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About Coursera
Coursera is a global online learning platform that offers massive open online courses (MOOCs), specializations and degrees. Users can build skills with courses from universities like Yale, Stanford and New York University and companies like Google and IBM.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Self-paced
- High-quality video
- Free courses available
- Free seven-day trial
Cons
- Inflexible enrollment
- Some courses are pricey
Bottom Line
If you want to learn a subject at your own pace, Coursera offers a wide selection of online courses, certificates and degrees at varying price points.
Coursera Reviews
ConsumerAffairs has collected 150 reviews and 492 ratings.
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Reviewed Sept. 22, 2022
This company is horrible. I was extremely excited to start learning about UX Designing, and everything seemed to be fine until half my work was gone when I logged back in a week later. They have NO phone number, and when I tried to reach them through email and messages and reports, NO ONE responded to me. I'm furious that I spent a total of $80 on absolutely nothing.
Reviewed July 6, 2022
Reviewed June 8, 2022
I was charged for a course after I completed the certification. I requested a refund and asked why was my credit card billed anyway. They said I had to cancel or complete the certification class. Which I did completed the course then the customer service rep was stuck when I said that. Check your cards because they are charging people for a service they not receiving any longer.
Reviewed May 19, 2022
Their business model relies on sneaking in sub subscriptions that they hope you don’t notice. They DO NOT CARE about their learners- only about extracting as much money as possible. Horrible, unethical corporation run by sociopaths.
Reviewed March 31, 2022
How can a company call itself customer-oriented when it cannot issue a simple invoice after the payment? The company that I work for paid for one course for me and it turns out they do not issue invoices for individual clients! It means that if I want to get an invoice I have to create a business account with 5 seats minimum each costing $400/year, so in total it would cost me $4000 to get an invoice! I mean really?
Reviewed March 17, 2022
I've tried 3 courses here. 1 was poor quality and billed me without me knowing (non-refundable of course), 1 was great but I was unable to buy the certificate with poor Customer Service back and forth, and the last is ok but the material is almost 10 years old. I did another course on the competitors and was great - no issue, high quality, no hidden fees. No idea why this company is more known - try the others.
Updated review: March 7, 2022
This issue was resolved to my satisfaction by the company.
Original Review: March 7, 2022
Coursera has a bait & switch going on that is unethical and possibly fraudulent where you purchase one course and then they sign you up for recurring payments unless you opt out. $49 per single course, and after that they just keep billing and billing. There is almost no recourse because they do not have a customer service program in place. I've filed a complaint with Coursera through their chat function and with the Better Business Bureau. I've also contacted the professor who gives the course and told him that Coursera is operating a bait & switch scheme and that it besmirches their reputation. I am not the only one complaining of these unauthorized charges and demand a refund.
Reviewed Jan. 29, 2022
Coursera courses are the biggest Ripoff ever exists. I don’t know how this company still exists. Apple and Galaxy phones shouldn’t allow the app in their phones and tablets. You sign for a course that’s supposed to be $49 dollars for 1 month, you complete the course, and they continue charging your credit card for months and months. If you try to stop this, it’s impossible because they don’t have a customer service number, no way to cancel your subscription, they hide from you. Please Do Not use Coursera. They will Steal a lot of money from you. I only give 1 star review because there’s no zero stars.
Reviewed Nov. 22, 2021
They_do_not_have_any_customer_service. Please_never_use_Coursera. There_are_better_option. They_are_terrible. They_are_inferior. They_stole_money_from_me. They_will_not_give_me_a_credit. PLEASE_DO_NOT_USE.
Reviewed Sept. 15, 2021
The contents is good but the system accessing is very unstable. When I need a support, it's never can contact them. They have no email or phone no. to contact except the help center which is no way to access when you have problem with accessing.
Reviewed July 8, 2021
Coursera is a rip-off, which I did not realize until a few days into my so called "7-day Free Trial." After searching through their website, while I was signed in, there was no place to cancel before the Trial ended. I even googled for directions, then realizing that it did not exist: that is, NO WAY to CANCEL before TRIAL ENDS. I searched further and realized then that there was no contact phone number for them online, and nobody's name listed to contact, plus no address.
