The Great Courses

We had ordered 5 of these courses without problems-they were not as informative as promised, but good for an overview of the subject.
Then we ordered the Great Civilizations course and it had several discs that were scratched or otherwise unable to play.
I was told that there were no replacements and they could only send me a single DVD.
This is totally ridiculous. I asked them to replace the whole course with the DVD set and they refused-so much for their great customer service
What good is one DVD going to do? Is it my fault their product is faulty?
I asked for a supervisor to call me back 2 weeks ago and I am still waiting.
Don't waste your money, just get a PBS course through Netflix

All professors are knowledgeable and informative. I have dozens of courses on a wide spectrum of topics. Only a few professors are slightly biased giving their own twist on the subject matter. That's OK as I usually catch them as I go through the lectures. The quality of the DVDs are excellent so far. Very few verifiable errors that I catch now and then. I recommend the Great Courses for continued learning as I've learned a lot from them. I find the courses in science and math very enlightening.

I really like the courses, some of which I think are way over priced. The problem I have with this company is the constant mailings. I get a catalog at least once, sometimes twice a week. The more purchases I make, the more catalogs they send me. I called customer service where I spoke to a robot that lets you opt-out of the constant mailing, but that did not stop the mailings. It slowed down for about 3 weeks then it started again. I would love to stick with this company, but if they don't start acting in a civil manner I will have nothing to do with them.

I am wasting my time with some jerk named Albert from Roku who doesn't understand the simple fact that we paid for a subscription and after the 2nd month, The Great Courses updated their Roku App, lost our account information, and took our money.

Update: Oh, after calling around, I did Roku's job for them. It's now called wondrium. Nice communication Roku.

Any company that controls its OWN reviews is a SHAM. Obviously they'll trash what's not to their benefit. I've had to go elsewhere to get the REAL picture of them. Fortunately, their web team can't silence (or remove) all reviews like they do on Amazon (with palm grease). Yes, they'll leave complaints about technical issues (apps) and things irrelevant to their bias so they will appear "balanced". Hogwash!

Many on various websites talk about their BIAS when it comes to history and especially politics. HALF of my course reviews are CENSORED as they use the disgusting term "moderated" - and never tell you EXACTLY why they censored it (you have to guess). Such stick-it-in-your-ear arrogance!

SUMMARY: avoid courses on history, politics, religion. Same brainwashing there as in college (you know - "believe me or flunk the course"). Science and exploration is good except where we must endure incessant whining about the new "religion of climate" (you know - vote for me and I'm your savior).

Learned much. Very distracting are arm, hand movements & walking of presenter with changing camera angles.

Now called, "Wondrium". It's a scam.
Now called, "Wondrium". It's a scam.
Now called, "Wondrium". It's a scam.

I ordered A Guided Tour of Ancient Egypt on August 11,2022. I paid $10.00 for shipping, and contacted the company August 18,2022. I was told that the order had been delivered on the 18th to the local post office by United Parcel Service. This company has a deal with United Parcel Service where UPS delivers to the local post office. This arrangement is called UPS Smart post! I was additionally told that it was placed into a Parcel Locker at the local post office. It had not been delivered on the 18th, 19th, nor the 20th. I contacted The Great Courses on the 18th, and again on the 19th. I was told each time that it had been delivered to the post office. It had NOT. The people answering the telephone at TGC were rude, insistent, and told me that it was their policy that NO refund could be had until 10 business days after the purchase date of the 11th. This date was stated to be 8-26-22. I was also told that a "supervisor" would call me on Monday, the 22nd of August. This of course was not done. We have a tour of Ancient Egypt beginning next week, and even if the course arrives, there would not be enough time to view and study the 24 hours of DVD's!
My advice to everyone---D0 NOT purchase from this company. They are NOT rated by the BBB. They have an average rating of 2.59 stars, and will be lower after my review.
There are many good educational companies. This company is poor in every respect.

I would probably 4.5 not five stars to the great courses, but I rounded up. I've been listening since I was in high school listening on cassette. I've listened to dozens of courses thanks to libraries and Audible. I just bought six more. LNoike any publishing house they have duds, but generally the quality is very high. If you like university style lectures they have the best catalog you're likely to find. I find unless I'm in a real classroom I'm more of an auditory learner, so I can't speak too much to their video material. Anyway I do recommend that you check out their material. If you're interested in any kind of vaguely academic subject they probably have something you'll find interesting.

The Great Courses is what I almost always want as a present from family these days. I have always loved to learn and the great courses lectures are so well taught and educational. From healthy living to learning more about management, the great courses have been very influential in my life. The only problem is the price. The cost is on average 300-400 so they are not cheap. The often have 20-30 lectures so it really comes down to only 10 dollars per hour class. I prefer ordering the DVDs as then you can easily watch the again.

I use lots of different online education options. The Great Courses is my favorite. Their quality is unmatched. The professors I've watched have all been great. When I look through their catalog there are always a dozen courses that I wish I could take. I just wish I had the time.

I normally purchase digital courses on their website. The one time I called, I had a good experience.

I recently watched the new course on Hannibal. It was presented well and was very informative. What a great way to feed your brain.

I was a former customer of this company, indeed, I had purchased several of their lecture series. However, I was dismayed to find they had published a shockingly inadequate and one sided series of lectures on Winston Churchill that were factually and historically biased.

I pointed this out on their Facebook announcement, and listed the omissions. My comment was popular and received several likes and accolades from other followers of the page. However, shortly afterwards I was trolled by a staff member, who publicly and rudely made several unfounded accusations against my character in a comment. I firmly, but politely responded, then found my comment was removed and I was blocked from their Facebook page.

I could understand if I had written something offensive, but I merely pointed out serious omissions of their product. Furthermore, I work in customer service and know there is NEVER an excuse to troll or otherwise take an accusatory tone with customers.

In short:
The customer service is rude,
The lectures on history are NOT impartial, and are heavily biased,
This company is dishonest and will hide honest feedback.

After seeing how the Teaching Company's lectures are biased, and how this was handled by your staff, I will not trust your lectures again. Once trust is gone it can never be restored, nor should it.

They make it impossible to cancel your subscription. Horrible lectures! Waste of money! Don't sign up.

They SEEM to assume that we all have the abilities of a 5-8 year old. I am returning the programs. I do NOT recommend these courses.

SCAM ALERT. If "The Great Courses Plus" offers you a "free" trial through Roku or any other service, don't trust this organization. RUN. Three days into my "free" trial (for extremely outdated courses, to be honest), I was charged $45 from The Great Courses, as well as $19.99 from Roku. Both The Great Courses and Roku initially refused to refund what I would call FRAUDULENT charges and The Great Courses never even had a record of me cancelling through Roku, but after spending my free time emailing them proof, Roku finally refunded what thei had charged me.

The Great Courses Plus, however, pro-rated my "free" membership to the 3 days it was used and said they "do not believe a refund is required." While I do appreciate you refunding my money, IT WAS A FREE TRIAL. I shouldn't have been charged in the first place, nor should I have had to spend my time calling you to dispute this.
Outrageous. I will go out of my way to recommend against this SCAM and wouldn't recommend dealing with this organization to anyone.