Course Hero, Inc.

Hi [redacted]
 
I am sorry to hear that your experience with Course Hero is not matching up to your expectations! Our mission at Course Hero is to work together with students and educators to build the biggest and best digital library of course-specific questions and answers to help our users...

master their classes.
 
We have responded to your email inquiry with the below text: 
 
Thank you for contacting Course Hero--we are sad to see you go.
 
We typically do not honor refunds once unlocks or tutor credits have been used, but as a one-time courtesy I would be happy to issue you a full refund for the last transaction.
 
A refund in the amount of $39.95 USD will be issued to your original payment method and I have also confirmed your Monthly membership has been cancelled so you will not be charged again in the future.
 
Your financial institution will now be able to credit the amount above, which can take up to 2-3 business days for them to process. If you do not receive the refund within 7 business days, please let us know.
 
Your account will now revert to a free Basic membership and you can still upload documents for unlocks, upload documents for money, rate and review your unlocked content, give advice on a school course, and refer your friends.
 
If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly by responding to this email.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/19) */
Course Hero provides online study resources that supplement college courses and help students study more effectively. Course Hero provides an open platform where students and teachers of all ages can share and access high quality learning...

resources regarding a wide variety of subjects.
Course Hero offers an array of learning resources including customizable Flashcards and quizzes, online access to expert tutors, video lectures and a database of user-submitted study materials.
We make it very clear on the payment registration page that the 1-month, 3-month and 12-month subscriptions are billed in advance.
[redacted] subscribed to 1-year program ($119.40) on 04/12/15. The cardholder did not contact us but contacted the bank directly. Due to the activity, we were unable to provide the cardholder with a full refund. We have user logs (see below) that prove that this individual has viewed 1 document and downloaded 1 document after upgrading to our premier membership.
Viewed Documents (File Name Day & Time):
Count db_filename View Date
1 XXXXXXXX Apr 12, 2015 // 1:43:19PM
Downloaded Documents (File Name Day & Time):
XXXXXXXX - Apr 12, 2015 // 1:15PM
As stated within our Terms of Service, Course Hero's policy is that we only consider issuing refunds when the user has not viewed/downloaded any Course Hero documents. We do this for a number of reasons not least of which is to treat all of our users equitably.
Per our refund policy (please see our attached Terms of Use), we do not provide refunds when a user has viewed at least one document. Additionally, the user has already filed a credit card dispute on 4/20/15 with their financial institution. When a dispute is filed, all resolutions must now be handled directly through the financial institution directly. For further information on the resolution, the user must contact their financial institution directly.
Sincerely,
Customer Support
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/05/22) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Dear Course Hero,
Kindly review my initial concern. I did mention that the I clicked 2 twice and open one doc. I also did mention that your customer service rep suggested to dispute it with my bank. I have the email as an evidence. My whole "activity" was less than an hour, 2 clicks one download. I'm willing to pay a penalty, but I don't want the membership. Kindly estimate the penalty and reimburse the difference.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/05/28) */
Hello [redacted],
We have contacted you directly at your email [redacted]@hotmail.com to avoid further confusion and resolve this as soon as possible.
Should you have any further questions, please contact us at XXX-XXX-XXXX or at [redacted]@coursehero.com.
Sincerely,
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 11, 2015/05/29) */
5-29-15
Sent via email:
Course Hero decided to issue a full refund, even though I was suggesting to charge me a cancellation fee. So I'm more than happy and greatly appreciate your help. I provided this feedback to Course Hero in the past, but maybe coming from you it will have a different effect... I beleive they should have a paid trial or cancellation fee, so that they can distinguish user who simply want to try it, from the abusers that want to do it for free.
Thanks,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I do not care anymore. You have my money and I have nothing.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/05) */
Hello Ms. [redacted],
As stated within our Terms of Service, Course Hero's policy is that we only consider issuing refunds when the user has not unlocked any Course Hero documents. We do this for a number of reasons not least of...

which is to treat all of our users equitably. Our weblogs tied to your account indicate that you have unlocked 14 documents. This refund policy is stated on our Frequently Asked Questions and Terms of Use.
Additionally, our records show that a correspondence via email was already sent to you on 10/5/15 to the email used to send this request. The ticket number to reference is #XXXXXX.
In order to best assist you, please reply back to the email as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Course Hero Customer Support
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/10/07) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I made them aware within 15 min of signing up that the information was not what I needed and I would like to cancel my subscription and receive a full refund back. I believe this is fraud because you can't see the information until you download it. I am totally entitled to a refund and that is the outcome I want at this junction.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/06/29) */
We see that Mr. [redacted] has already contacted us via email and has been in correspondence with our Support Team. Please reply back to the email correspondence if you still need further guidance.
Sincerely,
Customer...

