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Business Profile

Language Training Aids

Duolingo

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

Find BBB Accredited Businesses in Language Training Aids.

Complaints

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

Find a Location

Duolingo has 2 locations, listed below.

*This company may be headquartered in or have additional locations in another country. Please click on the country abbreviation in the search box below to change to a different country location.

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    • Duolingo

      5900 Penn Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15206-3817

    • Duolingo

      5545 Walnut Street Pittsburg, PA 15232

    Customer Complaints Summary

    • 211 total complaints in the last 3 years.
    • 109 complaints closed in the last 12 months.

    If you've experienced an issue

    Submit a Complaint

    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.

    Sort by

    Complaint status

    Complaint type

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:01/08/2025

      Type:Product Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      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 have been using Duolingo for over a year now, and I have reported a problem to customer support 5 times for my account. Not one time have I received the assistance I requested. I am a Family Plan customer, and I deserve the help that I ask for. Actually, it should not matter that I am a Family Plan customer; all customers deserve good service. Every time I submit a request for assistance I only get an automated response. I include screenshots and specific details in my inquiries. I have reached out to Duolingo through email, Instagram, X (*******), and ********, but never received a response. The problems I reported in 2024 are: Wrongfully got kicked out of Diamond League on July 28 (screenshot included) and unnecessarily used 3000 gems;Wrongful lost a daily ****** streak on December 24 (screenshot included);Did not get credit for doing a ****** at least 3 times;XP boost disappeared at least 4 times without *************** freeze more than once;Lost friend streak for no reason (neither one of us missed a day);Did not get credit for gems I earned (I did not report this, but did receive an error)The most important problems I need resolved are the restoration of my Diamond League streak, and the restoration of my daily streak. I work very hard to earn the statuses, streaks, milestones, and quests that are offered, and it is extremely frustrating and discouraging when those things are wrongfully taken away from me. Especially when I am completely ignored. I know I am not the only one who experiences these problems. There are 5 other people in my family plan, and I know several others who have the problem with nonexistent customer service. The customer service department needs a complete revamp.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:01/07/2025

      Type:Product Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      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 purchased the Duolingo language learning App to learn Spanish. I have been using it for over a year. A couple of weeks ago, the program began to malfunction immediately after I bought a multipack of gems (used for in-app purchases). I am stuck in Section 3, Unit 23. I get through a few exercises of ****** 1, and then the app no longer accepts a tap on the word continue. Exiting the app and returning put me back at exercise 1 of ****** 1. Since I cannot advance, the app uses up a streak freeze.Besides using up my credits, I am actually not able to learn anything more from the APP.There is no tech support number to call. Email feedback does not result in any support. Please help me find a way to have the App reset to move past that one ******.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:01/02/2025

      Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      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 have paid for Super Duolingo which promises to be free of advertisements, however Duolingo continues to serve ads for my to pay for Duolingo Max. I cannot see how it it is legal for them to continue to advertise services to me after I have paid to remove them.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:12/31/2024

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      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.
      Free trial, billed anyway in November 2023. App never functioned properly so request cancelled and billed anyway even though refund was promised. November 2024 I was billed again! I didnt authorize that and removed the app from my phone last year during the trial. Filed with my credit card and Duo Lingo maintains the charges are valid. I call it fraud.

      Business Response

      Date: 01/08/2025

      Hello,

      We have no record of correspondence from ***********************. If you have a reference number of the ticket where these promises were made to you, please do share!
      It looks like your subscription was already canceled and refunded on January 3, 2025!

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:12/31/2024

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      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 was not notified 2 day before end of trial period. Money taken without authority did not have my permission.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:12/29/2024

      Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      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 December 29th 2024, I paid Duolingo $60, by credit card, for a one-year subscription to Duolingo Super. Duolingos representation in their ad which caused me to subscribe said that the benefit, over regular free Duolingo, would be that there would be no ads to interrupt my use of the language learning app. Within minutes of starting the new "no ads" service, I received an ad from Duolingo urging me to sign up for the family plan for an additional amount of money. Obviously, the no ads offer was completely false. I tried to cancel my subscription with Duolingo, which was less than an hour old, and after much difficulty got to a screen that said they would cancel it in a year and charge me $60. I ended up having to cancel the credit card that I used to pay for the app which was a huge pain. It's this kind of behavior from corporate America and their marketing divisions that makes people hate them. I don't know if there's anything you can do about it, but I wanted to complain in other than online forum.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:12/16/2024

      Type:Product Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      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.
      Hello,I am writing to address an issue regarding a refund for my Duolingo yearly subscription. I contacted ***** **************** to request the refund, but I was informed that ***** cannot process it because Duolingo has refused to authorize the reimbursement. However, when I reached out to Duolingo, I was directed back to ***** to handle the refund.This back-and-forth has created confusion and inconvenience. I was charged for a service I neither use nor intend to use, and I kindly request that the matter be resolved promptly.I ask that my subscription be refunded immediately to rectify this issue and ensure a better customer experience. Please advise on how to proceed or confirm when I can expect the refund.Thank you for your attention to this *********** regards,Ege Sanem Oturmaz

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:12/08/2024

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      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.
      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.

       
      Regards,

      ******** ********

      Business Response

      Date: 12/10/2024

      Hello,

      We're sorry you forgot to cancel your free trial. This is a standard free trial practice for a subscription service. Subscriptions renew automatically and it is up to the user to manage their subscription preferences, as you've agreed to upon subscribing and confirming your subscription through *****. We're sorry you feel blindsided by this.

      For security purposes, ***** does not give us access to your payment information. In this case, they act as the retailer, and do not allow developers to issue refunds on their behalf. We're sorry they have denied your request. We can only recommend you contact ***** Support, as the transaction is between Apple and your bank.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:12/02/2024

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      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 subscribed to Duolingo for Spanish language lessons. I subscribed. I asked to have monthly payments but they billed me for the year. Okay I payed for a year. Now in far less than half a year they want me to pay for Super Lingo and stopped my access to Duolingo Spanish lessons.

      Business Response

      Date: 12/03/2024

      Hello,

      It sounds like you may have selected the discounted 12 month subscription. While we do offer a monthly option, only the 12 month subscription is discounted and billed as one payment for the year.

      We ask that you double check to make sure you are signed into the correct account. The account using ********************************* hasn't been used since October 2020. If you purchased a subscription last year, you must have another Duolingo account with another email address. Please sign into that account to access your progress and subscription.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:12/02/2024

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      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.
      Our son signed up for this service last year but didn't use it. H2 did not have our authorization. We thought we cancelled it, yet we were charged ***** for this service for another year. He doesn't even know which ****** account it was on so we cannot access it. **************** is nonexistent.

      Business Response

      Date: 12/02/2024

      Hello,

      We see you contacted our support team only 90 minutes ago. It typically takes longer than that to receive a response to a support request, but that doesn't mean we offer no support. We will assist you in a timely manner via email.

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