Here is a copy of the email i sent to them in response to the recent issues. The body of this message tells it all:
To whom it may concern,
Given my experience with your customer service representatives in the past, and today, i completely expect this message to fall on deaf ears. Which is unfortunate, given your service provides substantial value to the educational community. At any rate, below is the transcript from my conversation with your online chat rep, emily. To set up this conversation, my situation was that for the 3rd time, my subscription auto-renewed when i did not want it to do so. Each time i come back as a customer, i pay for a subscription and am forced into turning on this auto-renew feature. Well, i forget to turn it off each time Because 3 months pass) and then have to deal with members of your unpleasant staff to have my refund processed. If you are going to be require auto-renew be turned off, make it easy to refund the service if it doesn't get turned off. Otherwise, it is perceived as a sham.
Anyway, not only am i auto-renew enabled against my will, but the setting is relatively difficult to find under the account settings. While "emily" disagrees, i am the customer and i say that it is not easy enough. If you have anyone in leadership that understands business administration and marketing, you should understand the problem. This sends out a vibe of unethical behavior, whether it is intended or not. In addition to me, i have personal friends who have had this same problem, as well as others on websites providing negative reviews of your company See below links).
Whether or not you care about my complaint or not is your business, but for some reason today i found it prudent to share my thoughts. I will be further investing substantial time in sharing my thoughts and experiences with your company's unfortunate touch points wherever relevant on the web.
The below thread exudes customer service to which i have become so accustomed when dealing with your company. I love how she "hangs up" on me at the end of the conversation... I know that she can see the "the other person is typing a message" indicator on her end. I had planned on asking if i could just keep my account paused for the time being, cancel the refund, and use the service when my next semester starts. But she found it necessary to terminate the conversation. I will not be a customer - ever again.
Emily: hello, my name is emily. I will be assisting you.
Me: hi, i am aaron.
Emily: can you please provide me with your registered email address?
Me: *****@gmail
Emily: we do not provide refunds for the recurring charges however after reviewing your account i see that the subscription has not been used since the renewal date. As a one time courtesy, i have reversed those charges. Please note that in the future we would not be able to make any other exceptions since we have issued you a refund twice already.
You will be required to cancel prior to the renewal date.
Me: i appreciate the refund, but i am really discouraged that this keeps happening. I do not want the auto-renew to ever turn on. However, each time i come back as a customer, it re-enables.
Emily: all of course heroes memberships are based on a recurring one.
Me: when i pay for the service, i only want it for the time specified. Not only is it difficult to remember to turn it off, but it also is buried rather deep within the account settings and not easy to disable. It is frustrating and unethical.
Emily: you can cancel your recurring payment through the account settings at anytime.
We remind you that the services provided are recurring on the signup page as well as in the welcoming email.
This information is not hidden on our website anywhere.
Me: i never said "hidden". I said buried rather deep.
You can argue with me, the customer, all you want. The fact of the matter is this keeps happening to me, and others. There are comments from other customers who have repeatedly experienced the same problem.
Emily: no at all it is in regular print on the welcoming email.
Me: alright. Fine. Please just process the refund. Thank you.
Emily: the refund has been processed, in the future we highly recommend reviewing the terms of service prior to making any purchases. As a consumer it is your responsibility to review the information prior to purchasing.
I signed up for Course Hero and the next day I had to drop my class so I did not need the membership anymore. I had signed up for a one year membership and cancelled it within the first 2 days of my sign up. I called up their customer serivce for a refund but rather than refunding the full money, they charged me $39.95 for a full month. Similar case, when I had to cancel my membership with Chegg, they refunded my full money without any drama. I do not understand why they had to rip me off for a full month membership when I am cancelling my membership the next day. I was even ready to pay partial but they did not accept it. These people are thieves!
When searching for additional study material for a quiz I found this company. The exact phrase I googled came up with this website. After paying for the membership to view the material, it really wasn't there.
This was obviously a gimmick to get you to pay for the service. The uploaded documents are the same free documents that you can view any time with no cost on the internet. I highly do not recommend using them.
