Rosetta Stone Special

[James3]

Hey, not sure if this is the place to post this, but...

 

First off, this is not a debate over the merits (or bad points of) Rosetta Stone.

 

I got an e-mail today, advertising an "email only special" whereby one can pick up Rosetta Stone level 1 - 5 for like $249. (It's currently $274 on Amazon.) When I clicked on the "See All Deals" button in my e-mail, it took me here:

 

Well, if you're like me, and often just want to know what's the minimum I have to pay, they will let you string this out for 5 months. So, that's only $49 a month for levels 1 - 5.

 

Just a reminder, this is not the place for everyone who hates Rosetta Stone, or who thinks they know 25 reasons why their method sucks...to voice their opinion. :-)

 

Instead, this post is in case anyone has really been curious about, and interested in trying out, Rosetta Stone Mandarin. They give you a 30 day money back guarantee, so you've got nothing to lose but your time. If you try it, and find it's as bad as lots of people (I've read in this forum) say it is, then you get your refund, and you've satisfied your curiosity.  On the other hand, if for some strange reason...even after all the negative stuff I've read about them on here, you find you like it, and want to keep it...then from what I can tell, you've picked it up for a fairly decent price.

 

(Not to beat a dead horse, but I know from reading that there's a lot of "Rosetta Stone haters" on here...so...uh...just please keep it to yourself. :-)

 

(And I'm not in any way associated with Rosetta Stone, nor am I an affiliate or anything - if they even have affiliates. I've used it before, and think someone curious about it should have the chance to decide for themselves if they like it, that's all.)

 

And in case it's not cool to post stuff like this, my apologies, admins...please feel free to delete this post - no problem. Just trying to help someone get to evaluate Rosetta Stone Mandarin if that's what they've been wanting to do.

[Demonic_Duck]

Fair enough to start a thread about it, it's relevant enough... not sure you have the right to ask that people "say something nice or don't say anything at all", though... that's not really how forums work.

 

Anyway, I will refrain from bashing RS's product, and instead bash this particular method of marketing. I signed up for livemocha a few years back, used it a fair bit, got out of the habit and then it got taken over by RS. I haven't used it since (went back and thought the new layout was horrible), but I didn't unsubscribe from their mailing list. As a result, for almost a year now I've been receiving a near-constant stream of emails from them advertising 50% (±10%) off Rosetta stone, the vast majority of which are labeled with "order today!", "last chance!", "hours left!", "ends today!", "final hours!", "ends soon!", "offer extended!", "it's not too late!" or some variation thereon. These all go to the "promotions" tab of my gmail account, so they don't bother me unduly, but it does seem extremely misleading to claim that these are limited-time offers when it seems that almost as soon as one ends the next one begins.

[James3]

Several years ago I got on a wine tasting kick. At the time I had the money to support the habit, so I went wine tasting whenever I could. I was eager to develop a more sophisticated palate. I noticed that, when someone else vocalized their reaction to the same wine I was about to taste, and I heard what they said, it was near impossible for me to get what they said out of my head. I was unable to formulate my own assessment of the wine, because I'd been influenced by another taster, who simply made a comment aloud about the wine they were sampling. I learned when wine tasting, to avoid approaching the wine tasting counter, when another customer was there...because they were apt to make such comments out loud to their partner.

 

And, so I was merely hoping that whoever might be curious about Rosetta Stone Mandarin, could form their own impression...unencumbered or uninfluenced by anyone else's description. Kind of like, "let them have the luxury of their own first impression."

 

Sorry if I came off a bit brash.

 

And yeah, I too have experienced what you're talking about with regards to the marketing. :-)

[Johnny20270]

you make a good point James and thanks for the information. Not specifically referring to RS but more language learning material in general. For people who work full time or those who have just a passing interesting a training course should be able to entice the user to want to spend their free time on a product. 

 

This aspect often gets left out of reviews. My book shelf is full of tedious maths, engineering, computer science books which are technically excellent but tedious as hell. For language learning, I believe most users have a desire rather than a need to learn. 

