I was genuinely curious about this company so I signed up for their special $1 offer. If you’re wondering what Noom is all about or out there researching is Noom a scam? I’m here to share my experience with this weight loss app.
And if you’re wondering, Noom is definitely not an MLM or a pyramid scheme. There are no downlines and recruiting is not involved in their business model.
Update October 22, 2019: Noom STILL has a pattern of complaint warning with the BBB. There are many customers complaining they are being charged after the free trial offer, even though they tried to cancel. This was not my experience with the program, but I’m going to throw it out there and caution anyone who is considering using this program..
What interested me most about Noom’s weight loss app is they go beyond just telling you how or what to eat to lose weight. They offer support and guidance with a personal
Quick Summary
After joining, I wouldn’t say Noom is a scam. However, I’d like to note that they have had a lot of billing issues and have a warning with the BBB. Personally, my experience was different – I was able to cancel pretty easily. However, I acknowledge their cancellation system isn’t the best.
But judging from the sheer volume of complaints, Noom needs to get its act together and fix some problems because clearly it’s not doing something right.
But back to the actual program – Noom is not a diet at all – the program teaches you about nutrition and attempts to tackle the mental and emotional issues many people battle when it comes to losing weight.
While there have been numerous complaints about the trial offer cancellation, I am not sure why because I had absolutely no issues and was able to cancel in less than 2 minutes from the time I requested it.
In the end, I realized
But everyone is different and this may be a good program for some people.
Still, if you’re on the fence about Noom I’d take the BBB complaints into consideration. I’d also recommend paying with Paypal rather than a credit or debit card as you can deactivate your Noom subscription directly through them.
How Noom works
Noom advertises themselves as being “the last weight loss program you’ll ever need” because it’s designed to be a 16-week program that gives you the education and motivation you need to finally tackle your bad habits and get the
In order to use Noom, their app must be downloaded on your phone. There’s no option to do any of this program or food tracking on the website. There are no attending meetings like Weight Watchers – the entire program is within the app, even the support. This is probably why they refer to themselves as Weight Watchers for Millenials. (You can read my comparison between Noom and WW here)
Noom’s weight loss program consists of three main parts:
- Daily food logging
- Daily lessons and tasks
- Accountability and motivation from your personal support coach and group
Food Logging
Food tracking is encouraged daily. You’re given a daily calorie limit that is determined by factors like age, sex, weight, height, plus how much weight you want to lose each week (up to 2 lbs). They have the software built into their app, much like Myfitnesspal or Loseit, or any other calorie tracking app you may be familiar with.
What makes this a little different than free calorie-tracking apps is they analyze your food choices and group them into three categories – green, yellow and red. You’re encouraged to eat more green foods than yellow, and the least amount of red foods. This is based on calorie density – the food that can fill you up with the least amount of calories is better and encouraged over
Green foods
Green foods are things like fruits, veggies, and whole grains. They recommend green foods make up 45% of your diet.
Yellow foods
Yellow foods are things like beans, dairy, lean meat, pasta, rice, and eggs – they should be eaten in moderate portions. They recommend yellow foods make up around 30% of your diet.
Red foods
Red foods are things that contain a lot of calories without filling you up – you can see from my examples things like peanut butter, cheese, condiments and high-fat meats (and also candy, desserts, etc). These are supposed to make up 25% of your daily intake.
My issues with Noom’s food tracking software
To be completely honest, I had a lot of problems logging my food on their app. First of all, you can’t create your own recipes which makes it much more difficult to track meals you make at home. Every time I made a recipe, I had to log the individual ingredients and figure out how much of each was in my exact portion. This is just so much easier when you can create the recipe yourself, set the number of portions, and have the system track it for you (like on Myfitnesspal or the Weight Watchers app).
Update: You CAN track recipes with Noom now
Their food database is also lacking in many foods. While you can scan the barcode if you can’t find it in their system, I still got the message a few times that they didn’t have the barcode on record. I’ve never had that issue with Myfitnesspal or Weight Watchers!
