Duolingo
reviews and complaints

I have contacted *** about this issue over a period of 2 months. When I first contacted ***, I didn't get a response at all. I had to reach out twice more just to get them to acknowledge my email. When they finally acknowledged my emails, their response was that I need to wait and these things take time. First, any good company will at least acknowledge a customer's email with 24-48 business hours. That's just standard practice. But then to take 2 months and not get back to the customer with any kind of solution at all? That is bad business practice. Here is the issue: I had a primary *** account that I have been using for years. I paid for the full subscription this year. At some point in time I had accidentally created a secondary account, not at all tied to the primary account. I checked to ensure they were using different email addresses and had different usernames. Once I verified that, I used the *** website to request that the secondary account be deleted. The next day I found that both accounts were completely deleted. This doesn't make sense given that I made the request when logged into the website only under the secondary account. And again, it was a different username and a different email address. Since that time I haven't had access to my primary *** account. I have now lost 2 months of the service I paid for, with basically no acknowledgement from *** that this is an issue on their end, and no attempts to re-establish my access. If *** cannot immediately re-activate my primary account and actually communicate with me, then I expect them to refund me for the full price of the year subscription. They have wasted my time during a critical moment when I need to practice my language for an upcoming trip in a few months. (I cannot just start over in *** at this point--again, I had built up YEARS worth of completed lessons in my account.) Either the issue needs to be fixed, or I expect a full refund.

I paid in full for a Plus subscription with Duolingo January this year. I was learning spanish, and enjoying some of the features the app provided for approximately 8 weeks, before a moderator restricted my account with no forewarning. This meant that I could no longer view the leaderboard, my points or status for the week. This was a draw for me. I also could no longer compete for higher levels, leagues or lightning rounds. This restriction took most of the fun out of the app, and left me with a dull, stripped down version. I was dismayed by this. I reached out by email immediately, but got no response. I searched online trying to find the best way to contact them. I reached out on twitter. All of my attempts received zero response. Months went by, and I paid for a subscription with another language learning app. A week ago, while having some free time, I decided to look for another way to contact them. Through google play services I found that the "contact moderator" option provided an email. In my experience, Duolingo doesn't do enough to provide this email. It's not on their twitter page or FAQ. After sending an email, I did receive a response, but unfortunately the employee's feedback to my concerns were vague. First, I was told that my account was fine, and she could find nothing wrong with it. Then, after many painstaking emails, she said that it seemed I was operating an "age restricted" account. She sent me a link to age restricted accounts. I'm a middle-aged man, and my paid in full plus subscription clearly shows this. The disingenuous of duolingo employees only left me more frustrated. My intention in the beginning, after my account was restricted, was to get an explanation, and have it restored. After two months attempting to contact, I gave up and went elsewhere. Recently, after getting a response from the newly used email address, I've repeatedly asked for a refund, so that we can both move on. They have refused to say yes or no.