Pimsleur Approach Reviews

Got the CDs and copied them and send them right back with in the first ten day and got my money back. Got a set for free by ripping them off. You people should think a little harder. :) ;p

Thank you for this site, so gald I was smart enough to check this out before ordering. U saved me $400.00 it sound like, just wanting to learn a little spanish.....

This is unfortunate. The Cd's are great, however they are going to take your money. Not just the 9.95$, but 64$ mo. forever!!!

Anyone interested in collaborating with a group type lawyer?

I can't even pass beyond the first disc of my $9.95 first French package, because I got totally disgusted with this business! We cannot say it's a scam because the small print is there - buyer, beware! I was not careful and I didn't notice the small print saying I would receive a new package every month and be charged $ 64.00 for each. If this is not deceitful business, it's at least misleading.

We, consumers, may be silly at times, but when a company needs to use misleading strategies to win us it's because they cannot be good just by what they are. And this is bad, bad business!

I wrote an email to Customer Support asking for info about returning the unsolicited package I received. No answer.

I called the cancellation #, and the lady who answered the phone... oh, my, I think she needs a course: an English course! She could pronounce the numbers clearly! How they can hire people to talk to customers if they cannot be clear? Maybe that's another strategy, huh? :\

She asked "why" I wanted to learn French!!! That's none of their dang business! They should ask why I don't want to learn with their programs, anymore! Oh, I would give her a well-deserved answer! But the poor lady was just working... not her fault anyway! (But she could enunciate her words better!)

I should have known better when that silly cartoon-type of ad talked ironically about the "yellow box" (Rosetta Stone). Those guys have no ethics at Pimsleur - they have to mislead the customers and talk bad about the competition. That proves how good they really are!

If the course in itself is good or not, it's hard to say, because that could also be a subjective opinion. I wanted to try it because I don't believe that a 100% audio course is effective. So, I wanted to check it. I listened only to the 1st lesson and I thought it was terrible because I am the kind of learner who needs to use the four language skills: writing, reading, speaking, and listening. And all what we do with the CDs is listening, and repeating (if we can understand what the heck they are saying). I miss reading and writing, I miss exercises and corrections.

I am an English as Second Language coach, that's why I was checking other learning modalities, to help my trainees in different ways. But I've confirmed now that to have only audio lessons is like trying to lean on a table with only one leg. So, in my opinion, it's not a good method for those who really like languages (like me) and want to learn them well (like me, too).

I am happy for all of you who are reading the reviews before buying the product! Smart guys! ;-)

Peace and Love to all!

They constantly tell you on the advert that 25 million people around the world have used the Pimsleur Approach to learn.

But they ship to us and Canada only, so how is that possible?

That should be your first warning.

As many have pointed out, when you order the $9.95 offer you are enrolled for the rest of your life in their $64. tri-monthly/random account looting. I tried to return all of the items that they had sent, and was able to return one while being constantly billed for the other. This after their customer service agents had told me that we were square with item one. I am now forced to get new cards for my bank account so that they cannot continue the account nabbing. It is my personal hope that they are sued out of existence and all the booty returned, and when they demolish the building, they pour salt on the land so that nothing ever grows or is built there again. Perhaps all returns should be done attached to bricks through their window.......unbelievable bastards!

Sorry to those who were scammed. After watching the video, I thought it may be a good supplement to the other foreign language course I'm doing (the one in the yellow box...Rosetta Stone). I was just about to order the CD for $9.95 when I decided to check out the reviews. Thank you a 1000x! BTW I love love love Rosetta Stone.

I was on AOL and the ad came up about this pimsleur crap, so I watched the video and I thought to myself... ok $10.0 really? NO way then I cont'd to watch the video and, I ALMSOT convinced myself that ok its just $10.00 so how much can it hurt?! So my better judgement finally came in the play and I then decided to read the reviews before I put my information out there. ALL I WANT TO SAY IS, SO GLAD THAT I READ THE REVIEWS BEFORE I PURCHASED. Everybody is saying the same things so it must be true. I know that if I was to purchase it was $10.00 and then they decided to add $64.00 3mths later, I would've been pissed. So thank you everybody for the reviews, they do help, they did help and it was a most needed for me. So people beware!

I took Pimsleur up on their Learn French in 10 days promo for $10. The CDs weren't very good, but I figured what could I expect for $10. Today I received a 16 disc French CD course in the mail which I did not order and do not want which costs $64. Someone needs to stop this scam put these fraudulent predators out of business.

I was extremely excited to receive my Japanese Third Edition learning program, and I was happy to pay only $10... That was until about a month later when I received the "gold" edition. Before purchasing the language learner, I read all over their website. Looking for fine print, I decided that it was a good deal. They did not list, nor inform their customers of the "gold" products that would be sent to them month after month where they'd have to pay 4 "easy" payments of $64. That's a boat load of money! Frustrated, I called and had to use my money to pay for "returning" it. I didn't want it in the first place! If they were to list the option of getting the gold, that'd be one thing. But when I didn't want it in the first place, uhmmm no thank you.

They made 16 trillion dollars on us and we got a load of crap

Don't trust them. You will start getting lessons you haven't committed to and once they start charging your credit card for these lessons they won't stop charging it even once you notify them of your cancellation!

