Busuu
reviews and complaints

I only had access to my subscription for one day and then Busuu had technical issues that didn't let me use my full new Premium subscription! Customer service seems to be in the UK and only working until 6pm (Noon E.T time in the US) and only from Monday to Friday! For a global service that is unacceptable. I just disputed the charge with my credit card and with Paypal. Busuu needs to have better customer service if they want to keep ahead of the competition. Will look into duolingo or Babbel. Busuu was disappointing.

I have subscribed to a premium Busuu acount couple years ago. Used it for few months, then stopped.
Yet my subscription was automatically renewed after one year. I contacted them but they refused to refund me.
My credit card expired after that, and I had no plans to renew my busuu account, so I ignored it and never updated the card deatils!
Yet it seems like busuu has tried to charge me several times (getting failed charge notifications), and finally, they decided to guess the date on the new CC, and managed to charge me again!
How desperate can they be for a single subscription to actually set and attempt to guess my new CC expirey data!

Checked my records. I did not receive a notice of autorenewal. I do not think I authorized autorenewal. No emails regarding renewal were sent to me. By the time I was notified of the autorenewal on the day of the renewal, I couldn't cancel with PayPal or my bank, though both told me I could file a dispute. Tried to contact them by phone, but they have an international phone number. I have asked for a refund today, the same day the autodebit was made. Please help me resolve this issue. Going through PayPal or my bank will take lots of time and considerable back and forth. Thank you.

I subscribed to Busuu Premium Plus in August 2020 at a cost of £39.99
I cancelled my subscription a couple of months ago.
Yesterday they charged £79.99 to renew my subscription.
Given the run around on line
Have tried to ring to speak to customer services several times, goes to messages.
Left message still not had a return call
Now I see online this happens frequently with them.
Would appreciate your help

Busuu makes it near impossible to cancel your subscription. I received an email that my subscription would be renewing. I went into the app to cancel and it stated this part of the app was not working. Till this day its says that (picture attached) so they are doing nothing to fix it. I then went on the computer and went through 3 or 4 screens to cancel. I canceled and Busuu still took money out of my account. I will be disputing charges. You can also see a picture attached where Busuu is not under my active subscription list through Apple. Also pictured is there is no information under subscription IN THE BUSUU APP! No one and no way to contact anyone at Busuu. I did everything properly to cancel my subscription and I was still charged.

Paid for premium, did not like the service so cancelled the account and left it that . They have now taken a renewal payment of £80 and will not refund even though I contacted with in 5 minutes of the payment coming out. I don't know how this can be legal to take money for a service that is not used and has been cancelled . Busuu know this is a scam and I will be chasing up every avenue I can

My daughter made a complaint to Busuu yesterday because she noticed they had auto-renewed her subscription without notification or warning. She subscribed just over a year ago but didn't use the app very much so did not intend to renew.
In her 1st year, she paid an annual subscription of £39.99
In her second year (recently) they debited her payment card by £79.99, an increase of 100%! Again, she received neither notification, warning nor any request for consent. She is a 20-year-old, unwaged student.
She received a reply from them today explaining their auto-renewal policy (which is buried in their Ts &Cs apparently) and informing her that she can still enjoy access until 23 May 2022. The response made no reference whatsoever to the doubled payment.

Any company that works in this way can't possibly have a legitimate product. Busuu's method is devious, greedy, cynical and pays no regard to the consumer. Busuu should be thoroughly ashamed. Clearly, their aim has nothing to do with helping language learners and everything to do with lining their own pockets.

Hello I am Mariana Gasper your Course they took my money from my account £79.99. I didn't not apply for this course. Please return my money back please.

The company uses an auto-renewal policy of their subscription meaning they do not provide notice they are about to steal 80 Euros from your bank account. They just help themselves then give you the invoice. They offer no option of a refund beyond this point. This is an arrogant, dishonest, greedy company who seem to think they have a right to take your money.

Upon being invoiced I was informed that ‘by not cancelling my subscription I authorised them to renew it' and that no refund would be offered. Such a policy (especially paired with the no refund policy) clearly demonstrates an insensitive, uncaring, arrogant attitude towards customers.
It is a deliberately conniving and underhand method that is focused solely on grabbing themselves another 80 Euros.

I believe that offering customers who are unaware of this policy (there are many - check the one star reviews on Trust Pilot) the chance to have their money back within a week or so would be a good way to prove you are not a bunch of shady crooks.

I just recently had a problem with Busuu. I signed up last year for a one year subscription. I stopped using them nearly 2 months ago. I had signed up for the french course and completed the highest course they had. I assumed the auto renewal was an accident. When I contacted them they ignored my first 4 messages, then I received a very cold response saying that I did not cancel on time and the auto renewal is standard practice. It is the student's responsibility to notify before auto renewal kicks in. They totally refused to return my money and now they totally ignore all my emails. Now I see how they make their money, by stealing from students. Unethical [censored].

Taking a customer's money without notifying them is theft.