Support
XXX-XXX-XXXX
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2015/07/03) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
HI,
I tired my best to upload 9 documents but they only accepted 1 document. I tried my best and cannot send the other 4. Is there anything we can do?
Thanks,
[redacted]
Final Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2015/07/19) */
Hello,
Our records show this inquiry was resolved on 07.09/15 and an email was sent to Mr. [redacted] on 07.09.15. The ticket number to reference is #XXXXXX.
Please let us know if you need further assistance.
Course Hero Support
[redacted]@coursehero.com

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/12/31) */
Hello [redacted],
We're sorry to hear you were not able to find Course Hero useful. Our records show that your inquiry was reviewed again recently and a manager replied and resolved your inquiry. Should you still have questions or need...

further assistance, please reply back to the email sent to you. If all is satisfied, we'd greatly appreciate a positive rating here and submit the case as closed.
Best Regards,
Course Hero Support

Was member for solid 2 years. It was great till I ran into an issue with scheduled monthly unlocks, that would not issue as promised, according to membership agreement. Customer service is virtually non existent. Nobody is helping you. When they do, you will not get an apology for their mess-up. Try to get supervisor. You cant. There is no phone number you can call. Chat "agents" are robots. You going to get pre-typed response that doesn't answer your question. 1 star for crappy customer support.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/12/10) */
Hello Ms. [redacted],
We apologize for the delayed reply. We see that you signed up on 11/20/15 for a (1-year program which is advertised at $9.95 with a full sum of $119.40 required at the time of selection. This plan provides the greatest...

savings if paid for annually. We informed you via email on 11/20/15 of the pricing differences and confirmed that since there were no services used you were eligible for a refund. We see that a full refund was processed on 11/20/15.
Should you have any further questions or concerns, please contact us at [redacted]@coursehero.com.
Regards,
Course Hero Support
We see that your inquiry was resolved the same date this case was filed and the same day that you sent us an email.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/25) */
Hello [redacted],
As stated within our Terms of Service, Course Hero's policy is that we only consider issuing refunds when the user has not unlocked any Course Hero documents. We do this for a number of reasons not least of which is to...

treat all of our users equitably. Our weblogs tied to your account indicate that you have unlocked 1 document with contained solutions.
Our records reflect we've been trying to contact you since 10/15 and sent a follow up email to your original email of contact under [redacted]@hotmail.com. Please check your spam filter in the case these emails are mistakenly being routed there.
Please reply to our emails so that we can assist you as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Customer Support
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/10/27) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
the wrote to me and the said they would reembourse me but I would have to pay for a month , the first month and reembourse me for the difference.

I would not use this service again or recommend to a friend. They will charge you without use and will not issue a refund.

Good Day, We're sorry to hear that you haven't had the best experience. At Course Hero we strive to make each interaction a positive one, and we'd like to work with you to find a positive resolution. I was unable to locate your account with the information provided, so I'll be...

emailing you in a few moments at the email you provided so I can get some more information. I look forward to your reply so we can work together to find a mutually agreeable resolution. Best, Course Hero Support

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2014/07/30) */
We make it very clear on the payment registration page that the 1-month, 3-month and 12-month subscriptions are billed in advance.
The user initially subscribed to 1-year program ($95.40) on11/19/14 and called on 11/19/14 to cancel...

her account. We reviewed the refund policy with the user and since she did not use the services, we granted a full refund. On 01/27/14 the user subscribed to a 1-month recurring subscription. We do not have record that user contacted us after her recurring subscription was purchased on 01/27/14.
We have user logs (see below) that prove that this individual has viewed 4 documents and downloaded 3 documents throughout the duration of the membership. The cardholder did not cancel the recurring subscription through the account services or by contacting Customer Support. We also include our refund policy and recurring subscription policy on our website for users to review at any time:
Per our Terms of Use, all subscription packages are renewed and charged automatically for successive periods until the User discontinues. Users can terminate the recurring subscription at any time by logging into their account and click on the account settings button on the Dashboard. We provide a recurring cancellation button under the 'Change Membership' section of the account settings page.
Please view the cardholder's activity below:
Viewed Documents (File Name/Date & Time):
1 XXXXXXX Jan 27, 2014 // 3:24:53AM
2 XXXXXXX Jan 27, 2014 // 2:10:45AM
3 XXXXXXX Jan 27, 2014 // 1:00:19AM
4 XXXXXXX Jan 27, 2014 // 1:00:14AM
Download Documents (File Name/Date & Time):
[redacted] - Jan 27, 2014 // 2:11AM
[redacted] - Jan 27, 2014 // 1:03AM
[redacted] - Jan 27, 2014 // 1:02AM
As stated within our Terms of Service, Course Hero's policy is that we only consider issuing refunds when the user has not viewed/downloaded any Course Hero documents. We do this for a number of reasons not least of which is to treat all of our users equitably.
Per our refund policy (please see our attached Terms of Use), we do not provide refunds when a user has viewed at least one document.
We're more than happy to work with the user to cancel the subscription and address any billing issues directly by contacting us at [redacted]@coursehero.com.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/25) */
Hello [redacted],
As stated within our Terms of Service, Course Hero's policy is that we only consider issuing refunds when the user has not unlocked any Course Hero documents. We do this for a number of reasons not least of which is to treat all...

