Coursera Reviews
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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.
- Self-paced
- High-quality video
- Free courses available
- Free seven-day trial
- Inflexible enrollment
- Some courses are pricey
Coursera Reviews
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Reviewed Oct. 8, 2025
I used a discount code to subscribe to 3 months of Coursera at 40% off. After my 7-day free trial, I was charged the full monthly subscription amount. Even though I provided proof that I had applied this discount code at checkout – a screenshot I had taken of the checkout page – Coursera refused to adjust my subscription plan or provide a refund.
Reviewed Oct. 3, 2025
My older son took Coursera courses few years back. At that time, not only coursera was free, but meaningful. Now when my younger son is taking a course, it is all about reading long labs, complex algorithm, and notes. There is hardly any teaching. Seems like they want to gain time for the course not to finish easily. They charge $50 every month. Plus they won't give certificate for a sub course completion so we are stuck in the middle. In addition, the course description said it was beginners with no prior knowledge of coding required. However, the course moved fast into complex coding.
Reviewed Sept. 16, 2025
I was being billed from this organization and I NEVER signed up for their coursework. I didn't even know they existed until I saw my bank statements. No customer service phone number but I did, after some digging, find an email. They confirmed that they didn't have any information of me (name, emails, log in credentials) in their system. They asked for screenshots of my bank statements and I send all eight. They passed the investigation to two other individuals and then said they can't refund me because they didn't have all the credit card info. I told them I'd send all the details and they said that wouldn't help. At which point, the send an email stating the file was closed and I was being uncooperative. THEY ARE THIEVES! Proceed with caution. If you need to end your subscription, start by cancelling your credit card with your bank. They will bill you endlessly.
Reviewed Aug. 26, 2025
I signed up for a free 7-day trial. Set a calendar reminder to cancel on day 6 (8/20/2025) and did so. Received confirmation on website of cancellation within the trial period. Didn't think to look for confirmation email. Was billed for the subscription. No phone number, no options, website runs me in circles trying to find any sort of customer support. I recommend staying away.
Reviewed Aug. 12, 2025
I wouldn't wish this learning tool on my worst enemy. Also, beware they are not known to give refunds, nor do they send reminders before they withdraw an amount from your account, so do with that information as you will!
Reviewed June 30, 2025
Took a course in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Their course was extremely out of date. All instructions they had concerning required tools were almost of no use as the websites they were referring to had upgraded with many of the options Coursera instructed you to use were no longer available. It was so bad I ended my account with them immediately.
Reviewed April 22, 2025
I signed up for the trial period of the Google Digital Marketing & Econmerce Professional certificate and after not having enough time to even go through any of it in a week I realized right then wasn't the right time to pursue the course. I cancelled subscription and yet they (Coursera) still keep trying to bill me. There's no direct email to contact them either.
Reviewed April 18, 2025
Terrible scam. All their content starts with You're so awesome for studying here then goes into LINKS to other sites. No real content of their own just links to other educational sites, mostly ones kinda related but also with HUGE gaps since it's links to another course single page part way through that other course, so you don't know all the foundational materials that lead to it. You have to search everything on your own while paying every month to do so. It's terrible and a scam.
Reviewed April 11, 2025
Coursera Prime courses were great. My problem was their dysfunctional platform administration. I paid for a yearly subscription, I requested numerous times for them to combined both of my email account so I have only one account, which reflect my one year payment. Well they never answered or complied with my request. What did happened I had to close one of my accounts, but they discontinued my yearly subscription with 8 months left on the terms of agreement. Horrible Customer Service....
Reviewed Feb. 10, 2025
Beware, they have this Coursera plus subscription which does not mention that they include some course in it and not others. They mention this info at the bottom of the page but not as key info at the top of website. So, even if you pay for the plus subscription, if your course is not included in the plus subscription, you have to double pay.
Reviewed Dec. 15, 2024
This course is an absolute scam, and I strongly urge everyone to stay away. They make it nearly impossible to cancel your subscription, and before you know it, you’re charged for an entire year. The courses themselves are utterly useless, with poorly designed curriculums that provide no value whatsoever. To make matters worse, the lessons are taught in such heavy accents that they are almost impossible to understand, rendering the content unusable. The staff is unprofessional, unhelpful, and clearly uninterested in addressing any concerns. The website is also extremely user-unfriendly, with confusing navigation and constant glitches that make the entire experience frustrating from start to finish. Save your time, money, and sanity — do not fall for this scam.
Reviewed Dec. 4, 2024
BAIT AND SWITCH!! When I first found the courses I wanted to try, it said there was a really awesome discount on the annual subscription. It said ‘Try for free now’ which was the only button offered to get started. Presumably, after the 7-day trial, I could get the discounted annual subscription. When I decided to subscribe before my first week was up, it said I was already subscribed.
I canceled the 7-day trial and then it still said I was subscribed. I figured after one week was finished, I could subscribe again. When I tried, it only offered me $66/month which was more than the original $44/month. I just took the $66 monthly subscription because I was already so far along in my courses I didn’t want to lose my progress.
Then when I went to log in a few days later, it said I had no subscription. It now offered $73/month in the app and on the website $82!!! So the starting price has nearly doubled and they’ve already got me hooked because I like the courses I am taking but I’m not going to pay them over $500 for the year because I don’t have that money readily available while unemployed. I’ve tried for weeks to find an email address or even a form to fill out to get help and they have ZERO HELP AVAILABLE.
I finally wrote an email to their PR email address in hopes of getting a response. Once I’m done my courses, I will look elsewhere in the future for professional development. These guys are too high on their haunches and don’t know what basic customer service looks like. The quality of their courses varies greatly as the TESOL course I’m in from University of Arizona is a joke but the Google Analytics course seems very well produced. It’s a shame these people got greedy and they are using horrific marketing tactics to get people to pay double what they originally agreed to.
Reviewed Dec. 3, 2024
Writing this after taking two courses, being unable to finish one and struggling with the other. Having zero or less than zero knowledge in both subjects I experienced a similar problem. In both cases the first 25% of the course was mostly a repetition of introductions, feel good blah, blah, blah and a waste of time. Then some meat and potatoes learning but leaving out fundamental and key educational concepts of which I had to search the internet, Quora groups and third-party sources to fill in the gaps. In my opinion both courses are better suited to people who have been performing those jobs and simply need to "checkboxes" in the fastest, least expensive manner. These courses are NOT for someone with ZERO knowledge of the subjects. It is not in Coursera's best monetary interest to create easy to learn courses as the longer to pay the more they make.
Reviewed Nov. 29, 2024
I wish I had never signed up for Coursera. I started a free trial to test out the platform, but within just a few days, I realized it wasn’t the right fit for me financially, so I canceled the subscription and stopped using the service altogether. To my surprise, on Thanksgiving morning, I woke up to a $59 charge—despite canceling and not actively using the platform.
What’s worse, it turns out I was somehow enrolled in multiple subscriptions, which I absolutely do not remember signing up for. This feels like a predatory tactic to trap users in hidden charges. I barely even used the service, and now I’m stuck dealing with customer service to get my money back. Absolutely unacceptable. I do not recommend Coursera unless you enjoy surprise charges ruining your holiday.
Reviewed Nov. 3, 2024
Spent $9.99 for a 2 hour course. Supposed to be hands on. Instructions are unclear. Then I arrive at a screen where a video is playing. While the video plays, there is a 2nd screen with refreshing dots on display. I have no idea what to do, is the hands on while the instructor is going over topics, or afterward. And, of course Coursera has nonresponsive support. Just an invitation to browse their help database and a chat bot who cannot understand any input about technical problems. And, on top of all of this, they flag the course payment as 'non-refundable'. STAY AWAY FROM COURSERA. They will take your money and waste your time.
Reviewed Oct. 24, 2024
Coursera has the most archaic cancellation/refund policy I have ever dealt with and I work in the corporate world. They would take money out of a disabled woman's bank account and simply point to their cancellation policy and ignore her further. This company needs to be investigated from their predatory tactics alone. I cannot imagine how they're treating other elderly people that don't have someone to care for them.
Reviewed Oct. 19, 2024
Coursera is a complete scam. There’s no way to contact an actual person for help—everything is automated, leaving you stuck with useless responses. Feels like a total fraud. They take your money and disappear. Avoid!
Reviewed Oct. 18, 2024
ABSOLUTE SCAM. They make it IMPOSSIBLE TO CANCEL their $600 a year subscription. I am now paying for this for the rest of my life because they want to give you the runaround while trying to cancel a subscription through their garbage website. AVOID AT ALL COSTS! YOU WILL BE RIPPED OFF.

Reviewed Oct. 15, 2024
I signed up for a one year of Coursera plus and found that I didn't use it much. Figured the resource would end after one year. Did not assume it would auto-renew. The notices went to email spam. Now four years later and I can barely believe this scamming company has continued to charge me.
Reviewed Oct. 1, 2024
I signed up and enrolled on Monday. Cancelling today on Tuesday. It took me some time to find a course that complimented my current education. Once I finally found a course, I enrolled easily, made it through the reading portion. The first video I watched, the audio was worthless. It was malfunctioning so badly that I couldn't understand the instructor. I read the transcript and moved on.
Then I got to the second video and it was even worse. I reported a problem with no indication that they were going to look into it or reach out to me to let me know the issue is either resolved or being worked on. There is no way to talk to a human at Coursera. The chatbot they offer is so bad, it almost seems like a beta version. My recommendation, do not spend one penny on Coursera. There are other online avenues for certificates and degrees. It's a shame they are this bad. It was really easy to sign up and enroll. They also have a lot of courses to offer. The question is, how many of them actually are functioning.
Reviewed Oct. 1, 2024
Took one course for credit only to find the on line material did not cover all the questions so you have to buy several EXPENSIVE textbooks. When I would replay a lecture, audio and video would be out of sync. Text of lecture was so poor as to be useless. Cancelled course halfway through, or at least I thought I did. I continue to get nonrefundable credit card charges. Online help proved fruitless - tabs that were supposed to appear to cancel subscription didn’t appear. I cannot in good conscience recommend this service to anyone. You decide.
Reviewed Sept. 27, 2024
I have bought their subscription for a few months and completed a few certificate courses. Once I finished the last course I was interested in, I cancelled the subscription. Well, I finished the last course about a week before my subscription expired. They use a ridiculous peer assessment review to grade you so you are at the mercy of people you have no idea are capable or not to review your work. Well, my last course didn’t get reviewed by peers and once my subscription expired, the whole course went away. The hours I spent going through the course and the hours spent to complete all the assessments for NOTHING. It’s simply ridiculous that then, you simply can’t reach anyone at Coursera to speak with about the issue. Very unprofessional. Not worth it.
Reviewed Sept. 17, 2024
I just tried to get Coursera FREE course with certificate because I'm desperate for a job. I filled out info and it came to $0. I made sure my credit card had $0 on it and they tried to charge my card. So if it's free it should be free!!! Maybe Coursera needs a math class before offering free classes and then charging for it.
Reviewed Sept. 16, 2024
Hi, I have paid for 1 course, and they have started charging me for a subscription. When I checked my account it was $149.47 since July 2024. I have contacted them several times but have not responded for 10 days. I don't understand the way businesses are working nowadays. To whom should I contact to get my refund?
Reviewed Sept. 10, 2024
Don't waste your money and time on Coursera! They are not a self paced Course. I got behind in one course and my previous modules that were completed were gone. They charge a monthly fee so you can go on your own pace. False... Go somewhere else. Customer service is useless and they told me to start over.
