Be very, very careful with Busuu.

I've been using Busuu (Version v22. 15. 0(1) German and French course until November 2020 on my iPhone with IOS14.2 until I canceled this application last November (please see attached photos).

There must be a bug on the Busuu platform for IOS users because I know that I've canceled the Busuu subscription last November (more than one month before the deadline) and on the 1st of December 2020, I've been charged 79,99 Euros (via Paypal). Please see attached photos (from my iPhone) that show that Busuu is not on the list of subscribed applications (it's like this since November 2020). The status subscription on the Busuu App shows a "--". I've experience another glitch/bug on Busuu with IOS around two months ago - the Busuu platform for IOS users was automatically completing - I've contacted Busuu's support services on 16/10/20 and a helpful Customer Satisfaction Manager - Adriano - solved situation lessons (see attached email screenshot) - this kept me from using the application for 3 days - so it's not uncommon to have bugs on the Busuu platform for IOS users.

It is not the client's fault if a technical malfunction of Busuu application ignores the subscription cancelation request. I've tried to explain this situation to one of the support team members "Peter" without success - support+*******@busuu.zendesk.com - he was not at all concerned about my extremely unfair and absurd situation. DUOLINGO refunds immediately in a situation like this.

I have several premium Busuu users among my family and friends that are absolutely shocked by this non-refund situation, taking into account the fault is technical and that is entirely on Busuu's side. If people lose faith in the Busuu application and become aware of the unhelpful client services the very tricky subscription policy that Busuu currently practices, Busuuwill lose much more than what they earn with the clients they force to be premium members.

Please keep in mind that I'm being insistent not for the money that I lost but for the sake of principles and will not stop until I have a total refund.

Knowing that the Busuu application is always sending emails to their users regarding their progress, goals achievements, etc., it's very interesting to learn that once we get close to the date of the renewal of the annual subscription, there are no emails or notifications informing that we are about to start another cycle - only an absolute silence from Busuu until the money is transferred from the client's account to Busuu. I'm sure that it is only a big coincidence and it has nothing to do with the fact that Busuu wants their users to forget to cancel their second annual subscription which is "only" at least two times more expensive than the first subscription.

It's also very interesting the fact that a client/member has to cancel the Busuu subscription several times and on different platforms (website, application, etc.) to make things even more complicated. The rule of having to cancel the subscription on the place where you first subscribed is absurd - the cancellation of a subscription is a cancellation! Why do you have to do it several times? Busuu - Easy to get in, impossible to get out... What a great trap! Congratulations!

Busuu should urgently revise their policy of not letting their members know (via email or notification) when the new Busuu cycle is about to begin. This policy is creating a significantly large group of Busuu Forced Premium-Members that feel scammed, robbed, frustrated, and end up hatting a good language learning application and giving very negative reviews. This is terrible publicity for Busuu! On this website alone - https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/busuu.com - I can count 46 Busuu Forced Premium-Members that gave one star ( and this is only referring to the last six months). I will have to take a look at all the other application-review sites and try to reach a global number of scammed Busuu members.

I used Busuu for a while and did enjoy the app. I quite like the way you can interact with native speakers and although I needed an additional book, I think the 34,99 were worth it. At first the app for Japanese was broken, making it difficult if not impossible to progress as it started showing only kana texts and romaji wasn't working. That did eventually get fixed, improving the experience.

When I bought the membership, I paid 34,99. Recently they charged my card for 69,99, and are not at all apologetic about it. Their reply was something like "we are sorry YOU were not aware that YOU signed up for a recurring subscription", not to mention the price hike. This is a very wild west way for making money, charging someone without notice or warning a year later, for another year. Not to mention that under Dutch law, the latter is illegal. I am not sure how this is across the EU, but maybe it's the same.

For the Dutchies here then, have a look here: https://www.consumentenbond.nl/juridisch-advies/rechten-bij-aankoop/abonnement-en-lidmaatschap/verlengen-en-opzeggen-van-abonnementen

A quote from their website: "Een abonnement mag niet automatisch worden verlengd, tenzij je het abonnement na verlenging op ieder moment kunt opzeggen met een opzegtermijn van 1 maand".

This would mean you can cancel your extension of 12 months immediately after they charge you and get a refund for 11 months, unless you explicitly agreed to their extension. If they don't, they're breaking consumer law.

It's a shame Busuu operates like this as I really do like their product, but conning people into unwanted yearly subscriptions by preying on their humanity (we all forget and make mistakes) is beyond rude and shouldn't even be allowed. And do note, it is not allowed! (at least in NL).

I could have seen myself returning to Busuu periodically when I wanted to, but they are far too good at ruining customer satisfaction. Far too many companies forget that customer service is 50% of a product's perceived value and satisfaction. I can only assume this business model works really well for them as it must make them a lot of money, even though it frustrates and angers scores of good people out there.

Not okay. Avoid them!

I was horrified that Busuu (a company I have never heard of) deducted £69.99 from my PayPal credit account and they claimed I have subscribed with them (which was not the case). It felt like they had committed day time robbery, on tackling this by contacting their customer service wasn't great - the agent 'Andreea' refused to refund my £69.99 and displayed a great deal of disinterest and an attitude towards me in her email, which I reacted very badly and reflected this in my response to her email; she had dismissed my clear state of distress. I even explained my personal circumstances of homelessness and financial difficulty, and that I can't afford these fraud committed against me, especially in these times of extreme hardship. She then referred me to Paypal to cancel this mysterious subscription and get my refund back. When I contacted Paypal and sought advise, I raised a fraudulent case, the agent informed me that the Busuu agent was being dishonest and had misadvised me, that they are holding my money, therefore I should go back to Busuu and get my refund back as my money is with their company, not with Paypal.

After googling Busuu I learned it was a company that provides learning new languages, and by default I am a woman with a polyglot background, I was not required to learn additional languages, at least not at this stage. I would never have subscribed to this service, especially through PayPal and it is a lot of money for me to spend on learning a new language.

Update:
After going back and fourth with contacting Busuu and PayPal, a member of Busuu staff by the name Christelle communicated with me by email. She was much more professional, cooperative and helpful, which was such a relief as I was losing hope. Thanks to this member of staff that I managed to get my full refund back.
With further investigation on my side, I discovered that this subscription went back to a time when multiple fraud was made against me by the same two individuals from last year which still impacted me recently (i. E. Busuu payment), it was so serious that the police and a fraud team were involved, as other people have been victim of their fraud crimes too.
I realised that Busuu was a legitimate company, that only acted upon an online request made by these fraudsters.

Christelle (Busuu agent) treated my case sensitively, unlike her colleague before her. I am grateful for this. I have not used Busuu service to comment or provide a specific star rating, but I give Christelle 5 out of 5 for handling my case as it was a very delicate situation, being that I am a vulnerable customer. I gave overall 4 out of 5 rating. Thank you.