Busuu

DO NOT SIGN UP! I wish I had seen the Busuu comments before I signed up. I have just been charged 69.99 for a subscription I had no idea was going to be taken a year later. No notice about a renewal whatsoever and I cancelled my account on the same day when I was charged and informed them. I received no answer and had to chase them up, only to be told like everyone else that they do not refund! Did I not read their sneaky T&C's? I did not set my PayPal account to renew this transaction, so somewhere in their terms they manage to keep the automatic renewal really quiet. Utterly unacceptable and I will find a way to report this and spread the word about their complete lack of professionalism and transparency. What a horrible foundation for a company to be built upon. No integrity, zero customer service and let's watch them fall into the going nowhere but down app.

They lure you with "7-day money back guarantee" and "cancel any time" promises. What they don't you is they will do anything to stop you from getting your refund.

My bank informed me that the card was charged $69.99 for a one-year subscription starting from the same day. I cancelled the subscription right away and received an email confirming the cancellation. I wrote to Busuu asking for refund. The "customer service" rep first said I didn't cancel the subscription. After I showed him the cancellation confirmation, the same rep said no refund anyway. It was clear that they don't put their customers first. I think it's fraudulent.

I think Busuu should have more control over the sort of people using their site. I am tired of guys thinking it is some sort of sex chat line and only wanting to have Webcam sex or show me parts of their anatomy I really don't want to see!. I joined the site because I thought it was a language learning site but it seems to me there are lots of people using it for cheap thrills. As I tell them there are plenty of sites around for this. Please do something about this Busuu and whatever you do don't let your kids use this site!

I had the same problem than most people here. The cancellation option was not showing up in my settings. I freaked out, and read the review and got mad. However, when I shoot them an email and provided them my account email address, they took care of it the same day and email me back that it was canceled.
I just have to wait a year see if they will charge or not as some people are complaining here. Until that happen, I would say they not as bad as people say they are.

Well I have been learning French on busuu for six months as a free member. I am so limited there, because i do not have access to the grammar parts( that I use books for that), and I can not record my voice for my friends to correct my pronunciation. But ever since it has improved my writing and vocabulary a lot. My listening comprehension still is far from perfect. I write alot which are corrected by native frenchs and I talk to them online which is also helpful.
But I wish busuu could block all the guys who seek sex chat there. They drive you maaad!

Upon purchasing Busuu, I was initially pleased. That didn't last long unfortunately, you have to take a introductory test when you sign up, which puts you at a level depending on your correct answers. I was put at intermediate, which I thought was about right. I struggled to understand some of the grammar as the answers and questions aren't always in English. Why? Surely if you're learning a language it's always better to have everything in your own language to understand? As I progressed through the lessons to the next level, it then jumped up to quickly in terms of understanding. It was literally too many words and conversations, of which I didn't understand. And with no English to help, it just didn't make any sense. I also had issues about the speed of the Italian speaker, it's either to fast, which is very difficult to understand, or when you slow it down, it's like a drawl. I've tried many language courses, some good and bad, Busuu, is a let down for me, mainly for the lack of English in the questions and answers, and the big jump, in terms of ability in the lessons.

As many of the complaints posted on this site and around the web I didn't notice (or I didn't sign for) this clause.
The super annoying fact is that they don't send you any notice/warning about the date your premium subscription is about to expire; they just charge you on your credit card or PayPal account letting you know about it after they've already taken (stolen?) your money.
I opened a dispute on PayPal and after Busuu never provided any evidence on this matter I got my money refunded.
I know about other people who were charged on their credit cards that were able to cancel their transfers through their bank.
I just wanted to warn everybody to cancel your premium subscription as soon as possible in case you're not interested in renewing it, because this company won't!

Update: I am reading about a lot of people who say they had actually cancelled their premium membership but were charged just the same, so just delete your account ASAP!

I joined for a nominal discounted rate (under $15 for a year membership I believe). I was SHOCKED to get an email from them indicated that my membership had been AUTOMATICALLY renewed at a rate of $69.99! I immediately contacted their "customer service" via email (no phone number provided on their email to me). They emailed me back with a cold matter of fact response that the automatic renewal is disclosed in their terms and conditions. I don't recall ever authorizing automatic payments. On other sites you typically have to check a box to authorize them and the amount is clearly indicated. That didn't happen in my case. When I requested a refund, they refused. I asked to speak to a manager (via email), and they responded by agreeing to refund 50% of the $69.99 charge. Horrible customer service - shady business practices in my opinion.

