Pimsleur Approach review: Fraud ( 4 comments)

I ordered a Spanish starter kit that promised to have me learning a language in ten days though an adertisement on Tiral Pay. I did not recieve a conformation email with the 16-didgit code that I needed. I was charged on my credit card and am now in the dark. I have been scammed for a quick buck!

It appears that I was scammed in the same manner as many others listed here. I saw a pop up on Amazon (I think) for learning Spanish. I ended up ordering the $9.95 CD and thought that was it. A couple of weeks later I received some type of Gold Package. Since everything in large print said "FREE" I did not pay much attention. However, upon review of my bank account I had been charged approximately $67.00 for this "FREE" gift, and when I read the very small font, I realized that I would be charged monthly. When I phoned them to have the charges reversed I was informed that they could do nothing since I did not cancel, but might be willing to give me a 50% discount.; I declined this offer. I immediately sent a letter to their website and via snail mail letting them know of the many organizations I would be contacting regarding their fraudulent business practices and the fact that they have crossed state lines likely puts them in a precarious position. Oddly, I had a refund within 2 days...in full, and they sent me the UPS pre-paid shipper I requested to return the merchandise; which I did the very next day. While I'm pleased that they reacted so quickly, I know that their response was because they knew I was right. There are many people out there that can be easily scammed, seniors, people going through stressful times, etc.. This is so very wrong!

In July of 2011, I ordered $9.99 language lessons in Russian. The CD arrived almost two months late; I called to complain and the sales person was very helpful. About a month later I received a box set of Spanish CDs; the bill inside said there was no charge. I figured this was a consolation for my Russian CDs being too late for me to use them.

After this, I never heard anything from the company and there were no unusual charges on my credit card. On February 2, 2012, I received a letter saying I owed them $256 and that they had tried to contact me repeatedly because my credit card had been "denied." The letter threatens to send me to collections if I do not give them a different credit card. There is nothing wrong with my card; the card just refused to pay them.

The fine print in Pimsleur’s contract has an ambiguous link that must be pursued to yet another link en route to finding the language that explains the debt the buyer is signing up for. Contracts that require buyers to successfully pursue a legal reconnaissance mission is trickery and should therefore be invalid. I ordered one language CD for 9.95. Pimsleur then began drawing 64.00 from my bank every month. I called the company and was told that I had signed up for additional merchandise. I told the Pimsleur representative that I had read the fine print carefully and there was nothing about additional merchandise and additional dept. She told me that one of the words on the contract was a link to additional information and that if I had followed that link to another link I would have found the "fine print" detailing the additional merchandise and additional debt of hundreds of dollars. Following a link in the fine print to a second link and then a third? This kind of business practice damages social contracts. If all companies acted like this, buying merchandise would be tantamount to playing roulette. Most of us would rightly choose to go without.