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Chinesepod should extend for no charge the subscriptions of all members until services are resumed

Thanks a million and I totally agree with your statement about caveat emptor; this is a very poignant case of of buyer beware and the necessity of being vigilant, even with companies you trust.

https://fionatian.com/tag/chinesepod/

I wrote to them last week and have yet to receive a response! :slight_smile:

I have seen that post before, and my issue is that it came through Fionaā€™s personal media accounts rather than through an official Chinesepod announcement. They are genuinely trying to dodge the issue rather than address customersā€™ concerns directly, which means they have allowed the situation to spiral out of control. Their PR team is about as useful and as helpful as a glass hammer.

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They have responded to every query except for ones related to subscriptions and membership fees. This indicates that 1) they have no clue whatā€™s going on; 2) they hope users will allow the matter to slip; 3) I have too much time on my hands (waiting for a Chinese visa does that to you).

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Thank you for being an important part of our ChinesePod community.

We recognize the frustration here and hope that when our new content is rolled out, you will agree it was worth the wait. We know this does not make the waiting any easier, and therefore would like to offer you free private lessons while we finalize the rollout of our new programming.

Several of you here have already joined the Test Group, NewPodMovement, where we are collecting input on our upcoming series, lessons, programs and productions. If you havenā€™t joined the group and are interested in seeing new content, this is a great group to join.

We are proud to have brought you a steady stream of clever and engaging lessons on a regular basis over the past 10 years. We have been working to create improved techniques and curriculum with a variety of hosts, teachers, dialects and formats. Our team is expanding on what you have loved in the past and are working to make it better.

Please email Learningconsultant@chinesepod.com if you are interested in receiving free private one-on-one tutoring as you bear with us through this transition. We will provide a tutor who will customize your instruction to focus on the areas you are most interested in, so that you do not feel you are stagnate during this evolution.

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Thank you for responding, as I was contemplating starting a thread titled, ā€œChinesePod ----- Shambles.ā€

This type of polished, PR 101 response might have worked had you been proactive about addressing this situation from the beginning, but this response happened a number of weeks into your unannounced hiatus. This fostered ill will among your paying and loyal customers and reeks of a reactive response. For those of us that do not have time to avail of those private lessons, will you be able to add additional time to our memberships (especially if we have paid for a year), to compensate for you guys completely dropping the ball?

I have messaged your learning consultant privately about this.

I look forward to your response.

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I think it is a decent gesture for Chinesepod to offer a few mini one on one lesson credits for subscribers in lieu of an updated service.

One curious thing - I received an email response last night finally a week after I had sent a query about no new lessons saying my query had been resolved and new lessons were up. They arenā€™t. Not sure what is happening here? Anyone have any other news on this?

I have been using ChinesePod for quite a few years now. Although I have studied many of the lessons in the archives up to Upper Intermediate level there are still more at Advanced and Media levels, apart from which revision is also an essential part of language learning. So I agree that there is plenty to be going on with while we wait, but I have always assumed that the cost of subscriptions assumed the regular appearance of new lessons at all levels. I feel strongly that the cost should be lower for access to the archives in the absence of new lessons, and an extension of subscriptions would be the tidiest solution.

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it is true there is a lot of content, but iā€™m more focus on the new one, and thatā€™s also true there is nothing new since few weeksā€¦

free private lessonā€¦ could be nice but i would prefer an extension of 1 or 2 months of my subscription :slight_smile:
But Let see what is the thing with ęˆ‘ęƒ³åø®åæ™

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I joined ChinesePod for the fresh content, so Iā€™m disappointed that this has stopped or paused.

I hope the management considered an extension of 2 months while they sort out how to move forward. I requested an extension, but the management team has not respondedā€¦

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I like Chinese Pod in general. However to pay 200$$/year is not a great price point. there are a lot of OLDER lessons but they are still useful. I would much rather see a tiered pricing system to access the older lessons ( e.g. 10$/month) while the company sorts out the new hosts and new lessons.

Once you lose customers, getting them back is hard. I am considering going back to chineselclass101 but prefer chinese pod since the video adds interest.

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There has not been a new Media lesson since 2014. Regardless of the amount of content (155 lessons, not an extraordinary amount), it shouldnā€™t take four years to add a new lesson.

Hey PercyFawcett, Iā€™m so sorry that youā€™ve waited so long for a new Media lesson. Iā€™ll be sure to pass this information along.

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Thank you, GraceWong !

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Hi Grace. I think the Media lessons were discontinued. I personally found them very interesting, because it was not just studying Chinese, but also learning about some current news and developments along the way.

One problem with going back to the old lessons now is: They contain a link to the news source that they are referring to. I checked about 10 or so and in all cases that link was no longer working unfortunately.

So, should the media content be revived, I suggest that the original text/ video/ speech whatever should be available permanently. Of course, this might pose some copyright issues, but maybe you can finde one news platform willing to cooperate.

Hello MisterXia! Iā€™m so glad you are interested in the Media lessons! That is something that we are working on. We also see the problem with linking to articles or videos, because the other site may decide to take it down. So we are trying to see if we can get permission to have the media videos within our own. Thank you for your continued patience.

That would be great. I know the whole copyright issue is a tangle (especially when you leave the Mainland!), but good and effective Media lessons (using ACTUAL media), in my opinion, would be the greatest asset. The average learner doesnā€™t need more than 50 Newbie lessons, yet there is a mountain of them; advanced learners could use almost unlimited Media lessons.

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New content is what made ChinesePod such a premier choice. People want to be current, to learn language related to major events and trends, and ChinesePod used to deliver that. The lack of fresh content added to the interface problems I have across multiple platforms makes the current offering less valuable than it used to be.

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Hello JLindsay, we hope to change that VERY soon! Thank you for your patience and input. Iā€™m sorry that you are having interface problems. I hope that we can get back to being very valuable to your Chinese learning journey!