Reviewed Sept. 5, 2024
Bought a course from Coursera for whole genome sequencing certificate from DTU. Thinking I could complete at my own pace as the course is advertised as "complete at your own pace." Somehow forced to buy a monthly subscription in addition to purchasing the course ($50 monthly subscription + $50 course for $100 total). Cancelled the monthly subscription and got reimbursed the $50 but lost access to the course after like two weeks. $50 down the drain, oh well. Hopefully somebody sees this, because they need to know they need to have the recurring monthly payment to coursera (in addition to any purchased course content) if they actually want to access the courses they are buying and the certificates they are attempting to get.
Customer service is also non-existent. No way to contact any sort of customer support either, you just have to submit some sort of appeal or claim about a grievance and hope somebody responds to you at some point in the future. Tried to reach out to see if I could get reimbursed the $50 for the course I purchased but lost access to, or at least regain access to the course materials, but I never heard back. The only reason I'm giving two stars rather than one is because I was refunded the $50 after cancelling the monthly payment that I was forced to buy, but let's be honest, that's kind of a low bar.
Reviewed Aug. 22, 2024
I appreciate the wide variety of what appear to be quality courses; however, the customer support is ABYSMAL. I signed up for an annual subscription after completing a course in the spring. I paid $399 on June 11, 2024, for an annual subscription. On June 24, I was refunded $337, and my subscription (without notification to me) converted to "monthly" at $61 per month.
I've reached out twice to the help page on their website (the only way to reach them), and they've responded with the same e-mail (with different bot names) telling me to cancel my monthly subscription and re-subscribe for a year. The terms at $61/months are much better for Coursera $732/year vs. the $399 I paid for a year. They've made no effort to make this right.
Reviewed Aug. 16, 2024
I signed my son up for a free trial in May of 2022 and he tried a coding class a few times, but found it was too difficult for him, a bit glitchy and often really poor instructions. We thought we cancelled our subscription, but just discovered that we have been paying $39 a month 2.5 years. (My husband thought the charge had to do with my son's university and didn't bring it to my attention till now). That is over a one thousand dollars to try a class for "free". I was able to log back on and try to cancel our subscription again. I then tried to contact the company to make sure the cancellation went through this time, but the "contact" tab just takes you to their help page. There is no way to contact this company by phone, email, or snail mail. That should raise red flags.
Reviewed Aug. 7, 2024
I cancelled the 7 day free subscription a few hours before it expired because I didn’t have time to use it. I even cancelled my bank account because of a problem with my debit card. I no longer had the debit card I put on this site. So how did my account still get charged two weeks later off a card I no longer had? It was hilarious because they charged me, refunded the charge, then charged me again five days later. WHAT ARE Y’ALL DOING? What you SHOULD be doing is seeing that NO ONE logged on to your lesson and being a decent person and saying, "Hey, do you want to continue to subscribe?" I see you are not using the platform AT ALL. Just a bunch of crooks.
Reviewed May 16, 2024
This is FRAUD. I paid them $49 for 5 module, 5 week AI Essentials course. After the first module, it was impossible to access the others and they have NO customer contact. When you try the customer support, you get a message that they are no longer using this service and go to their web page but there is NO way to contact them there.
Reviewed May 11, 2024
Coursera is the worst. I paid and was in-process of taking a course on AI Prompt Engineering. I had some health issues and was a little behind. Coursera then LOCKED me out of my learning course "without so much as a courtesy email" to inform me some kind of deadline was approaching. In addition, they clearly are biased against ** people on their platform and it is SICKENING. Every course on every webpage, they advertise only promote "women or people of color". No images of ** on their website that I could find. I call it discriminatory. They must call it 'woke'. Same same.
Reviewed May 11, 2024
Awful. I enrolled on their online classes. The course web page is half of the time down. Support is slow and they do not offer reimbursement or discounts for their disservices. They ignore my requests for it, as I am slow progressing the course due to the disservices offered by them. AVOID.
Reviewed April 29, 2024
Terrible experience with Coursera and I now have to reach out to the University who has their course on the platform to get any sort of resolution. I wasted a week on a course and Coursera is refusing to send me my certificate. Unacceptable in my opinion.
Reviewed April 15, 2024
We are now using Jira for projects & I wanted to learn it. I paid for a subscription so I could get a certificate after the 7 day trial. Project kept me away for about 3 weeks. Logged in & found everything I had completed wiped out and they wanted me to buy the course for $50 (plus tax). There is absolutely zero way to talk to an actual person to see what is going on. So now, I've spent $52.00, will probably get another monthly charge of the same, and although I can start over with the course, I will have no certificate to show for it unless I fork over even more money! As far as I'm concerned....this is nothing but a scam!
Reviewed March 30, 2024
When a person finishes a course with dedication and hard work, the last thing he expects is a "missing badge". I have been waiting for months for a simple Credly badge (even though I have certificate issued to me). Customer service is awful. They simply do not respond, in spite of multiple reminders. There is no way to escalate, and you are basically left STUCK.
Reviewed March 11, 2024
I'm currently taking a Google course offered through Coursera. The course content is excellent, and the price is reasonable. However, the user experience on Coursera is awful. The support they provide is unhelpful, and the human representatives seem as ineffective as AI. Coursera frequently loses track of my progress, leading me to resubmit assignments multiple times. It's nearly impossible to find what I'm currently learning. I've accidentally enrolled in modules far ahead of my progress, causing confusion and wasting time. Trying to unenroll from these modules resulted in being removed from the entire course. Re-enrolling in the correct module was a hassle, as the interface is counterintuitive. Despite my frustrations with Coursera, I genuinely enjoy the course content.
Reviewed March 1, 2024
Be aware that after you finish the classes, they will continue to charge you and make it very difficult to cancel the subscriptions. Even after deleting my account, they tried to continue to charge my bank account.
Reviewed Feb. 21, 2024
Please ensure you carefully examine the subscription policy's details. Initially, the service is offered for free, but subsequently, charges are applied without prior notification. Surprisingly, I remained unaware of these charges for EIGHT MONTHS. Despite expecting a complimentary trial month, I was unexpectedly billed for it. Unfortunately, as I hadn't utilized the service, it slipped from my attention. Unlike many other brands, there is no reminder provided before charges are incurred, denying users the opportunity to prevent them if desired.
Regrettably, there is no option to suspend membership or access missed months for learning on their platform, despite having paid for them. The membership fee is notably high and deemed non-refundable. Moreover, there is a lack of accessible customer support (i.e. responsibility) for making any necessary corrections. So basically I'm out $400 (in this economy?!!?). In my recent experiences with various learning platforms, this has been by far the most unsatisfactory encounter.
Reviewed Feb. 13, 2024
I am happy I read all the reviews. I was trying to enroll in a writing class. Also, I was trying to contact Coursera by phone, but it is impossible to reach customer service representative. I am so happy I didnt enroll.

Reviewed Jan. 19, 2024
I purchased Create Your First Automation Script Using Selenium and Java on January 17, 2024. The training is in a side-by-side environment called Rhyme where the left side is a cloud area and the right side is the instructional video. The instructor is actually good, clear, and to the point. However, the content you use in the cloud area is preloaded. It is a Selenium Driver, a ChromeDriver and Eclipse. I created the first .java app and when I tried to run it, ChromeDriver wouldn't launch because its version and the Chrome Browser version don't match. The ChromeDriver is version 83 from 2019 and the Chrome Browser today is version 120. In addition, after several tries on 2 computers, they turned off the cloud portion and this is not part of the course information.
Finally, after contacting "customer support" their answer was basically, "Too bad for you. We are not responsible for the course content (although we are making money off of it)." Buyer beware, they are not legitimate, there's no phone number, and the emails I received seemed like they came from a bot. I plan to follow the instructional videos for the code portion and use my own Eclipse IDE, download the current Selenium and ChromeDriver versions and see how it goes. If it doesn't go, I'll get a refund, either through them, the Better Business Bureau or my bank.
Reviewed Dec. 20, 2023
I subscribed for the CourseraPlus which they charged me $81 per month for. It was stated that you can request for a refund until after 14 days after payment date. I cancelled my subscription just today after making payment yesterday. To my surprise, I still have non-refundable status still on my account. I just got charged for the month’s subscription yesterday and this is against what is stated in the refund policy of Coursera. I am truly disappointed as there is no avenue to contact anyone at the company or submit a complaint. This is fraudulent.

Reviewed Nov. 28, 2023
I was paying monthly for one course $79 and now I am finding out that this course is included in Coursera Plus package that costs $399/year. That was never disclosed to me and I am very disappointed that there is no pricing transparency on the website.

Reviewed Nov. 28, 2023
Registered for the Mastering Final Cut Pro course on Coursera.org, offered by LearnQuest and taught by: Jason Cox with Nick Harauz. The first lesson had two files to download. The second zip file downloaded fine, the first zip file would not extract. I tried multiple methods of extracting and nothing worked. I contacted the instructors via the Lesson... Got nothing but crickets. I contacted Coursera.org and got "we'll let the instructors know, but no timeline for the issue being fixed". Over the course of FIVE weeks I would daily download the 900MB file and try to unzip. Failed every day. Weekly I would contact Coursera.org and get the same message. No action, no result. Complete waste of money and time. I missed the targets for my project. Don't go with Coursera.org, especially courses provided by LearnQuest and taught by: Jason Cox with Nick Harauz.
Updated review: Dec. 20, 2023
They responded to my request and issued me a refund. Thank you!
Original Review: Nov. 28, 2023
Courses I explored were largely unhelpful. Forgot that I had apparently given Coursera my credit card info for a "free trial" and later received a $60 charge with no warning and no option for a refund.
Reviewed Oct. 30, 2023
I was trying to get a certification with GIS and not even 15 minutes into the courses I was told that I couldn't proceed because the previous module wasn't complete despite completing it 7 different times to try and push it forward but it didn't budge and nothing on the help page or customer service was helpful. On top of that, I am in a different location than the course so I am in a different time zone and it keeps losing its mind that I'm in a different time zone but won't allow me to change it. I'll be cancelling my subscription after having it for less than 24 hours.
Reviewed Oct. 11, 2023
I recently tried out Coursera, an online learning platform that promises free enrollment for its courses. However, my experience left me feeling let down and frustrated. When I visited Coursera's website, I was excited about the possibility of learning without any financial commitment. The course descriptions and enrollment pages clearly stated that enrollment was free, giving me the impression that I could access the content without paying. Unfortunately, this turned out to be misleading.
After enrolling in a few courses, I quickly realized that while the initial enrollment was indeed free, accessing the valuable course materials and assessments required payment. Coursera follows a freemium model, where only a limited amount of content is available without paying. To access the full course content, including assignments and quizzes, you need to subscribe or pay a fee.
This discrepancy between the promised "free" enrollment and the actual cost of accessing meaningful course content was disappointing. It left me feeling like I had been misled. While Coursera does offer financial aid options for those who can't afford the fees, it doesn't change the fact that the platform's advertising creates false expectations. Additionally, Coursera's pricing for paid courses is relatively high compared to other online learning platforms. It's disheartening to realize that what initially seemed like an affordable learning opportunity can quickly become a financial burden.
I understand that online learning platforms need to sustain themselves, and providing quality education requires resources. However, it's essential for Coursera to be transparent and upfront about its pricing structure from the start. By clearly stating that access to the full course content requires payment, Coursera would set realistic expectations for learners and avoid frustrating experiences.