Ordered the $ 10 version on 10/17. I cancelled further shipments on 11/14. They mailed the Gold version on 11/15. When I cancelled, I was told to accept the order and I would have to the end of the year to return. I informed them that I would be out of town for the next 6 weeks and it made no sense for them to send the order. They shipped it the day after I cancelled and have been sending me invoices ever since and will not accept my explanations. Only threatening with "Collection".

I agreed that if they can can prove that I agreed to accept the order (they claimed that they a recording of the call) I would send a 25% restocking fee. That 25% fee is hidden in the fine print if the 30 day cancellation dead line is missed. They wouldn't but this.

What saved me from further billing on my credit card, was that my card was compromised and cancelled and reissued by the credit card company.

Well The Title of this review just about sums up this paragraph of hate towards this company but what happened with me was I watched that AMAZING presentation video about just how easy and "Cheap" it could be to learn a new language , so ANY Productive individual would immediately act upon this presentation (actually only a naive person like me probably) anyways the point is ... I'm 18 years old naive and innocent saving up for my first car , little did I know a "$9.95" payment led to a series of $64.00 payments , as they started to ship me more and more things that I NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER Asked for ... I was confused, so I NEVER opened them ... until JUST the other day I got a letter in the mail that said "you've missed a payment" I didnt even know but apparently they took out 4 payments of $64.00 already from me, I than went and called the company and talked to a man who told me my canceling fee would be $400.00 .... I was absolutely PISSED especially because I work a minimum wage job of $7.40 an hour and worked 2 weeks full time to get that money for my car , anyways I asked to speak to a supervisor in which he couldn't even get on the phone with me , instead his supervisors told him to tell me that he'd settle with a cancellation fee of $299.99 (they also JUST took another $64.00 out of my account today) sooo that basically means instead of paying the complete $400.00 to cancel this bullshit companies proposal I'd need to spend $363.00 to cancel right now ... sooo this company is completely twisted and full of shit as are many other companies out there , I just beg of you to NOT make the same mistake I did , and if I can save even 1 naive person like myself than this blabbering review is completely worth typing lol. Sooo PLEASE DONT DONT DONT Join this STUPID Pimsleur!

Thank you have an amazing Pimsleur Free day !

So, I ordered the basic course at $9.95. Seemed OK, so I kept the courses going at the advertised $64 thinking that each shipment was $64. No, look very carefully at the site. Dig down 15 levels of links and you finally find - 4 payments of $64 for each "course" meaning level 1, level 2, level 3 etc. I only caught it because there were so many charges racking up on my account. Had to write two letters to get any response, then got a voicemail asking me to call, called multiple times, no-one on the extension I was given, and no-one else seemed to be able to help.

Finally managed to cancel it and sent back for a refund.

The advertising is in my view deliberately misleading. Their "clear statement" as the rep called it is akin to posting a note in a basement room, which broken stairs down to it and a sign on the door that says "Beware of the leopard" (apologies to Douglas Adams).

Simply avoid them, I'l submitted a complaint to the Attorney General's office an I will be posting this same message anywhere I can find to warn people off.

I'm extremely surprised to read everyone's review on the Pimsleur program thing. Around Christmas time back in 2011, I had bought two languages, Spanish for my bf and Italian for my dad. I did, however, get upset when I was given the wrong language when I ordered the italian disc; they had sent me spanish. My dad already speaks spanish and so i didn't want them and on the receipt of the CD it said Italian. Of course I called and complained, and they sent me what I wanted. But after that little mishap, I was never charged this $64 monthly fee that everyone is talking about? I was actually just about to buy two more languages from them (portuguese and russian) because my dad and my bf were really amazed at how quick they really did pick the languages. But my fear now is WILL I GET CHARGED THIS $64 FEE THIS TIME AROUND?! After reading all the reviews, and seeing that they're so recent, I don't want to take my chances at getting scammed. Thank you all for your feedback. And I'm sorry you all had to go through that.

There are three titles for each disk.
The printed one on each disk.
The title in the track visible when loaded into the pc.
The title announced in the lesson.

They often do not match!

Clearly this is a scam.

Andy

So here i am watching their video. A well made. Very informative video.. seriously they should get a Tony just for the presentation!

Anyway. So i literally clicked the language i wanted and started filling out the form. But before clicking the purchase button my better judgment thought 'maybe i should just look up reviews just in case' And this is what i find... wow. So glad i didnt purchase! Thanks everyone! Even though you got scammed... you kept me from ending up like that!

Free trial , no way!! I told Pinsleur I did not want the tapes within the 30 day time frame. Then, 7 months later they have charged me 64 dollars twice a month on my charge card. Now, since my charge card is crediting me because they saw the fraud, pimsleur is sending me to collection for $650.00. I am going straight to the attorney General's Office!!! I will bring all your letters along with me!! Thank you for your input!!

Isn't there a lawyer out there who wants to take on these scamming guys? There have been too many of us falling for this to go unnoticed! I, like many other people, did not realize what I was signing into, the information presented on the website is very shady. The initial CD for $9.95 is the TRAP, the program is CRAP, the invoices are MISLEADING ($0 total), and the Costumer Care Team (?) is the most USELESS. DO NOT FALL FOR THIS!!!!!!!!