I finally was able to send a message online via the website while I was signed in, and received an auto-generated message that they would respond. But no one ever responded. They kept sending me marketing type information, and information about their courses, but still no response. The Trial time period ends, and of course they charge my credit card. I immediately contacted my bank to challenge the charge, and after going back and forth with my bank, I was finally given back my funds (from my bank, and not from Coursera). Stay away from Coursera; as one reviewer has noted here on this board also, they will rip you off--by sucking you in with the notion of a Trial period, and then not giving you a place to cancel.
Reviewed June 23, 2021
The Refund policy is the worst...and they make no effort by blocking any refund requests on the mobile app when almost all other things can be down on the mobile app. This auto billing should send warning emails beforehand and allow for easy one click Cancellation. This is not fair and I will continue to give bad reviews. The tiny portion of the course That I used was bland and only mildy informative.
Reviewed June 1, 2021
I can't speak to the course content because immediately I was turned off by the business practices of this supposed B Corp. I do web design for a living and I'm not a dumb person, but somehow I couldn't figure out their subscription plans and upgrades and got billed for something. I went back to try and find out why, and all of their policies state that they don't offer refunds. Everything that looked like a subscription was cancelled through my account notifications, and then I still got billed. There is no customer service available and searching for "request refund" takes you to a page where they say they don't offer refunds.
As a B Corp, I would expect much better. As an educational company, I would expect better UX/UI so consumers are not confused about what they are signing up for and have an option to cancel a subscription before being billed for it. You should clearly let consumers know what they are signing up for and what they will be paying for.
Reviewed March 25, 2021
I resent the fact that in the middle of this course all of a sudden I am required to use Firefox--stop the course and take the time to download and set up this program. That's a waste of time and an inconvenience and should be indicated prior to beginning the class. Then WORSE THAN THAT is that I'm supposed to download documents from other people, Word and Page documents, which are unsafe. It's a bad practice, very dangerous, to randomly pull private documents into my home computer. I won't take any courses that are set up like this. But Coursera offers NO PLACE to send input or feedback like this. That's why I'm writing here.
Reviewed March 14, 2021
Do not give Coursera your credit card info. This is how it works, you sign up for a program certificate which includes several courses. You get charged every month while you are taking those courses. Thing is, you can NEVER get your last grade. They do not have enough students for you to do reviews or to review your work. That is right, no teacher interaction, students grade each other. You pay, forever. Customer service is anything but. They are not helpful and your only recourse will be to contact your bank and a lawyer.
Reviewed March 13, 2021
Be very careful of EVER giving COURSERA a credit card number! They will pretend you have a trial period and then automatically WITHDRAW $49 from your credit card EVERY MONTH, even with NO USE. Then, they will pretend that this is TOTALLY NON REFUNDABLE. Coursera is NOT A NON-PROFIT. It is yet another CA Bay Area company finding the newest way to take money out of your pocket. I WILL NEVER USE COURSERA AGAIN!
Reviewed March 9, 2021
I took one course with Coursera, a C++ programming course through University of Illinois. The course was good, and though I thought it went a little too fast, I got an A in it. I enjoy programming, so it may have been too intense for someone who was struggling a bit. That's only one part of my experience though. A year and a half later, when I had looked into some further courses but not opted to take one, I got a call from a recruiter about a tech opportunity. I assumed a coding bootcamp I had recently graduated had referred me, but as I reached the end of the interview process and signed their contract, I found out that Coursera had been the source of the recommendation. I was shocked that a platform I had taken one class on 1.5 years ago had been so thoughtfully put together that I was put forward for an important opportunity while I was job searching.
Reviewed Feb. 11, 2021
I started working on a certification in the fall of 2020. I paid the monthly subscription fee. In late January 2021, I upgraded. When I went to submit an assignment, I was prompted to purchase again even though I had already paid. It was impossible to submit the assignment. If you can't submit your assignments, you can't get the certificate. I contacted Support. They said they wanted to refund my money. They said they didn't know when the issue would be resolved. They won't refund the money I had paid for previous months, and I invested time and money working towards a certificate that I can't finish because they don't know how to fix their own platform. Stay away unless you enjoy wasting your time and money.