Another thing that bothers me is I don’t have the option to log meals on my computer. I don’t necessarily always want to use an app for everything, but Noom is only available as an app, so that’s just the way the program operates.
Overall, I just think Myfitnesspal and Weight Watchers are better when it comes to food tracking. (But I realize can also be a personal preference thing)
Lessons/Tasks
Every day you are given new reading material and quizzes. They give you just a little bit each day to get through over the entire 4 months. It should only take you a few minutes each day to read and complete the tasks.
Noom’s material is broken down into 4 phases:
Phase 1: Define your goals and figure out the reason why you want to lose weight. Make a plan to get motivated, develop good habits and conquer your food demons.
Phase 2: Learning the psychology behind weight loss, beat your thought distortions, debunking weight loss myths and learning to overcome your food triggers.
Phase 3: Building up willpower and managing stress, build mental resilience and resist food pushers.
Phase 4: Teaches you how to make this lifestyle last, so you can keep the weight off for good and never have to diet again.
I like that they provide material that tackles the mental barriers
However, I think this is really designed for normal people who don’t have deep-rooted problems with food. It definitely isn’t meant as a replacement for a therapist if you have serious issues with food and food addiction.
Accountability/Motivation
Another aspect of Noom’s weight loss program is they provide you with a “goal specialist” who is there to check in with you to make sure you’re following through with the program, provide encouragement and motivation. They check in once a week.
You’re also put into a weight loss group where you can get additional support.
I’m not saying there aren’t real people behind the coaches, I’m sure there are. However, a large part of their responses seems automated and prewritten, which I understand. They’re assigned to tons of people, they’re not going to take the time to type out the same thing over and over again a thousand times. If you ask them a more specific question, they do respond although something feels a little off, like they aren’t actually listening to what you’re really telling them.
I think that for many people, just knowing there’s someone looking out for them and encouraging them is enough.
What I liked about Noom
- It’s not a diet
- It provided me with some insight into the foods I’m eating and what they consider red, yellow and red
- There are no good or bad foods – nothing is off-limits
- They try to address the real problems that are preventing you from losing weight
What I disliked about Noom
- There are currently too many complaints about cancellation issues. Even though I did not have a problem, it’s concerning when the BBB has an alert on this business.
- Their food tracking software isn’t the best, Myfitnesspal is superior and it’s free
- The goal specialist was a little too automated for my taste
- It’s only an app, so you have to do the program entirely from your phone. I think it would be cool if they had it available on an actual website.
- They’re totally not upfront about their pricing, which actually really bothers me (this is discussed more in-depth down below)
- Overall it just isn’t a good fit for me
How much does the Noom weight loss app really cost?
Initially, it’s only $1 for a two week trial period which they claim is risk-free. (Currently, they’re letting you choose how much you pay for your trial – anywhere from $1 to just over $18)
Here is the cost, depending on how long you sign up for:
- Monthly plan $59
- 2 month for $99
- 4 month for $129
- 6 month for $149
- 8 month for $159
- Annual plan for $199
It’s not easy to find this information on their website and sign up for the length of time you want to (I actually had to contact their customer service to get this information about their pricing).
You need to complete some questions on their site in order to be directed to the payment page, and even then you are only presented with one option for how long of a program you can sign up for. I don’t like that they’re not straightforward about this at all.
Actually, this bothers me more than anything about Noom. I know it’s designed to be a customized program, and that the program is supposed to work for a certain length of time depending on your personal weight loss needs and goals, but still…
Complaints about Canceling Noom membership
When I first heard of this company through a Facebook advertisement, I saw a lot of negative feedback within the comments about membership cancelation.
Even the BBB has recognized a pattern of these complaints and is requesting Noom’s voluntary cooperation into fixing these problems it is having so frequently with membership cancellations and customer service.
Did Noom resolve this issue?
