Spotlight Verlag GmbH Reviews 112

I had however mistake to order the trying copy. And cancelled directly even before they haven’t sent anything. Now they keep sending the magazine and ask for paying which is so expensive for what it is. ( cheap copy, few pages to read and no interested contents… for 15 fr??? )
I was so angry emailed cancel again and they said have to wait 6 months??? WTH I didn’t sign up any thing ??? Never seen such a Fraud like that.!
Contacts the customer service / Abo to complain no body answer???
Can not believe has such thing still exist nowadays

I was sent an email by Spotlight Verlag offering a "free trial issue" of Écoute magazine. I did not read the small letter stating that, if I accepted the issue, after a 14-day period, if not notified previously, I was automatically subscribed to the magazine, even though it was totally unsolicited.
I am used to subscriptions where you pay before receiving a product and not after the product has been issued to you without being purchased.
This misleading selling technique ended with invoices and escalating bills including a legal letter threatening further costs. I have just read an entry on Trustpilot in which there are ways to fight them back for what is called "inertia" selling. Unfortunately, I have already fallen for this. Nevertheless, I'll be contacting the Consumer Protection Association in my country to try and sue them for these unfair and illegal practices.

I have bought many e-issues on apps for Deutsch Perfekt and Ecoute, an estimated 20 to 30 issues.
Recently when I have tried to read them again, to my surprise, all the issues that I have bought have been deleted from the 2 apps.
I wrote to Deutsch Perfekt, and was told that all issues on the app before the year 2000 are no longer available. Sorry, not possible to recover them. Schade was the message.
I am amazed at the “couldn’t care less” attitude of the Deutsch Perfekt staff.
How is it possible that issues that I have paid for and downloaded on the app on my iPad are suddenly and automatically removed, with no reason or warning given. Imagine if this could ever have happened with a company like Amazon Kindle.
It is clear to me that Deutsch Perfekt is run by management and staff who do not respect business obligations or responsibility, and impose new business measures for the customers who have already paid up, with no regard to their welfare.
If the many e-issues that I have bought are indeed my personal property, then Deutsch Perfekt has no right to delete them without informing me first, and declare, when asked, that there is nothing that can be done.
I question that such a unilateral action taken by Deutsch Perfekt is even legal. I am not sure of the legal recourse in the EU, but if there isn’t any, then we are as good as dealing with a banana republic.
I also think this case will make an interesting editorial topic for a future issue of Deutsch Perfekt - is high handedness a cultural trait?
Anyway, there are always other ways for a student of German to freshen up on the language. On Youtube are plenty of excellent German lessons and videos with text.
I think other than readers like myself, the other real casualty is the editorial and graphic teams at Deutsch Perfekt. They are doing an incredible excellent job, churning out exciting themes and articles, issue after issue.
With the current management however, I can only say that the readership has been affected. I know for sure there is one less. Sincerely, Kai Jin.

Hustlers. Don't take a free newspaper because it will cost you dearly in the future. Me 175 euros for something I didn't order from them. They don't inform you about the purchase and issue an invoice a few months later. If you don't pay after 2 summons, they sell the debt to debt collection, which charges you again as much as much. Contact is not possible. They don't respond to emails. You must call them as long as you can speak German. Stay away from this release! Does anyone know which office in Germany will deal with the issue of unfair practices of the publishing house?

I would better put -5.
They are just trying to take your money without any valuable content provided.
Avoid them.

To those like me who were scammed with an email promising a ‘free trial edition’ of Deutsch Perfekt with no information about any costs, and found themselves with escalating bills and legal letters threatening further costs, despite not having subscribed: you can fight back and win, as I did. In most EU countries, Consumer Protection Law prohibits both misleading advertising (ie offering a 'free' product that turns out not to be so) and 'inertia' selling - ie unsolicited goods or services sent to a consumer together with an invoice. Inertia selling is an aggressive commercial practice under EU law (Directive 2005/29/EC) and is prohibited by law and punishable by fine in most EU countries: consumers do not need to take any action in response to the receipt of unsolicited goods, and the absence of a reply by a consumer does not constitute consent. If the company continues to harass you, write this in a letter to them and to the Inkasso (if you receive threatening letters from them). If that doesn't work you can contact your local Consumer Protection Association or the European Consumer Centre. The EU Competition Authority, based on a ruling by the European Court of Justice, imposed fines on several companies for inertia selling.

I had the most unpleasant and worst experience with them. First, I ordered the abo according to the prices on the website. But they kept sending me wrong overpriced invoices. I called them 100 times and on the phone they were friendly and always asked to resend emails and they act stupid and they didn’t do anything in fact. I practically lost all my nerves because of these false invoices and calls and emails. This lasted several months until I said I will file a complaint because of deceit. I cancelled my abo at once. And….several months later they send me invoices twice as much even though I cancelled my abo about 5 months ago! They still charge me. I am in dispair…. I never expected such an open fraud…I asked to delete my data and leave me alone. If they don’t I will file a complaint to the review office.

Scammers!

I am really disappointed with their approach to potential customers. It turned out that they sold my "debt", even though I didn't buy anything from them.

They lure you to order a gratis issue with small print that if you don't cancel it in 10 days you will receive and will have to pay all issues for the title (Deutsch Perfekt in my case) for the next half year!

After my subscription was renewed automatically, I contacted the client centre that I want it to be cancelled. They returned me money without any problem. Great service, thank you.

