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Are new hosts hired? When are we expected to have new lessons?

#1

I am still keeping my membership paying 29 dollars every months and just been using existing contents eagerly waiting for the “Change”.

Can we get updates at least on what’s happening?

It’s been months since the management posted about “Chinesepod is changing” and there is no follow-ups after that.

Even though Chinesepod has great contents thanks to the previous people who worked hard, now I am getting doubts on the ethics of the management itself.

Hey Management people, what is happening? Do not hide. Give us specifics.

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#2

I foolishly pay annually and renewed my subscription in December. NEVER again!

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#3

Yes the lack of communication and transparency is rather disconcerting, I do hope some new content is in the pipeline as it has been such a good and highly regarded learning platform for many years

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#4

We are sorry to have had this period of time without new content. We were hoping that our library of lessons would be extensive enough to keep everyone learning and satisfied during this transition.

We are investing major time and money in improving the site and the content. I know it is disappointing to have lost our most recent hosts, but as you have seen in the past, we have had various hosts who were great in a different ways. One of our current challenges is that we are implementing multiple curriculum with multiple hosts. It has definitely taking us longer than we would like to find the right people and develop the new material, but we are confident that it is worth the time and attention we are giving it.

We are currently recording content in several different production studios with several hosts and different teaching styles. We are not sure how many of these programs we will actually roll out, but we are testing and refining ideas.

Your opinions and comments are important to us, and we are trying to incorporate many suggestions in our new programs and curriculum.

Thank you for being dedicated ChinesePod customers. We appreciate you and will continue to work very hard to bring you the best Chinese learning material possible.

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#5

I’m sorry, but the way you have responded to customers’ concerns has been nothing short of disgraceful and disrespectful to our intelligence.

I relayed one thing back to a member of your staff, but I will say it again here: The only thing I have learned from ChinesePod since renewing my membership is how not to run a business. Hiding whenever customers voice their concerns and failing to give us adequate notice just reeks of incompetence and ineptitude.

I bought an annual membership in December, believing that I would be able to continue my Chinese learning journey, but the only thing I appear to have bought is a barrel of laughable excuses, which your response above simply reinforces.

The implication of the above message is that we will have to wait longer. This is not right, it is not ethical and deplorable on your part - continuing to earn money while showing blatant disrespect to your customers. Shame on you, ChinesePod, you are a disgrace!

(A disgrace I am stuck with until December, since I purchased an annual membership… That sucks, but doesn’t suck as much as your team does at PR).

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#6

i am really surprised and sad by how easy is it for many to be really harsh. Chinesepod is a fantastic learning platform and a great community. Subscription based services are payments for ACCESS to a wealth of information, not always for a new content on the clock. I wonder, have all of you who feel ‘cheated’ really studied every single lesson and know it all? if so, you probably don’t need the site anymore? i understand that you feel the communication hasn’t been what you expected ( there are often times when its difficult to communicate while a change is happening) but i would just say: remember that there are real people behind the scenes who work hard and for whom whatever is happening is probably much harder than for any of you who have the choice to switch to another platform. Be gentle people. You are intellectuals who study languages, there are better ways to give feedback. I am very dissapointed in today’s world of anonymity behind avatars or the digital screens where many allow themselves to behave in a way they would never in real life. Why is that? no need to comment or send back a reply to me. i have nothing else to say but to please ask you to just think about it.

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#7

Thanks for the response. However, it has been almost 3 months now that the old hosts have left. It will be more reassuring if we get an idea about “when” we will get the new content. For people like me who have been subscribers for ages, the library of lessons is not extensive enough. Except for newbie lessons, we can’t see any fresh content on the website in 2018. I understand it is a tough time for all of you left behind to sort out things, however, the silver lining is that your customers expect good content from you. Please keep that in mind. Wish you all the best!

