Pimsleur has been helping people learn languages for more than 60 years through a unique audio-first approach designed to develop real-world speaking and listening skills.Created by Dr. Paul Pimsleur, a pioneer in language acquisition research and a founding member of ACTFL (the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), the Pimsleur Method™ was the first language-learning system to systematically combine language instruction with memory science. Dr. Pimsleur developed his own spaced repetition algorithm, known as Graduated Interval Recall, which remains a core part of the learning experience today.Unlike many language-learning programs that focus primarily on reading, vocabulary recognition, or translation exercises, Pimsleur was designed to help learners speak in a new language. The method helps learners process new sounds, speech patterns, rhythm, and cadence through active listening and speaking practice, building the confidence to engage in real-world conversations.Today, Pimsleur offers courses in more than 50 languages through an award-winning mobile app and web-based platform. In addition to the proven audio lessons, learners can access interactive speaking, reading, vocabulary, pronunciation, and review activities. Learning can take place at home or on the go, with support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.Millions of learners around the world have used Pimsleur to prepare for travel, advance their careers, connect with family and friends, and experience new cultures through language.Whether you're learning your first foreign language or your fifth, Pimsleur is designed to help you start speaking from day one.
Pimsleur Language Programs (pimsleur.com) has 205 customer reviews on Five Star Index, with an average rating of 3.5 out of 5.
Also known as
pimsleur.com
Website
pimsleur.com
Category
Education Services
Location
New York, New York
Listed on Five Star Index
2026
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The company replied to 79% of reviews.
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Most recent review: October 2026.
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2ND REVIEW - LEVEL 2 - LESSON 7
Earlier in the course they taught the DAO = UNTIL
Now in the pronunciation practice they are saying that "UNTIL TEN O'CLOCK" = "dai dao shi dian zhong" which actually means "STAY UNTIL TEN O'CLOCK"
This means I have to say "UNTIL TEN O'CLOCK" incorrectly in order to get 3 stars.
I HAVE BEEN CONSTANTLY FRUSTRATED WITH THESE TYPE OF THINGS, BUT THIS ONE REALLY GOT TO ME.
I AM GOING TO GET THROUGH THIS PROGRAM IF IT KILLS ME, BUT MY GOD PIMSLEUR------GET YOUR TAMADENA ACT TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BL
Benjamin L.
I love the courses but the customer service just makes me not want to use it anymore
The courses are not bad the issue is just the customer help desk. I tried to get a refund day of when I bought the wrong subscription but even after sending in the form they asked for I never got a response back. They later said they never received said document even though it was saved on my computer and sent.Eventually I communicated with them 16 days later and even then they did not cooperate. In fact they hung up numerous times and ignored me whenever I got through. This process repeated through 6 phone calls and when they finally started talking to me there was laughter in the background as the desk person proceeded to play dumb despite having the same conversation numerous times. Its not the program its just the people running it that are no help. The employee who I kept talking to but who kept hanging up on me was named Jean P collas.
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsOct 3, 2026
Hi Benjamin,
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience.
We’re glad to hear that you love the Pimsleur courses, but we’re very sorry that your customer service experience was so frustrating. Buying the wrong subscription and trying to correct it the same day should not have felt this difficult, and you should have received clearer communication and follow-up throughout the refund process.
We have reviewed this with our customer service team. While there appear to have been technical issues that affected the handling of your case, we understand that the result was a poor experience for you. That is not the level of support we want Pimsleur customers to receive when they contact us about a billing or subscription issue.
We understand that your refund had already been processed before this response, but we also recognize that the process leading up to that resolution was frustrating and did not meet the standard we expect. We have shared your feedback with the support team so we can improve follow-up, communication, and ownership when customers contact us about billing or refund issues.
Thank you again for bringing this to our attention. We’re sorry this took away from your experience with Pimsleur, and we appreciate the opportunity to address it.
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
DW
David W.
Terrible customer service
Signed up for the free one week trial. Before the end of the trial was charged for the month subscription contacted customer service asking for refund as I was planning on purchasing a lifetime subscription. Received an abrupt answer from customer service saying they do not do refunds. Responded to them explaining that the charge had been placed before the end of the free trial. I received no response, and even after submitting a new request was ignored. I would highly recommend looking elsewhere for products with more customer friendly policies
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsAug 21, 2026
Hi David,
We’re very sorry for your experience. This is not the level of service we expect our customers to receive.
