Packt Reviews 178

Packt are often denigrated as producing low quality materials here and in similar places. This is not an accurate summary though. Their business model as far as content is concerned is to be the first out with materials to help developers in leading edge software technologies. In order to do this, they push through large numbers of books and training courses quickly, many of which are from new or relatively inexperienced authors. Some of those books are the ones that cause the perception. They do, however, also have some very good books and training that can sit alongside of the big names and which are well-worth obtaining access to. There are places where you can see the popularity of their materials before buying which should help with content filtering. Like all of the other technical publishers, they have agreements with big organisations, who provide access to their library of content through their own subscriptions. Such organisations are, in my opinion, the best route into their training, as for many others. As an example, I personally have a subscription to the ACM. This gives me, in addition to its other benefits, access to several training portals including O'Reilly, who include all of the Packt content within their portal. The cost of this subscription is lower than any annual training site subscription, even the normal Packt one.

Hooks you with easy subscription, but makes it a hassle to unsubscribe.

I bought a book from Packtpub called Machine Learning in Excel. The summary and book chapters imply that the chapters are about using Machine learning via Excel.

When I got the book, it actually turned out that of the 10 chapters out of the total of 12, the first 10 were about using statistical calculations in Excel using the built in Math function libraries. Nothing about Machine learning. I could have learned that from Excel Help.

When I contacted Packtpub about a refund they said the summary stated what the book was about and can't refund the payment for the ebook. Which is complete nonsense, since the summary and chapter gudes talk about machine learning incessantly but are about excel functions.

This is fraudulent advertising when they sell books which are not what they claim to be at pretty big prices.

Now customer service is not responding to me.

Support is slow but very detailed.Materials are ok not superb but for 5 euro a month it is best on the market comparing price and quality of learning content offered.Mostly used for online books and quick video sessions.Materials are not very detailed talking about videos.Books are well organized and intuitive made.Overall 4 of 5 starts in my opinion.Very positive experience for starters experied users will probably find a drawback for beginners this place is perfect.5 EURO A MONTH and they complaining "about materials".THe company is legit based in England not some teens in garage.I do not get the point why people are complaining.If 5 euro a month is expensive for quite brand new material then get a on e on one teacher for 25 euro an hour.Simply as that.

The quality of the material is quite bad
Got the 5$/ month for 5 months.
Started with a book in its third edition and it has simple math mistakes {8/(21+8+36) does NOT equal 133} and overly complicated explanations in some cases and blatantly skipping where deductions came from in others.
Went onto another book and the code examples cannot be simply copied and pasted as the indentation (this was for python) was wrong AND it used " instead of '.
Tried a video clip and so far haven't picked up glaring issues but the explanations (though not essential to the course) of how things work is not accurate.
Though, for 5$ I can jump to any topic, and just keep an eye out for silly mistakes like these, but for serious learners starting off learning coding I'd recommend you look elsewhere.

I tried to renew my subscription ... the PayPal route ended with a 404 error, page not found on packt.com but AFTER I had authorized the transaction with PayPal, now I need to check. Then gave a card which seemed to work, but only after a couple of minutes with confusing messages on the website.

Their app on Android simply does not work with their books. I cannot scroll down the page or move to the next page on my up-to-date Samsung S6 lite. The site works OK (more or less) using the Chrome browser.

Their contact form end in a failed communication message that referes to "failed authentication" but no authentication was involved in filling it out.

Their phone number (in UK 0121 265 6484) only reaches their automated call director, which directs you to endless ringing, no human picks up.

Altogether consistent with the other bad reviews I read here; sadly I have given my payment.

I ordered a book, Jan 31st and the book was in process for almost a month. Nine emails later and a PayPal dispute, I got my money back, and throughout the emails, one of the folks placed a second order which arrived yesterday. The other rep said I can place the order again and had no clue about the second-order, and the other representative had no clue about the PayPal dispute. No one at the company checks finances with PayPal as they don't respond to conflicts and PayPal finds in your favor by default, thankfully. I will NEVER order a boom from this company again. Luckily it was free, but I earned it with the hassle and work I had put into the order and the entire process...

Can't delete credit card information!
Can't delete the account!
Didn't notify before taking a payment!

Bought few coding courses with humble bundle but noticed after purchase that all the courses were few years old and the there have been so many updates that the information is already old. I have no use for React books and videos about class components. There is so many of sites like these that sell online courses with outdated material

Cancellation of free trial is a nightmare - avoid. I cancelled my free trial, and have been charged twice. I am in contact with Nikhil from their customer service, who has acknowledged that when I log into their mobile site (as I had been using), that they clearly state that I do not have an active subscription, but apparently that is not true. Horrible experience with them, and unfortunately ongoing. I cannot recommend this company in any way.

