Highbrow Reviews 185

I had an annual subscription for a few years, then decided to cancel it because there were few new courses I was interested in. I cancelled my annual autorenewal FIVE MONTHS before the date when the new charge was scheduled. But I was immediately unable to get any more Highbrow daily class emails, despite several efforts. With all other companies, your current subscription continues to be valid until the end of the subscribed period. Since Highbrow makes it really hard to contact them, I just let the time run out.

To my dismay, I found a new annual subscription charge in my credit card bill five months after I cancelled it. Highbrow NEVER notified me of an upcoming renewal NOR sent me an invoice or a receipt: NOTHING. This time I pushed through all the barriers to contacting customer service to request a refund. I'm not sure the customer service representative was even a real person: I suspect it was just an AI bot, since it ignored all the information I provided and merely gave the same stock responses the other reviewers here reported. The bot says it is "unable" to give refunds and claims there are no records of the cancellation. If my account was still active, I should have been able to sign up for a new course, right? Impossible! So I wrote again, reiterated my information, attached relevant photo shots, and still got stock responses. I realized if I didn't nip this in the bud, I might be charged every year for the rest of my life.

My solution: I contacted my credit card company to dispute the charge. Apparently, they often get complaints against Highbrow, so they refunded my money in three days while dealing with Highbrow themselves.

DON'T SIGN UP, JUST DON'T DO IT!!

Just got charged for an annual membership that I don’t use because I did not find the lessons useful. Current best practice is to advise when an annual membership is about to be billed. Or to agree a refund if it’s obvious you do not use a tool. Just got emailed that they don’t refund. Highly recommend against signing up to this service

This website is a complete scam—avoid it at all costs. They use deceptive tactics to take your money and refuse to issue refunds. In my case, they charged me two days before my trial period was even supposed to end. Their customer support is terrible, especially Yulia, who was extremely unhelpful and unprofessional. On top of that, the content they offer is minimal and not worth your time. Save yourself the frustration and stay away

Autorenew trick got me too! The courses are also not that engaging and I dont like that I have to wait each day for a lesson.

The customer service also were not interested in helping me with my refund when I asked for a refund a day later from when they took my funds.

Really annoyed with them.

BEWARE -- All accounts are set to auto-renew. I never received any notification that my account was going to be renewed in the near future. I contacted them one day after my account was renewed, asking for a refund as I had not used their service in many months. They canceled my account effective one year from the renewal date and are denying me a refund.

My experience with highbrow was great.The whole staff is very cooperative and helpful .Most importantly the teachers they provided were so kind and effecient towards their students.

If I could give zero o would. They never sent me anything after the first two weeks and then casually charged me a thirty dollar renewal fee and would not refund it even though o contacted them immediately and told th o never rece Fed their crappy government ridiculous. They’ve got some nerve calling themselves “highbrow” when they are fraudsters and scammers and are about as lowbrow as they can get. I’m contacting my attorney general and BBB to report their scam

Stay away; it's a LOWBROW business model. I had a trial subscription at a reduced rate. On the evening of the trial expiration date I received a receipt for a year's subscription ($60+) that included a statement that if I canceled the subscription by that date, I wouldn't be charged, even though they had already charged me.
I promptly canceled (on said date), but Highbrow denied my request for a refund.

The predatory practices of such subscription-based services are disgusting.

Really bad practices in terms of trial periods / paid membership subscriptions. Will not accept to refund, even though their cancellation page was broken. I recommend you stear away from this company as much as you can!!

I signed up to a 30 day free trial, and then tried to cancel, but the page to cancel the subscription was broken.

Now they have charged me but I explained that I tried to cancel but couldn't. They are unable to provide a refund and this is really bad practice.

Highbrow International is what I think of as this year's best internet discovery.
Excellent learning tool with a wide variety of subjects available for those who are extremely busy.
Daily, easy-to-digest lessons are a dream come true for those who are committed to lifelong learning.
I find it most helpful as an introduction to topics that I find interesting but am still unsure of whether I want to invest a lot of time in learning.

I had a great experience at Highbrow International in Cavalry Ground while preparing for my IELTS exam. The instructors were knowledgeable and dedicated, providing valuable insights into the test format and strategies. The study materials were comprehensive, and the mock tests helped me assess my progress. The institute's conducive learning environment and flexible class schedules made it convenient for me to balance my preparation with other commitments. I achieved the IELTS score I needed. I highly recommend this institute to anyone seeking quality IELTS preparation.

I've enjoyed my Highbrow emails. I would like it if they added more classes, but I like getting a short email every day about a topic. The quizzes are fun, but you don't have to take them.

I'm writing this review to express my disappointment with the customer service provided by this course platform. When I requested a refund, their response was: "As much as I’d love to help, your refund request is beyond what we’re able to do for our customers." This response came across as uncaring and showed an unwillingness to address a genuine customer concern.

My disappointment didn't start there, though. I found myself losing interest in their product when I realized that their courses weren't searchable. This seems like a basic feature that should be available on any platform offering multiple courses.

When I messaged them on Facebook to ask about this, I received no response. This lack of communication only added to my frustration and decreased my trust in their platform.

The combination of these experiences has left me feeling like this company doesn't prioritize its customers' needs. I hope my feedback prompts some positive changes and encourages a more customer-focused approach.

Sophomoric content at best and horrible customer service. Please do not give them your hard earned money.

Awefull company. No way to logon on their site to adjust/cancel a subscription. You need to search within the support site to see that you actually need to do this via de mail you get.... How unclear do you want to have it.. NEVER EVER AGAIN!!

Aside from a poor product this company has poor ethics. You will get Glorified emails about a topic from an “expert.”
Which google searches will yield you better info. Aside reform that even if you cancel prior to the 30 days and have screenshot proof of your cancellation they will STILL bill you. Stay away keep your money and try coursea which has tío professors from leading universities giving FREE classes. There are paid ones too and you can get college credit. This company is nothing more than gloried emails and dull dull content

Highbrow's manifesto: "Let’s master new ideas, feed and spark curiosity, and expand our horizons…"

They should add "... and embrace our fine-print right to charge people for a service they no longer want."

I didn't use Highbrow enough, so I forgot about the service - *and* the annual fee the charge.

When I saw the renewal fee, I asked to cancel and get a a refund (this was within two days of the charge). Nope, they said... no refund.

This is a classic, shady-if-accepted business practice. Hope people forget they signed up, and charge them. Most reputable companies, however, will refund if you cancel right after the renewal. But Highbrow - which is supposed to be about SELF IMPROVEMENT - refused to refund the fee.

It's a common trick used by companies, but most of the better ones have the integrity do the right thing in a situation like that. Highbrow (Paddle) clearly does not.

I gave them an extra star because I do like the idea. It's just a shame that their business practices fall so short of their ideals.

Useless "courses".
Useful tip if you want to try them: cancel the subscription at least 2 days in advance as the trial period is not exactly 30 days from your subscription but they round it up based on their time zone (stated in the fine print which is not easy to see when you subscribe). They also charge you VAT no matter where you live and don't expect any refund from them.
Update: I can't believe there are spoonies who are stupid enough to give any credit to the "courses" offered by these scammers 😂😂😂
For everything they send to you, you can find better, deeper content for free using Google. Don't waste your money!