Customer ReviewsforThe Great Courses

My late husband purchased a lot of courses from this company over a number of years and enjoyed the instruction and most of the instructors. As far as I know he never encountered any billing problems. He constantly got catalogs in the mail, and when I received the first one after he died I looked to see how I could remove him from the mailing list. Instructions for someone who died were to actually write to the company with the particulars - name, customer #, etc. - and ask them to remove the name. I took the time to do that and thought that would be it. Unfortunately, not only was his name not removed, Great Courses started mailing catalogs to him at my new address, which they must have gotten from my correspondence. I then called the company to complain about the mistaken mailing and ask again that his name be removed. I was assured that would happen, but that it would take a couple of months because of mailings that were already in the pipeline. Several months passed and I continued to get catalogs and mail addressed to my dead husband, which was extremely upsetting. I wrote on one of the letters, in very emphatic language, that he had died and mailed it back, begging them to stop sending catalogs. After I got yet another one, I called again and was told by someone who actually listened to me that there were 2 accounts for my husband and that only one had been cancelled. She assured me that she would cancel the 2nd one and the mailings will stop. She also apologized. This was an extremely upsetting experience for me, and it never should have taken as much time, effort and stress as it did to get corrected. Their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

It seems as if the reviews all deal with personal experiences having to do with billing. They say nothing as to the course content I have been buying courses for more than 10 years and have a personal library of over 100 courses. The courses are excellent and I for one have had no challenges with billing. I strongly recommend this company.

Their advertising sounds great. Supposedly, you can return a course within a year and get refunded. Well... just try. I did and would like to share my experience here. I ordered a course in February 2023 and returned it in May 2023 with USPS tracking which shows the item was delivered on May 22, 2023. Their website stated that refunds are processed in about 3 weeks. Four weeks after the confirmed delivery, I tried to call their 800 number. Again, good luck with that. Make sure to have 15 to over 30 minutes to wait on hold. On two of my three calls, I was disconnected after speaking to a live agent. So, I tried to send an email to the address on their website. I sent three. So far, more than a week has passed and I have not received a single reply, except for automated replies which state they should respond within 24 hours. To summarize, yes - theoretically - you have a full year to return a course. In practice, try calling and you'll be put on a very long hold. Try to send an email and you'll get no response. So, please be aware that returning an item isn't as smooth a process as they advertised it to be. Finally, my credit card company couldn't help because it's been more than 60 days since my purchase, even though I have a 365-day guarantee from The Great Courses. Lesson learned.

My wife received catalog 206595. We discussed the courses and I ordered #7827, "master the fine art of painting" well before their cutoff of 02/02/23. Catalog price was $35.00 for the dvds and the 118 page "course synopsis". The on line ordering system would not accept their own catalog # and charged me $40.00 for the basic course PLUS the book. As my wife wanted to continue learning more on painting I placed the order, but included a memo about the price that they never replied to. BEWARE!

Company (Wondrium) advertises free trial but charges you with very little notification. The charges are basically in the fine print but you were on the webpage to begin with to get the free trial, which is misleading. I reached out to the company who offered no solutions. Very misleading!

Great Courses and Great Value. There have been some glitches but where else can you access such great content at such a reasonable price?? I have been a customer since 1993.

This used to be a wonderful company. Had my debt card number stolen and the courses were purchased by someone unknown and they refused to grant me a refund even after experiencing fraud. STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS.

I have no idea how this is an A+ accredited business by the BBB. This company embodies every crooked business practice possible to be used against consumers under the veil of educating its users. They will advertise sales and deals on their website, show you a certain price on a product, have you checkout and pay for the things in your cart, show you a receipt that you save that shows a certain price, then turn around and charge your credit card full price and send you an email confirming the purchase with the full price as the "official receipt". Then when your credit card rejects your dispute because The Great Courses sent them a doctored receipt and you send the products in for a refund, they will take over TWO MONTHS after your shipment has been confirmed as received by UPS to even respond to your customer service request with acknowledgement that they received the package. After all that they will process a refund for you that is based on a reduced cost of all the items you paid full price for, even though the return form you include with the products when returning 1) has you write in the amount of the refund yourself and 2) has the receipt on the reverse side of the return form showing exactly how much you paid for the product and exactly how much they should be refunding you. Just to summarize everything abhorrent about this company and how they do business: false advertising; bait and switch; falsifying records; horrible customer service; and fraudulent refunds based on again manipulation of the sale price of items. The audacity is astonishing and if I too were a criminal it would be admirable.

I tried to sign up for the Great Courses Plus. They took all of my information, including credit card payment and then I couldn't access any videos. I attempted to cancel per their instructions, but my "account" was not showing as a member, even though they had charged my card. This is a scam, they take your card and charge it and then you can't access the videos. Every time I tried to access my account info, it tried to sign me up for a free trial, it was an endless loop. This company is a scam. Do not sign up for their "service" unless you plan to go through the hassle of cancelling your credit card and trying to get a chargeback.