If you look at current complaints with the BBB, you’ll see complaint after complaint of being customers being charged before the free trial ended and having no way to get in touch with anyone to cancel. Noom’s company is very responsive to these complaints, but the high number of these complaints is very alarming.
Noom really needs to change the way they handle their free trial and cancellation method in order to be more upfront with people.
The strange part is I didn’t find it difficult at all and immediately was sent a link to cancel my account when I contacted my goal specialist. It was actually an automated message that sent immediately when I told her I wanted to cancel, so I didn’t have to wait any length of time for a response.
Immediately after I cancelled, I was sent a confirmation message in the chat (see above) plus a confirmation email.
If you send a message to your goal specialist saying you want to cancel, they will automatically send a link to cancel your account. You shouldn’t have to wait for them to reply as the response is generated by the system as long as you type something along the lines of “I want to cancel my membership”.
Although I think implementing a simple “cancel subscription” button within the app with clear instructions on where it’s located, maybe it would help resolve a lot of problems people are having.
HOWEVER – there are complaints from others stating they went through and cancelled their account, but the money was still taken out of their account anyway.
I’m not really sure what’s going on with Noom and cancellations, but it doesn’t seem right.
Use Paypal to avoid any problems
If you’re interested in Noom but worried about all the problems people are having with billing, I would recommend paying with Paypal instead of a credit or debit card.
With Paypal, you have the ability to manage your subscriptions from within your own account. You can go into your settings and payments, and from there find Noom and deactivate the subscription. This will stop authorized payments, even without contacting Noom directly.
You still will want to let Noom know you want to cancel, but at least they won’t be able to take out an unauthorized payment. I would recommend doing this BEFORE the last day of your trial to be safe.
Final thoughts on Noom
While Noom’s weight loss app has some good elements to their program, all the issues with billing are really concerning to me. The fact that the pattern of complaints is STILL up with the BBB after nearly a year and that Noom hasn’t changed their business practices to resolve it is not a good sign.
If after reading this you still want to try it out, if you end up needing to cancel the program just make sure you pay with Paypal and deactivate the subscription after you cancel with Noom to make sure no unauthorized payments can be taken out of your account. You can try Noom here.
I do think that WW (formerly Weight Watchers) is a great program and in many ways is better than Noom. You can check out my full comparison between the two programs here.
Want to increase your chances of success with weight loss? Check this program out and find out how you could actually get paid to lose weight?!
I never signed up for Noom program. My husband is very ill and I needed to be with him. I have been charged, $44. and then $99. How to I stop this and get my money back. I will call my credit card company and the better business bureau. I have NO weight plan. This must be a scam.
Did you sign up for the free trial at all, or just notice a Noom charge on your card out of nowhere? If it’s the latter, your credit card info could have been stolen I would contact your bank!!! If you did sign up for the free trial and are being charged even though you tried to cancel, message your Noom coach and they can help you. If not, again, contact your bank. I had no issues whatsoever with cancelling they made it extremely easy! Either way I’m sorry you are experiencing this!
They charged my card when i complained i didnt order my card was stolen and used they kept saying we give no refunds I had to pay $212 for something I didn’t order.
Same story here, charges just showed up, never subscribed, never did a trial. I cannot cancel, there is no phone number. If all our credit card numbers are being stolen, why is nothing else other than noom being charged.
Sorry, I have to disagree. Noom took my money without my consent. They are ABSOLUTELY a scam. Avoid them LIKE THE PLAGUE.
I’m sorry you had that experience! Have you contacted them to try and get a refund??
As others have stated, putting the blame on the individual is not the best angle here. Many people have screenshots that show that they canceled, but then are charged anyways. Personally, the fact that they have a Google Voice line and not a regular customer number, that they force you to reinstall the app to cancel, and that they don’t just handle subscriptions like most of iTunes or Google Play subscriptions (from the iTunes Subscriptions tab, which is hard enough to find) all add up to dishonest business practices Further, this inane idea that you need to reach out to a coach that rarely responds for sometimes weeks at a time is, again, clearly doing their best to get a pretty penny.
