ComplaintsforEducative, Inc

• Initial Complaint

  03/19/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased one course pre paid from them 5 years ago... I just now figured out this company has been fraudulently billing me for a service i never signed up for or used,,, I did not know this was happing until **************** brought this to my attention.. I requested a refund and was promptly refused by their customer service.

  Business response

  03/21/2024

  When the user purchased the subscription, they were notified at the checkout that their subscription would renew at the end of the period. If they do not wish for the subscription to renew, they can cancel the auto-renewal from transactions in their account. The user chose not to cancel the renewal, so they were charged for the subscription renewals.

  Also, please remember that after every renewal, the user receives an email that their subscription has been renewed and will auto-renew at the end of the period. The user never contacted our support, nor did they cancel the subscription. 
  
  However, they contacted support on 19th March, and our management approved a refund for their most recent subscription renewal, and they should receive the refund within 2-3 business days.

• Initial Complaint

  02/23/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed up the trial, never authorized payment, never used the service past the trial, was charged 200 dollars for 3 years before noticing they had started charging me. That's 600 dollars for a service I never used. If they rely on income for services they don't provide to survive, they shouldn't be a business. It's fraud, and ******** 'educative scam' turns up many corroborating reports of people encountering this same issue.

  Business response

  02/26/2024

  Despite being informed on the checkout page that the paid subscription would be activated at the end of their trial period on January 24, 2022, and they were also informed that if they wish, they could cancel the trial through account settings, the user continued to explore ********************** beyond the trial period. To request a refund earlier, the user should have contacted our support team, but they only reached out on February 23, 2024, almost a month after their subscription was renewed. Our team refunded their most recent subscription renewal as a one-time courtesy refund.

  Customer response

  02/26/2024

   
  Complaint: 21335553
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  If you ****** 'Educative Scam' you come up with multiple people in the same scenario I am. It is obvious that this is a deliberately deceptive business practice. The Educative Team is able to see, clearly, that I did not use the product at all beyond the trial period. They still charged me 600 dollars without notifying me that I was being charged, and they are only willing to refund 200 of those dollars. If a business relies on monies for services not rendered, it should not be a business. A failure to refund me the 400 dollars of unused product, acquired through deceptive and secretive business practices, is a failure of Educative to act as proper business with value to society.

  I canceled the subscription. Educative failed to note this cancellation. I didn't check my credit card statements, and therefore didn't notice I was being charged for 3 years. I am being refused 400 of the 600 dollars in fraudulent charges. It is easy to find other people that were charged after cancellation: *************************************************************
  

  I did not use the service. I should not be charged. I was, so I should be refunded in full.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************

• Initial Complaint

  02/02/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased a one year membership with educative.io for $199. They renewed my menbership without any notice or anything. I tried disputing with the bank and they said to talk to the company. When I spoke to educative.io, They will not refund my transaction.

  Business response

  02/05/2024

  Hello,

  The email address ********************** is registered on Educative but has not been associated with any subscription purchase. Please provide the Invoice# or the email address used for the Educative subscription purchase, enabling us to address the inquiry promptly.

  Thank you,

  Educative

• Initial Complaint

  01/03/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  The company has auto charged for an annual subscription, when I have stopped using this service for almost a year. They have charged my credit card $249 on 11/27/2023 without my permission, and this should be refunded to me. This is a pattern of many of these firms to force one to store a credit card and automatically charge even for used accounts. I have not even logged into site in pretty much all of 2023.

  Business response

  01/03/2024

  The subscription renewal was not canceled by the user, resulting in a charge for the service. However, the subscription was refunded, and the reimbursement will reflect in the user's account within 3-5 business days.

  Customer response

  01/04/2024

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************************

• Initial Complaint

  10/21/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I was charged CAD234.70 on Sep 24, 2023 when they automatically renewed my subscription for another year without giving me any prior notification. However, I have discontinued my usage of their service and hadn't logged in for several months. When I attempted to contact them, they refused to provide a refund.The account I'm using is ******************

  Business response

  10/22/2023

  The users subscription has been refunded.

