ComplaintsforDuolingo

• Initial Complaint

  10/08/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On September 15th I subscribed to Super Duolingo for a year which cost me $167.99. On September 30 I was unable to ********** appears my account was hacked and taken over. I have emailed Duolingo twice and just get a response that they are looking at it. It is now October 8th and I still cant use my year subscription that I paid for! Also I did not cancel my account! It appears someone has taken over my account and I am unable to use this service I paid for.

  Business response

  10/08/2024

  Hello,

  You requested your account and personal information to be deleted on August 31. The request was completed, which is why your email address is no longer linked to that account. We've reattached your email to that account and sent a password reset email your way. Once you reset the password, you should be able to access your account again.

  In the future, please do not submit an account erasure request if you are still using your account. Have a great day!

• Initial Complaint

  10/07/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed up for a trial on Duolingo and was told I would get notification 2 days before the trial was up. I also put the date of October 7th in my phone so I could remind myself to cancel. I never received notification and on the 7th when I went to cancel I found out I had already been billed on the 7th. I'm trying to cancel on the day they said I had until and yet they have charged me through ******. When I canceled the subscription it said it wasn't canceled until October 7th of 2025 and I would still have to pay for this whole next year I don't want to pay for this whole next year. I don't want it. I'm trying to cancel it on the day they said I had until to cancel. My Duolingo account is under ******************** please help

  Business response

  10/08/2024

  Hello,

  We're sorry for any confusion regarding the billing timeline. Some payment processors like Apple require you to cancel subscriptions 24 hours in advance to prevent renewal. We're happy to help though! No account was found using apmarie57@gmail.com. Are you able to provide the email address or username associated with the account?

• Initial Complaint

  10/05/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Cancel already and they reactived my account with me know. Then they want to change a annual renwel. Already cancel but they kept my credit info and did this

  Business response

  10/07/2024

  Hello,

  You were billed because you did not cancel your subscription before its renewal date. Subscriptions renew automatically as you've agreed to upon subscribing. I have canceled your subscription and have issued a refund for your most recent payment. It should be with you in 5-10 business days.

• Initial Complaint

  09/30/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  Communication and support is non existent with this company. Through many attempts at opening tickets, to trying desperately to get basic questions answered by contacting their social social media, every attempt went unanswered and ignored, which is incredibly frustrating as a user that is actively on a paid subscription. An important accessibility feature (dark mode toggle) has been removed and I've been trying to contact the company for weeks to see if this is a bug that will be repaired, or if this is a feature that is now removed permanently. This on top of other changes like the lack of the community feedback section, the focus on more "pay to win" features like making games harder so that purchasing boosts is required, AI is being integrated which is never ideal for the nuance of language, and the neglect of all the rampant highscore hacking in the app. All of these things make it feel like I'm not getting the app that I originally purchased when I locked in my payment for the whole year, only for things to get removed after my money was taken.

  Business response

  10/10/2024

  Hello,

  While we do not personally respond to all messages as stated in the automated reply to your message, we do have teams that review feedback.

  Dark mode can be enabled in your device settings. The android version of Duolingo should mirror your device settings.

  Customer response

  10/10/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  Most of my concerns remained unanswered. Even the direct ask if a toggle able dark feature was permanently removed did not get a straight answer (which even that workaround is not a viable option as this option would require me to convert my entire device and make it harder for me to read my system notifications, all for the sake of one app)

  Regardless, the team has confirmed that they don't offer support in respond to user questions. Hopefully the billing team is more clear and responsive as I will be looking to cancel this family plan

  
  Regards,
  

• Initial Complaint

  09/22/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Duolingo pushed out an update that has the software unusable. The update appears to deliberately induce errors so yay non-paying customers make mistakes and lose their hearts. Dir paying customers? - ********************** makes us use colloquialisms and then penalizes us for using colloquialisms. - hints than are wrong, and when relied upon, count as errors. These are becoming more frequent. - word placement that doesnt matter, ie please clean the car, clean the car please. - requiring full complex sentences to be typed out on a tiny screen while having no method to bypass when fat finger misses one letter - whole sentence gets redone and goes into a mistake queue that makes you retype the same sentence fifteen times. - losing track of progress requiring complete ****** redos. - introducing we vocab by requiring you to spell out a word you havent seen yet. In one ******, five minutes, there were eight separate errors. These were screen captured and sent in and Duolingo refused to respond in any way to whatsoever. No one is fixing the problem because no one is acknowledging there is problem. In the meantime, the software I paid for is essentially unusable.

  Business response

  10/04/2024

  Hello,

  We have not updated the app to deliberately mark your answers as incorrect. Like all software, the app can experience bugs. We update the app with bug fixes on a weekly basis. It's important to note, this is a language learning app. If you enter an incorrect response, it will be marked as incorrect. If your device keyboard is not large enough for you, we can only suggest using a physical keyboard (we have a website that you can use with your computer keyboard) or a device with a larger screen.

