CengageBrain Reviews 5

TrustScore 2.5 out of 5

2.5

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2.5

Poor

TrustScore 2.5 out of 5

5 reviews

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Extremely Disappointed

I live in Kent, England, and earlier this year, I bought the book: Automotive Maths And English Functional Skills, to use with a person that I am supporting. At the back of the book, as instructed, I entered the address given, so that I could access the answers, however, I was repeatedly greeted with the response that the server is not recognised. I have asked friends to try and access the answers using different devices and search engines, all to no avail. Today, I learned that a relative currently in the West Indies also could not access the server.

I have emailed the contact shown on their website, and had no response whatsoever. I am extremely disappointed with this purchase, and feel that I have wasted a lot of my time, and money, on a company that I now have some concerns about.

March 26, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I have a book from Cengage I am trying…

I have a book from Cengage I am trying to find the materials that the book says is available for download by a ISBN number. but the website keep redirecting me to places were i can buy new stuff. so I try to get support. first I have to create an account before I can contact support, then I get a chat bot that tells me Live Support Agents are unavailable visit the main web site. So I gave up on getting help.

September 30, 2021
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

If I only knew.....

I wish I had read these reviews before purchasing my ebook on line. I have the same issues - I wasn't aware that you don't actually own the ebook and that you can't read it offline. I do have internet access and when I went to print some of the pages, a notice appreared on screen "this customer only allows you to print 10 pages at a time" which implies you can print several batches of 10 pages at a time BUT, it only allows you to print 10 pages per day!! Definitely a rip off but I wasn't prepared to pay a 2nd time for a hard copy of the book.

September 12, 2021
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

It's partially a scam, you don't own the books and they don't want you to read their publication off-line.

I was convinced to buy an e-book from Cengage as we have been given a nice discount applicable to all their publication on my study fields. After completion of the purchase, I realised I couldn't download the book( you need to access to their platform every single time you want to use the material you bought) and consequentially I couldn't read it off-line. After some searching, I found out that the only way to read the book off-line is to download their mobile phone app, which I am not happy to use due to sight issue. The icing on the cake is that you don't own their book, they are just lending their publications to you for a very long length of time, this was not clearly stated at the moment of the purchase. Last but not least they don't do refund on electronic publications. I am not pleased with my experience with Cengage. I ended with an expensive book that I can't read if I don't have access to the internet and that ultimately I don't own. I understand the reasons behind their marketing choices; however, there are some many ways to avoid inappropriate distribution of contents without penalising customer that are not happy to read a university textbook via smartphone or that don't want or can't be connected to the wifi all the time.

October 23, 2020
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

This is a scam!!!!!!!!

This is a scam!!!!!!!!
Bought an ebook for my studies and it is not possible to read it offline, which of course is a requirement for the exam thus it is money wasted and I need to buy it again from vitalsource which apparently have it in PDF.
At the same time they have 0 return policy on digital items.
Do not recommend. Stay away.

August 28, 2019
Unprompted review

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