Reviewed Dec. 30, 2020
It's strange that the project (both videos and web applications ) are not available. 11 thread about no access. We all paid for the course but cannot access. Message Ended Nov 9, 2020. No response from Abbie W. **.
Reviewed Dec. 21, 2020
Let me make this clear from the outset: the course content is very good. But, without the ability to communicate with the course administrators for questions, it becomes useless. I am reluctantly forced to cancel my course with Coursera.

Reviewed Dec. 19, 2020
The information provided by the instructors is very basic and could easily be accessed by doing your own online research. If you are a self-starter and really invested in developing your marketing skills, this course will bore you to tears. Another issue is that it is advertised you can register for free, but somewhere along the line they start charging for the course. I cancelled my subscription to avoid any further charges. Warning: Buyer Beware.
Reviewed Oct. 19, 2020
Coursera's website is deceitful in its advertising. Everywhere it will say "Enroll for free", but then prompt you to create a profile and enter your credit card info. Once they have your info, they will start auto-charging you without regard. I would not trust them with your info, and they need to be more transparent in their practices.
Reviewed Oct. 7, 2020
Total rip off. Signed up for Coursera about 24 hours ago and already want to put my laptop through the wall. Horrible sound quality. Tongue-tied instructors, unable to put one complete sentence together. “Save note” function isn’t working, can only paste and copy from transcripts and of course, the course is non-refundable. After experiencing the disappointing quality of content and luck of support on this platform I don’t believe that Coursera Certificates are worth anything at all. Don’t waste your time and hard earned money like I just did. Might as well watch YouTube videos instead, at least those are better quality and free.
Reviewed Sept. 17, 2020
There is no refund policy. There was supposed to be a 7-day free trial and still was charged $50 for a course. Do not recommend. There is no way to contact them regarding charges and once a course has been started, you will be charged for it.
Reviewed Sept. 10, 2020
When the course includes peer review you can be stuck for weeks with courses even though you've handed in your assignments. It comes down to whether someone else is taking the course or not. Meanwhile, you're forced to pay the monthly fees to stay in the course. When contacting support about this issue they just suggested that I ask for someone to review my assignments in the course forum, which is pointless if no one else is taking the course.
Reviewed Aug. 2, 2020
The overall intent and quality of videos are good and excellent. The main problem with Coursera is they have very little feedback and cannot be contacted (at all in limited experience) for technical support. I took the reinforcement learning class to supplement some of my PhD research, the content is good and the exercises are equally well-thought out. However, work demands made me stop studying for about a month. When I tried to resume, all my programming was reset (I have tried troubleshooting this on my own to no avail). There is literally no way to get a real person to help you. Also, it is difficult to get help on programming exercises. There are better ways to learn in my opinion, with all respect.
Reviewed July 3, 2020
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Reviewed July 2, 2020
Coursera was extremely easy to use. I took their Intro to Psychology course and found it to be really practical and informative. The sections were easy to understand, the professor engaging and it wasn't a 700 step set up nightmare as I have experienced with other online courses. Given that this subject is applicable to so many workplaces and situations I would definitely recommend. Best of all, many of their free courses are very interesting and useful and the paid courses are not expensive. Give them a try!
Reviewed June 28, 2020
It's a terrible platform, keep in mind you will pay monthly for this, and the website has a lot issues, the course I take the teacher didn't know how to explain properly and gave too vague explanation, neither I could contact them and ask for guidance, complete waste of time and money.
Reviewed June 26, 2020
Coursera, is the best way to learn online. It is efficient. Many of the courses can be downloaded also and that helps a lot when travelling. The instructors speak clearly too and they make a lot of sense.
Coursera Company Information
- Company Name:
- Coursera
- Year Founded:
- 2012
- Address:
- 381 E Evelyn Ave
- City:
- Mountain View
- State/Province:
- CA
- Postal Code:
- 94041
- Country:
- United States
- Website:
- www.coursera.org
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