Reviewed Sept. 17, 2023
I have been an ardent user of Coursera and have genuinely appreciated the platform's offerings until recently. However, a series of experiences have compelled me to reconsider my association with Coursera and share my observations. One of the primary concerns is the peer-review system for assignments. While the idea of peer reviews is commendable in theory, its execution often falls short. There have been instances where the quality of one's work is overshadowed by subjective grading, with some reviewers potentially retaliating for not receiving a perfect score themselves. What's more concerning is Coursera's stance on this issue. Instead of ensuring adherence to the grading rubric, the platform suggests resubmitting assignments repeatedly until a favorable grade is achieved. Such an approach undermines the very essence of a structured learning environment.
Furthermore, the issue of outdated content is a significant drawback. The rapid evolution of technology is understandable, but the platform's responsiveness to these changes is crucial. A case in point is a course section dedicated to Adobe XD, a software that's no longer available. When brought to Coursera's attention, the proposed solution was to use Figma, an entirely different software, without any guidance on its usage. This not only places an undue burden on the learner but also questions the platform's commitment to delivering relevant and updated content.
Lastly, the response from Coursera's support was disheartening. Being informed that Coursera does not manage the content on its website and being redirected to external support channels, including Google, for course-related queries is far from the expected standard of customer service. In conclusion, while I had high hopes for completing my certification through Coursera, these experiences have led me to seek alternatives. The platform's approach, especially concerning its "Honor Code", leaves much to be desired. I hope potential users weigh these considerations before making a decision.

Reviewed Sept. 1, 2023
First, Coursera is awesome and their courses have helped me so much! They are all well done, well formatted and easy to follow with a mix of reading and videos. All the most essential info that one needs. However, twice I've encountered tech issues that prevented me from finishing two separate courses. Fortunately, one of them I hadn't paid for and was still on the trial when it happened. The other time, I had already paid, but had attained a certificate from the prior course. Basically, it covered and ran into the next; in other words, I would have had to pay anyway. Still, though, that's TWO times!!!
I continue to use Coursera but mainly for the audit features. Looks like the audit features record whether or not I finish assignments, which is good so if I decide that I want a certificate, hopefully, I've used everything and ensured that I CAN get my certificate without tech problems. Otherwise, I'm always gonna look for courses that I can binge on the 7 day trial, so that if something happens, I don't get stuck paying without getting a certificate. Customer Service is not able to do much. On the first issue, I reached out multiple times and got no response. ZERO.
The second issue, they told me that there was nothing they could do because it's managed by the pathrise people. I get it: a lot of these are from third parties. Still, this second issue goes back more than a year!!! And it is the simple issue of having the wrong link for verification displayed. In the last year, request after request has just piled up to verify badges... It's all right there on the site. You'd think with that many requests, someone might, I don't know, do something??? And yes, most of those requests went ignored. Use it to learn, but be very careful to make sure that you will get your certs. Complete the coursework before enrolling, if possible (not possible for every course I imagine), otherwise be in a spot where you can binge it in seven days.
Reviewed July 14, 2023
Your experience is 100% determined by "peers". Every single assignment is graded by the other people taking the course at the time. That means that if they don't understand the assignment, or they are just in a bad mood, they can fail you. The only thing you can do in return is hope enough other people grade your assignment correctly to average out to passing, and if not you have to redo and resubmit the assignment get a fresh start. Even. If. Nothing. Was. Wrong.
I have posted to message boards with zero responses. There are "instructors" who supposedly respond to message board comments, but I never heard back. I have failed 100% correct assignments and been told by the help desk to change nothing, but redo and resubmit anyway to get new people to grade the assignment. A complete waste of everyone's time. If this is free to you and you are just looking to skim through some classes to gain a better understanding of something, you probably won’t hate your experience. If you are looking to complete a program, or learn from graded assignments, look elsewhere.
Reviewed June 22, 2023
Please keep in mind that I am a 23 Development veteran who has senior-level positions for several large corporations including Apple, Kaiser and Bio-Rad. The course starts off well enough, but the minute you get into Python, abandon all hope. They barely touch the basics and then throw you into complex coding testing, with zero - and I mean ZERO - assistance for questions, or even worse - issues, and there are plenty of those as well. Having been around engineering culture for over two decades now, you can almost see the "Well *I* know this - so you should too" attitude of that part of the course. Which is wrong all over the place to boot.
Some sections have testing with answers that are covered in the following lessons. It's an absolute hot mess. And if you need any assistance at any point of the way, forget it - there is none. The one time I reported a fairly large issue, the "AI" (I'm using that term loosely here) chat that "assisted" (hahaha no) me was nearly incomprehensible. AVOID AVOID AVOID.
Reviewed June 4, 2023
No support if you get stuck. No help at all. They don't even have instructors reviewing your work. It's all peer grading. You're better buying books on the subject. Save your money and use a library card.
Reviewed May 2, 2023
While Coursera's business model is helpful for making online education affordable, the company relies too heavily on peer help. There is no TA, moderator or QA to ensure user experiences. When you are graded wrong by your peers, all that you could do is to resubmit your coursework for another round of peer review. Grading issue happens quite frequently. It makes it feel like a punishment. What's most ridiculous is that a course I'm taking requires an Adobe product. However the Adobe product key that Coursera offers doesn't allow for full function of the Adobe product. So I'm not able to finish the coursework.
After inquiring Coursera's customer support, she found a post hidden in the discussion forum that mention this as an issue known to Coursera. If this is a known issue, should it be announced in the course message or course information? Or shouldn't the course content be modified accordingly? Or shouldn't Coursera work something out with Adobe? But nope, just a random post in the ocean of the discussion forum. Highly irresponsible on Coursera's part.

Reviewed Feb. 4, 2023
There is NO customer service, only automated responses. They have an old email address for me and I can't change it since I can't access my decades old AOL email. I signed up for a course I didn't realize had a course I should have taken first and I wanted to switch to the prereq 20 minutes after purchase. Spent hours hunting down customer service but there is NO CUSTOMER SERVICE. Only automated responses that don't answer my questions. These courses ARE expensive and running a business without ANY way of contacting the company is extremely unethical. What is it, one dude running the place from a huge villa in Monaco? Just a guess. The classes are good, maybe a mixed bag but I didn't have issue with the courses but CERTAINLY with the complete lack of customer service.
Reviewed Nov. 30, 2022
Unprofessional, unreliable, and irresponsible. Coursera staff appear to be poorly lacking in their duties and abilities to successfully manage this platform. They present serious, inaccurate claims of plagiarism based off insufficient sources and neglect to investigate these claims when prompted of their reasoning. They carelessly confirm inaccurate computer-generated claims of plagiarism on assignments, without investigating whether or not the computer is correct. Laura in particular, is guilty of the above and lacks in her duties to accurately identify plagiarism. Staff also fail to include appropriate contact information, leaving only the option to email, without a phone number to call. Do not spend your money on Coursera. The staff overseeing the assignments are untrained.

Reviewed Nov. 4, 2022
Signed up via LinkedIn "recommendation" as they seemed more affable and budget-friendly compared to Learning. Well got halfway through a supposed Social Media Mgmt. certification, when a requirement was to create a FB and IG Business account, which seemed fake to me, as not being in business... or even certain if that's legal. And NO actual support to assist if you get stuck. I'm all for online learning alternatives, but this is severely questionable.
Reviewed Oct. 22, 2022
I wanted to complete an assignment, but due to an error I wasn't able to. They offered me alternatives which didn't work, support is next to useless. I am paying for the course and I cannot even complete the assignment.
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.
Reviewed June 25, 2020
The variety of classes and professionalism of instructors makes this my favorite learning platform online. It is upfront on costs and time commitment needed to complete the courses. I have recommended it highly to my nephews who are learning from home.
Reviewed June 24, 2020
Being in a dominant market and the other learning platforms are not as good for the time. They will put into absorbing the information Also influence on the way. I am determined to help people with the right education of the product and the delivery of network services is a great opportunity!!
Reviewed June 20, 2020
User friendly platform. If there is technical difficulty the support personnel are very helpful in resolving the problem. A wide variety of Interesting courses that can lead to other jobs or for personal development
Reviewed June 19, 2020
Coursera wasn’t the best courses platform. It was really bad and hard to go through things. I didn’t like it and whenever they said they had a free course I go check and feel disappointed every time so then I just stopped using and I personally wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
Reviewed June 18, 2020
The course was an intro to IT, which was the first of 6 classes which culminated with a Google certification in general information technology comparable to a CompTIA A+. The course pace was slow enough to complete in plenty of time, and not so much time you found yourself bored. The class was interesting, engaging, and I'd like to finish the rest when I can.
Reviewed June 17, 2020
I don't have anything positive to say. I could do stuff like this free on YouTube. All this nonsense on Coursera is just that nonsense. I did not see any redeeming qualities about any of the courses whether free or even free trial okay. All the stuff can be found online in so many different places at no charge especially if one is a senior citizen so coursera you catch me was not worth it.
Reviewed June 14, 2020
I liked the course, very detailed, instructors syllabus very detailed only thing, was it was a little difficult to go back to review. The course material was easy to follow, along with the instructor. Surprised at the ease of use.
Reviewed June 13, 2020
I like how I can access the courses for free, and I have learned a lot from them. They offer certificates too, and the courses come from real universities around the world. Also there is plenty of options and categories to choose from.
Reviewed June 12, 2020
Provides paced learning that is not burdensome. The courses are varied to provide comprehensive data on numerous subjects. The interim quizzes are course based and helpful. The educators are not intimidating or distracting. I learned a lot.
Reviewed May 26, 2020
I signed up for a six week online course with the University of London. What I didn't realize is that the course was through Coursera. If you are considering a course through this company, don't do it. There is no way to contact them. There are technical issues with their site. I was not able to complete one module as there was an issue with the quiz. No one at Coursera could give me an answer to allow me to complete the test. The company has issues and I am not sure how legitimate they really are. Stay away from them. I wish I had looked at these reviews before I signed up.
Reviewed May 22, 2020
I took a specialization on Coursera involving several courses. When I got to the final course, month after month, my last papers for this course had not been graded. Due to this adverse situation, I closed my account.
Reviewed May 19, 2020
Criminal organisation that leaves no means of contact or feedback on its website, knowing fully well that it is out to defraud customers. I enrolled for a free course, was asked to enter my card details merely for confirmation that I was human and I did. Then I was billed £43 for a supposedly free course. A week later, I get a receipt for £38 by email. I have since requested for a refund but no reply after 3 weeks. This is the height of irresponsibility and I say shame to all the handlers of the company. I cannot actually believe it is owned by academics as purported!
Reviewed May 18, 2020
Make sure you look into the fine print of their subscription policy. It is free at first and then you are charged without notification. I actually didn't even know I was being changed for a couple months. I was supposed to have a free month but they charged me for the "free month". Since I hadn't used it, I forgot about it. Most brands send you a reminder that you are about to be charged so you can prevent the charge if you want. Not these guys. There is NO option to put the membership on hold or come back and learn on their platform for the months you paid for but didn't use. The membership fee is pretty steep and it is non-refundable. They do not have ANYONE you can speak to make any corrections. I've been using a few learning platforms of late and this was the worst experience hands down.
Reviewed May 15, 2020
I can't say anything about course quality. However, beware of their subscription billing practices. They will NOT give you a warning that a charge is coming. It will just show up on your credit card. If you cancel the same day as the charge, they will not refund it.