Companies can amend their practices, as Netflix has done to respond to its own critics about free trials, or lean in and make the bulk of their customer service about canceling. When a company’s phone line isn’t even a legitimate number and forces the customer to reinstall an app and go to a messages section that isn’t even used (I would go a week or two without hearing from my “coach,” and I was a true believer)–it’s poor practice, whether or not it is technically legal.
I understand that you have an affiliate relationship to consider, but be brave. If even the BBB is concerned, I’d remove the comments earlier in your article and realize that for whatever reason, your experience was uniquely painless. Good for you. The last portion is more transparent, but if I were you, I would cut my losses and separate myself from a company that may very well have a class action suit in the future.
Hey Abigail, I appreciate that you took the time to leave such a thorough comment here. First of all, I wrote this review back in January and I knew they were having issues with billing and the BBB complaints – I did include all of that information it within this article.
I also warned people because of the billing complaints, that they should pay through PayPal because it lets them cancel payments directly without having to worry. I realize not everyone uses PayPal or would do that. However, I will admit it does seem suspect that they are STILL having these complaints and the BBB is still warning today (I just checked – October 22 2019 and the warning is still there)
I did think that they had resolved this issue after I joined because I had no problems, but apparently that is not the case.
I also would like to be clear that I value my reputation more than any affiliate relationship I may have. I do believe the program they provide is valid and does work for people, which is why I didn’t want to label it a “scam” – but I also don’t specifically recommend it to others within my recommendations here (in part because of all the issues with billing).
I just wanted to review the program and share with others what it was all about and that I did not have a bad experience. I also felt like I was pretty upfront with the programs issues.
I admit, and I believe I mentioned all of this within the article, that their business practices for cancelling are not great. It is really odd that you need to cancel through your coach and they don’t just have a cancel button somewhere within the app. I mean really, why wouldn’t they? Especially considering their complaint pattern with the BBB, I agree they need to amend these practices and it honestly surprises me they haven’t.
I am from the UK and have no idea what BBB is, but I am finding it impossible to cancel – too late to tell me to use paypal. Noom has a massive online presence but that doesnt take from it being a scam. Am contacting uk tv consumer programme
I’m sorry you’re having this experience. Their cancelation and billing systems need to be revamped because people are having too many problems.
This company is a scam. Wish I had known that $110 ago. Shame they are still allowed to be out there!
Did you try getting in contact with customer service for a refund? I know others have had success with it
I don’t think Noom is a scam. I have lost 18lb using this apo, and have found it incredibly helpful and educational too. .
I too am very pleased with the lessons and the way the program is set up. I have, so far, lost 10+ lbs and have learned to handle temptation. The lessons also make me chuckle Wich WW never did.
Well written! I was just about to enter my cc info and I had a real funny feeling about it. I didnt like the timer at the bottom of the screen and the 3.00, 5.00, or 20.00 donation for a “free” trial. I think if they charged 20.00 per month and made it crystal clear, more people would stick with it. People dont like to feel like they’ve been swindled out of their hard earned money. After reading the slews of complaints on BBB and Consumer Affairs, it made me mad and now I just have a bad feeling about it and want nothing to do with it. Reputable companies dont need to strong arm people into purchasing their products. People can twist themselves into a pretzel defending their business model, but wrong is wrong. I definitely dodged a very expensive bullet.
My experience is the same as thousands of other people on many websites. I never could find any way to speak to a customer service representative and I managed to find a place where I could send an email. I cancelled an hour after I signed up and still was charge $260. I have called the BBB and also Oregon State Attorney General office. Since I am retired and have lots of time on my hands, I am going to make it my LIFE’S PURPOSE to let the world know about these scammers. BEWARE OF NOOM…..TOTAL SCAM.