  I took a look in our system and I see that you're subscribed through *****. ***** handles the payment directly on their end, so we're not able to cancel or refund through our system. I'm so sorry about that! Not to worry, though, I have the exact links you need to contact ***** and get this taken care of.
  
  Here's more detailed information (with screenshots) on how to cancel your subscription from Apple: ****************************************. You can also cancel your subscription in the Duolingo app.
  Click the Profile tab > Settings (top-right) > 'Manage Subscription' > 'Change Plan' > 'Cancel Subscription' >  confirm cancellation through Apple dashboard (tap on Duolingo subscription and tap 'Cancel').
  
  Once you've canceled, you can go to this link: ********************************* and follow the instructions here to be refunded: ************************************************. If you experience any issues with these steps, please reach out to AppleCare directly. 
  
  Again, I apologize that I can't do this for you, but ***** should be able to handle things!

   

   

  Customer response

  10/04/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]

  I literally handed you screen shots of your system telling me that THE ANSWER YOU WERE TELLING ME WAS CORRECT was being marked incorrect. 
  

  I am telling you that correct answers are being systemically marked incorrect, even when they are not. 
  

  I am telling you that single digit errors from clear fat finger issues are being markers I correct when they previous were not (you appear to be telling me that you updated the system to make this worse?) 

  I am telling you that you have no method IN YOUR SYSTEM that allows US to skip over the mistakes in our system to actually practice language. 
  

  I told you, indeed documented, that this happened eight times in just one ****** and its become so entrenched that its basically unusabke as software to TEACH LANGUAGE. 
  

  These minor errors appear to be deliberate, so non-paying customers will pay to use the app.  As a paying customer? They are pointlessly infuriating AND PREVENT LANGUAGE LEARNING.  

  Do you have any plans to fix these issues? 
  

  if you dont have any such plans? Then please agree in writing to a refund and I will forward it to ***** for resolution. 

  Regards,
  
  **** Greek

  Business response

  10/08/2024

  Thank you for the feedback. Again, these are not deliberately marked incorrect, and action is taken when reported. There is a flag icon when a response is graded. You may tap on that to report an exercise with any issues. We have several teams reviewing these and making improvements.

  Customer response

  10/09/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]

  You began this by saying it will mark incorrect answers correct. When presented with evidence that it was marking its own answers incorrect you are only now telling me that these mistakes arent deliberate while making zero steps to actually fix them. 
  

  No apology. 
  

  No acknowledgement that this disrupts language instruction. 
  

  No acknowledgement that the problem happened eight times in one lesson. 
  

  No acknowledgement that the system wont let us bypass these errors and is forcing us to repeatedly type out incorrect answers. 
  

  No acknowledgement that you have dozens of emails on this and have ignored them all while the problem has grown worses 

  No acknowledgement that these problems are so systemic and annoying that they have rendered the software unusable. 
  

  Most importantly, no commitment to actually fix any of these issues - telling me its not deliberate after months of ignoring a steadily worsening problem is the problem. 
  

  I am not paying for software that has been broken and whose faults are utterly ignored. 
  

  Your software is littered with mistakes, mistakes customers cant bypass, and that you havent committed to fixing. 

  Regards,
  
  **** Greek

• Initial Complaint

  09/18/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I have been a Duolingo customer for more than four years. I credit your company with improving my language skills, and, more recently my math skills. I am a native of *********** 

  
  I am writing to make you aware of a disturbing development on your site: the use of advertisements that do not allow users to skip, to delete, or to ignore certain ads, but leave only the option to download the product being advertised. 

  
  One is for AVCleaner, which promotes itself as a "checker and speed test" for smartphones. Its cover screen warns "Your device is at risk," and tells users to download their app. The second is for a game called Golf Clash. There may be more. I am enclosing screen shots. 

  
  Each of these ads that pops up on Duolingo contains a ****** ****** in the upper right-hand corner. However, pressing the skip ****** does nothing. The only way to get the ad off screen is to power your phone off, then reboot it. 

  
  I have copied this letter to the Better Business Bureau and have sent an email to the ************************. Please remove these offensive ads immediately.
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  09/12/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I did the trial for Duolingo. I cancelled my subscription and was charged anyway. I could not find anywhere a number or email I could contact them. This makes it very difficult to ask questions. I googled how to contact someone. Apparently this is a problem from what I have read. This makes me feel they charge you even if you cancel and leave no way for you to contact them.

  Business response

  09/12/2024

  I'm sorry to see you want to cancel your Super Duolingo subscription! I took a look in our system and I see that you're subscribed through Apple. Apple handles the payment directly on their end, so we're not able to cancel or refund through our system. I'm so sorry about that! Not to worry, though, I have the exact links you need to contact Apple and get this taken care of.
  