One year ago I purchased 1-year premium access to Busuu Premium. For one year. Then suddenly a year later without any prior warning, I am told that I have been charged for another year of subscription - without any prior warning. I had not signed up to auto-renew as I had only bought access for one year, as it showed in my invoice. I was not made aware that it was a subscription, as I bought access for one year only.

Then, today out of nowhere, I am charged 79.99. No prior warning or communication. No notification.

Only after specifically looking up refunds am I told that after auto-renewing I can no longer get my money back. What kind of foolery is this?

Absolutely shameful. It is a shame because I actually enjoyed the app when I was using it but now I will recommend to no-one

Hidden in their terms of service is a very sketchy clause allowing them to autorenew your subscription without warning and also allowing them to deny you a refund. I don't know of any legit companies that function like this.

I no longer have an account with them and yet I am being charged 80 euros for a subscription that I cannot cancel, cannot stop and cannot be refunded for. Absolutely outrageous.

They offer you 15 days free after that the premium promotion with a 50% discount which most of us take advantage of. Then you do not hear from them about any type of expiration or automatic renewal, they only let you know, after 1 year! that your membership has been renewed for another year and of course at the full price (about $100 dlls CA). Immediately, after I received this email, I requested my cancellation and my refund, my cancellation was immediate but the refund never came, so I contacted them and explained my situation, I had not used busuu for months because I felt stagnant, it becomes routine, likewise I told them that I could not pay another year that I had never received an expiration or automatic renewal notice, which was somewhat abusive, because there isn't better adjective to describe their business methods, and this was their response:

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Hi Paulina,

Thank you for contacting us.

I am afraid your subscription was not cancelled and by not cancelling it you authorised us to renew it automatically. I am sorry if you did not realise Busuu subscriptions always renew automatically.

As per our Terms and Conditions, I am afraid you are not eligible for a refund. However, I can confirm the auto renewal feature has been cancelled from your account so we won't take anymore payment from you in the future.

It would be great if you could take a moment and complete our short survey below so that we can learn more about why you wish to cancel and what we can do to make Busuu better.

Kind Regards,
Peter,
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Judge by yourselves, and no, I don't recommend busuu.com, they lack of integrity.

When I first tried the free version of Busuu, I received daily emails prompting me to get the Premium Plus version. After I purchased my one-year subscription, other than more pleas to buy lessons, etc. I didn't hear from
Busuu. By the time a year had rolled around, I had long before lost interest in the service, as it wasn't particularly useful. And that's when I got a surprise—Busuu had charged me $97.99 for a subscription renewal. They did not warn me in advance. When I asked for a refund, that's when I found out that the subscription is renewed automatically, without notice and that this is their policy. They also told me that they had cancelled my subscription. Well, at least that's something, I had thought. But then when I checked my profile I discovered they had NOT cancelled my account and that I was going to be billed again in May 2022.

I signed up for a one year subscription at $39.99 and quickly lost interest. Fast forward to one year later and was charged $79.99 without warning. I immediately asked for a refund and was denied:

...I am afraid your subscription was not cancelled and by not cancelling it you authorised us to renew it automatically. I am sorry if you did not realise Busuu subscriptions always renew automatically...

As per our Terms and Conditions, I am afraid you are not eligible for a refund.

I cancelled within 60 seconds after being charged. This is a scam.

I cancelled my subscription and have still been charged by Busuu. Furthermore, they have not sent me any invoices regarding my account and therefore I cannot prove that I cancelled or even paid the first time! Absolutely horrible company and their service is subpar.

First of all, they draw you in with offers of 50% off on yearly premium membership and so on. And then with no further warning extend the membership by a whole year and not for the initially offered price but by the full 100% price. Upon contacting customer support, they just bluntly deny any possibility of cancellation or refund even just a few days into the new "contract".

On top of all this, they seem to have blaring flaws in their security. Somebody from a different country seems to have hacked in to my account and has been using the premium membership services, which I came to know accidentally when I was going through my account activity. On contacting support about this as an urgent matter that my account has been compromised, I still haven't received any response from them whatsoever since 4 days. There is also absolutely no way to contact them in case of any emergency, no telephone number, no chat, nothing. Just send the standard contract form and hope and pray somebody might respond someday, which might be in a week, a month or even years from now!

I signed up for this service in March 2020 and completed the classes. In July 2020 . I didn't use this app anymore. And today, without a warning or note, I was charged much more than last year for a service that I no longer need. In the app it is not clear or easy to see that this will be automatically renewed . I want my money back because I don't use this app anymore. I don't need it and I don't want that service. This business can't just make me pay for another year for something I don't use and don't need. I have my rights to cancel a purchase or service that I don't want or I didn't know

I had purchased premium account for 25 euro a year ago.

After few mouths stopped using their service and forgot about it. I thought what I had made was a 1-year single buy. Turns out it was an auto-renewable subscription. I get an email only after the renewal has been made for 79 euro! It's a scam for premium users. I paid more than what I originally paid. I informed support of this event and they refused to refund. This is not a good approach to customers. I do not recommend using their service.