[Shelley]

One problem with letting people form their opinions in this situation is that it costs money to find out. I am dubious of the money back guarantee because if it was that easy they would have gone broke giving people their money back.

 

There must be some criteria that you must meet to get your money back, a no quibbles guarantee seldom is, in my experience,

 

There will be something in the small print that you have missed and they use as a get out clause.

 

If people can get a wide range of opinions from a big enough sample then they may not have to spend their money to make up their mind.

 

I agree that it would be nice if people could enter something like this with a clear mind but I find that this rarely happens.

 

Do they do a trial version that costs nothing and gives people a good idea what it is like? This would be a better way of showcasing their product. No outlay but a chance to look.

 

IMHO though $249.00 is a lot of money, doesn't seem like a bargain to me.Other folk though may consider it reasonable, horses for courses I suppose.

[James3]

I took advantage of a similar offer from Rosetta Stone about a year ago.

 

I went with the download version (they give you a choice between the "nothing to ship you, you just download it" option, versus them shipping you the "boxed set") and after a few weeks I decided to return it. I might add, that one difference between the download version, and the boxed set, is a free headset is included with the boxed set. 

 

I found their customer service people very easy to deal with. I was very glad I satisfied my curiosity, by checking it out myself...which is one reason why I guess I posted this...to encourage anyone else who was interested to find out for themselves. For me, it cost me nothing but my time, and they "borrowed" about $50 or so from me. I mean, it only cost me about $50 to make the initial payment, and that was returned once I asked for a refund.

 

And you're right - there's many learning options out there. Some people have more time on their hands than money, whereas others have more money than they know what to do with, but little time (and of course, there's a lot of area in between.) How much time and money one has I guess influences the options they consider.

[Johnny20270]

hi Shelley, I used to think $250 was a lot for a language course. That's £150 in my money but I suppose one could argue that it is only 5 - 10 hours with a language tutor in London (or 3 with Mandarin House!) . SAOS charge £345 for a 20hour course with 8 min in a class. I think 5 levels of RS (200 hours they say to complete) would put you better than a 20hour course in a class room. I attended SOAS and found it very limited tbh

 

Pros and cons of course in either method but price wise, RS probably not so bad

[Shelley]

I agree Johnny20270, but for me I would rather spend my money other ways.

 

But that's probably also to do with the fact i have tied RS and so I don't need to spend my money to find out.

[MPhillips]

I once encountered someone hawking pirated Rosetta software on the street (inner-city USA)--wasn't interested so I didn't ask price. However such people charge in the $3-$5 range for movies--I feel sorry for them, their business has collapsed.

[imron]

a no quibbles guarantee seldom is, in my experience

Chinese Text Analyser and Hanzi Grids all have a no quibbles money back guarantee.  If you're not happy within 30 days of purchase simply say so and I'll offer a refund,  no questions asked.

[Shelley]

I am sure you do offer and honour your no quibbles guarantee, but in my experience with larger multi-nationals and intermediate size companies/business I have had some bad experiences.

 

One example was that the selling point was along the lines of " learn X skill in X days" when I complained the response was basically "can you prove you followed the method exactly" and of course I was unable to "prove it" if I had known proof was required i would have documented my progress.

 

I am sure that most businesses are not so terrible about honoring guarantees, but i would  be scared to spend that sort of money and then find that something excluded me from my refund.

 

It is probably my previous bad experiences that is coulouring my attitude to guarantees, If it is something that is hard to quantify like a skill I always worry I will be disappointed, if i buy something and it breaks it so much easier to say hey it broke give me back my money

[Johnny20270]

I wonder what prevents RS from being taken advantage of. ie. someone downloading it and then asking for a full refund. I guess the security must be adequate

 

I am going through RS (on and off) at the moment. I will give a full review when I have completed it. I dislike reviews when someone has just looked at it for 5 mins and thrashed it as the OP infers. I have done the first Level and although too easy for me, it is definitely worth discussing on a forum like this (as the versions change so an old review may not be appropriate)

[Shelley]

"I wonder what prevents RS from being taken advantage of. ie. someone downloading it and then asking for a full refund. I guess the security must be adequate"

 

My point exactly, i am not sure security is the answer, there must be something that they determine is a legit reason for a refund and conversely reasons not to refund.