  Here's more detailed information (with screenshots) on how to cancel your subscription from Apple: https:**********************************. You can also cancel your subscription in the Duolingo app.
  Click the Profile tab > Settings (top-right) > 'Manage Subscription' > 'Change Plan' > 'Cancel Subscription' > confirm cancellation via Apple dashboard.
  
  Once you've canceled, you can go to this link: https:*************************** and follow the instructions here to be refunded: https:******************************************. If you experience any issues with these steps, please reach out to AppleCare directly. 
  
  Again, I apologize that I can't do this for you, but Apple should be able to handle things. Please let me know if you have any difficulty with this process or have any other questions. We always want to help! I hope you're having a great day so far.

• Initial Complaint

  09/11/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Dear Better Business Bureau,I am writing to formally lodge a complaint against the Duolingo English Test team due to an issue I encountered after taking their test. On August 31, 2024, I completed the Duolingo English Test. However, on September 2, 2024, I received an email from Duolingo stating that my test could not be certified. Subsequently, my account was blocked without any explanation, despite the fact that I strictly adhered to all the test rules and protocols.I have attempted to contact Duolingo multiple times via email, but I have not received any response or clarification regarding this issue. This lack of communication has left me feeling deeply frustrated and ********** a diabetic and blood pressure patient, and someone dealing with the emotional strain of my mothers recent passing, this situation has greatly impacted my mental and emotional well-being. I rely on these results for my future plans and this prolonged delay has added unnecessary stress.I kindly request your assistance in urging Duolingo to respond to my emails and issue my results as soon as possible. I have always been a law-abiding user and I simply want to resolve this matter fairly and transparently.Thank you for your attention to this matter. I greatly appreciate your help in seeking a resolution.Sincerely, ***** ******

  Customer response

  09/11/2024

  I hope this email finds you well. I am reaching out to add further information to my previous complaint regarding my test situation.
  
  I have recently retaken the test, but to my dismay, I have been blocked from accessing my results. I want to emphasize that I have not broken any rules during the test, and I am uncertain why this decision has been made. My future depends on this test, and I am feeling incredibly hopeless as this situation unfolds.
  
  To add to my personal circumstances, I recently lost my mother and now have the responsibility of caring for my three younger siblings. This test is critical for me to apply to university and continue my education, as it represents my only opportunity. I kindly ask if you could help me by contacting the relevant parties to issue my results as soon as possible.
  
  Your assistance in this matter would mean the world to me, and I would be deeply grateful for your support. I am in a difficult position, and without these results, I have no alternatives.
  
  Thank you so much for your understanding and any help you can provide.
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  09/10/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Site continually locks up stopping progress and losing point. Tried deleting and reinstalling app and different devices with no improvement. No path to customer support can be found within the app.

  Business response

  09/24/2024

  Hi there! We're sorry you're experiencing issues with the app. You can submit feedback for our team to review directly from the app! Go to your settings, and tap "Feedback" to send a message to our support team.

• Initial Complaint

  09/04/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am reaching out regarding an unexpected charge I incurred for a yearly plan of Super Duolingo. After heavy and insistent advertisements, I had signed up for a free trial of this plan with the understanding that I would be notified two days prior to the trial ending, thus suggesting the understanding that user’s want to avoid a heavy financial commitment to a yearly subscription. Regrettably, I did not receive any notification, which led to an automatic charge to my account. I signed up for the trial on August 20-21, and the charge occurred on September 4 at 6:58 for $83.99. I would greatly appreciate your assistance in reviewing this situation and releasing a refund to amend the breech in advertised contract from failure to properly notify users. The app platform currently has no customer service support or contact options. They establish that refunds are not typically available or completed, but are left up to the discrepancy of the processor- Apple or Google Play- to process the refund.

  Business response

  09/04/2024

  Hello,

  Contrary to your complaint, we do offer support. I'm not sure why you are saying this because you contacted our support team today prior to us receiving this complaint.

  A push notification reminder was sent from our end, I have confirmed that. If you've disabled notifications for Duolingo at that time, you would not have received it.

  You are correct that Apple does not allow us to issue refunds on their behalf. That is Apple's policy, not Duolingo's. This goes for anything purchased from the Apple App Store. We would happily assist had you purchased your subscription through Google, as they do allow us to issue refunds. Since that isn't the case here though, I'm glad point you in the right direction. Here's more detailed information (with screenshots) on how to cancel your subscription from Apple: https:**********************************.
  
  Once you've canceled, you can go to this link: https**************************** and follow the instructions here to be refunded: https:******************************************. If you experience any issues with these steps, please reach out to Apple Support directly. 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