Reviewed May 7, 2020
Take care if you subscribe to a course. First, it is free for some days then they charge you and without notifications, so they charge you every month. I took a course and I forget to canceled so I finished it on March 29th, but they are malicious because they didn't tell me anything about the continuation so they charged again in April and in May and even I didn't enter to the platform so I paid a lot for a regular course because it was so bad. I hope they don't charge again because I don't want to take a course with them in the future.
Reviewed May 6, 2020
2. Tutors are non responsive. Sometimes they do answer but since you are paying monthly subscription, it seem in they interest not to answer your questions so that you keep paying for longer. Seen posts from a year ago that have their only response a year later! Recently I'm in a situation that I see other students reporting the same issue as me, I keep asking for help every day on the same issue and have been ignored for weeks.
4. Don't count on in depth explanations. A lot of material is covered fast so I was glad I have done my python course beforehand and that I have masters degree in Math - otherwise I think I would be lost.
Finally: My "Data Science professional certificate course" consists of 9 sub-courses. Due to some technical problem I can't finish 1 sub - part and since there is no answer from tutors it seem like all the other certificates I got will come to waste as I can't finish the course without submitting all the parts. Asked for help many times - till now no reply.
Reviewed April 30, 2020
Maybe Coursera was okay at one point, but it's just a ripoff now. They offer a "free" trial period and then charge your card without warning at some point. I was charged $49.00 for a course I hadn't time to even try (we're in the middle of Coronavirus craziness now). As soon as I received notice of the charges, I tried to contact them via chat, but at this point they aren't even doing "chats" anymore. Instead you get routed to a "help" page, and once there, you end up in an endless customer non-service do-loop. When you want to cancel the unwanted "subscription" (you can't get your money back), it's not straightforward, and neither is cancelling the account. If they were actually offering a good product they wouldn't have to cheat people like this. Buyer beware - you'll pay no matter what, even if they say it's free, and even if you don't want it. Spend a little more money and attend courses at a public college; you won't regret it.
Reviewed April 17, 2020
Be sure to read the Terms and Conditions for this FREE Trial, they charge your credit card and if you wish to cancel beforehand your credit card is charged. VERY MISLEADING, very difficult to get any replies by email let alone by phone.
Reviewed March 28, 2020
I was auto charged 79.00 and I went online to chat with them about this, (the only way to contact them which was extremely frustrating) they refused to refund my money, and then proceeded to go round and round with me not understanding what I was trying to say. I asked for a customer service number that I could call because it seemed that the person I was chatting with did not have a good understanding of the English language. (Where are the people that chat? India, somewhere else?) It is a good platform for learning new things but the customer service being so poor brings my stars to one. This is no way to treat customers and just sit back, keep charging people and not having any kind of refund policy. The people who run this are running to the bank without a care to the world.
Reviewed March 4, 2020
I was charged $49.99 without my consent for a course I had already paid previously. I received an invoice email and as soon as I saw the bill I contacted them via the chat, which apparently is the only possible way to contact them, and basically asked for a refund as 1. I had already paid for that course and 2. I’m not okay with them deducting money from my account without my authorization, especially being a student who really needs the money. When I got in contact with them they said basically that I couldn’t get a refund and were simply not helpful at all.
Reviewed Feb. 28, 2020
I was autobilled $49.99 for a free trial I only used once when I wasn't aware they even had my billing information from a previous trial. When I immediately contacted (only possible by chat) to cancel and request a refund, given they can see I have made no use of the subscription after the initial login, they said they have a policy of no refunds. I was able to escalate the request to a dedicated refunds team, but was told I should hear back in 24-48 hours, a classic denial by run-around tactic. From reading other reviews, this company is ripe for a class action lawsuit like the ones that led to Apple and several others paying out for unauthorized subscription billing.
Reviewed Feb. 27, 2020
Definitely false advertising. I'm doing research for a potential career change and have looked at 2 topics. The first - What Is GIS? - won't let you proceed with getting the software you need from Esri without giving them your credit card info - even though it's supposed to have 7 days free trial. I'm beginning to think it's a scam! Get you interested then PAY if you want to continue.
The 2nd was Intro to Web Development. You Waste your time listening to a presenter (who actually wasn't bad) then take the quiz. BUT - you can't upload it unless you PAY $79 to join the class. Literally, it says UPGRADE TO SUBMIT. That's something they don't tell you when you start. Uploading the quiz is the only way to continue so... I just want to get an idea of what is involved in these careers before making a costly mistake. Frustrating and a waste of time. Don't bother.
Also, wasn't impressed with the professor (who seems like a very nice guy) for the What is GIS? course. His explanations were confusing and I had to stop to look up some of the definitions he just went through. Think it's just a case of someone who really knows his stuff and assumes everyone else has an idea of what he's talking about.
Reviewed Feb. 8, 2020
I started this class in October of 2019. Almost every time I have started a quick lab, ESP within a Windows VM it doesn't work, there has ALWAYS been an issue, and they always say they know about it and are working on a fix, I contacted Coursera about this, as the labs are a 3rd party platform, I asked for a refund for 1 month of services as I am not getting the services I am paying for, I received a reply from coursera that they had refunded me 1 payment, they also unenrolled me from classes and suggested that in the future I copy and paste the commands the commands within the course work, how are you supposed to learn CLI by copying and pasting? What am I LEARNING by just clicking copy then paste? NOTHING!!! This is a money grab, they do not care if you learn or not, are very disrespectful, it is sad that Google chose this platform to host their learning program on, I have emails to back up my statement, beware of this learning platform....
Reviewed Jan. 28, 2020
I was really enjoying the course, receiving virtually top grades for my assignments (all 90% or higher), which I put a lot of work into. The problem started when one student started to give me zeros and ones which ruined my grades - even though my work was the same quality as it had been. He was obviously wanting to sabotage other people's grades. First time I just resubmitted and moved on but 2nd time I reached out to support and, after forcing them to take a look they responded that "due to the privacy settings your peers selected on their accounts we're unable to identify which out of the 3 peers that reviewed your assignment provided you a bad score. Unfortunately, unless you have more detailed information about the peer that provided you a bad score, we won't be able to further investigate."
How can I ID the other student? It seems they are asking me to do their job for them. Of course I have had to resubmit but now my assignment is late and isn't getting reviews. And, of course, I have to pay by time to continue with this course. This is a BIG disappointment and totally ruins Coursera for me. Why should I work really hard on assignments and then others can sabotage my grades and I can't do anything about it but resubmit and pay for more time?
Reviewed Jan. 19, 2020
Impossible to contact or find accurate pricing. They try to get you to pay before telling you what it costs or what you get. Bizarre!!!! I spent an hour trying to find a single honest price!!! I cannot understand what their model is short of false billing and then hiding when you try to do something about it. For God's sake do not pay with a debit card!!!!
Reviewed Jan. 5, 2020
I'm a verified user on Coursera and have been paying the monthly subscription fee. I've used Coursera for years, since its inception. It was not bad at first, pretty good really. But, the changes implemented to the platform over 2018/2019 are turning it into a profit driven scam machine. A couple of months ago they sent me a classic bait and switch survey email that is common to Craigslist scams; you answer some questions to see if you "qualify" to take the survey for some reward, but the questions you're answering ARE the survey.
And then, a couple days ago Coursera puts up a stonewall front page to their site with new "privacy" terms whereby you can either agree to allow them to sell your info to third parties, or you can delete your account completely losing all work that you've paid for in time and money. It's extortion. They're holding your work and records for ransom until you pay through personal exploitation. Their customer service exists, and eventually may respond by email, but it's slow and curt if they ever get back to you. As to the quality of the platform, the interface for the platform has become more streamlined, while the content has become more watered down. Ultimately, Coursera's changes are legitimizing critics of MOOCs who said these platforms would prove unreliable, untrustworthy, and worthless.
Reviewed Dec. 27, 2019
I took a course in public health, an area in which I have considerable experience. The presentation was extremely biased ideologically and did not present evidence that was contrary to the authors' bias. From this experience I have to conclude that the education offered is very inadequate and I strongly advise against the school.
Reviewed Dec. 25, 2019
Started the course on Music Theory. I love learning. It makes me feel alive. Education is locked up for the rich. It’s crazy how in the US I’ve been prevented from doing anything educational unless I can get donations to pay tuition. I still owe student loans. It says it’s free but like Alison they give you a taste then it quits! So much for the concept of free education!
Reviewed Dec. 1, 2019
This is not a review of the product offered by Coursera (which is inconsistent at best), but rather of the way in which they trap you. They keep charging you even after you cancel your subscription to a course. At least that is my experience. When I contact them they resorted to references to "terms of use" and "refund policy" even after I explain to them that I cancelled the subscription and that on my page it says that I have no current subscriptions.
They refunded me for one month as a one-time exception and then when I refused to accept one month, they refunded for additional months. I thought this nightmare ended, but I see now that they continued to charge me. Their customer service team is polite, but their policy is one that based on chicanery. If you care for your money, stay way from this company.
Reviewed Oct. 8, 2019
I have taken courses with Coursera since its inception, and have been very enthusiastic about the Coursera concept. Recently though, in 2019, I took two more courses and was very disappointed, both with the quality of the courses, and with the greedy nature of Coursera's billing practices. Coursera's quality seems to have taken a nose-dive. And the company continues to bill you monthly even after you complete a course. I asked for a refund of fees they charged after my course was over, and they refused. It is so sad that I'm saying this ... stay away from Coursera! It has turned into a low-quality scam.
Reviewed Aug. 20, 2019
My experience with Coursera wasn't a very pleasant one. First of all, after the 7-day trial period (in order to obtain which you need to provide your card or PayPal info) they take the money without any warning. So I would recommend anybody who wants to try, to give your PayPal account and then immediately delete the automatic payment option in PayPal (that is formed automatically also, by the way), otherwise on the 7th day without you knowing it, Coursera will charge you. Well, they charged me and I was ok with it, thinking that I will do the 4-month course, but after finishing 3 weeks of the 1st course, it got inactive despite the fact that I still had 2 more weeks to finish the last assignment. And it happened just like that, without any notifications, nada!
I tried to contact the Support Team, but they are uncontactable, when you go to the support page, where allegedly you can write a message to them, the system shows an error message - Ooops, this page no longer exists! So, according to their greedy logic, in order to be enrolled to the course again, I again need to take part one, I again need to pay for the part one and I again need to spend my time doing the same tasks. Wonderful. Coursera is really a stealing genius. This is the course they need to have - "How quickly and painlessly take money from the fools that want to learn something". Must add also that info on their new courses they send out punctually. This you always get opposed to the payment notifications.
Reviewed July 27, 2019
Once I bought the course, they keep charging me every month 67$ without let me know. It was a big surprise for me to find out about this, so I have to file a dispute. They are stealing your money, don’t trust them!!
Reviewed July 19, 2019
When I joined Coursera (2012), it was a free website where you could attend courses and get a basic certificate FOR FREE. You had the payment option, where the certificate would be official, with ID verification, but you also had the basic certificate you could download and print just to attest you had attended. Any workshop I attend, lectures, everything, in person, free to attend, will provide a printed certificate. But a freaking online allegedly free service won't provide me with something I can print saying I spent some time looking at it (even if I decide to name myself Queen Daenerys in it). If I just want to look at content and have nothing to show for it, I can watch YouTube and skip the waiting periods and evaluations. From what I gather with other reviewers, the paid options are even worse... I loved Coursera and actually recommended it to a lot of people over the years. So sorry, guys.