Course Hero, Inc. Reviews
Here is a copy of the email i sent to them in response to the recent issues. The body of this message tells it all:
To whom it may concern,
Given my experience with your customer service representatives in the past, and today, i completely expect this message to fall on deaf ears. Which is unfortunate, given your service provides substantial value to the educational community. At any rate, below is the transcript from my conversation with your online chat rep, emily. To set up this conversation, my situation was that for the 3rd time, my subscription auto-renewed when i did not want it to do so. Each time i come back as a customer, i pay for a subscription and am forced into turning on this auto-renew feature. Well, i forget to turn it off each time Because 3 months pass) and then have to deal with members of your unpleasant staff to have my refund processed. If you are going to be require auto-renew be turned off, make it easy to refund the service if it doesn't get turned off. Otherwise, it is perceived as a sham.
Side note: i emailed [email protected] and [email protected] and waited 1 business day regarding this issue with no response.
Anyway, not only am i auto-renew enabled against my will, but the setting is relatively difficult to find under the account settings. While "emily" disagrees, i am the customer and i say that it is not easy enough. If you have anyone in leadership that understands business administration and marketing, you should understand the problem. This sends out a vibe of unethical behavior, whether it is intended or not. In addition to me, i have personal friends who have had this same problem, as well as others on websites providing negative reviews of your company See below links).
Whether or not you care about my complaint or not is your business, but for some reason today i found it prudent to share my thoughts. I will be further investing substantial time in sharing my thoughts and experiences with your company's unfortunate touch points wherever relevant on the web.
The below thread exudes customer service to which i have become so accustomed when dealing with your company. I love how she "hangs up" on me at the end of the conversation... I know that she can see the "the other person is typing a message" indicator on her end. I had planned on asking if i could just keep my account paused for the time being, cancel the refund, and use the service when my next semester starts. But she found it necessary to terminate the conversation. I will not be a customer - ever again.
Emily: hello, my name is emily. I will be assisting you.
Me: hi, i am aaron.
Emily: can you please provide me with your registered email address?
Me: *****@gmail
Emily: we do not provide refunds for the recurring charges however after reviewing your account i see that the subscription has not been used since the renewal date. As a one time courtesy, i have reversed those charges. Please note that in the future we would not be able to make any other exceptions since we have issued you a refund twice already.
You will be required to cancel prior to the renewal date.
Me: i appreciate the refund, but i am really discouraged that this keeps happening. I do not want the auto-renew to ever turn on. However, each time i come back as a customer, it re-enables.
Emily: all of course heroes memberships are based on a recurring one.
Me: when i pay for the service, i only want it for the time specified. Not only is it difficult to remember to turn it off, but it also is buried rather deep within the account settings and not easy to disable. It is frustrating and unethical.
Emily: you can cancel your recurring payment through the account settings at anytime.
We remind you that the services provided are recurring on the signup page as well as in the welcoming email.
This information is not hidden on our website anywhere.
Me: i never said "hidden". I said buried rather deep.
You can argue with me, the customer, all you want. The fact of the matter is this keeps happening to me, and others. There are comments from other customers who have repeatedly experienced the same problem.
Emily: no at all it is in regular print on the welcoming email.
Me: alright. Fine. Please just process the refund. Thank you.
Emily: the refund has been processed, in the future we highly recommend reviewing the terms of service prior to making any purchases. As a consumer it is your responsibility to review the information prior to purchasing.
The refund will take 2-7 business days.
Have a great day.
Thank you for contacting us.
Chat session disconnected.
I signed up for Course Hero and the next day I had to drop my class so I did not need the membership anymore. I had signed up for a one year membership and cancelled it within the first 2 days of my sign up. I called up their customer serivce for a refund but rather than refunding the full money, they charged me $39.95 for a full month. Similar case, when I had to cancel my membership with Chegg, they refunded my full money without any drama. I do not understand why they had to rip me off for a full month membership when I am cancelling my membership the next day. I was even ready to pay partial but they did not accept it. These people are thieves!
When searching for additional study material for a quiz I found this company. The exact phrase I googled came up with this website. After paying for the membership to view the material, it really wasn't there.
This was obviously a gimmick to get you to pay for the service. The uploaded documents are the same free documents that you can view any time with no cost on the internet. I highly do not recommend using them.