They are lying thieves, as confirmed by several others with similar experiences here. They offer "7 day free of obligation trial" but they have no intention of honouring this claim. I could not cancel even with the first day, They should be shut down for this alone. When you try to cancel, the functionality to do so on their site is missing. Another fraudulent approach to their business style. The site is also riddled with technical bugs and the content is poor - especially what comes with "premium membership". They have no concern for their customers, they are maliciously compliant and once they have your money they refuse to part with it under any circumstances, they have no channel of communication and ignore feedback, they have on-going technical problems that never get fixed, they have poor content containing several errors that never get fixed. Like I said - stay far away.

The customer service is extremely bad and it doesn't seem like they care about a person at all. This kind of a service to clients is unimaginable. All they care about is money.
I had requested to cancel my subscription and refund my payment on the day when the subscription auto-renewed. They flatly refused and in a very rude manner too. They don't seem to offer a personalized service. Avoid at all costs.

Send my 8 year old kid hundreds of emails but then when the annual notification they send through to spam so he wouldn't have seen it! £80 taken and now they ignoring me!

Used this app to learn French. After a month, felt discouraged. The conversations are so fast paced (voice sounds weird on slower pace, basically it's useless) and they use so heavy vocab, felt completely lost. The study plan they suggested seems unreasonable unless you're great in memorising stuff, I can't with everyday work. This app is not for beginners and for working professionals. Duolingo is a snail but much better than this. Thinking of giving up my subscription paid to busuu. Looking for some other more encouraging app.

I really liked Busuu, I bought 3 yearly subscriptions, one for myself, one for my partner and one for my mother in law. However, since they offer huge discounts for the first year and charge you full price after that, I made sure I cancel all 3 subscriptions in advance and decide later whether I want to continue or not. I cancelled all 3 subscriptions months prior to the subscription ending and under Settings in my Profile it said the subscription is cancelled. Today was the last day of my subscription, I checked the settings in the morning and the afternoon, it said it will end today. 15 min before midnight I checked if the subscription ended and to my shock the message changed to: "Your subscription will automatically renew on. If you don't want your Premium subscription to renew, please cancel before." Just that, no dates or any other info... Below is the button "Cancel Premium", when I try to do it, asks for a reason and after that nothing happens... this is a total scam. Waiting for the support to react, otherwise, I am going to contact my credit card issuer and try to get a refund.

Worst language learning online. They chanted my paypal without authorization. I just noticed it and emailed. They are yet to refund my last 2 charges.

Nowhere on their account page do they allow for this setting even though they charged automatically. This should be re-tweeted to social networks. They do not have a phone call center to complain and take their time to answer complaint emails. I will be reporting this to the IRS line.

My friend sent me a referral code to try a month of busuu out free, I was liking the website but I didn't think the course was strong enough to keep the subscription going past the free trial, so I canceled it. End of story, right?

Oh, how wrong I was. Even though I canceled auto renewal on the website, I was met with an $80 charge on my card which I had my bank deny. My bank then proceeded to send me a new debit card with an entirely different number. A month later, I get another message saying my bank denied an 80 dollar charge from busuu. But this is a new debit card number, how could this be? I go and check PayPal auto subscriptions, busuu nowhere to be found. Same for Google play, nothing in subscriptions. I genuinely don't understand how I'm getting charged on a new number. I deleted the busuu account entirely which "says" it'll cancel the subscription but that's what it said the first time I had supposedly canceled it. I have no way to tell if I'll get charged again until next month, and if that's the case I'm going to end up having to talk to my bank and go to busuu's customer support. I'd honestly stay clear, look elsewhere if you're trying to learn a language because the business practice just isn't worth the headache here.

They charged my paypal after 12 months. I immediately stopped them but too late. They don't even have a number to call or contact them directly. I have to use email.
They refused to refund, I didn't let go, I called PayPal file a dispute, then email them, back and forth, they finally agreed 50% refund, of course I rejected and I TOLD them I am asking 100%, I won't stop fighting until I got my money back.
I then email them again, I am going to file another dispute with my credit card, not just PayPal, guess what. They replied and say 100% refund but I will need to cancel my dispute.
So, please don't let it be if you are into this, fight for it.

Angry Bird