Remember how I did a small series of reviews on courses I took last year? Well, I forgot to include this one, because it’s not really a course but a collection of courses.
The easiest way for me to describe Wondrium, formerly known as The Great Courses Plus, is that it’s like Coursera but without all the tests and certifications. Basically, you have access to a lot of lectures (mostly from The Great Courses) and the PDF workbooks but it’s just for you to enjoy. You don’t get certified because there’s no way to grade your learning. Apart from lectures from The Great Courses, they also have their own Wondrium-branded courses, Craftsy courses, oxford-style debates from Intelligence Squared, and a few other programmes from other places. As you can probably guess, the four types of content that I consume on Wondrium basically come from these four sources.
Subjects available include:
- Arts & Music: from “how to draw” to “how to appreciate classical music”
- History: I’m currently listening to one called “The Pagan World: Ancient Religions before Christianity”
- Languages: I watched a few of the French ones, and I’ve seen courses for Latin too!
- Mathematics: I’ve definitely watched a math’s course when I was revising for the GMAT
- Literature: There’s one called “The Secrets of Great Mystery and Suspense Fiction” which I enjoyed
- Hobby & Personal Pursuits: I’ve seen yoga, knitting videos, and even phone photography videos.
- Debates: These are long but really interesting – topics include: “do dating apps kill romance?” and “is a universal basic income the safety net of the future?”
- and a lot more! The above are the ones that I’ve explored
What I like about Wondrium is that there’s zero pressure to finish a course, so I can dip in and out of them. Do I want to listen to a particular lecture on a math concept? I can do that without having to listen to the whole course. Did I find something that I started boring? I can stop and not be reminded about missing course deadlines. It really takes the pressure out of “learning for fun”, which is something that I really appreciate.
Of course, the downside to Wondrium is that because the courses are basically on-demand for you to watch, you can’t really show anyone how much you’ve learnt. If you wanted a cool certificate for LinkedIn, you’re probably better off trying one of the MOOCs.
The other downside that I’ve found is that a lot of the content is from universities in the West, at least, as far as I can tell. There are a few courses about China, and one or two on India and Japan (lots of one-off programmes for these, though) but they also seem to be from universities in the West. It’s not a huge issue because I don’t want to limit academia by region, but I do think that you’re missing out if you get all your information from one part of the world. I think this is because The Great Courses (the parent company) is an American company, but I really hope that they start working with universities in Asia in the future.
Basically, if you are like me and you like to just dabble in learning things and/or want to watch something that isn’t Netflix sometimes, this is something to check out! I have so many courses on my watchlist and I foresee myself watching a lot more of Wondrium.
It’s definitely a pity that most of the uni content comes from Europe and North America. I would love to see content from African, Asian, South American and Oceanic institutions!
Same here! But they are adding new content fairly regularly so fingers crossed it will get more diverse!
I want to share my three-year Wondrium experience to alert potential customers. I paid monthly fees, but a hidden annual plan surfaced later, making me feel deceived. When I initially signed up, there was no annual plan option listed. I noticed it recently while trying to use Wondrium with a friend, leading to my customer service inquiry.
Initially, Wondrium’s customer service directed me to Roku, where I initially signed up. But Roku redirected me back to Wondrium, the ultimate payment recipient. Here, my troubles escalated. Wondrium’s customer service was unprofessional and unhelpful, dismissing my concerns and citing that I had “duly enjoyed” their subscription service.
Wondrium overlooked the core issue of my dissatisfaction. I paid $300 more over three years due to the absence of an annual plan option. When I suggested I could have saved this amount by selecting the annual plan, they remained unresponsive. Another representative declined my reasonable request for a 50% discount on a 4-year plan (worth $300), citing fairness to other customers as their rationale.
Their idea of fairness raises moral concerns. Other customers didn’t suffer a $300 loss due to the absence of an annual plan during my sign-up. Their persistence in maintaining this position appears solely aimed at keeping my money, ignoring my valid concerns. What’s especially frustrating is their continued promotion of new customer offers, despite my financial loss.
I never asked for a refund from Wondrium. My only request was a fair offer to return to their platform.
The core problem lies in Wondrium’s failure to understand customer satisfaction and the moral implications of their actions. They’ve not only provided an unsatisfactory service but have also benefited from my extra $300, leaving moral questions unanswered. I advise potential customers to be cautious and explore services that prioritize customer concerns and satisfaction.
My experience. Stick with the monthly plan. I have been on the annual plan for years. I lost my job due to restructuring and had not really been using the service. After looking at bills and expenses I decided to end the service…it’s a luxury. Coincidentally it was time to renew anyway. I called them on Sept 22, 2023 to cancel. They said I was up for renewal, and it shows processing, but my card hand not been charged yet. I requested to cancel and they agreed. On Sept 23, 2023 the charge for 129.90$ posted to my cc account. I called back and lengthy conversation was documented. In short now that had been charged they would need to send in a request for a refund. Which I fully expected to happen and didn’t expect much further.
Upon receipt of my cc bill the charge was still on it. I called again. This time was told I was sent an email (which I do not have) on Sept 26, 2023 denying my refund. I requested that email be sent to me again with documentation that it was sent to the correct address on the date documented.
They said and I quote, “not using the service is not a justification for a refund.” I said I was not asking for a refund of months unused in the past. I am requesting a refund of a service i expressly stated I didn’t want on sept 22 for services not yet rendered from sept 23, 2023 to Sept 23, 2024. They refused stating the policy that you cannot get a refund for any part of a plan once it is paid for. So ‘if you have a year plan and cancel day 1 you cannot get a refund for the remaining 364 days…but I can still access all of their great content until your plan ends in 2024’. I said I did not cancel day one I canceled before I was charged. They said I received an email refusing the refund. The conversation continued with every question ending in that statement. Let’s just say I will NEVER USE THE COMPANY AGAIN.
This also means if you have monthly subscription and cancel you will lose that monthly only. If you want to try it, do not sign up for a year. This policy effectively negates ANY benefit of savings the annual plan provides for years of service much less 1. This is behavioral economics at its finest. Lure you into an annual plan due to the savings and then throw in a sneaky interpretation of no refunds for not using the service.
Never mind that I canceled the day before they charged me for the year, then charged me, then refuse to refund me because the plan year had already begun. That’s criminal. Terrible customer service. Politely f’king you is still f’king you.