Coursera Reviews

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.