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A woman says she was misled by Rosetta Stone when she purchased a foreign language learning course advertised as being “yours to keep forever” and then found out it would actually expire in two years.
Nadia Lotun of California claims Rosetta Stone is intentionally deceiving consumers like her in order to sell more language courses and she is suing because over it. Lotun filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Rosetta Stone and its parent companies, Cambian Learning Group Inc. and Veritas Capital Fund Management, asking the court to put a stop to the company’s allegedly unfair practices.
She is seeking a jury trial and financial compensation for her and other potential Class Members who also purchased Rosetta Stone language software that did not come with lifetime ownership.
“Defendants actively promoted, advertised, and represented to consumers a ‘lifetime software download’ of foreign language course(s) … that they never intended to honor,” the class action lawsuit says. Rosetta Stone “concealed, suppressed, and omitted material facts about its foreign language online software package from consumers to entice consumers … [and] to maximize income and sales.”
Lotun says she purchased a Learn Spanish: Rosetta Stone Bonus Pack, which was said to offer a 24-month subscription and lifetime download of the software for about $145 in November 2018 through Amazon.
According to her class action lawsuit, she chose the Rosetta Stone course over other Spanish language learning courses with the “reasonable expectation that she could download the software to any PC and/or Mac at any time for at least a lifetime, and that the Rosetta Stone software was hers to keep forever.”
In fact, the software was only hers to keep for 24 months, the class action lawsuit says. As a result, she felt tricked, cheated and ripped off, her lawyers wrote in the class action complaint.
Lotun claims she not only suffered financial harm due to Rosetta Stone’s practices, but also emotional distress, frustration, anxiety and wasted time.
She claims Rosetta Stone’s actions violate California’s False Advertising, Consumer Legal Remedies, and Unfair Business Practices acts. The company had a “duty to disclose” that the purchase of the software did not include the lifetime access its advertising led Lotun to believe it did, she says.
The court must act and issue an injunction preventing Rosetta Stone from “tricking customers into purchasing [its] products through [its] fraudulent advertisements and packaging,” the class action says.
Lotun originally filed the class action Sept. 24 in California state court. Lawyers for Rosetta Stone moved to have the case transferred to U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division on Dec. 29.
Have you ever purchased a downloadable Rosetta Stone foreign language course? Were you led to believe the software would be yours to keep, only to find out later that it expired? Tell us about it in the comment section below.
Lead plaintiff Lotun and the proposed Class Members are represented by James H. Bartolomei III of Duncan Firm, P.A.
The Rosetta Stone Class Action Lawsuit is Nadia Lotun, et al. v. Rosetta Stone Inc., et al., Case No. 8:20-cv-02430, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division.
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81 thoughts onRosetta Stone Class Action Lawsuit Says ‘Lifetime Software’ Expires
I also have been cheated by this company. I purchased several sets and now they do not work. This company ought to be forced to give access to everyone that purchased their CDs. It’s not like it would place any kind of undue burden on this company. If there was in integrity involved, they would have “grandfathered in” everyone that purchased their products previously. How do they expect to have future customers when the word gets out about what they are doing?
Yes, the same thing happened to me with my Spanish Totale package. Don’t advertise that it is ours to keep for life if you will not support it and just try to get additional money when you see the world has shifted towards a monthly premium concept.
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Yes I purchased the “lifetime” subscription as a digital download and they now discontinued it and only offered me a 3 month subscription. I even talked to a supervisor and they refused. They said I could buy an older computer and it would still run even though I don’t know where I could download the digital copy anyways.
I bought the program many years ago used it and then tried to use it again and it wouldn’t work they said it was no longer supposed and offered to give me 3 months free. I said they told me that it would always work and that I didn’t want the three months free. I want what I paid for and that is a program that would have free upgrades and always work. Count me into the law suit please.
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I was also ripped off by Rosetta Stone for Spanish and Mandarin. All they offered was a 3 month trial of this new “lifetime” membership and are pushing me to purchase that. Honestly want to be added to this lawsuit
Same here. I purchased French level 1-5. Had been using it for a little while. Called to put it on new computer and was told to deactivate it on old computer to reactivate it on new computer. When it didn’t work on new computer they said they no longer support digital download and I need to purchase new subscription. They should not have told me to deactivate it knowing it wouldn’t work on new computer. Went to reactivate it on old computer that meets all system requirements and it’s not working- just take me to “buy new product” after I enter my activation code. I never received an email for the upgrade to lifetime from my existing purchase. They should upgrade all the existing customers not for the timeframe they had that barely anyone knew about because they didn’t send communication out about it.
Same here. Spent idk 200-300 USD on this product and now its useless as i can’t redownload it to another platform or use it at all. Their only response here is 3 free months… that literally costs less than half of their original product price
Please add me. I purchase a lifetime Spanish 1-5 in 2016. I can’t access the download and I am told it still won’t activate after.
They(Rosetta Stone) didn’t offer any upgrade. Seems like conversion to the new online lifetime with a single language should be a no brainer.
I also ordered the lifetime digital download from Rosetta Stone, French and Spanish only to find out that I can no longer use them due to Flash Player. I was offered a 12 month subscription for only one language that has now expired. Now I am out $400. Please add me