  Customer response

  10/22/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Zhifan Lan

• Initial Complaint

  06/29/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was billed.On 11/14, I was billed $79.99 for course that I had contacted 11/21 and cancelled within their return policy but was never refunded back to card. The course was of no use to me.On 12/12, $59. I never signed up for any Educative subscription but I was billed to the **** as well. I did no sign up for any subscription and this charge was unauthorized.

  Business response

  06/29/2023

  Hello,
  
  The user acquired a monthly subscription on Friday, December 11, 2020, which expired on Monday, January 11, 2021. No refund was requested for this purchase.
  
  Regarding the individual courses, the user purchased Grokking the ************* Interview on Friday, November 15, 2019. However, when the user later requested a refund, it could not be granted as it did not comply with our return policy.
  
  On Monday, November 18, 2019, the user purchased another course, Grokking the ********************** Interview, and filed a refund request on November 27. As a one-time courtesy refund, this request was approved.
  
  Please be aware that the user's inquiries received timely responses from Educative support.
  

• Initial Complaint

  02/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I stopped using this website service and didn't even logged in several months ago. They charge me for another year's subscription renew without any notification. I tried to cancel the subscription but no refund offered.

  Business response

  02/10/2023

  This customer already received a refund upon their request.

• Initial Complaint

  06/10/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I only purchased a one month subscription to prepare for my interview on educative.io. There was no obvious indication that the subscription would be monthly recurring, neither did I receive a monthly ****/invoice on recurring billing. I only get to know they are still charging me through my credit card payment history. This site is very deceiving by offering different ways to buy their subscription without clearly calling out the recurring nature of every single option and without sending a monthly billing.I've only used the subscription in the month of April and never access it in *** and June, but they end up charging me for all three months, until I notice the charges on my credit card. I've asked for refund for *** and June, and the request was rejected.

• Initial Complaint

  04/22/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This company is charging for a recurring subscription when it is unclear that the subscription is recurring when you sign up. Not only that, no communication is sent to confirm that they are charging you $200, I found the charge 2 and a half months late because no email had been sent.The company is getting users to sign up, hoping they don't realize that it's recurring and then silently take out $200 a year with no email notification.I opened a refund request, I haven't even logged in to the site in the past 2 months since paying other than to try to get a refund.

  Business response

  04/27/2022

  At checkout, the learner agreed to the terms of service (https://www.educative.io/terms)  that states explicitly that the subscription will renew automatically:

  Subscription

  
  If you purchase a subscription to receive Content (Subscription) such Subscription will be billed automatically in advance on a recurring and periodic basis (Billing Cycle). Billing cycles are set either on a monthly or annual basis, depending on the type of subscription plan you select when purchasing a Subscription.
  A valid payment method, including credit card or PayPal, is required to process the payment for your Subscription. By submitting such payment information, you automatically authorize Educative to charge all Subscription fees incurred through your account to any such payment instruments.

  
  At the end of each Billing Cycle, your Subscription will automatically renew under the exact same conditions unless you or we cancel it. You may cancel your Subscription renewal either through your online account management page or by contacting Educatives customer support team.

   

  
  Also, the learner can cancel auto renewal by logging into their account and cancelling the subscription.

  Customer response

  04/27/2022

   
  Complaint: 17098016
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The issue here is that the Terms of Service in general is cryptic and lends itself to tricking users to staying subscribed for a $200 subscription when they aren't even notified of it. If 90% of people do not read the terms of service, and you are intentionally baking in deceptive business practices into the terms for your own gain, then that is a shady business practice. There are multiple ways to remedy this:

  1. Notify your customers of upcoming renewals & confirm renewals that have just gone through

  2. Confirm renewals that have just gone through

  3. Don't automatically opt people in in the registration flow

  **************************** Do

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