Pimsleur Language Programs Reviews 

Tricked into monthly subscription - I was under the impression the free trial was cancelled as it was not showing on my apple subscription only to find out they had been taking payments for 6 months! Over £100 taken without consent. Their excuse was it was not paid through the App Store - robbed and no chance of refund - avoid at all costs

Customer service ignoring me after stealing money without permission even after a cancellation. Avoid.

Be careful when signing up to Pimsleur. I intended to sign up to Pimsleur on a monthly basis but it subscribed me for 12 months. I asked for a refund so I could pay monthly and they refused. It seems the check box needs to be unticked if you don’t want to pay for 12 months up front and prefer pay monthly.

I signed up for a free trial and neglected to cancel the subscription within the time frame provided. I did not use the service, but I was billed $21.42 monthly from June, 2024 until now. That is an outlay of $147. They send no reminders. When I called today, I was told that the subscription has now been cancelled, but no refund will be issued for the 7 months that I did not use the service. Yes, it is my responsibility to be more vigilant, to check my credit card statements and to observe time lines for trial subscriptions. Still, there is something called 'good will'. Corporate greed prevailed. This is a shady way to do business.

Expensive and really difficult to stop them billing you. Subscription is not visible in the App itself or on the Apple Store. To see your subscription and cancel you have to create a new web based account and proceed from there - bizarre and clearly designed to stop you cancelling. Also they not only auto renewed but at a higher rate and longer period than the first subscription. Read the many other review re charging issues.

As a learning tool its interesting although playback when out and about can be glitchy. I’ve reported this but as others have said they just suggest the issue is on your side - despite this being the only App I ever have problems with.

For this cost I’d suggest actual lessons with a person are far better value.

I’ve covered all three units of Arabic and don’t feel any further forward.

I first used Pimsleur back in 2017 as I was moving to Germany for a few months and needed something to get me conversational within a short period of time (unlike Duolingo). Back then lessons were 1hr each but honestly it worked wonders as many of the friends I made were surprised that I had only been learning for a short time as I had really good pronunciation. I only really done level 1 and utilised my friends to build on it which helped tons.

Fast forward to 2024 and I decided to re-subscribe to Pimsleur after 6 years of not using it, this time to learn Spanish, as I have close friends and colleagues who speak the language. Was pleasantly surprised that lessons were only 30 minutes each but the quality remained the same. Again, apart from being able to roll my R’s, my colleagues and friends loved my pronunciation and ability to have small basic conversation after only a few weeks.

My advice to anyone looking to become conversational in a short period of time is to use additional free resources alongside Pimsleur. If streaming tv series or movies set the language to what you’re learning and put subtitles on. Use YouTube channels and podcasts. Find people you can actually speak to as it helps massively!

Pimsleur touts a good game but is awful. I signed up to take the Greek course. I contacted customer service three times to tell them that the Vocal Coach which is a cornerstone of their app isn't working. They kept telling me it was my technical issues. I found out today that the Greek course doesn't support Vocal Coach. It would have been nice to know this feature doesn't work before purchasing. Very bad situation. I cancelled and will eat the lost subscription. After having trouble with them for the Italian course, I should have learned my lesson. Babbel is much better. Moving on...My recommendation is not use this service.

Paid for a couple months and never used the product. They would not refund the last month. It doesn't matter if it's in their terms, this is against industry norms (amazon prime, netflix, practically every subscription service).

I accepted a trial offer and canceled it before the end of the period, with the email confirmation to prove it. Then I was charged for an annual subscription a month later, which was an unpleasant surprise. Customer service absolutely swears that this would never happen without someone going through the full checkout process, but that never happened. There was also no confirmation email of the subscription or a receipt for the charge. They refuse to refund the charge. Do not accept a trial, do not use the company, just stay far, far away.

After purchasing years ago they apparently remove your lessons after so long without usage. Now that I want to use the language again they can't find my purchase even though I've provided multiple screenshots to prove my purchase.

I inadvertently signed up for a 7 day trial but never used it ever. I then noticed months later they had been charging me £18.75 every month. When I emailed and explained I still have never used it, they refused to give me a refund, despite seeing it has never been used. I have had this happen before and all other companies have refunded me, but NOT Pimsleur, so I would be very careful having a 7 day trial as they don’t let you out of it easily?! I feel it is extortion!

I checked out the Pimsleur site to see if it was something I could recommend to my students. I did not sign up, either for the 7-day trial nor for the year’s subscription. Nevertheless, Pimsleur drafted my bank account for the annual fee and responded to my complaint that they had no way of refunding the money. They did not, however, question the fact that I had not subscribed. As a result, I had to block my card and submit a fraud alert to my bank.

Appalling customer service. Did the 7 day free trial but forgot to cancel due to a family emergency (serious illness). Tried to cancel after being charged then to receive generic email then ghosted - all my subsequent emails not replied to. Pimsleur did not respond to why I could not cancel or why service was not subject to 14 day cooling off period (a statutory right in UK / EU law). No response to these valid questions. To me this is basically a scam.

I would say first and foremost, listen to the reviews about the appalling / non-existent customer service. It's true. Second, the product really isn't all that. There are much better language learning products out there. Third, this company will not refund you if you don't cancel before the end of the 7 day trial seemingly for ANY reason. Beware and look elsewhere.

Pimsleur customer service is unhelpful, they try to trap you into subscriptions by cancelling your subscription effective immediately, and they put unexpected charges on my card. Suggest you find something else to avoid wasting time with your credit card provider and pimsleur customer service.

The program is sluggish over a fast internet connection. It doesn't understand what I say 15% of the time. In that regard it's far worse than say, google translate. Their is zero support. No way to provide feedback. I've been using it for two months hoping it might improve.

I tried the Romanian course just to get some basics and did think it was overpriced.
The first maybe 4 lessons were fine but as it went on the conversations you hear in Romanian are far to fast to understand and some words in them not explained.
It seemed rushed and would be better experience if slowed down.
I'll try another provider at 1/3 the cost next.

Good lessons but when you try to cancel subscription it has been a nightmare. They charged me twice (2 months) after date of cancellation. I have had to go to my bank to dispute charges and hope for refund. A real shame as hoped to use their lessons in the future.

Language lessons are average and 30 Day Money Back Guarantee has not been honoured.

I have tried it out and am not happy with the approach of the lessons. They offer a hassle free 30 day money back guarantee. Well ... this is frankly a lie. I initially received some limited response to my request for a refund but they have stopped communicating with me.

Read good things about Dr Pimsleur's approach. Wanted to try it so signed up for free trial which promised access to all levels. In practice only the first most introductory lesson was unlocked- no use at all as I'm well beyond saying 'excuse me miss', so it gave no real sense of what the approach is like. Tried to contact via the chat, but the Pimsleur bot is beyond useless - rather worrying for a communication company you'd have thought! - and am still waiting for a reply to an email I sent 6 days ago. The only number is in the US. Really disappointing- and a sale lost as I was a genuine and motivated customer but they drove me away.

I contacted customer service to confirm the price prior to purchasing, they assured me of one price but they charged my card a completely different price. It was over $100 more. Since January I've tried contacting them several times, they write back twice, different 'customer representatives' and then they do not respond after that. They will not give you a refund so don't trust what they have said on their website. AVOID this company!