Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Duolingo's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Duolingo

  5900 Penn Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15206-3817

• 

  Duolingo

  5545 Walnut Street Pittsburg, PA 15232

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/12/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On June 30, 2022, I paid 81.9$ for an English test bundle on Duolingo.com to appear for an English test, and the business committed to providing me with fair exam and test results, due to some errors on my end also due to the poor software and exam management from Duolingo the test was canceled. Instead of giving me an option to appear again, they blocked me from appearing again for exams and forfeit my fees, though this is totally against their instructions; they have mentioned in their FAQs ******************************************************************************************************************************* 
  that if issues like such arrises I need to uninstall some software and appear again; after explaining the situation with all proof and clarity their hopeless system were unable to take my request and work on it to solve it, instead there support team sent me a copy paste paragraph from there whiteboard and closed my case.
  On September 29 2022 I paid 52.8$ to appear for the test again, and this time I fixed the issues which occurred on the previous attempt. After wasting 2-3 days they came back with an answer that since my last test was canceled due to internal policies this test would also not be valid, enough that this time there were no issues with the test. And their support team doesn't care to read any emails and copy-pasted similar text. And currently, they put my email in automated black replies. This shows how unprofessional and unethical these company policies and staff are, in dealing with a situation with utmost unprofessionalism. And also they neither gave me any results nor my money back from both attempts. The business is not willing to resolve the problem, in fact, they do not even want to read what the problem is, but the staff keeps sending the same copy-paste text all the time and then puts an automated blank message.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/17/2022

  Hello,

  Thank you for contacting us. I apologize for any confusion or frustration this situation has caused. Per the Terms and Conditions of Service (*************************************************) you agreed to before the test:

  - "Termination or suspension of your account or certain activities on the Service that results from a violation of Section 6 regarding the English Test rules and procedures does not constitute a 'Test Issue' and will not result in a refund."

  - "Partially used test bundles are not eligible for a refund, except for in the event of a Test Issue described above."

  In addition, the terms note that you may only register for one account.

  Since your original account was suspended due to a violation of the Duolingo English Test rules, you are not eligible for a refund for the test bundle you purchased. You are also not able to test again using any account. However, as a one-time courtesy, we have issued you a refund for the test you purchased under your new account on 29 September 2022. You will receive the refund back to your original payment in approximately 4-10 business days.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/01/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Online language-learning company Duolingo recently issued what was labeled a platform "update," It was, in fact a wholesale change to the learning platform. This was done without seeking input from, or providing notice to, users. The platform overhaul has generated considerable negative commentary from longstanding users and, in particular, customers (customers pay $47.99 every six months on an automatic-renewal basis for the tool). My six-month subscription automatically renewed two days before the new format was pushed out. In an effort to secure a refund on the last payment -- as the tool, as it stands now, is not what I contracted for -- I have left two messages on Duolingo's customer service line requesting a call back, I have received no response.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/31/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am trying to cancel my paid subscription as the app is no longer usable. I followed the instructions for cancelling but it didn't work. I tried reaching Duolingo yesterday 8/30/2022 via the app, Instagram (email and message), email from my email account, Facebook and Twitter. Got one autoreply via email (not helpful at all) and a response via Twitter telling me to try what I had already tried, which didn't work (also not helpful at all).
  
  I do not want to be charged forever for an app and service that I cannot use. But despite the instructions online, there is no way to cancel. This is shady and dishonest. I am not surprised at all that the BBB rating for Duolingo is "F". I want there to be a record that I am trying to cancel, so I can tell the credit card company when Duolingo auto-renews my subscription, that I did everything I could to cancel.
  
  To be very clear - I do NOT want my subscription to auto-renew; I want to CANCEL my subscription.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/17/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I began an ESL test with Duolingo. After I gave my $84, I started the test. It was not made clear to me that using an app such as Grammarly was prohibited. They took my money and ran and told me I cannot retake. This is robbery. Not only do I want my money back, but I also want to file a complaint against this business and warn others. The proctor could have easily told me that Grammarly should be turned off before beginning.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/24/2022

  Thank you for providing this information. Please note that Grammarly and other spelling/grammar checkers are prohibited in our Test Rules: https://testcenter.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052828331-Test-Policies-Rules-and-Requirements. Grammarly is also prohibited in a screen that is displayed during test setup (attached to this response).Please refer to our Terms and Conditions of Service for our refund policy: https://englishtest.duolingo.com/terms_of_service.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/31/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

  The proctor could have easily told me to turn off grammarly which I didn't even know was running because it's just always on. Instead the proctor allowed me to go half an hour before terminating the test. I did not knowingly or intend to break any rule. Furthermore, they should make it way easier to understand what the rules actually are. They say they have terms and conditions, where are they? You're not getting any of my money. Chargebacks have already been completed. To h*ll with your company.

  
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  *** ********

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/09/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I paid in full for a Plus subscription with Duolingo January of 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.