If you were charged before the end of your free trial, that is something we need to review and address. We also apologize for the abrupt response you received and for the lack of follow-up. That is not consistent with our customer service standards or how we want these situations handled.
We’ve requested additional information through Trustpilot so we can identify your account, review the charge, and look into the support interaction. We will also review this internally and take appropriate follow-up steps with the team member involved.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We’d appreciate the opportunity to review what happened and make this right.
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
CA
Cath
Poor customer service
This app wasn’t for me so I decided to cancel. Pimsleur gave me a cancellation date but then took a subscription fee for a further month after that date. I have contacted customer service a few times but they ignore me.
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsAug 16, 2026
Hi Cath,
We’re sorry to hear about your frustration and that Pimsleur was not the right fit for you.
A charge after a confirmed cancellation date is not acceptable, and we’d like to review your account so we can understand what happened and address it appropriately. We’ve requested additional information through Trustpilot so we can identify your account and help resolve this.
We also apologize if you have not yet received a response from our support team. Emails are answered in the order they are received and can sometimes take a few days, depending on volume. For the fastest assistance, we recommend contacting us by phone or live chat through pimsleur.com/contact-us so a support representative can help in real time.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We’d like the opportunity to review this and make it right.
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
CB
Craig B.
Think twice about subscribing …
Pimsleur auto renewed my account with no written notice on a service I am not using. They tried to charge a different account than i set the service up with and I have not used their service for over 6 months. I cancelled on the day of renewal only to be told I should have cancelled the day before and no refund will be given despite no renewal notification, me not using the service or planning to use the service moving forward. Please think twice about registering if auto renewal is in place or cancel now before it's too late. Extremely poor and disappointing customer service with a standard tough luck email. £144 from my account is a not just a small monthly fee. This level of customer service belongs around two centuries ago and clearly shows money is far more important to this company than satisfied customers who would recommend them to others.
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsAug 8, 2026
Hi Craig,
We’re very sorry for the frustration and disappointment this caused.
Pimsleur has been built on customer trust and satisfaction for more than 60 years, so we take feedback like this seriously. We do want to clarify that Pimsleur subscriptions are disclosed at checkout as auto-renewing, and customers must affirmatively acknowledge the renewal terms before starting a subscription.
That said, we understand that billing concerns can be frustrating, especially when you cancelled on the renewal date. We usually offer a short grace period for cancellations made within 24 hours of a renewal, so we’d like to review your account, the subscription type, and the timing of your cancellation to see what can be done.
Please contact us again at pimsleur.com/contact-us and reference this Trustpilot review, or reply to your existing support thread and ask that it be escalated for review.
We’re sorry again for the experience and appreciate the chance to look into this more carefully.
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
MH
M H.
Do NOT buy Pimsleur if you really want to learn a language. Total waste of money
If you really want to learn a language Pimsleur is worthless because it doesn’t go past level 5. Of course, they never tell you this when you sign up. I already know some Spanish, which I think is probably true for the majority of people, but there is NO placement test and in every lesson it gets really boring because they put in so much beginner stuff and then out of 30 minutes maybe lucky to learn one new word. I mean do we really need to say Como estas like 50 times. I tried to level up to find where it would become useful to me but after level 5 it just ends so totally a waste of money. Plus they don’t use native speakers so you are never going to learn how to speak with this app.
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsJul 10, 2026
Hi M,
We’re sorry to hear that Pimsleur was not the right fit for your current level and learning goals. However, we do want to correct a few points in your review for others who may be reading.
First, Pimsleur courses are written and developed with PhD-level native speakers, reviewed by native-speaking editors, and recorded exclusively by real native speakers. Native-speaker audio is fundamental to the Pimsleur Method™, because learners need to hear the rhythm, cadence, pronunciation, and natural sound of the target language in order to develop practical speaking and listening skills.