Reviewed July 14, 2019
It is very sad to see how something great turns into something so close to a scam. I followed Coursera for over a decade. I used both free (when they were still free) and paid options. My latest experience feels like a total scam. I subscribed for a specialization that I was willing to pay the monthly subscription cost. The first week was the elementary material for someone from like myself, who works in the industry. However, the course author (IBM) and the syllabus looked very promising. First week's assignment was to submit an empty text file (a bit weird, right?). Other weeks require programming assignment submissions in the form of a Python program file.
Here is what the most interesting part starts: After your first week you paid the subscription, that I was totally ok with (I was committed to completing the specialization, as I did more than once in the past). However, the 2nd and 3rd-week assignments were graded at 0 points, and very general feedback provided suggesting check the forum. On the forum, I suddenly found several people facing the same issue without any support from the course author or Coursera. The non-refund policy for a course with trial got me mad. I can't complete the course, and I already paid for it and can't get my money back. All of this doesn't feel very right. I don't mind paying for the quality product (under specific circumstance for any quality product), but in this case, I got nothing. Regardless of how the refund request goes, it creates a very unpleasant experience. At this point, I would recommend staying away, and I can't believe I am the one saying it. So sad.
Reviewed July 9, 2019
Signed up for a week trial, thought it was a month because I was recommended by an old post that showed 1 month trial at the time. Tried to get a refund, good luck getting a refund from this garbage company. Worst support I've ever dealt with. They absolutely refuse to give any refund.
Reviewed July 3, 2019
Nowhere was told that the payment for course can expire - not on receipt, not in email or notification. Returned to the study when was comfortable for me, but at final exam saw - that Coursera offers me to pay for Certificate. I mad especially this Course to obtain Certification. As a result, they invented some expiration date for payment - even if you are still on your study! And additionally I've helped this platform with free translations to help the student (and of course, they dont pay translators). The worst platform I saw (however, with good courses, I will write to those Universities about case how they participate in such affair with no consciousness for bad reputation) - as a Customer I lost money and a lot of time for nothing - and no one to contact directly to renew my Certificate which I can use and for which it was paid for. Stealing money.
Reviewed June 24, 2019
I have nothing but good things to say about my experience with Coursera. I have loved the learning I have been able to do and look forward to taking many more classes with them. I have always been interested in Psychology and Coursera has given me the chance to take the classes that really interest me. I don't understand the reviews with low ratings. I have never had any problems with them.

Reviewed May 15, 2019
I got and paid for 2 courses and after I paid for them they charged me again for them and refused to refund me. And they don't have a phone number. They are not a credited college and they do not have any support. Do not input your credit card info. They will keep charging you for courses.
Reviewed May 14, 2019
Awful way to get certified online. They don't give refunds unless you cancel your subscription and that is only for a month at best. They force you to cancel or continue to charge you monthly when their labs always have errors that prevent you from finishing on time. Very shady, a shame I wanted a solid certification and it had to end like this 200 down the drain. I see a lawsuit on the horizon against them.
Reviewed May 9, 2019
I've submitted a cancellation request more than once and they keep charging my card. I'm submitting a complaint to my credit card company and hope they can help me reverse the charges. The content was ok, just don't need to spend $85 a month - that's how they really make money, just keep draining their customers' accounts.
Reviewed May 3, 2019
I was interested in a Coursera course and, for trying it, I gave them my credit card information. They offer you 7 days for free, and if you unsubscribe, they won't charge you for it. In my case, I would have started to pay the 29th April, but I unsubscribed the 27th April, double checking that there wasn't any active subscription left (which there wasn't). But to my surprise, the 29th April they charged me with a month subscription! If I enter my payings and subscriptions page, it says that I have never made a payment and I don't have active subscription (which I know, because I had cancelled it, but now I fear they will still charge me for it the next month).
Now I am trying to ask for a refund, but I doubt I will get it. It's already been hard to find a place where I could send a message to the support team! Considered I can't talk about the course, it seemed interesting but I changed my mind because I wouldn't have time to complete it. However, the customer service seems quite poor and these techniques they also seem to be using with other people seem quite untrustworthy. For those reasons, I wouldn't recommend Coursera to others. And I would suggest anyone not to give them their credit card number.
Reviewed April 26, 2019
I was fortunate enough to get a good teacher who valued that each person learned different and gave the one on one communication that was necessary. Throughout the 6 weeks of study the teacher made pre-videos to break down information in powerpoints as well as visually trying to draw out what he meant when it came to new vocabulary and understanding. He was great. Not only did we have access to him in an E-mail but also the other students in the classes for somewhat of an online group study. I think all the classes just depend on the teacher because the one I joined has an agenda and all tests were a review of what we’d done. It just included taking many notes for the questions were made to make you think.
Reviewed April 22, 2019
Another person summarized it best: "They charged me for their courses without notice that it needs to indicate free trial ends soon and no refund to be made. This is ridiculous service system and policy that I ever heard about that." I have lost $450 to this site as the transaction fees got sent to the spam folder and they do NOT give you alerts on transaction. Why? Because they're desperate to rob you. You can contact them and prove that you have not used the courses and they'll still charge you based on "no refund" policy. ** Coursera. Did I mention ** Coursera?
Reviewed April 16, 2019
I decided to take the Internet of Things Specialization and was willing to pay the $49 per month for the online classes. What I found within the first week of taking the course was the quizzes were not completely based on the material provided. The video lectures, required reading, and optional reading assignments did not provide you with the information to pass the quizzes.
Also, there were no hints or suggestions as to how to or where to find the information. By week 2 the quiz was completely on information that was not provided. I have my degree in electrical engineering and know how to study and find information, but it makes no sense to me why the course materials are not represented by the quizzes. That is how it worked in college - you read a chapter, the professor lectures on the topic, you do homework on the topic, then you take a quiz or test on the information you learned. Not so with this course, you learn one thing but are asked questions on material you have no knowledge about.
Reviewed April 4, 2019
No problem with the courses, have used the product before. However, I signed up for this course recently, paid the first month, and a few weeks in decided not to continue further and canceled. However, next month they still charged me. I checked my course, it says I have no subscriptions, I put in a support ticket about it, and have not received a response 6 weeks later. New month rolls around, I was charged again. Still no active subscriptions, their support continues to ignore me. Do not give them your credit card info! No one will help you if their system is buggy and they will continue to steal your money! I'm still trying to get this resolved 2 months later and I'm being ignored.
Reviewed March 13, 2019
I enrolled in the computer vision course and was very disappointed with Coursera. There were several problems where I mention the 3 main ones. 1) The content of classes very shallow. 2) An almost complete lack of relation between the contents of the classes and the hard tests and finally, 3) No pedagogical support, or communication channel, e-mail, chat, absolutely nothing. Summary of my impression: I felt myself studying alone, reading a vague material, and experiencing tests that could not be solved based on classes. It is a 5-week course and I observed that the students, like me, are giving up after the second week.
Reviewed March 12, 2019
Absolutely disappointed about this company. I subscribe for free trial on course and then decided to cancel it. When I tried to do it, website offered me half price sale, which I was agree on and was continuing learning. I paid half price for the course as it was written in my agreement and finish the course with certificate for a week. After 2 months I been charge for the whole price of course. I opened a chat with customer service and asked them for refund because I felt it was unfair. My learner support was someone with name Brady.
He or She answered me with the template that refund is not possible. I sent two more messages trying to figure out the reason and explain the situation that make me really confused, and I didn’t get any response. However, I had a course before when I paid the whole amount and wasn’t charge after, even that I didn’t cancel my subscription. Anyway, I am really dissatisfied and even if I had recommended this website for my friends before, now I don’t want to have any more connections with Coursera. I am sorry for such a bad review, but this is how it is.
Reviewed March 9, 2019
I'm delighted to have this course offered on Positive Psychology through Coursera. I found out about it through the Friday Center at UNC. The professor, Barbara Fredrickson, is renowned in this field and she teaches PP at the University of North Carolina, near me. I appreciate the format and set up of the course. The videos are very well done. Barbara has 3 other people with her, all employees of UNC, who take the course and we get to view and hear their interaction. I'm extremely interested in Positive Psychology and you won't find a better professor than Fredrickson. A helpful aspect is that you can save notes, repeat parts of the vids, and you have written text to follow if you like along with the vid.
A big drawback is LACK OF SUPPORT. For being an educational program, this is a huge disadvantage!!! No toll free number. I emailed a question 4 days ago and never got a response. Also, I have no way of contacting other people taking the course right now. Like a chat room situation. For an educational company, I'm really surprised at the lack of support with Coursera. I'm very pleased with Barbara's course here. It's pleasant to watch and learn this way, I just miss having others to interact with.
Reviewed March 8, 2019
I was given an advance course. When attempting to cancel I was notified courses would remain. They indicated 7 day free trial. I was charged twice 79.00 and 49.00 for less than 15min and that time was going thru process of trying to cancel. I am 75 years old and this was not what I wanted. The initial information was 39.00 after trial period. I was charged over 3 times immediately. What a fraud. I am also writing a letter to the Attorney General of Florida.
Reviewed March 5, 2019
I signed up for a Free Trial. I have supposedly cancelled this subscription several times. They have charged me 3 months, despite my repeated attempts to cancel the course. No phone number to call. Rip-off company.
Reviewed Feb. 10, 2019
I only wish I had researched this site before I became involved with Coursera. I contacted the company via chat - there are no telephone numbers - to discuss a missing certificate, and instead got the royal run-around. He did not answer my question. He was rude, and, without my permission, enrolled me in another class. Both he and the follow-up caller continued to say I was not enrolled, not had completed 3 classes since November, but when I offered to send him copies of those certificates he gave no response. I cannot find out how to cancel my monthly online paid subscription. Another person notified me by chat and the results were no better. Sometimes money spent on a bogus deal can be the best education. Maybe that should be Coursera's motto.
Reviewed Feb. 6, 2019
I got Coursera from Class Central, signed up, took the class, passed, and paid for a certificate. However, I am still trying to print or download my certificate. There is literally no one at Coursera; no email contact and no phone number contact. This site is a scam along with Cass Central. I finally got someone at Class Central, Laurie **, but she was also no help and she admits there is no contact person at Coursera. Class Central is willing to list Coursera on their directory even knowing the struggles people have gone through. Class Central is just as bad as Coursera; both scams. I will not be taking any more classes through this site.
Reviewed Jan. 30, 2019
I have used Coursera for around three years. I have found some very interesting free courses but have never used the paid version so cannot comment on that. It is good for beginners as there are many courses for them but there are some good advanced ones too.
Reviewed Jan. 29, 2019
Do not use this company. They promise a free trial but debit your card even after you have canceled the free trial. DO NOT USE. They pretend that you have canceled after your subscription has been renewed. I have requested a refund but doubt very much that I will receive it.
Reviewed Jan. 23, 2019
I signed up to do one course, not realizing they keep charging a monthly subscription. I got dinged for over $100. I went in to cancel my subscription, annoyed but willing to eat the cost. Then today they charged me again with no option to get a refund!! I am fuming but unable to find any access to a phone number or email where I can query this. So I've paid $200 over and above the cost for the course!!! I wonder how much money they've made off suckers like me? Never will I use this company again.
Reviewed Jan. 23, 2019
Got charged for a course that I didn't sign up for and now they refuse to refund me or even transfer the credit to another course. Stay far, far away from Coursera and do NOT give them your credit card info!
Reviewed Dec. 31, 2018
It looks like my problems with Coursera are consistent with other users. These are NOT free classes. The fine print is confusing enough that you'll wind up getting $49/month charged to your card, and they "don't do refunds"... even if the consumer did not realize s/he was buying a product. And if you try to cancel this unwanted subscription? Best of luck getting a hold of anyone at the company who will assist you. Do NOT give them your card number!