Good value.
Customer service have been helpful when needed.

False advertising: The website advertises by claiming all publications are included with the monthly subscription. So I purchased the subscription because the course I needed said "As a subscriber you have FREE access to this publication" in its product page. As you can see by searching for this publication in the website: Drupal 8: Efficient Application Development

But after subscribing I cannot even access this course, when I spoke to customer service they told me I must purchase this course as its not available to subscribers.

This is blatant false advertising.

I bought a book from Packt called "R web scraping quick start guide" and it was unfortunately the worst thing I have ever spent my money on. Don't be fooled by their nice website or affordable prices, the contents of the book was atrocious. Very simply:

1. The book did not do as it said. It said it would bring the reader through examples and explain concepts. It did not. It did a lot of listing but no explaining.

2. In the preface of the book it said all the reader needed was a fundamental knowledge of R. I am a very proficient user of R but the contents of this book was for web scrapers wanting to use R, not R users looking to web scrape. Very few, if any, of the web scraping terms were explained in details to allow someone with no prior knowledge of web scraping to understand it.

3. The editor did not do a good job either as the book does not flow from one coherent point to the next but instead jumps from one poorly explained concept to the next and sometimes back to the original idea which is very hard to follow. I understand that the authors first language may not be English, and I don't want to criticize other people's second language skills as I myself can only speak/read one but the author/editor/someone really should have done a better job. The paragraphs are broken up sentences that often are not on the same topic. It is a very difficult read, not because the concepts are difficult, but because of the way it is written.

4. I wrote to Packt and asked for my money back. They appropriately asked for examples, and when I gave them the author challenged my expectations of the book. The book is clearly marketed as a quick start guide for R users to learn web scraping but the contents are not. They said if I wanted my money back I should have cancelled my order within one hour of purchasing it. How was I supposed to know this book would be terrible if I hadn't even read it yet?

I don't really blame the author for the bad book, he was trying to make some money, I blame the editor for doing a terrible job and Packt for allowing this book to be sold on their website.

Take home message: I won't be buying from packt ever again due to the poor reviewing quality.

This is my second year with annual subscription through Paypal. Like any other subscription service it renews automatically. Subscribe with any online newspaper, magazine or streaming service and you'll see that payments renew automatically. You can cancel automatic payments from Paypal as soon as you subscribe or leave it if you are happy. Packt has had a reputation in the past about mediocre quality of their books compared to other publishers like O'Reilly. I believe this is no longer the case and the amount of content you have access to is amazing on all kinds of tech, programming and digital marketing topics. No other provider gives you so much value at this price tier. OK, some of the books and videos are mady by indian, arab and eastern european professionals, but they are very knowledgeable and you understand them perfectly. And the language revision now is much better than it was in the past. I discovered the videos this year and they are a great ressource made by third party online academies or by freelancers. You also have access to interactive learning courses coding in the browser. This year they included books from other publishers like Wrox (which you cannot download). You can buy books or videos at a subscriber price of 5 euros. And you get 1 credit per month and another for completing 50 sections which grant you 2 book or video downloads per month to own them. I am not related in any way to Packt. I am just a satisfied subscriber who decided to share his experience because I was surprised at all the negative reviews.

Stealing money from card after subscription was ended

I have signed up with erroneous email which was never verified by pact system and was charged subscription fees since February this year. I didn't even realize that there was a subscription, I thought it was a glitch as I didn't get a confirmation email and couldn't login. Resubscribed with correct email. Cancelled subscription with correct email in a couple of months, but 6 months later realized I'm still being charged. Contacted their support and was told no refund because of policy. Asked to escalate multiple times, but they never did. Customer doesn't come first at packtpub.

Scam like platform. They keep financial record for 6 years even if you delete account. Don't use this service

Beware! If you cancel the subscription on their website and you're paying through Paypal they don't cancel the PayPal subscription. I cancelled my subscription over a month ago through their website and they charged me for last and this month! My access to the content was disabled the minute I hit cancel on their website and they were practically stealing money from my account after that point until I went to PayPal and cancelled it. I filed a case with PayPal but I doubt I'll get anything back from them.

Good content, but I forgot to cancel after signing up to the trial 7 months ago and they only give me 1 month refund. They can see from their system that I haven’t logged in once in all that time. It’s my mistake I know but seems like they are trying to make money from customer’s mistakes