I just vent my annoyance and anger about an issue on Coursera here. Generally I find Coursera an amazing idea and solution, still on the support side they seem to be lacking. Maybe they can use this info to better their processes?
On the 3rd of October 2023 on a screen before this screen – I made no screenshot – I was promised that if I subscribe “now”, they will use my money I just paid for the certificate for the subscription. Instead they charged my card again for the subscription. So instead of once they charged me twice the $49.
I tried to request refund, then they offered me a 25 USD month after, so I reluctantly agreed for one more month.
I see here two design problems:
- The promotional $49 transfer was promised but did not execute
- I’ve found no possibility to contact them about this. (Maybe there are contact forms, but they are very difficult to find.)
Trying to find a solution
I’ve then found their help center. There I’ve found no contact forms. This whole thing is intentionally designed to divert all messages from their support employees. Still after five minutes of searching it would be useful to have some kind of relevant help. I hope with emerging AI technologies there will be place for meaningful interactions.
Then after further research I’ve found a “How to contact Coursera?” post in the community page. There they mentioned chat, what was not working at all for me.
Contacting Coursera
Then in the “How to contact Coursera?” post I’ve found a contact form that I filled 2023.10.05 9:10. (Got an email “Request received: 04218223 for special offer not executed.”)
Then two weeks later on the 16.October I received a reply that was technical, but led to no refund:
Hi Zsolt,
Thank you for reaching out to us! My name is Casey from Coursera Support Team.
I am sorry to hear that you were double charged for both Coursera plus and Open Design Course. This is definitely not the experience that we want you to have. I’ll be more than happy to assist you with your concern.
Upon reviewing our records, I am glad to share that this issue has already been reported to our engineering team, who is currently working to find a fix. Although I don’t have any further updates on the issue, I’ve added the details of your case to the existing report.
In this case, can you please confirm how we can help you with the double charge made to your account?
I’m looking forward for your response!
Thanks for using Coursera,
Casey
Then I replied:
Hi Coursera
Thank you for your response.
You could refund or add one month subscription.
tx
Zsolt
Then on the 25th of October my support case was closed without any refund or explanation. This made me upset about this issue, I felt like someone is very politely sending me to hell . There is more than 50% chance that the user wanting refund gets tired and ignores the whole case. Not this time.
Contact form in Help Center available on 14.Nov 2023
Today on the 14th of November 2023 I tried again and I could easily find a contact form. I start this support case again, I will post here the following replies.
New reply from Coursera 14 Nov 2023
In the form above I’ve also sent the link to this post. In 24 hours they replied and started the refund process. I should get the incorrectly charged $49 back in 7-10 days.
Conclusions
I understand that even top American companies can make mistakes, but they’re also committed to fixing them. So, if there’s a bug in a promotional popup, it might be hard to replicate. However, by reviewing my account and purchase history, they can see what went wrong. Besides it’s evident that later I enrolled in and purchased the ‘Design Thinking Specialization’ from the University of Virginia, showing my continued support for Coursera. Quality of support does matter.
The pandemic seems to have enhanced the reputation of online courses. You can now access courses from U.S. universities at a fraction of the cost. This accessibility brings about a level of equality and opportunity for an entire generation.
Recent Comments