[Ruben von Zwack]

Naw, I think they just know human nature. Average people hate trouble, hate bothering others or being bothered, hate to write Emails or make phone calls. So unless you are extremely motivated, because the product truly sucked, or unless someone is a troublemaker by nature, people rather suck it up and forget about it.

I have some kind of personal statistic to back that up, I work in marketing, and two, three of our really big global clients in the food industry print "money back if you're not satisfied" on their products. All you have to do is write a quick email. But they tell us, virtually no one ever does so. And the end consumers that we talk to tell us they never ask for a refund because they ask themselves the exact question that Shelley asks - there must be some catch to it. Well it's not*, just psychology.

 

*usually

[James3]

I could be wrong, but I believe Rosetta Stone's software now has to have an internet connection to function. I recall reading someone's comment, who had hoped to use their newly purchased Rosetta Stone software on a camping trip...but in fact, when there was no internet connection, it would not work.

 

I've read this is partly so the software can communicate with the company's servers, and verify the validity of the activation code in use by the software.

 

This makes sense, because when I notified Rosetta Stone's customer service that I wanted a refund, like 3 weeks after purchasing it, I had already by that time uninstalled it. So when they asked me for the deactivation code, I asked where I would have gotten that. They said before uninstalling, I was supposed to deactivate it...and that a deactivation code would have been generated at that time. Well, I didn't know I was supposed to deactivate it first...so not having a deactivation code, I anticipated a fight - and just like Shelley mentioned, I figured this was the little tiny print that I missed, and I was afraid I wasn't going to get my refund. But instead, they proceeded to process my return, and initiate my refund anyway. I guess, behind the scenes, once they processed my return, their system invalidated the activation code tied to my purchase.

 

So, I'm guessing what keeps someone from buying and downloading the software and installing it, and then asking for a refund...but continuing to use it...is that when they try to use it again (after getting a refund), their software communicates with Rosetta Stone's computers via the internet, and discovers that the particular activation code in use by the software is no longer valid...and the software thereafter refuses to function.

[Shelley]

This must be for the more recent version, I had tried one of the earlier ones that came on a disc. I did not always have a connection in those days and it always worked.

I forgot about our always connected world these days.

 

You are probably right James3.

[James3]

Trying hard not to turn this into a review of Rosetta Stone...

 

...but yeah, Shelley, the newer versions of Rosetta Stone have been touting this thing they call "TOTALe Studio" where you can install it on your computer, but then have access to it from any device (i.e., another computer, or your iPad or iPhone, etc.) all through an internet connection. I think they even offer the option for you to interact with an instructor, via the web. So, yeah...they seem to be counting more and more on you having internet access.

[Shelley]

I understand your reluctance to turn it into a review but I can see why you posted that, it does make sense that they are relying on the internet to help keep track of it all.

[James3]

Looks like I should have waited to post this, because lol, just as Demoic_Duck described, I got another e-mail...this one from Livemocha...advertising a $199 special, for all 5 levels. That's a better deal than than the one I opened this thread up for (of $249.) This new deal, which it says is a back to school email exclusive, would only be $40 a month for 5 months.

 

I guess one reason I brought this up again...is that I don't see Rosetta Stone talked about that much in here. But it would be nice to hear from a newbie who actually tried it (and hopefully liked it.)  Given their 30 day money back guarantee (which I can confirm they actually stand behind it) it would appear it's at least pretty risk free (except for your time, of course.)

 

I returned mine, mainly because I decided I wanted the version with the CDs (instead of the download one), and before I could purchase it again (this time with the CDs) I decided The Pimsleur Method was keeping me busy. Haven't finished going through Unit 4 of The Pimsleur Method yet.

 

Anyway, when I click on the Get Started button in my e-mail, it takes me to this page.

 

If anyone decides to check it out, have fun, and good luck!  Please be sure to report your experience back here in the forum.

[imron]

I guess one reason I brought this up again...is that I don't see Rosetta Stone talked about that much in here

There's a reason for that, but you said you didn't want to discuss that in this thread.