The Great Courses

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.

In February of 2023, I ordered a Course (DVD and book). It was my first time dealing with this company and one of the incentives for me was their 365-day money back guarantee. The purchase was practically risk-free. Because the course was not what I envisioned, I returned it (via USPS, with tracking) and it was delivered to them on May 22,2023. Initially, they told me the refund process would be about 3 weeks. Then, it was 4 to 6 weeks. The latest is that it's 6 to 8 weeks. The reason they gave is that they are migrating their database. But, suspiciously, the migration process isn't affecting their INcoming orders, only their OUTgoing refunds. So, 8 weeks after my return was delivered to them (as proven so by USPS tracking), I'm still waiting for a refund. And each time I call them (because emails do not get responded to for days - and I can prove that as well) to ask about the status, there is an excruciating long wait time (average is about 16-23 minutes on hold). As stated, this was my first purchase from The Great Courses - and probably my last. 365-Day Money Back Guarantee? Sounds good in theory but fails miserably in practice.

With nearly no instructors of color and a hefty list of uninspired titles, this might have seemed academically rigorous 30 years ago. Today, it is an outdated vestige of the Eurocentric model of education, lacking in relevance or modern-day usefulness. I used to love these as a kid decades ago, and after trying it again a couple years ago, I cancelled well before the end of my free trial. When I wrote them as to why (the above, essentially), they essentially said there were no qualified teachers of color. Just wow.
This platform is worthless: just a tired regurgitation of the past with no connection to the present or future. I should also note many of the videos are the same from my long ago childhood, which is to say grainy and low quality.

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.

I am slowly slogging through "Experiencing Shakespeare: From Page to Stage".
While some of the information is interesting ( certainly not profound) … I am amazed that the author ( Alissa Branch) is dressed in an outfit more appropriate for a teenager with low self esteem. Is Great Courses requiring a high libido to substitute for low content in their current curriculum?

SCAM. On 22 Jan 2021 I ordered courses on their All Courses $35 Sale Good through 4 Feb 2021. My Total came $185, however, my card was charged $1,759.60. Scam, Scam, Scam

Hire people who know HOW to teach/instruct! JUst standing and facing left and then right does not make for an interesting presentation. Add more visuals! Have more than one instructor per course.

Beware when you order sale merchandise. I placed the order which of course showed the price I was paying. When I received my credit card statement they billed me the full price. The customer service reps were nice and I was credited back the difference. But I think about those who do not check their bills closely. We are talking $500+ difference!

I love most of the Great Courses and do not expect them to always be graduate school in content. This one was disappointing. The presenter talk far too fast, far too fast… and the material was superficial. Not a buy

I have been buying courses from them for the past 15 years. Primarily, history, literature, and philosophy, political science. Most of the courses were pretty good. But, I have noticed that professors were starting to inject political views in their courses a while back. Nowadays, practically every course is heavily biased towards the political correctness/woke side of the spectrum. One of the courses is blatant/in your face propaganda from 3 professors who work for an NGO backed by Soros and Gates... The name of the course is "Fighting Disinformation". Oh, the irony! What were they thinking? So for me, the Great Courses are over. Will never buy from them again.

My uncle died and had 10 of these courses still packaged so I returned them - they promise a lifetime guarantee or 1 year return for any reason. They were still boxed! They refused to accept the returns saying that the guarantee was personal to my late uncle and the would not issue a refund. Disgraceful.

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

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

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.

Hoping to learn about history and science, I bought several. You cannot imagine how boring all of them are: No effort whatsoever illustrating motivating the topic. Just imagine someone reading from a screen at a fast speed and often with a speech impediment. Of course, all the presenters are introduced as professors with a PhD degree, which means nothing. Also, all series are even produced in the same room with simply a green background. Yes, this company is a money making machine disregarding the responsibility with its customers and should be brought to justice. All my purchase were sent to the garbage can.

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).

Website operation was funky and ordered something I didn't want. Contacted customer service right away and said nothing they could do but for me to return it when I received it. Also a few days later they removed a promotional code I entered that was accepted and proceeded to charge my credit card the incremental difference without my authorization. No response from customer service when I complained about this.

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.

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

Be wary of this company. Don't use any promo codes and make sure you know exactly what you're getting into with them. They bill your credit card or bank account and never give you a receipt or email about any subscription.

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.