Reviewed Dec. 15, 2018
I enjoy my current experience with Coursera. At the moment I am taking two courses, both in the Marketing sector (Digital Mkt by University of Illinois and Neuromarketing by Copenhagen Business School). I find the videos interesting and the assignments as well. I learned many interesting things in these couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to check also the other course materials. Also, great customer service on the chat!
In response to Mr. ** of Riyadh's observation, I dare to say that this is not a movies platform, but an OPTIONAL educational platform. I understand and support the idea that each state has to provide a free educational system for its citizens, but when it comes about OPTIONAL programs supported by a global BUSINESS, you must pay. Because yes, Coursera is a BUSINESS, and it needs to generate profit. It's not the same as your state's government which has an obligation towards you, its citizen, but a COMPANY providing good quality study materials at a cost. You have the option of a 7 days free trial in which you can read exactly the materials you're interested in and take a decision.
When it comes about Netflix, you're spending $8*12 months = $96 to watch a limited number of series, documentaries and movies. Nothing bad, because this is exactly how much this entertainment service should charge. It is an opportunity for leisure at a fair price. BUT IT IS NOT AN INVESTMENT! On the other hand, a $79 membership on any trustworthy educational platform (that would be $948 per year), it is an investment. Investment = the action or process of investing money for profit. You're investing money into a program so you can get the knowledge that would generate profit.
Profit means also that you can build a successful business for yourself or you can become a more skillful employee that generates more revenue for the company, and as a result, earns more money. And trust me, once you start earning more, you'll cover the amount you spent in a matter of months! So yes, knowledge requires sacrifices, and sometimes you need to give up your Netflix membership or the beers at the bar. I hope I helped.
Reviewed Dec. 2, 2018
I'm not sure why so many people don't like the site. I have been using Coursera more or less since it first started and I have watched as it's matured into one of the best MOOC sites on the Web. There are a variety of topics where one can learn what he or she is interested in, including computer science, cybersecurity, data science, writing, history, math, video game development, and on and on. Best of all: it's free! Yes, if a person wants a credential to put on his or her resume or LinkedIn profile, then he or she can pay a fair monthly fee, but it's not required.
Virtually every class can be audited, so there is no reason to pay unless the student chooses to. I love the site and I will continue loving it. I have an enormous backlog of classes to work through right now and it's only going to get bigger as more and more schools sign up for the platform to give all of us FREE college education right from the comfort of our homes. You can't beat that! So, to those who love learning, do not hesitate. Sign up for Coursera now and prepare to have a lot of fun. I certainly am!
Reviewed Nov. 16, 2018
I am pleased with the course I took. I am sorry to hear about the billing issues people had; I did not have those issues. I found that most of the courses are free, but if you want grading and a certificate you have to pay, which is reasonable. If you don't need a certificate you can actually use this as a study tool. My only problem is that I can't seem to print my certificate let along view it. I have the receipt that I paid $49.00 so I should be able to print the certificate, but am unable. The frustrating problem is that there is no phone support or email support. I have tried using the Chat feature, but nothing happens. I will continue to use this company only if I can get help printing my certificate. If I can't print my certificate then I have wasted $49.00 and have been scammed.
Reviewed Oct. 26, 2018
The subscription is extremely expensive!!! I don't think the subscription cost should exceed Netflix subscription (8$)! Producing a set of tutorial is certainly less expensive than what Netflix pays for producing TV shows (Netflix paid around $7 billion for content alone, not counting the salaries of 5.5 thousand employees) and they make me entertained. WHAT THE **!!! 49$!!!
Reviewed Oct. 24, 2018
I want to first point out that I graduated in 2016 from UB with my BSBA. UB is an AACSB accredited business institution and a world renowned R1 research university. My concentration is MIS, so to continue to build on my technical know-how, I decided to enroll in the very first blockchain specialization offered by UB through the Coursera platform. I enrolled in a monthly subscription for $39 in August. On 10/7 I received an email stating that there was "an issue processing your payment." I had already taken tests and started the project so I hurried to update my payment information. I waited and waited but the money never came out and I never regained access. I attempted to just reenroll, simple, right? Well instead of the $39 I signed up for, they wanted $49 to enroll again. I have a billing statement for $39 dated 10/7 and another requesting me to update my payment method and pay $39 by 10/12.
I contacted Coursera twice, the first time on 10/19 after I got tired of waiting to see the changes I made to my payment information be updated. I was told course rates "fluctuate" which is not an answer good enough to pacify me. The final time I contacted them they told me that they "had a system error that prevented my payment from going through" and there is "nothing they could do." But I can "enroll at $49 to regain full access." In other words, they sent me statements to pay $39 on 10/7 and 10/12 but when I contacted them on 10/19 I was told that I have to pay $49 now to get back all of the work I did.
First, a platform hosting as notable names as Coursera has should NOT be creating bad business, I wonder if these institutions know what they are doing (probably not but I am working on that). In any case why should this platform use my alma mater's name yet provide horrible resolution by doing nothing at all. Second, let's not pretend that we aren't using this platform to save money. It seems that the only people not fine with losing money are those who do not have it to spare. That is exploitation, or taking advantage of those who are underprivileged, and I am sure many others would agree. Unfortunately, it is legal but people make it acceptable when they choose to sit silently. I will reach out to Channel 2 to see if they would like to pick up a story on holding people in power accountable...
Updated review: Oct. 24, 2018
Although this company has no phone support, someone emailed me a week later. The company addressed my problem and issued a refund for the month in question.
Original Review: Oct. 13, 2018
I had great expectations for this service, as it was recommended by a college advisor from Stanford as well as from the company I work for. However, after putting in many hours of work, completing all of the quizzes and reading materials, I was unable to pass the course at the end of the 5 weeks due to a flaw in the peer-review grading system.
Any peer can fail your final project without reason and without recourse, as there are no human phone support specialists. If you have failed your final project, you must re-submit. In the meantime, Coursera will bill you for an additional month while you wait for students in the next round of classes to review your assignment. It is definitely possible that no one will review your assignment, and you will be billed every month until you decide it is no longer worth the money to continue gambling that someone will pass your final project. I am sorely disappointed in this service and feel they mislead their customers on the cost of a certificate. The cost is theoretically unbounded, as this cycle could continue forever.
Reviewed Oct. 5, 2018
I signed up to take ONE class and they sign you up to make monthly payments without telling you. Even though I was not using the service during this last month I was charged. They do not refund subscriptions. Total scam and worst company I have ever made a purchase from. I would give it zero stars if I could.
Reviewed Sept. 20, 2018
DO NOT give them your Credit/Debit Card #. I've been charged 8 times for a single course. When paying for the course, it errors out a few times. I reopened the browser and the payment. I later discovered that they double charged me with EACH failed AND Successful attempt. I've been charged 8 times for 1 course. That in itself wouldn't have been a big deal, IF I could reach them to fix it. Help Center is just a FAQ. The question that most closely resembles my problem directs you to contact them. Only thing is, the Contact Us link just links back to the FAQ.
Reviewed Sept. 18, 2018
I signed up for a Modeling Risk class and did not like it so I followed the direction on how to cancel subscription by going to My Purchases. I did this over a month ago and I still see $79 being charged to my credit card. There are no phone numbers listed to call. There is a chat but it's being operated by a robot. I just want my money back.
Reviewed Sept. 6, 2018
My experience with Coursera is terrible. I was charged $64 each for two courses which I explored as a part of trial. I was charged $128 for two courses on Aug 14. On realising that, I cancelled my further subscription. After 1 week, the courses were removed from my account and there was no purchases history showing up. My subscription was to end on 14th September. When I tried to contact them, finding their email address itself was a long journey. I emailed them explaining the whole issue. Few days later, I got an email from them to rate their customer service which they never provided. People from big companies like Google and reputed universities are partnering with them and they are doing all this to disgrace them as well. I thought Coursera to be very good platform to enhance your skills, but they are just conning people. Wonder how come reputed people are partnering with them!
Reviewed Aug. 14, 2018
I thought of signing up one course in April but did not realized that I have been charged monthly through a subscription since. I must have missed something but I do not remember receiving any notification. Because of my job change, I actually did not catch up the first course. The short story is that I paid for 5 months, a total of $250, unknowingly, or ignorantly, without receiving any benefit.
Reviewed June 3, 2018
Please be very careful when you pick a particular course from a specialization. I picked the Customer Analytics course and didn't interest the other courses in the specialization, so they continued to charge me after finishing Customer Analytics, and didn't give my money back, so I paid around $240 for only one course which worths only $79. You are not fair Coursera, and your managers should take some courses about business ethics. Two of them can take the ethics course with my money because I paid around $160 for NOTHING!!!
Reviewed May 24, 2018
I am sorry to hear so many people felt frustrated. My experience completing the Wharton Business Specialization was excellent. I really appreciated Barbara ** for Marketing with her 4P's and axes of excellence. I really appreciated the Supply Chain Professors' going out to real world facilities and teaching from there: diapers.com, warbyparker.com, etc. And the Finance and Accounting Courses were great as well, with valuable spreadsheets and debit and credit football helmets. J. Payment was wonderful, I understood an upfront lump sum and paid it for each course... the best part was my carbon footprint was minimized and I never had to drive anywhere to get it all done. The content was as good or better than many of my MBA courses. I got the idea from NPR Marketplace's piece on MBA for $2K. I was very happy.
My experience with Ecole Polytechnique was the only disappointment, when I completed all the work and even did extra grading for them, but they never gave me credit, just said I had to re-submit my work again in the next session. So... I signed up for the current session... let's hope this goes okay. I was also very thankful when I talked to a woman staffer at Coursera. When I explained to her my frustration about a change in the Wharton curriculum requirements that occurred during my completion effort and also explained the Ecole problem, she was willing to help me with the necessary changes. So now it is up to me to try and fit in with Ecole's schedule and call my credit card company when I am done to make sure no further charges are coming from Coursera.
I just wanted to again thank all the people working so diligently to prepare great courses on Coursera and deliver MOOC's to students worldwide. I am sorry to hear some others have lost their money in ways they found disappointing, however I hope that Coursera will help them soon so that this much appreciated way to learn is sustainable.
Reviewed April 23, 2018
"Coursera site is down on Apr 20, 2018 and today Apr 23, 2018. Can you please send customer who paid subscription what is the problem and do you compensate customer for not able to use your platform with paid subscription?" The above message I posted on Coursera twitter however it never show up on their Twitter page. Their site is frequently down for maintenance and the paid customer like myself was not inform at all. NO compensation on your paid subscription for not able to use their site for more than 20 hours within a day.
Reviewed April 19, 2018
My 14 year old son took a one month class last summer (2017). I just realized the company has been withdrawing $49 from my account ever since. I never signed a contract. I have lost $392 and the company will not reimburse that amount. A representative left a message on my phone that "it is not their policy to provide refunds".
Reviewed April 6, 2018
So my PayPal balance was in the negative due to Coursera. I received an alert from Paypal and that's when I found out that Coursera had took it upon itself to charge me $49 a month for a course that I found for FREE on youtube. I had no idea that I was part of a subscription. I couldn't call or contact anyone at Coursera. So... No accountability on their part. They must be paying off other businesses because no one is holding Coursera accountable as they rob people blind. So this is legal, to tell people that a course is free or one set fee, then, discreetly and subtly throw in a subscription and to make it extremely difficult to cancel, and impossible to refund. How is this good business? Smells like a class action lawsuit to me.
