Complaint Review: Pimsleur Market Place - Ammon Idaho

I have purchased multiple sets of CD's from this company and I have no complaints about them other than sometimes they are a little slow to process my orders. You have to give them about 3 weeks lead time but you will get your product and it will not  be damaged. This company is not a scam and it is not a ripoff. BTW I am in no way connected to this company other than being a customer for the last couple of years.

I am not affiliated with Pimsleur Marketplace other than as a consumer for several years. I have found this business to be the lowest net cost for Pimsleur products and have been extremely happy with them and especially with their buy-back program which has allowed me to learn Spanish I thru IV, Hebrew I and II, Italian I, Greek I and now I'm getting ready to begin learning French and hope to complete all 120 lessons available. I recommend them highly and wish other web based businesses were as honest as they have been over the past several years. I only wish that they offered a referral program to go with the buy-back program. I have recommended several friends who have also used them with complete success. Dan in Dallas

I have used Pimsleur Marketplace. I ordered Italian 1, and it took me more than a year to finishe it, but I sent it back and got my $100. I also was concerned it was a scam, and the check didn't arrive as quickly as I would have liked, but it came.

Maybe if the writer of this piece had waited a few more days before putting up his article, he would have received his check. If he did so, I wish he would take this article down, because in that case it is nothing more or less than libel, and it is unfair to slander a fair company.

People like me, who don't have money to throw away ordering things and returning them without opening them, appreciate the existence of companies such as Pimsleur Marketplace, because they enable us to save a few dollars on quality materials which normally are quite expensive. I appreciate the Pimsleur method, as well as the alternative to buy the resources at a lower cost. 

I actually found this article in a Google search before returning my CD language set.  I wanted to make sure it was legit.  I was concerned if I would actually get the $100 or proper amount back, and if it was not violating any copyright laws.  Reading the article made me uneasy but, I went forward and returned my products.  I also verified the return policy the company has is legal.

I had 3 16-CD sets consisting of three languages.  I had the sets for about 1 to 4 years.  Before returning them I read the store's return policy several times to make sure I understood it correctly.  Essentially, if your sets are in great condition they will refund you $100 per 16-CD set.  My sets were clean and in new condition.  I also included the pamphlets that come with the sets as directed.  Furthermore, I went to a mail store and had them boxed and packaged professionally for about $10.

One of the requirements to get your refund is to call them after a week or so to verify the address for mailing your check.  I called and left a message as directed.  No one called me back right away.  I called a couple days later and they answered the phone.  The guy was nice and we verified my address.  I believe he said it could take a few weeks to get my check.  About two weeks later I got a check for $300.  And, the check went through my bank just fine.

Now, I am not a big internet poster but felt I needed to add my experience here.  Sure they didn't call me back right away but maybe they were out fishing - no big deal.  But, the fact is the product is awesome, inexpensive, the company is legit, and most importantly, you will get the amount due when you return the product in excellent condition.

I will continue to recommend Pimsleur Marketplace for people that want to learn a language.  I will continue to buy from them in the future.

Fortunately, for our company, Elite Commerce d/b/a PimsleurMarketplace.com, this report is factually incorrect and very misleading. 

1 - Our Buy Back Program offer is available to anyone who either purchases from us or has purchased from another company.  The Buy Back Program allows our customers to purchase the $345.00 Pimsleur course for the price of $159.95 and then sell it back to us for a $100 refund. THERE IS NO TIME-LIMIT ON RETURNING THE COURSE.  As long as the course is the most-recent edition when you send it back to us, you will be allotted the full $100 as either a refund or a credit - whichever you prefer.

2 - We do not have an arrangement with Simon and Schuster regarding the usage of the media.  We purchase the courses directly from Simon and Schuster but the Buy Back Program is carried out independent of Simon and Schuster.  Simon and Schuster is aware of our Buy Back Program and thinks it is a very good idea.

3 - The customer in question did, in fact, send multiple emails.  We responded to all emails promptly.  The emails must have gone into a spam folder or were inadvertently deleted.  The customer did not leave a single message on our voice mail system.  The customer may have made 2 attempts to call us, but because we are a small company, our phone lines are busy sometimes.  If a customer doesn't leave a message, we never know that the customer has called.  That is why we have a voice mail system.  If the customer had left a voice message, the call would have been returned.

4 - The customer states that we collect credit card information and sell it.  THIS IS FALSE!  We do not even keep credit card information on file.  We are a reputable company who is an accredited member of the Better Business Bureau and have been in business for 4 years.  We have been doing this Buy Back Program for just as long and have had hundreds of satisfied customers who receive these expensive Pimsleur Courses for a fraction of the cost.  Any claims that we are a disreputable company are false.

5 - The BBB has received 2 complaints against our company in 36 months.  Both of those complaints were amicably resolved and the mistake was not ours.  In both instances, the mistake was the customer's.  Obviously, this customer is also misunderstanding the Buy Back Program.

6 - We have contacted this customer by phone and left a message for him to return the call.  Again, the customer NEVER left a message and as a result, we did not even know that this customer was trying to contact us.

7 - We are a small business - the backbone of the economy.  The number of employees that we have does not change our level of service.  Again, we responded to EVERY email that was sent and would have returned the phone message if a phone message had been left. 

8 - For information on our Buy Back Program (and to be able to see that this customer's report is false), please visit www.pimsleurmarketplace.com/the_buy_back_program  You can also call us at 1-866-532-7609 or by emailing us at [email protected]

Again, we are a reputable company that has been in business for years.  We resent  the implications of this customer that we do anything but honor our agreements and commitments to the customer.  We have been and always will be committed to fixing any problems with the customer.  That is why we stay in business and why after only 2-4 hours after this report was filed, we are issuing a full and factual rebuttal.

Sincerely,

Doug Hall
President/CEO
Elite Commerce, Inc
PimsleurMarketplace.com