Oh geeze that’s horrible. I’m so sorry! Hopefully they’re able to get you a refund.
My experience is the same with NOom. I paid 1 euro for subscribing for the trial version of Noom and totally forgot about it except for the first day I installed the app. 15 days later without even opening the app, my bank informs me that Noom took 109 euro from my credit card. I even called the bank and they told me that the payment is successful. I will write a complaint there and deactivate my credit card because of all those comments online that say that you continue to be charged. I canceled my subscription and I got an email in which they say they will refund me in 2-5 business days. If that happens, I will post here again. Let’s hope they refund me. Because i didn’t choose a plan, or get any notification nothing at all…. Just my credit card was charged with this amount of money…Did anyone of you get a refund at all ?
Yeah, they charge you for the length of the program upfront instead of monthly, so a lot of people get hit with a big charge on their CC they weren’t expecting. Keep us updated if you got that refund or not.
In my case it is not even monthy. They charged as if I am going to use it for 4 months and i haven’t used it all, and the time hasn’t passed. It is the 15th day which means 1 day after the trial ended. They just got the money from my credit card without my consent, email, anything… I hope that as they stated in their email will refund me the amount.
I received a refund after all today.
I forgot to mention that after the currecny exchange I received minus 3 eur but at least I got almost the whole amount after I made a lot of noise all over the internet about it.
How do you contact their customer service centre for a refund, I have had confirmation that I have cancelled my subscription that I didn’t sign up for.
Another total scam outfit
This link will take you to their support system and you can go from there https://web.noom.com/support/contact-support/
I clicked on free trial ! Never got anything from them .No health coach with blue bubble to cancel . Then they took 138. .08 out of my account I did not authorize this payment . I am a Registered nurse dealing with enough stress at this time ! I don’t have money to be taken from my account . When you call the phone number to cancel there is a recording on telling you to tell a non existent health coach in a blue bubble I their app. Fraud s heist era con artists ! Shame on noom for scamming ! Contacted Apple who is considering kicking this app out after mine and other complaints! I want my money back ! I received nothing from you . That is illegal . I have screenshots of free trial only . Not that I agreed to any charges at all !
I’m so sorry you are having this experience, especially right now with everything going on.
I don’t know if Noom is intentionally scamming people or they just have a really messed up system. It seems like they make the cancellation process mysterious instead of just providing an easy “cancel” button, like any other app on the planet.
A health coach should have gotten in contact with you during your trial period, so it’s weird that you didn’t get anything. That is definitely on them and they should refund your money for sure. Have you tried contacting the BBB? If you can’t get a response from Noom, complain to the BBB.
Oh no. Yesterday I cancelled my free trial subscription with noom; just didn’t appreciate the robotic features of the program. I had to make a decision and felt this is not the time that I’m going to devote to losing weight. But today, after the fact, I decided to see if other people had problems with noom, and found your excellent website.
Noom. does explain that it is necessary for subscribers to inform their goal specialist(s) of their intention to unsubscribe, Accordingly, it has to be done by clicking on a bubble on the noom home screen, and they’ll send a link to cancel. The subscriber has to respond as to whether this is a mistake or not, followed by confirmation that the subscription has been cancelled. I didn’t read this before cancelling, although I did receive the links and confirmation, I printed out all I could as apparently my subscription is still active as of May 29, but I have a sinking feeling something is not right, and there is no one to talk to..
I ‘m going to be like a hound, searching for the phone number to the BBB should I see a debit to noom on my bank statement!
I agree with you that WW is the best, and will probably return to it once life settles down to a rational norm.
Best of luck to you! And thank you for your website!
I was charge an amount on my Credit card that I did not authorize. Of course I contacted the credit card company first and then began to attempt to reach someone from Noom. I could not find a number so I emailed. And emailed, and emailed. To date I still have not received anything BUT an email offering me a free trial!!
I had once considered Noom but after this, there is no way!!!
