- Report: #1388940
Complaint Review: Prodigy - Internet
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Author Confirmed
Why?
Prodigy
Internet, USA
Web:
prodigygame.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
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Prodigy prodigygame Deceptive Pricing for Returning Customers Internet
I have had several students and parents recommend ProdigyGame.com for a fun way to practice math. The game seems okay educationally, and kids seem to like it. If you buy a membership, there are more things for the kids to earn, like pets and new locations.
I wasn't sure if my child would like it, so we signed up for one month, but canceled soon after to avoid automatic billing. A month later, and the child is enjoying the game, so I go to resubscribe for the yearly plan, with no intentions of canceling any time soon. This is when the deceptive billing starts.
Initially, billing options were as follows:
- $8.95 per month, billed $8.95 once per month (this is what we initially chose)
- $4.99 per month, billed $59.88 once per year (this is what I planned on for our new subscription)
Now, when I am logged in to our account, the memberships are TWICE as expensive:
- $17.99 per month, billed $17.99 once per month ($9.04 more per month. That's a Netflix subscription right there.)
- $9.99 per month, billed $119.99 once per year ($60.11 more per year)
I was not happy with the price increase, so I started searching the web for justification. I had the thought that maybe they were trying a bait-and-switch for returning customers, and I was correct.
I went to the website in another browser on my computer, one that I've never used for Prodigy before, and went to the pricing section, without logging in. The high prices were still shown.
I also used a completely different computer that has never used Prodigy, but on the same network (same external IP address). The high prices were still shown.
I used my cell phone, but disconnected from WiFi, and now the original low prices were shown. They had flagged my whole home network for the higher price.
Luckily, the nefarious way they try to get kids to initiate the membership process let me renew for the lower price:
- From some device that has never used Prodigy, go to prodigygame.com
- From the website's top navigation bar, choose Membership.
- Choose the plan that you'd like, and press continue.
- Enter your child's username and password. (Not the password for the adult account that is doing the purchasing, as would normally be expected.)
- Click on "Apply Membership"
- Choose the Child's name again.
- Finally, enter the parent's email and credit card info, and proceed with the purchase as expected.
I hope that others come across this report when they are feeling ripped-off. When you have a good product like this, it's not worth sulling your reputation with deceptive billing practices.