Reviewed March 30, 2018
I was trying to look at a data science course on the Coursera website, since I heard about it from a friend and the website required me to enter my CC details even to try a course. I have been charged $49 for past one year even though I have not logged on to their website for over a year. I did not sign up for the course and I have been charged over $600 for just logging on to the website. There is no easy way to contact them or cancel 'subscription' that I did not agree to and this is a rip off. Now the company is refusing refund.
Reviewed March 24, 2018
I signed up for a Python certification 5-course program through Coursera. I only got through the first 2 courses before quitting. However, I paid the one year subscription already. At the one year mark, the subscription renewed itself. I had received an email that this would happen a couple days before the credit card was charged, but I couldn't get online in time to stop it. Of course, my credit card was charged last night. As in my first screenshot, you see the message in my email that I would be charged on the next day. In the second screenshot, you can see I was officially charged March 24th, which is today. My main complaint is that not even a single day has passed since my credit card was charged again and I can't get a refund??? The subscription is useless to me... Except that I am now going to let my whole office use it. I've lost my money, but I'll make sure that plenty of others get a benefit from it.
Reviewed March 16, 2018
I paid a monthly fee of $79 to take two courses through Coursera for the Univ. of Penn. I completed both courses but the site states I didn't complete either of them. I had filled in the information to receive my certificates but I haven't received them either. There are no human contacts to respond to these questions I have. All they offer are articles or tech bots. I feel like I was conned and that's obviously not a good feeling.
Reviewed March 14, 2018
I tried to take an R programming course online but the course was inflexible with respect to time and I quickly fell behind (I have a full time job). They kept charging my account and did so for over a year and they refused to refund any money once I found out and canceled. Worst of all they tried to charge me again this month. I emailed again and tried to call but no human interaction is allowed. In theory I've canceled again, but we'll see. They're shameless thieves as far as I'm concerned. They've set up an automated system that doesn't respond to customers.
Reviewed March 12, 2018
Course: English for Journalism - It could be a good course and a platform, if it had been fair: I completed all the course, sent all the assignments, even paid for the course, and - I could not received the promised diploma?! I spent so much time! It helped me somehow, but... as it appeared, my account appeared under a different email address, I had to delete the other one - how it happened, only God knows! I wrote the emails to the creators - no answer?! It's a shame to treat the customers in such a way! COURSERA (FOR ME) IS NOT A RELIABLE PLATFORM. Even Alison is better - they, at least, do not create barriers, and if you passed all the exams and did all the work you had to, they award you with earned diploma. Odio inganni.
Updated review: March 2, 2018
Coursera contacted me last night and let me know they would be refunding my fee. Sounds like they are listening to the complaints they have been getting. Thank you Coursera for resolving my issue quickly.
Original Review: March 1, 2018
I signed up for and completed a specialization, which I was pleased with. I did my research and their site says that your automatic payments will stop when you complete your specialization. I finished on 2/21/18 only to find that I have been charged again for this month (March). They claim I signed up for a full course subscription, but was never told this. There is nowhere to call and you have to talk to a robot on the chat before you can talk to an actual human being. They are refusing to refund the $49 they charged me, even though I am canceling today and am not signed up for any more courses. I was happy with the specialization I took, but had I known Coursera was this shady, I wouldn't have bothered! Absolutely ridiculous!
Reviewed Feb. 16, 2018
I had a very similar experience as Jennifer from MD. I canceled in Jan at the very end of my free trial. I did not receive an email but did see it canceled on screen but did not capture a screenshot. I was charged again today, looked and looked for a way to call them, could not find a phone contact but did find one on my credit card statement. Called the number and was told I could email at payments@coursera.org or look in course support pages. I emailed and did get a very quick response but got the same exact answer as Jennifer. I would not get a refund.
In addition, I felt the course content (Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence) was very disappointing. While some content was informative, the professor was frequently dropping his own name about his research and it was quite distracting. I also felt the assignments were appropriate for someone training to be a psychologist, learning to code scripts of conversation, will not help me in my business application.
Reviewed Feb. 12, 2018
I can't even acknowledge to myself how much money went to nothing! I signed up for this course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/systems-biology. It is from a very respectable institution, the author has Nature and Science papers, it had good ratings, and it's the topic I want to learn about. However, the course itself is horrible. The quizzes contain questions on content that was not in the lectures. It looks like a lot of slides were omitted. I was hoping it would get better but when I got to the midterm test and saw even more questions without relation to the lectures' content, I got really angry and canceled subscription. No refund available even when the course quality is like this?
Reviewed Feb. 8, 2018
I cancelled my subscription and received a notification that I would have access to the courses through the end of my subscription since they did not issue any partial refunds. The next month, I received notice of another subscription charge. When I contacted customer support (mind you, you can only do so by way of an online chat), they said it was still active, there was no record of a cancellation, and I "should have received an email" confirming the cancellation. I didn't get an email, I got a notification within the application confirming the cancellation. Since I didn't have the email, she said they wouldn't issue a refund.
After indicating my unhappiness, the support person said she would cancel my subscription and that she would have to "escalate" my issue and I would hear from support service. When I asked for confirmation of the cancellation she said it would take several hours with no information as to why there would need to be such a delay. I don't anticipate a good outcome which is a shame because I liked the course but couldn't continue. Now I won't return to it.
Reviewed Feb. 8, 2018
If you have made a "subscription" they scam you with subscription and charge you continuously and there is no way to get your money back even if you have already paid for the same course multiple times. Horrible and deceptive.
Reviewed Feb. 2, 2018
I signed up for a what I thought was one course over a month long period... after a month it showed as 'completed' on my profile. The class was average at best, I did not go through all of the lessons because they were redundant and it was clear the students were mostly inexperienced in digital marketing even though it was touted as an 'advanced' course. A few months later I noticed 3 charges of $49 on my card - they had me signed up to a subscription! I never had any intention of doing this and I'm pretty savvy to be careful of 'online subscriptions.' Completely deceptive and judging from other customers I wasn't the only one. Of course, it was 'too late' for me to ask for a refund and there is absolutely no way to contact their customer service - they literally do not have a phone number, an office address, nothing that can allow a customer to hold them accountable.
Reviewed Jan. 30, 2018
I finished completing Windows and Linux Server Management Plus Security and never received a certificate. I contacted them and they said they had no records. After spending $30 per month and another $99 for the certificate all I got was a sorry and was asked if I was going to sign up for those courses. This place rips you off. There are better cert programs like EDx.
Reviewed Jan. 18, 2018
I signed up for a social media marketing certificate at USD $49. I became inactive in the courses, and so for three months following that, I was charged $60 CAD for a general catalog subscription that I never agreed to nor signed up for. When I emailed them, they told me they do not issue refunds on subscriptions. I consider this fraudulent and will try to report the site to the FTC if possible, or a Canadian equivalent if not.
Reviewed Jan. 3, 2018
Yet another case of thinking my cancellation went through -- and apparently, no it did not (so they say). I had not been on the site in MONTHS after the initial cancellation, and saw a massive charge on my bank account --OVER $200-- and when I wrote in to them within the same day, they absolutely refused any help and told me to basically go take the old courses again, the last of which was why I quit to begin with (the courses leading up to it DID NOT prepare you for what you needed for a certificate, nor was any prior knowledge supposedly needed on the course description), as well as personal health issues. Absolutely unethical behavior and beyond abysmal customer "support." This is beyond insane and I cannot afford this. Thanks for making sure I can't pay my actual bills, Coursera.
Reviewed Dec. 29, 2017
BEWARE!!! They do everything in their power to bill you $49 a month including not sending you alerts letting you know you're going to be billed until it's too late to cancel. I agreed to a free month with them ended up being billed $49 for that month and billed again on the 23rd of that month! $98 for my free month!!! During Christmas. Could not afford my daughter's insulin because of this! There is absolutely no way to get a refund from them. The service is horrible, a majority of the time the videos play for 15 seconds then pause for 3 seconds. Wish I had never delt with this company. Very bad experience. BEWARE!!!
Updated review: Dec. 21, 2017
After initially denying me a refund, Coursera customer service agreed to my refund request. I appreciate their flexibility.
Original Review: Dec. 19, 2017
There is no “free trial” -their billing practices are misleading and predatory. Their customer service team is responsive, which is nice, but their only response is essentially to say you should have read the fine print. I watched a video from three different courses as part of my “free trial”. A week later I was charged a non refundable fee for each of those three courses.
Reviewed Dec. 8, 2017
I am paying 41 euros every month for enrollment in Coursera. The website almost always never shows up, I have to refresh multiple times. Now it has completely stopped appearing on my screen. Subsequent videos of the course (Organisational Analysis- Stanford) mostly show 404 not found error, and only after multiple reload, it sometimes shows up. This website uses names of such big institutions, yet I am being treated worse than a free-loader! No customer service at all. I want justice, hope this review forum helps.
Updated review: Dec. 9, 2017
Subsequent to the review I did 2 days ago, I have been contacted by Coursera and had my money refunded. I am pleased with the result and have had my faith in the online course program restored. I hope others who have duped by that process find resolution. Grateful.
Original Review: Dec. 6, 2017
Very disappointing: The course I signed in for was one thing, but the cost to me financially makes me feel like I been duped. There is no customer service to help process anything - everything about the finances seems automated. I have been charged for three months now (approximately $60 per month) for a service I cancelled at the outset. Shame on Coursera for exploiting the online process. I will have to contact my bank in order to cut off their payments. When I checked my purchases page on December 5 for a fee they charged me for on December 4th, I was already getting a "Refund Deadline Has Passed". Their policy on refunds states that they will refund within a two week period.
Reviewed Oct. 23, 2017
On July 28, 2015, I registered to a Coursera course, paying $474 with a two-week money back guarantee (please see the receipt). When I tried to un-enroll and be reimbursed, the website proved to make this impossible, with not even a way to contact the company to obtain reimbursement. I sent them an email to their security address (the one I could find), joking that this must have been a hack that made the reimbursement process impossible. Of course I was never reimbursed.
Reviewed Sept. 29, 2017
I did a free trial for a course in Coursera. After two days I figured out that it has little to do with the module I take at university so I decided to quit the course. I unenrolled it and canceled my payment. Apparently, something happened and the payment wasn't canceled. I was billed 45 euros. I contacted their support TWO HOURS AFTER THE PAYMENT and they couldn't do anything. It's outright pitiful how they treat their customers.
Reviewed June 8, 2017
Same problem here. Signed up for a free trial, selected 2 specializations that are honestly the same thing by different universities. Went forward w/ 1 and agreed to pay the monthly $49 charge. 2 months later I realize that I am being billed for that 1 and the other specialization which I never started that costs $80/month. Been paying $130/month. They have no customer service number and via chat their agent was zero helpful, all they could tell me is that I am past the refund deadline. RIDICULOUS.
Reviewed June 4, 2017
Subscription Model initiated with no customer support through mails, chat, voice. It's nearly impossible to cancel once enrolled and nearly impossible to find a person to help you once you're enrolled. India cannot pay through debit cards, and can't use Amex (with strong dispute handling). It's "easy to get into - impossible to cancel even if you want to" model is well known for online scams - but is a shame for an academic platform. Especially when the CEO is an ex-Yale dean.