of our users equitably. Our weblogs tied to your account indicate that you have unlocked 1 document with contained solutions.
Our records reflect we've been trying to contact you since 10/15 and sent a follow up email to your original email of contact under [redacted]@hotmail.com. Please check your spam filter in the case these emails are mistakenly being routed there.
Please reply to our emails so that we can assist you as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Customer Support
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/10/27) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
the wrote to me and the said they would reembourse me but I would have to pay for a month , the first month and reembourse me for the difference.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/12/31) */
Hello [redacted],
Our records show your inquiry was resolved directly via email on 12/22/15. If you still need help from us, please reference email # #XXXXXX. If all is resolved, we'd greatly appreciate if you provide us with a positive...

reply and confirm this request is closed.
Best Regards,
Course Hero Support
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 10, 2016/01/11) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 10, 2015/12/11) */
Hi [redacted],
We'd love to help you with your request and would be more than happy to check into this for you. Can you please provide us with the registered email used with Course Hero? The email listed on this case is not showing a live...

account. We [redacted] also reach out to you via email to request the additional information.
Sincerely,
Course Hero Support
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 12, 2015/12/14) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
The company did eventually agree to refund us.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/19) */
Course Hero provides online study resources that supplement college courses and help students study more effectively. Course Hero provides an open platform where students and teachers of all ages can share and access high quality learning...

resources regarding a wide variety of subjects.
We make it very clear on the payment registration page that the 1-month, 3-month and 12-month subscriptions are billed in advance. Additionally our refund policy is located on the website so users can review the information in the case they have questions about our policy.
[redacted] subscribed to 1-month program ($39.95) on 05/12/15. I looked up our history and see that the user contacted us on 05/14/15 and spoke with a representative. The call was then escalated to me and I called and left a voicemail on 05/14/15 at 5:24PM PT. Additionally I did send a follow up email with some options right after my voicemail.
Due to the activity within the account, we were unable to provide the cardholder with a refund. We have user logs (see below) that prove that this individual has viewed 2 document sand downloaded 2 documents after upgrading to our premier membership.
Viewed Documents (File Name Day & Time):
1 XXXXXXXX May 12, 2015 // 10:41:54AM
2 XXXXXXXX May 12, 2015 // 9:27:21AM
Downloaded Documents (File Name Day & Time):
10060288 - May 12, 2015 // 10:41AM
10865499 - May 12, 2015 // 9:27AM
As stated within our Terms of Service, Course Hero's policy is that we only consider issuing refunds when the user has not viewed/downloaded any Course Hero documents. We do this for a number of reasons not least of which is to treat all of our users equitably.
Per our refund policy (please see our attached Terms of Use), we do not provide refunds when a user has viewed at least one document.
We are more than happy to resolve this with Ms. [redacted] directly. To do so, please reply back to the email sent.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Customer Support Manager
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
While I understand a business might not like an attempt to block the credit card and play hardball afterwards. My suggestions is to make your payment process a little more forthcoming to those who charge. For those that accidentally get charged also make the process simple.
Thank you for listening to my concerns and agreeing to refund a percentage of the total fee. As I spoke to your customer service folks and explained. Electronic signatures can be tracked very easily. You could see the digital foot print matched everything I had said. So it was a little bit frustrating to deal with people who only read from a script. You finally did refund me a portion of the charge and I can appreciate your honesty in this.
Sincerely, [redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/02) */
Course Hero is an educational technology company that provides students with course-specific content, tools and services in order to learn more effectively and succeed.
On the payment registration page we advertise the 1-month, 3-month...