The Magazin itself is not bad, but selling practice is an extremely unethical business. Almost scam. I got a claim from a collection agency about missing payments and addition fees, but my lawyer sent them a letter, after which the case was closed since there is no legal basis for this claim. I'm pretty sure the most of their claims are illegal.

I clicked on a banner of theirs some months ago because of the free trial of the DeutschPerfekt magazine and a week ago I received a brief where they stated that I have debts with them (even though I HAVE NO SIGNED CONTRACT WITH THEM). I really don't know what to do, if to pay these scammers or just let it be.
I'd like to know how other people have handled this situation, because it gets delicate when they start threatening you with court, you paying the whole process, etc. And all of it because of not paying for a subscription I never even ordered.

The company takes advantage of unassuming customers by tricking them into buying a subscription by offering a free magazine. However, it is nowhere stated explicitly that by clicking a button you agree to subscribe. As a result, you end up with a "magically" accumulated debt for the product you haven't had any idea you were actually paying for. What is more infuriating, most people affected either don't understand German or are in the beginner stages of learning it, and it is an ordeal to figure out what went wrong when you get an invoice. This is clearly disrespectful to customers, not to mention that people are deliberately misinformed.

They asked me to insert my email to receive a free copy at home. When I did it, they specified on a new page that the free newspaper cannot be sent out of Germany. I exit the page but they register my email for the subscription to the newspaper, never requested by me.
They sent me the invoice after few weeks. I specified that I never requested any subscription and I wanted to cancel any active one. The sent me in any case the invoice to cover the digital copies until that date, together with a 50% extra fee for the delay in the payment. Totally sneakey and scammy behaviour. Completely unprofessional.

It is a scam. They trick you into "ordering" a magazine, the website shows "No active subscription", yet suddenly you find a payment demand from an external company that the scammers sold your "debt" to. I asked them to cancel my subscription and never dare to use my personal details again. They write to you in German although it is not a language I am fluent at - otherwise I would not be learning! Avoid them at all costs, there are other ways to learn German although at this moment I don't feel like having anything to do with this language or country.

Excellent language magazines, reasonable customer service - once you can find them! - but impossible to navigate website that really really really needs to be fixed!!! They have details for one card, but no way for me to change that to a different card. Extremely frustrating...

Well, from what i am reading here, this company is conducting different behaviors in order to get more and more money without offering a service. I mean, some of you say the told you your subscription cannot be cancelled until paying. In my case, they cancelled my account but are still asking me for money... Funny, different procedures...

My experience:

After having a look at a trial of this magazine I decided I wasn't interested. Never again have I visited their web until some days ago when I received a postal letter telling me this was the second notice for me to pay around 60 euros plus an 8-euro charge for the letter (I don't know exactly how it works in Germany but in other European countries it is ilegal to demand any additional tax beyond the supposed debt, which is another clue on the illicit practices of this company). They claimed I was subscribed and hadn't paid and they threatened to take me to the court. For the trial no card number was requiered, something I found wiered for the times we are living today... (It's funny because for a standard subscriptions without a trial period you can use your card). So... Anybody could just write a name of anybody he would like to bother and write his postal adress just for him to receive at some moment letters from this company asking for his money and threatening him... Any other serious company could charge you after a trial taking your money from your card and, if you cancel it without using the service, they give your money back (that's the real and guess legal key, whether you've used the service or not, in order to claim for your money). Otherwise, this company ask you for your money without you signing a contract nor using their service... Indeed, after reading that threatening letter, I tried to log in and discovered that my mail didn't exist as a user when trying to recover the password, supossing I should have a user if they were trying to charge me for whatever service!! I am freaking out.

In addition, I received a second postal letter (third notice from them, they say) the 10th of this month telling me to pay before the 6th :)))). It's like moking at us. If I don't pay by the 6th, they say they will proceed legaly what will incur in addition costs for me. The funniest thing is that these letters are not registered. In the legal world, such kind of notices are always registered.

I am sure they proceed this way intentionally so as to get more money. Really unethical, cause in the end I've never seen those supposed delivery I've received nor can I do it now. Soy they are trying to charge me for nothing.

They could make more money proceeding honestly, since I am a usual language-learning products consumer and, for sure, I'll never have anything to do with this company in the future, neither will anybody around me. I ensure that!

I have to add that, unlike the comment previous to mine, I wrote to the company mail and asked for the to unsubscribe me and they answered they did it. So the debt company is really using illicit practice to make you pay. How is it possible you are not able to unsubscribe and make your debt grow up??? Haha

Like many before me, they charged me (despite the fact that I did not sign a subscription contract), and when I did not respond to their e-mails - they sold my debts to an external company that demanded> 150E from me (after roughly 4 months of "subscription"). Not bad, isn't it? You cannot cancel your subscription yourself, the employee of the collection company informed me: "Your account is blocked because of the open invoice. You can cancel your subscription as soon as the amount of 150.61 Euro is paid." This is a scandal !!

Never test anything with them, they silently sign you up. I did not see that and immediately they start sending warnings with higher and higher costs. No customer support. Ripping off people!

HORRIBLE taking my money without me being aware i was already into their subscription - not clearly stated!!!! i just wish they'd given any back to me :((( i didn't even fully understand german - logically as i wanted to learn heheh

they are taking advantage of ppl not knowing language and posting the billing in german