Busuu immediately telling them the situation saying that I would like to both cancel and receive a refund for the unused year that I had just, that day, paid for. A rep from Busuu messaged me back saying that I could cancel my subscription but that I would be unable to receive a refund for it. I find this really unreasonable since I emailed them the same day that my subscription was auto renewed and therefore had 365 days left on it. Why should I pay for something that I am not going to use? Since this is a digital product, Busuu doesn't occur any kind of loss besides issuing me a refund for this unused product.

If I could I would give 0 star review.

Woke up today, to find out that I was billed 1 year premium plus subscription, even though I clearly remember cancelling my renewal plan, which they claim I didn't do, sent a refund request, still waiting for an answer. I am stundet, still looking for a job, kinda of hard with everything going and stores are closing down.

How can they charge customers with notifying them before hand.
Shame on you!

I canceled my subscription on the day it renewed and Busuu refuses to issue a refund. They quote policies which disadvantage the consumer but offer no solution. The app is simply not worth $79.99 a year especially when you get trapped into a renewal you do not want. Stay away from this company.

Canceled my premium membership a YEAR ago, only to be charged the full subscription amount today. I have no idea why I'm being charged, and my account doesn't have any subscription info. Tried calling the number and was old my an automated voice that the mailbox was full… absolutely embarrassing on their end. Still no response to my email. Without a doubt, this is my last time using this app. Absolute robbery.

This company charged me for a yearly subscription without my knowledge. When told that I was unaware of this charge, they told me that they will not refund my money. This is an extremely shady company that you should be careful to not trust your money to!

The product is okay, alternatives such as Rosetta Stone and Duolingo are much better in my opinion. My one star is for being charged after on auto renewal. The company would not reverse the charge. They have a terrible reputation for that (look online). I had not used their product for months and was surprised to see a charge. I believed I had canceled, but had no record of it (my fault). Anyways I asked the company to reverse the charge and the response was we basically they canceled it now but I would have to pay for the full year. What a tacky way to do business. Stuck using this app wishing I could go back to Duolingo.

1) For disputes, dispute with your credit card company right away, or dispute with the company via e-mail, so you can prove to your CC company later (if they don't refund you) that you disputed the charge immediately.

2) DEMAND in writing that the company removes your CC / payment information if you can't remove it yourself.

3) If you do order from this company, take a screenshot or picture (and video) showing that you turned OFF the "auto-renewal" when your subscribed. The video is so they can't claim that you could have changed it to "auto-renewal" after taking the picture.

A year ago I needed to learn German. I tried several programs including Busuu.
I loved the idea of peer reviewing exercises, so I bought Premium for a year for 50% off.
And now, a year later, without email notification, they renewed Premium subscription for a year at full price!
After contacting the support team, I was told that I had read the Terms and Conditions, in which they are not required to notify before renewing the subscription. Thus, this company behaves like real thieves, "quietly" continuing premium subscription and charging the full cost of it.

So when buying a Premium subscription, be prepared to lose money in the future.

Below are quotes from their support team responses:

"Usually, you would need to cancel your subscription before the automatic renewal if you don't want to have a renewal."

"However, as per our terms, we do not issue refunds over 7 days after the initial purchase, which was in 2019."

Worst customer service ever! I found out that my account auto renewed without so much as receiving a reminder email from Busuu. I reached out to them less than 24 hours after the payment went through to ask for a refund and they responded with a big fat "No", citing their terms and conditions. How on earth do companies think it's ok to trick customers into paying for a service they are no longer using and to show no understanding what so ever when a subscription has been accidentally renewed? It's not like I waited weeks to ask for a refund -- I asked for one less than a day afterwards! To me that shows a complete lack of understanding towards their customers.

To make matters worse, I was pretty darn certain I turned off auto-renew when I originally signed up. I went to cancel auto-renew again and it won't take. I logged out and logged back in to see that auto-renew is still turned on. I had to reach out to them yet again just to turn off auto-renew and who knows if that will work. I am convinced this company is a scam.

Sadly because of this experience I will never return to using Busuu again in the future. That's really too bad as I love learning new languages and I am certain I would have returned as a customer in the future.

Learn to be more understanding of your customers if you wish to have then return!

They withdrew 80$ from me without any warning or reminder. I contacted them directly when they took 80$ dollars from me and they only refer to their terms & conditions. Their strategy is to buy their offer on Busuu premium for 1 year, then they renew the subscription for another year. Never got any email about it. You can also no longer use the app when you have already done all the courses... which they know and then take the opportunity to renew your subscription if you do not end it. I never knew about this, because it is very unclear. I also do not seem to be alone in this when I read reviews about the company.

I echo so many people here... I regularly check my app subscriptions on Google and cancel any I no longer require. I've recently been charged £45.99 from Busuu for a 12 month subscription. This is an app I've not used for over 6 months. There was no notice that a payment will be taken, if there was there is no way I'd agree to another 12 months. I believe this behaviour is underhand and sneaky, and judging by a number of other reports online, I'm not the only person to fall foul of this. Stay well clear of this app.

After using Busuu for 4 weeks and getting to the more difficult sections I find learning on this site is very difficult. There is not enough reinforcement of previous lessons, no interactive translation and not enough guidance in the lessons. All you get are silly pdf file downloads that do not match the lessons exactly, making you search for answers that don't exist. I got a really big discount on the service for a year, I can see why they are offering discounts, but I will probably quit.

Signed up for the premium membership last year for a cheaper price but stopped using the app after a few months as I didn't like it. I had forgotten all about ever subscribing until a few days ago when I was horrified to receive an email from PayPal saying I had been charged £69.99 for a subscription renewal I didn't want and can't afford. There was no prior warning email to say my subscription would be renewed soon, they just took the money from my account and when I immediately cancelled and requested a refund I was refused. Avoid this app!