and 12-month subscriptions are billed in advance. Upon entering the payment type, we display the total cost at final check out.
[redacted] signed up for a 1-year program ($119.40) on 07/17/15. We have user logs (see below) that prove that this individual has unlocked 5 documents documents after upgrading to our premier membership.
We did also check to see if [redacted] uploaded documents for free access before paying for the membership and our records show the documents for free access were not uploaded until 07/23/15. The processing time for free access takes 2-3 business days. The 20 unlocks granted for documents uploaded for free access have been granted. The other 43 uploaded documents were uploaded to the marketplace.
On 09/05/15, the account holder contacted us advising he wanted to cancel the membership.
We informed the account holder of the Refund Policy and Terms of Service (as stated on the Sign-up page) that we would not be able to provide a full refund due to the activity on the account. The uploaded documents have to be processed in order to unlock documents. We cannot retroactively apply uploaded documents for free access in exchange of a refund.
We have user logs (see below) that prove that this individual has unlocked 5 documents after upgrading to our premier membership.
Unlocked Documents (File Name Day & Time)
XXXXX 2015-11-02 16:39:27 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-20 12:17:54 No
XXXXX 2015-08-20 12:17:10 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 21:19:22 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 21:17:40 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 21:12:58 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 21:00:31 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 21:00:00 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 20:59:41 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 20:59:06 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 20:58:45 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 20:58:24 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 20:58:00 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 20:57:13 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 20:56:40 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 20:53:15 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 20:52:45 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 20:50:31 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 20:47:13 No
XXXXXXX 2015-08-02 20:46:07 No
XXXXXXX 2015-07-26 13:56:20 No
XXXXXXXX 2015-07-26 13:19:26 No
XXXXXXX 2015-07-07 15:07:15 No
XXXXXXXX 2015-07-07 14:54:16 No
XXXXXXX 2015-07-07 14:45:44 No
XXXXXXXX 2015-07-07 14:43:08 No
XXXXXXX 2015-07-07 14:41:14 No
Per our records, given the delay in contact time and our refund policy, we agreed to downgrade the membership for this user to our 3 month membership at $59.95 and a refund for the difference between the 1 year and 1 month membership in the amount of $59.55 was issued on 09/05/15.
Should there be any further questions, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Customer Support
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/11/04) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
holly GOD!!!! I never sad I never unlocked documents the first month!!! I actually said give me a full refund except for the first month. so get your facts straight, now I'm fuming, I'm done talking with you guys. it looks like you are trying SOOOOOO HAAAAARD to keep half of the money, that is sad. your response will be edited it out for easy of reading and I will post a flyer on every bulletin board why they shouldn't join your website. don't worry I will upload a flyer on course hero so everybody can unlock it print it out and put it up in their schools as well. enjoy my money!!
Final Business Response /* (4000, 11, 2015/12/07) */
Dear [redacted],
We have sent you a direct email to your email [redacted]@hotmail.com regarding this case. Should you have any further questions, please reply back directly to the email sent to you.
Sincerely,
Course Hero Customer Support

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/03/06) */
Course Hero provides online study resources that supplement college courses and help students study more effectively. Course Hero provides an open platform where students and teachers of all ages can share and access high quality learning...

resources regarding a wide variety of subjects. Course Hero offers an array of learning resources including customizable Flashcards and quizzes, online access to expert tutors, video lectures and a database of user-submitted study materials. We make it very clear on the payment registration page that the 1-month, 3-month and 12-month subscriptions are billed in advance.
[redacted] subscribed to 1-year program ($95.40) on 02/17/2013. After purchasing the membership, Course Hero provides users with a confirmation receipt page and email, displaying the specific membership and charge to their account. Additionally, users who decide to cancel the subscription, can stop the recurring payment through the account settings. This option does not cancel the membership or access to the site.
As stated on the sign-up page and in the Terms of Service (http://www.coursehero.com/Terms_of_Use.php), the monthly membership and multi-month subscriptions are charged fully in advance. The user had signed up for a 1-year membership the monthly cost of which is $7.95 per month and since multi month subscriptions are charged fully in advance, the cost of a 1-year membership is $95.40 (https://www.coursehero.com/registration.php). The price of $95.40 is shown on coursehero.com sign-up page.
We have user logs (see below) that prove that this individual has viewed at least 7 documents after logging into the paid premier account. As stated within our Terms of Service, Course Hero's policy is that we only consider issuing refunds when the user has not viewed/downloaded any Course Hero documents. We do this for a number of reasons not least of which is to treat all of our users equitably. Due to the nature of our services, we cannot control what users do with the information accessed (ie. test questions, homework solutions, lecture notes, etc.).
According to [redacted]'s account, we had downgraded her account to our 1-month membership ($39.95). A refund for $55.45 was processed directly back to her credit card.
Please contact us at [redacted]@coursehero.com if there are any further questions. Thank you.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 7, 2014/03/10) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)