Reviewed March 19, 2017
At Jan., 2017 I decided to take a class at Coursera. I paid $49 for one months. 4 weeks later I got my certificate for this class and I was happy. But at March, 2017 I realized that my account was charged every month! I realized, that I signed up for the specialization, not for a class! I contacted Coursera and they answered that my refund period had already expired. Be very careful when you pay for courses at Coursera. Be sure to cancel your subscription when you are done with class!
Reviewed March 15, 2017
I sign up for trial for 5 courses to see the syllabus and select the one that is related. I chose one of them and start watching videos. In my account page there was 0 in front of the courses. This morning, Coursera charged my bank several times for all the courses. There was not any clue that they are going to charge me. I haven't received any email from them about charges while they send email every day to offer me other courses. I tried to contact them but there is no contact number and they guide you to a page which basically says no Refund, I expect this nasty method of making money from a cosmetic seller but not from the academic purpose company, I'm so sorry to see this unprofessional strategy targeting students! Be really careful about Coursera.
Reviewed Dec. 11, 2016
I signed up for the Data Science specialization a couple months ago, which cost over $400. I bought the package deal (9 courses) to save 10%. I had no idea that the course materials would be a few slideshows and the projects would mostly test my googling skills. After finishing the 3rd course in the series, I wanted out, but the refund period had already expired. Be very careful if you pay for courses at Coursera, and do NOT buy the specializations whole!
Reviewed Dec. 5, 2016
This a a four-class series. The first two courses are somewhat oversimplified but a good overview towards its related topics. The third course had been an issue. Enrollment was open through November but I could not sign up. I was told this was due to the class being in beta. The class became available in early December and I have been going through the curriculum. The problem is the quiz answers do not coincide with the answers given in lecture. I've been using trial and error to pass by process of elimination on the multiple choice answers but have no options for other questions. Live chat suggested I ask peers for help. We are all experiencing the same problem with no support. I paid for the 4-part series all at once so am ineligible for refund. My employer will not compensate me for the course unless I receive a 93% or higher. At this rate I can't pass or get compensated. Lose/lose.
Reviewed Nov. 28, 2016
I have been following online courses with FutureLearn for some time, with excellent results, so I thought I would try Coursera. First of all, there is the absurdly complicated process of signing up - with photo, passport - as though I was entering a foreign country. Next, they wanted payment, so okay, I paid. That went smoothly of course.
But now, on the day my course is supposed to begin, not only has there been no notification, but I can't get into the site. I've tried everything - resetting my password, searching out help (forget it!).. nothing works, and there appears to be no way to contact an employee of the company. If I can get my money back somehow I will, but I may have to write this off. Never again - back to FutureLearn!
Reviewed Nov. 17, 2016
As a veteran, Coursera has agreed to give veterans their first course free. The only glitch is that the website will not accept any free course signups and there is absolutely NO WAY TO CONTACT THEM FOR HELP OR TO REPORT AN ISSUE (other than their "help" forum, which already has many others posting on the same issue with none of them receiving answers). If their signup and support mechanisms are any indication of what is to come, it's probably a good thing I wasn't able to enroll. Too bad I couldn't give them NO STARS.
Reviewed Nov. 6, 2016
DO NOT PAY FOR THEIR CLASSES. A group of 20 of us paid for the U. of Michigan Python classes and the Python simulator stopped working during the 2nd week. Complete scam. They refused to reimburse any of us. They do not have a product that works. It is a scam!!
Reviewed Oct. 31, 2016
Paid to get a certificate for completing course (which was so basic as to be useless. Google searches provided more learning), but their awful platform wouldn't allow me to submit assignments. They gave me solutions that didn't work and when I asked for a refund (since THEIR system couldn't deliver what I paid for), they said the 14 refund window had closed. Am calling my credit card company to reverse the charges. Lame content, lame system, lame company.
Reviewed Oct. 30, 2016
I took a SQL programming course on Coursera. I previously had no programming experience. The course is basically reading instructions then writing code using an interactive interface. However, there is absolutely NO human contact. The instructional part is basic. But then, the quizzes are ridiculously hard and are not covered by the instructional portion. For instance, they may teach you a basic query in the written instructional portion and then require you to write a complex query involving multiple joins and subqueries for the exams. And I have posted several times on the forum with absolutely no response from Coursera although instructors and mentors are supposed to be monitoring the forum.
There is no reason to take this course. You have to know how to program to pass the exams, in which case, you do not need this course. If you can't code before starting this course, you can't pass it. You will not get any help or instruction from Coursera. They expect you to be resourceful enough to figure out the coding. If that is the case, you don't need Coursera in the first place.
Reviewed Aug. 29, 2016
My course 3/4 in this specialization is still incomplete because the questions had wrong answers in the module quizzes and it was literally taking HOURS to complete the quizzes because you had to guess which one of the wrong answers would be correct this time. The questions rotate through slightly different questions each attempt so you can't simply use elimination on each attempt, YOU GUESS EVERY SINGLE TIME. IT'S LITERALLY 100% LUCK! I thought maybe course 4/4 would be better but nope, same problems here. I've wasted over 6 hours in total trying to pass these broken tests and I'm completely over it. I also reached out to chat support, they went through and said they couldn't find anything wrong and couldn't help me and a refund was impossible because it's past the refund date. Even though I paid for 2 broken, un-proofread, time wasting courses.
Also, in course 4/4, the math tables in the videos are staggered all over the place and looks terrible. Seriously an issue of someone not even looking at the video before publishing, would have taken less than 5 mins to fix for the entire course. Also, every time a "checkpoint" question is supposed to pop up, nothing happens. In every single video, they're all missing. I've used Coursera for a few other courses and thought they were reliable but this makes me think otherwise and I feel like such an idiot for paying $200 for this COMPLETE GARBAGE. Other people in the forums have shown they have the same problem posted over a month ago but nothing. Please, someone from Coursera get a hold of me and help me resolve this ridiculous problem.
Reviewed June 17, 2016
I have taken two history classes at Coursera that were wonderful. I learned much and continued to learn. A class on southern slavery opened an entire new world. But there is complete variety in the quality of Coursera's offerings. Coursera has provided no way to report problems with or lack of content in their courses, and does not appear to care.
I am currently taking two Western history classes that consist entirely of a series of eight or so sets of taped lectures that might as well have been put on YouTube, and a set of five to ten question quizzes that are only available to people who paid a substantial amount of money for the certificate for completing these complete jokes of a class. There are no assignments, and no projects, and on participation by the instructor. When I emailed him at his university email address before the class started to get the reading list so I could obtain the books, never imagining that there weren't any, he never troubled to respond. I also never got noticed that the classes were starting, which is the first time that has ever happened. They were already more than a week in progress when I found that out.
I signed up because the teacher is a long time foreign policy expert under multiple presidential administrations, and has worked for President Obama but coauthored books with Condoleeza Rice. However, when I looked to see what materials he uses for the university level courses on the same subject that he teaches, or what books he has authored that might provide more information than he provides in his lectures, I discovered that he has never written any books on western history, nor does he at least currently teach any university level class on this subject. I wonder if this guy is getting some sort of academic points for "teaching" this course, but doesn't feel as motivated to put any sort of effort into it.
Coursera has specific email addresses to report technical problems with the website, and billing issues, but no email address or form to report to them substantive problems with the course. I posted about this on Coursera's forums, and asked where to report this, a day ago, and no one at all has responded, least of all, Coursera!
Reviewed May 19, 2016
I tried Coursera on the recommendation of a friend. I took up an English course and the experience was a refreshing one. The college that offered it was a new one and was still testing the waters on how to go about with the course. Although it was fun doing the exercises and homework requirements, the moderation of the forum was one that needed improvement. Many of my "classmates" complained that the time limit for the exercises was not enough given that most of them were working. There was also an instance where one of my "classmates" was criticized heavily (I think that was bullying, though, given the harsh comments) and this was not given the proper attention and action by the forum moderators. Otherwise, I finished the course and got my signed certificate. The course was a great refresher.
Reviewed April 12, 2016
I am on a signature track for Coursera's "Mobile cloud computing with android specialization" which started in August-2015. I pre-paid $343 considering that the entire specialization will end till August-2016 as was promised. Till the first 4 courses everything was fine. But then they delayed the fifth course by a year. The course which was suppose to start in Feb-2016--was delayed to Feb-2017 and that too without letting us know anything. After complaining they told that it's because of their movement to their new platform. But this delay was causing harm to the career decisions I had made.
So after chasing them for a month they came up with a solution to run the 2 out of 3 remaining courses on the old platform 3 times consecutively in March-2016, Apr-2016, and May-2016. The dates for the capstone project which is the last in the specialization were not announced. Then they started running the remaining courses with old material (Jan-2015 batch material) with absolutely no support from the instructor. Even the promise of running the courses thrice was not kept.
After chasing them again they said that they have again decided to run the courses later some time on their new platform (exact dates were not told). The instructors from Vanderbilt University are not at all responding to the queries and are of no help. Coursera has charged us a lot and now playing these tricks and wasting our time. I am really fed up of chasing them. I will not take any new course on Coursera henceforth and recommend others to be cautious while pre-paying all the amount before taking these courses. Coursera has caused me a lot of mental agony. They don't deliver what they promise.
Reviewed Jan. 13, 2016
Their refund policy is that you can't get a refund after 2 weeks from when you paid. So if you paid on the first day of a course, and get through the first 2 weeks, no refund is possible. The problem is that in the Specialization I took for learning code. The first class, Programming the Web for Beginners, became ridiculously hard after the second week. A good example is that the lecture videos teach you what a function is, and it's basic components, then for the quiz, they ask you to write 5 different programs, full on programs. So people who are truly beginners, who have never read or written code in their lives, are supposed to just magically know what to do because a video told them what a function is.
This organization is criminal. How convenient that the class got beyond ridiculous after their refund period. Do not waste your time or money on them.
Reviewed Aug. 25, 2015
Coursera is an innovative way to learn and enroll in a variety of courses for career advancement. Their website clearly states, one may pay in advance or after the course is completed and passed in order to obtain a verified certificate. However, it is not so easy to pay post. In fact there is no page on the website to accomplish this task. I have inquired multiple times only to be redirected back their website. I called the institution that sponsored the course and they are trying to assist me. My last resort is to write to the Attorney General in the State of California in hopes that this can be resolved. I have never had to essentially beg a company to take my funds.
Reviewed July 6, 2015
The format of the Coursera course I am taking is unclear and clumsy. Sometimes parts or it lock up or crash. I don't know if it is the course (Python for Everyone) or the platform that is so cumbersome, since this is the first (and maybe the last) Coursera course I've tried to take. Peer feedback seems like a good idea, but many of the fellow students fall into one of two categories: IT-savvy people who are adding Python to their list of languages and write in ways that are too complicated (i.e., assume too much) for the "everyones" who are taking the course on the assumption that one does not have to know more than the prerequisites listed, or good-meaning people who do not write coherent English sentences.
Compared to a live class, where the instructor can interact with me, this MOOC format is really weak. Also (again, I don't know if this is just this course or Coursera in general), we are not allowed to give even partial answers (code lines in this case) to other students. The idea is that giving us an answer won't help us. Well, not giving us an answer sometimes sure hurts us. The frustration this course raises a high effective barrier. Instead of asking a question and waiting a few minutes to several hours for a sometimes opaque, cutesy or snarky -- or useful but intentionally partial --response, it would be nice if I could get some help, as I can in a live classroom, even when an instructor does not give the answer. All in all, this is a struggle, with a slow-moving (technical) platform and an awkward (soft) set up that is not organized in a way that is intuitive to me and doesn't seem to have a clear structured guide as an alternative.
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