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#8

I’ve been using ChinesePod to complement my Chinese studies since 2006. When I started, I was listening to Newbie lessons. The changing of the guard (it’s not the first time – I do miss John and Jenny) has been a fun opportunity for me to revisit some lessons from the beginning of the Chinese pod days, and to explore the huge archive of lessons that I couldn’t understand when I first started. Keep up the good work, Chinesepod! Maybe bring back Pete from Poems with Pete or John for a guest appearance!

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#9

Agreed, ChinesePod was at one stage a great learning resource. They created so much new and dynamic content that really was a major boon to my Chinese learning.

Under my previous subscription, I downloaded most of the previous lessons. The reason I purchased an annual subscription was for new lessons, and the CP team has yet to respond to my request for an extension to my subscription to offset the time I have been waiting for new content to be released.

Furthermore, this is business, not a charity. Businesses survive based off the provision of a product or a service and, you know, respecting customers. They have provided ZERO information about when we can expect to receive content (oh, I regret that decision to purchase a 1-year subscription so much), and heard about their old hosts leaving through a post from a user of ChinesePod, NOT through the team itself. Do you think that this is responsible from the team?

Also, regarding your statement about switching to another platform: I would, BUT I ALREADY SPENT $200 ON THIS ONE. Also, I am using my real name and profile picture, so I guess I’m not really hiding in that case… I’m just as much an asshole in real life as I am here, don’t worry about that, hahaha.

Finally, I personally doubt that they are working hard “behind the scenes.” Working hard normally results in content, they have, since Fiona, Constance and Gwylim left, released no new content. This just illustrates that the management there takes its customers totally for granted and shows a complete disregard for our concerns. Those “people” that we need to think about, are screwing customers over with their ineptitude and incompetence.

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#10

i saw that there were no new lessons for a long time and thought it was due to a subscription issue.
I signed up for the annual subscription and still no new lessons. Then i read on the forum that there were no new lessons from Chinesepod. Disappointed - i made contact and asked for a refund from Chinesepod who refused. I managed to get a refund but not from Chinesepod, but rather through Apple as i bought my subscription through that means.
If possible try this route too.

I got a lot out of the lessons in the past so i am very disappointed with Chinesepod now.
It cant be that hard to make some new content or find a chinese teacher.
Given the way that they are not responding to the negative feedback from customers, it is not surprising that the teachers left.

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#11

It amazes me that they can still make new promotional videos (like the animated one on the front page of the website) and still not attend to paying customer’s needs. Seriously, there’s been several promotional videos released since Fiona and the gang left.

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#12

Like everyone else I am really looking forward to hearing about the future of ChinesePod, including the new hosts. Fiona, Constance and Gwyllm were a great team and I will miss them. I totally get everyone’s frustration with the current situation. Having said that I do understand that it would take a while to find suitable replacements for Fi, Constance et al., and I am nowhere near running out of material to study. I feel that if I wasn’t getting my money’s worth from the existing content then I probably wouldn’t need ChinesePod at all. So the lack of new content for this short period isn’t that concerning, but it is important to me to know that the situation will be resolved and that ChinesePod will be around for the foreseeable future to continue to support my Chinese learning. I suppose I am saying that some people are being really harsh on the ChinesePod team, but equally the team could do more to reassure and inform those of us who really appreciate the value of ChinesePod for studying Chinese. 再见

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#13

In the Terms of Use it says:
“We reserve the sole right to either modify or discontinue the site, including any of the site’s features, at any time with or without notice to you. We will not be liable to you or any third party should we exercise such right. Any new features that augment or enhance the then-current services on this site shall also be subject to these Terms of Use.”

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#14

We appreciate the frustration that some advanced active users are feeling. We are happy that you have enjoyed the regularly posted lessons and are working to have new and additional lessons posted shortly. We do not want to predict when they will be released, as we are still producing the content.

While we agree with @YongHeDouJiangDaWang, @tatjanadzambazova and many others, that the content on the site is extensive and still very valuable. We have 100’s of thousands of users, and most people have plenty of material to keep them engaged and learning. However, if anyone feels they have paid for a service they are not getting, we will refund your payment.

