Pimsleur Scam
Well, I probably had it coming for a long time…
While browsing on net I got an add for Pimsleur language course. Yes, it was full of nonsense statements but it was cheap. Just $10 for 4 CDs with introductory course. And I thought why not.
Got my CDs. Determined that their course is average at best and that Spanish cook I had in my company was much better source. So I forgot about it.
That is until a few days ago when I was sorting through credit card charges on unrelated issue. I was surprised when I noticed strange $64 charge under name of “STR*LANGUAGE LEARN LEV2”. That made me pull out even older bills and here is what I saw:
2012-08-14 STR*LANGUAGE LEARN LEV2 866-362-3822 $64.00
2012-07-15 STR*LANGUAGE LEARN LEV2 866-362-3822 $64.00
2012-06-10 STR*LANGUAGE LEARN BASIC 866-362-3822 $64.00
2012-05-11 STR*LANGUAGE LEARN BASIC 866-362-3822 $64.00
2012-04-11 STR*LANGUAGE LEARN BASIC 866-362-3822 $64.00
2012-02-10 STR*LANGUAGE LEARN INTRO 866-774-4754 $9.95I have been getting charged for a while. Yes, I should have noticed it before.
In my defense, I had lot of charges those months. I was in middle of moving around States and paper statements from my company were going to my old address in Croatia. I did have access via Android app but with lot of charges, these were just missed.
Simply put: I was stupid and careless.
I double-checked my e-mails and no, I haven’t ordered anything more than introduction course. They did send me some stuff via mail but I threw this out with other spam. I never authorized them for any kind of subscription. However, they did have my credit card information so they felt welcome to use it.
Sorting things out with my credit card company will take some time. For start I reported unauthorized charges and canceled the card. Real pain in the ass since I had lot of stuff on that card but it was really only thing I could do. One dishonest company can really ruin your day.
P.S. No, at time of ordering, Google search for Pimsleur scam didn’t return anything in first result page…
P.P.S. Do notice how they didn’t start charging immediately. They waited for one more month just to avoid early detection.