I didn’t find canceling with Noom hard at all. I did think it was uncomfortable to only cancel by messaging your Goal Specialist however within seconds I was relieved to see no guilt trip or anything other than an automated message. It instantly popped up with a link. I pressed that and confirmed. Then a new message stated I had cancelled but if I found it a mistake, I could click another link for support. I also received an email confirming the cancellation effective at the end of the trial. I cancelled 48 hrs prior to the end of trial and wonder if some system issue processing doesn’t work well if cancelled within 24hrs of trial end.
On day 3 now, according to the app (I joined 11:30 pm on Day 1), and I’ve yet to receive a response to my emails or texts with questions……Got lots of emails when I previewed the program on the website, but didn’t sign on, but now, silence. Doesn’t look like it’s going to take 2 weeks of a trial to make my decision, as I can search out encouragement myself online as good as the computer generated generic messages I’ve received so far, and log my meals, weight and steps on most any free app out there. So disappointed. I had seen a few reviews reflecting this same complaint – “crickets” – after the 2 week trial, once the nonrefundable fee had been debited to the credit card, but saw more positive than negative reviews, so decided to try it out. Never thought I’d have the same negative experience BEFORE the trial ended. I rarely write reviews, and usually only if positive, but I saw on Good Morning America today a “buyer beware” segment on Noom, and felt compelled to share my experience. If it turns out that you can get a response from Noom, good for you, I really do wish I had that same experience. After reading all of the comments here, I’m really concerned about what may happen with my credit card……going to try to cancel now.
Noom is the worst experience I’ve ever had with an app. Terrible, automated, and cookie cutter coaching messages that are not helpful. And they continue to take my money even after cancelling months after!
https://fox40.com/news/business/bbb-warns-of-popular-diet-app-noom-after-thousands-of-complaints-filed/
What a shame a program that promised so much in ”its clever, slick” IT…. is so ”messy” with it’s billing… For many. So pleased to have read your thoughts Wendy. Far too many issues with it to consider during these stressful times, Thank you😀
Won’t be going ahead.
“Web subscription” vs “app subscription”
My experience of being over charged was because I found out I had TWO accounts under the same email address. I contacted Noom via the support chat several times before my trial was over to make sure I would not be overcharged—I’ve read the complaints. They DID NOT tell me about my double subscription during any of these chats and checking my billing.
I signed up via the web with a promo code (code was not applied and I contacted them about that issue twice). At same time, I downloaded the app via iTunes with the free trial. So apparently at that time, I had created
two separate accounts, one with a discount (after I actively pursued it) and the other full price through apple. There was no way for me know that this happened. Once my trial ended, I was also charged full price by apple.
Once again I contacted Noom via the support chat. No apology, just a repeated explanation about how I had to deal with it through apple since I didn’t cancel before my trial ended.
I fully believe that the process is complicated on purpose. They make more money by being misleading about the “web subscription” vs “app subscription.” Once you are charged by apple, it’s harder to get a refund. Other apps/companies have figured out how to handle these two types of subscriptions without issue. Why can’t (or why won’t) Noom?
I actually really like the program, but the shadiness around the pricing and charges is inexcusable.
ALSO, the support chat via the app RESTARTS if you leave the app and come back. Make sure you have all of your screenshots ready before you initiate the chat session or you will have to start over from the beginning. This “chat feature” is also very suspect. I wonder how many people just gave up on getting a refund because of this issue alone.
I am sorry so many people have had issues with Noom, but I am on the program and have experienced nothing but success so far. I am about a month in and have lost around 6lbs. My energy is up, I feel lighter, my eating habits have changed dramatically. It is a whole new Outlook on how to lose weight. I have tried everything before this and never had such amazing results so quickly. I never feel hungry, always satisfied. I have learned my triggers, and how to avoid them. I have learned how to deal with slips and surges. They really delve into your psyche and open up your mind to think about food in a completely different way. I have zero paid affiliation with any weight loss programs. I’m just here to say, if you allow it… it works.