We have a large team working behind the scenes in web development, content creation, and curriculum production. The improvement process is extensive and management is working hard to coordinate the rollout of enhancements and advancements. Coordinating a change of any kind on a website which has so many users and so much content is a major undertaking. We are attempting to improve the user experience while not interrupting the users. It is no small task.

We hope that we will introduce the new hosts and curriculum quickly enough to keep all our students satisfied, but we understand we may not be able to accomplish that. Please email marketing@chinesepod.com if you would like to further discuss.

Thank you for using ChinesePod.

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#15

I was surprised by al the negative comments. I am an intermediate learner and am new to Chinesepod. I think - so far - it is an excellent tool alongside my human Chinese teachers, with over 3000 lessons from Newbie to advanced.That is a heck of a lot of lessons and many need to be done several times to learn the sentence patterns and vocab etc. I am happy with my monthly fee. If speakers are that advanced that they no longer need all the lessons provided, perhaps set up face to face conversation classes. Or read Chinese newspapers etc online and discuss problem areas with a real-life teacher. At the end of the day not even Chinesepod, as excellent a tool as it is, can replace a real life teacher or mother tongue speaking friend, as, afer all, the goal of language acquisition is to communicate, be it as a translator, a teacher, or the need to be able to communicate with Mandarins speakers in your business (the latter is one of my needs). I think Chinesepod does a pretty good job of that.I especially find the audio tests very good and challenging.

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#16

From what I see people aren’t upset about Chinesepod as a product, they’re upset with the lack of substantive direction and communication by the company during this period of no new content.

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#17

Precisely, all we want is a straight answer and solid communication - nothing more.

If they are incapable of doing something so simple, how can we deem them capable of producing new content?

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#18

Thank you @user22374

#19

And I don’t get a “thank you?” What’s up with that, ChinesePod?

Just imagine if a magazine said to its customers, “we are not releasing new content, but you can look at our vast array of archived materials.” I think they would, rightly, be put out of business.

Congratulations on ‘agreeing’ with the people who voiced their support, because you have backed the MINORITY OPINION. This sentiment is not shared by other customers, who are rightly agitated by the lack of communication or forewarning on your part. This is scandalous.

You have failed to answer two basic, recurrent questions, so I am going to ask them again here:

  1. Will those of us who purchased an annual subscription be able to receive membership extensions?
  2. If not and we have received no new content since subscribing, will we receive full refunds?

I will remind you, I downloaded all the previous lessons under my old subscription; I renewed for new, up-to-date content. Stop hiding, start answering and you might very well cut the negativity out of the forum. Continue your current method of communicating (Read: None), and you are going to continue to foster ill will.

I hate having to tell you how to do your job, but sadly, the ChinesePod team looks like it needs serious help, as the excuses look like they are being scraped from the bottom of an aged barrel.

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#20

Dear Chinese Pod,

The customers are angry because you are stonewalling. Okay, you’re still looking for new hosts. Tell us what happened to the old hosts. Tell us what is the status of finding new hosts. Don’t just tell us everything is going to be hunkydory in the grand socialist or capitalist future. Then we can participate alongside you in the exciting change we keep hearing about.

I’m a new customer, therefore Chinese Pod is a feast. I miss Connie especially, but it’s hard to miss her when she’s all over currently existing product. So now I’ve found Pete and others I really like. There’s stuff on here that’s already radically improved my Chinese. One series I loved, as far as it went, is Say It Right. There’s little bits of Chinese I’ve picked up on one lesson or another that I now use daily and hear others use daily. It’s so much easier to listen and watch than to listen to phrases on MP3 or read in a book.

What’s important is to build brand trust. The problem is not just surviving this crisis, but keeping a loyal customer base into the future. It may not be apparent to you that you are damaging your reputation into the long future. Disgruntled customers won’t be back, or they won’t sign up for long periods, and they’ll tell others not to subscribe. Rule of thumb: each upset customer tells five others about their travail. Need I say this is bad? Improving your PR now will help stanch the bleeding.

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