Linguaphone Sale

[Speakeasy]

Many of you will likely recall that a couple of HTLAL discussion threads were initiated to advise the forum members of the latest Linguaphone Sale and, being sensitive of your collective nostalgia, I thought that it might be worthwhile to continue the tradition on this forum.

So then, the latest price reduction is 60% - 70% for the complete courses, plus a free copy of the corresponding PDQ course, plus free shipping within the U.S.A.

Here is the LINK to their website: http://www.linguaphonelanguages.com/

Please rest assured that I have no affiliation with Linguaphone U.S.A., or their agent, Elite Commerce, and that I derive no benefit, whatsoever, from disseminating this information.

[Speakeasy]

I just noticed that the latest Linguaphone Sale is for "Refurbished" courses at up to 75% off the regular price which translates into a price of 120 $US for the Complete courses: Beginner-to-Intermediate and Advanced-to-Expert.

[diplomaticus]

How long have you usually had to wait for shipping to happen? I placed an order April 2nd, got an email confirming the purchase, but have not heard even a whimper since. After 6 days, I used the contact form on their site, referenced my order ID, and asked what the deal was. Still no replies. Though I did send it late on a Friday, so I will wait a few more days before contacting my credit card company about getting my money back.

Doesn't strike me as a good business practice to let a week go by without either a notification of shipping or some sort of explanation as to what is up. I paid for UPS ground, which is 3-10 business days, but obviously that count down won't begin until they actually ship the product Though, now I wonder if they just don't ship to APO addresses. But, if that is the case, the form shouldn't allow for one to be filled in....

[Speakeasy]

I received the Linguaphone materials that I purchased on this latest sale rather quickly and, generally speaking, I have been quite pleased by their level of service.

However, over the past couple of months, I have placed numerous orders for materials from U.S. booksellers and I have found that delivery has been much slower than usual. Since the phenomenon seems to be so wide-spread, I recommend patience. If you cancel your payment on Monday and receive delivery of your parcel on Wednesday, you will have to request that the cancellation be reversed. Give it another week and then give Linguaphone a call.

[diplomaticus]

Which other places have you ordered that have been slow?

And do you know of any other places I can buy the Linguaphone Dutch course in case I do need to get my money back from this?

[Speakeasy]

General Slowdown in Deliveries
Over the past six to eight weeks, I have placed over 42 individual orders with smaller booksellers via Amazon, Alibris, AbeBooks, and EBay. In almost every case, I had had previous dealings with these bookers. My recollection is that the delivery time, which includes passing through Canada Customs, was seven to ten days in the past. However, my recent wave of purchases has been averaging about three weeks for delivery, excluding those orders that I am still waiting for, some four weeks on. My Email communications with the individual booksellers have not yielded an identifiable cause for this general slowdown. However, from my perspective, something has most definitely happened somewhere.

Elite Commerce Inc.
Elite Commerce Inc., is the official North American agent for Linguaphone. They also used to be, and might still be, an authorized reseller of the Pimsleur courses. Take a look at the languages that I have listed. In every case, if there was a Linguaphone course available for these languages, I purchased it through Elite Commerce. Also, before Simon & Schuster began offering their Pimsleur courses as mp3 downloads at prices significantly lower than the prices for CDs, I also purchased all of my Pimsleur CD courses from Elite Commerce Inc. In the extremely rare instances where there was a problem with any of my orders, my experience was that Elite Commerce Inc. resolved the matter both quickly and efficiently, and with no additional cost to me. You can contact them as follows:

Corporate Offices:
Linguaphone
Elite Commerce, Inc
1810 Cabellaro Dr
Ammon, ID 83406

Telephone: 1.866.960.9616
Fax: 1.208.227.8331
Email: support@linguaphonelanguages.com

Other Suppliers of Linguaphone Courses
I do not know what relationship Multilingual Books (http://www.multilingualbooks.com/index.html) has with Linguaphone. However, they do seem to offer many of the Linguaphone courses at the "regular" prices of 400 $US. I have had only two experiences with this particular vendor and, to be kind, I would say that communications with the customer does not appear to be their long suit.

Recommendation
Call Elite Commerce Inc. on Monday morning.

[Peluche]

Anyone know if Linguaphone UK also has good sales?

The refurbished complete courses from the US site would cost 150 Eur+customs+vat shipped
Anyone know what the import charges will be? Are the import charges levied on top of item price+shipping price?

From UK, the shipped price for the complete course I want is 190 Eur.

[Speakeasy]

Given the shipping costs and taxes, I can well appreciate your hesitation! In answer to your question, I have noticed that, from time-to-time, the Linguaphone UK website does, indeed, offer their self-study courses at reduced prices. However, the sales events are difficult to predict. Furthermore, while I have never made a direct comparison, I am under the impression that their price reductions are not as generous as those of the their agent in North America, Elite Commerce, which might be operating under a special licence that includes the right to offer the materials at dramatically lower prices. The simplest solution to your question would be to contact Linguaphone UK, providing a LINK to the Linguaphone USA website, to draw their attention to the reduced prices and the refurbished courses and ask them if they offer the same, or similar, prices and terms and also asking to be put on their Email list for automatic notification of future sales events.

If you wish to avail yourself of the Linguaphone USA prices and conditions, perhaps someone located in the United States might be able to order the courses on your behalf (specifying snail-mail shipping, as Elite Commerce tends to ship via priority mail which is much more expensive) and have them ship the items to you either as used materials or as a gift, whichever passes most easily into the Euro Zone, in return for a personal payment via PayPal. From my recent dealings with some U.K. and Continental vendors, I suspect that the shipping costs, exclusive of taxes, might be about 30 to 40 Euros, which is significantly lower than your estimate. I would offer to do this for you; however, as I live in Canada, aka The Great White North, the shipping costs (USA-Canada-Europe) would accumulate significantly and you would not be much further ahead.

Finally, I suppose that the remote possibility exists that you negotiate a sale via Linguaphone USA with actual shipment to be effected by Linguaphone UK which, from their standpoint would be merely a "booked inventory transaction" with reduced shipping costs to the ultimate buyer. How good are negotiating skills?

[Peluche]

Thank you for the detailed reply Speakeasy!

I may have failed to convey the price correctly, from US, the price including shipping is 150 euros (120$+50$ shipping).
And then I will have to pay customs+VAT (which I don't know how will be).

From the the UK site (no customs), I will get it for 190 euro = 220 USD shipped.
They do not seem to offer refurbished courses.

I will email them and ask.