Second, while Pimsleur courses begin at a true beginner level, they do not remain limited to basic phrases. In languages with five levels, the course builds toward much more advanced real-world communication, including topics such as travel complications, medical situations, prescriptions, reporting something to the police, politics, unemployment, mergers and layoffs, environmental issues, climate change, natural disasters, opinions and preferences, hypothetical situations, and other practical subjects.
We also want to clarify the role of repetition and vocabulary development in Pimsleur. The method does not repeat phrases 50 times, use repetition as filler, or introduce only one new word per lesson. Each lesson introduces and reinforces multiple words, phrases, grammatical structures, and spoken response patterns. Dr. Paul Pimsleur’s Graduated Interval Recall system brings material back at carefully timed intervals so learners can retain, recall, and produce language when they need it. The goal is not just to introduce more material, but to help learners remember it and use it in conversation.
Pimsleur is intentionally designed as an audio-first speaking and listening method. Even for learners who already have some familiarity with Spanish, the early work of training the ear to recognize the sounds, rhythm, cadence, and spoken response patterns of the language is essential to long-term speaking success. It may not be the right choice for someone looking for a placement-test-based program or a grammar-first curriculum, but for learners who want to build conversational confidence, improve pronunciation, and strengthen their ability to understand and respond in real-world situations, Pimsleur has helped millions of learners for more than 60 years.
We appreciate your feedback and wish you success in finding the learning approach that best fits your goals.
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
RB
Rene B.
Misleading and was offered a premium…
Misleading and was offered a premium subscription but was not offered / activated. When I called to get rectified, Andrew the representative continuously cut me me and was extremely condescending and only offered to upgrade the subscription for an additional charge. When asked to escalate was hung up on.
I had then cancelled my subscription and asked for a refund in which they denied even though it clearly states on their website there was a 1 month guarantee.
Follow up July 1 - I had sent an email to Pimsleur to allow them to rectify the situation (if possible) however it has been more than 24 hours and have not heard back. Pretty disappointing but on par with the customer service I experienced 4 times now
Follow up to July 1 response from Pimsleur - I did contact you. as requested and I have yet to hear back! Again, customer service! I am not chasing you down. You want to right your wrong, you contact me!
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsJun 30, 2026
Hi Rene,
We’re very sorry to hear that your experience has continued to be frustrating. We also apologize that you had not yet received a response to your follow-up email at the time of your update. We strive to respond to emails within 24 hours, but for urgent issues, we recommend calling us or using live chat so we can assist in real time.
We would like to review your account, the Premium subscription offer, the activation issue, and the support interactions you described. If your subscription access was not activated correctly, or if there was confusion about what was included, we want the opportunity to look into it and help resolve it.
We also want to clarify the 30-day guarantee you referenced. As stated on our published guarantee page at https://www.pimsleur.com/pimsleur-satisfaction-guarantee/, the Pimsleur 30-day money-back guarantee does not apply to subscription plans that are offered with a free trial of 7 days or more, including monthly and annual recurring subscriptions. Subscription charges are generally non-refundable after the paid billing period begins, but we would still like to review the details of your case.
Please contact us again at pimsleur.com/contact-us and reference this review so we can escalate your case for additional review by a supervisor. For immediate assistance, you may also call us or use live chat through the contact options listed on our website.
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
AM
Antonio M.
Pimsleur keeps logging me out along…
Pimsleur keeps logging me out along with the other members in my account. Please fix this issue. The application itself with language learning is amazing however. Please fix the log out issue. Along with this it only allows you to login through gmail and not the standard login username and password. Please fix, thanks.
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsJun 27, 2026
Hi Antonio,
Thank you for your feedback, and we're delighted to hear that you're enjoying the language-learning experience.
The repeated sign-outs you described are not the expected experience. In fact, this is the first report we've received of this specific issue, so we'd very much like to investigate it. Please contact our Customer Support team at https://www.pimsleur.com/contact-us. We offer live chat, email, and phone support 7 days a week, from 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM ET, and we'll work with you to identify the cause and get it resolved as quickly as possible.
We also appreciate your feedback regarding sign-in options and will share it with our product team as we continue improving the app.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Feedback like yours helps us identify and resolve issues quickly.
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