I am currently still using Noom, almost 4 months now. Where I do like the daily readings, the coach’s are of no help, very automated to the point I asked my coach if she was even real! Still no response. This is my second personal coach as the other one moved to another position. I also noticed that all the coaches photos look a lot alike – similar backgrounds, age, and female even though the group coach’s profile says “male”. Glad I found this article! I will be canceling. Wish me luck!
Yeah I definitely felt the same way, it was weird.
I agree that Noom is not a scam. However, I have seen many reviews where customers couldn’t end their contract before getting charged again.
What percentage do you think is just due to user error.
User error or not, when you have as many complaints as they do the company is doing something wrong.
Thanks for your research on the Noom Diet. Although Noom has a good marketing program, it doesn’t qualify as a “scam”. However, I do agree with your conclusion, that there may be too many complaints about Noom for people to feel 100% safe on spending their money on it.
I signed up for free trial and forgot to cancel. When I noticed the charge of £127 on my credit card I panicked. I went to website and explained. Within 24hrs my credit had been applied in full to my card.
Oh, I’m glad to hear that!!
No. Noom is not a scam. It is accessible nutrition science. I am a physician, and I lost 75 pounds over a 1-year period, and then have kept it off for another several months. I travel all over the world for my work, and Noom can be done anywhere and anytime. No boxed junk food that you have to eat. It is simply a method of teaching, reinforcing and encouraging good nutritional choices, exercise, and the trade-off between eating different things. It works. Noom may have saved my life.
I’m glad you found Noom worked for you! The issue with Noom isn’t the program itself, but the billing practices. Unfortunately, it’s been a problem for countless customers.
I signed up for the program but after getting those initial auto responses, I quickly cancelled before getting billed $400. While I don’t know if the entire system is a scam, I can confirm it doesn’t feel like you’re talking to real people.
Thank you so much for your review of noom! I am going to try myfitnesspal. I hope this will work.
I can’t speak to the quality of the program but the marketing is a fraudulent and a RIPOFF. I don’t really need a diet program or similar as I have been quite successful in losing the few (3-8) lbs. I think I should every year or two. I just started a diet now to lose about 4-7 lbs from my 180, 6′ body. I checked into Zoom yesterday evening because I thought it might be useful for a friend who has serious weight problem and thought, if it seemed helpful, I would recommend it for him and perhaps even give him a gift subscription. So I signed up for a 1 week trial and agreed to a credit card $3 and simultaneously marked my Apple calendar so I would not forget to cancel before the end of the 7 days. I felt suspicious because, as I was going through their online process , they tried, probably 6 to 8 times to have me sign up for extra charge help and for 2 months –– everything with “automatic renewal”. Of course I refused and did spend some 5 minutes on the “first day lesson” which, though obvious material, seemed OK. But not 15 minutes later checking my email I discovered they had signed me up for a 2 month (with automatic renewal of course!) @ $99 which I never in any way agreed to and indeed found the pending charge on my credit card. Of course I immediately canceled online but they indicated that would not give me a refund for either charge. I admit I was enraged and today found consumer complaints agencies to submit this fraud to in San Francisco (where I live), California and federal consumer protection. Then I called their complaint number , which they now have, (888) 266-5071 and, after I told them the story and my consumer fraud explorations the person claimed they would refund the charges and I would get a notification email. So far it hasn’t arrived. Perhaps it is relevant to add that I am an educated consumer with a doctorate in management and an M.A. in economics (Wharton School, U. of PA) and an undergraduate degree in economics (Harvard U.) and a probably 40 year subscriber to CR (Consumer Reports). I discover that CR did have a positive note about them IN 2013; my management professor guess is that back then, and with FAR cheaper prices, they were a legitimate company which them got taken over by some fraud artists who unfortunately abound in our business and online worlds. BEWARE.
This ‘company’ is being sued for fraud.