New Products and New Prices
John
May 27, 2008, 08:52 AM posted in General DiscussionIf you take a look at the subscription information, you may notice a few things have changed. There's a new product, and some prices have fallen as well.
Guided
ChinesePod Guided offers you everything that comes with a Premium subscription, plus a live voice evaluation of your language abilities with a trained Chinese teacher in Shanghai. That teacher will assess your Chinese level, then recommend some lessons from our massive archive, based on your level, your goals, and your interests. That teacher will continue to give you feedback and guidance throughout the month, and will also test you on what you learned at the end of the month. You don't ge tthe daily speaking practice that you get with the Executive subscription (formerly known as the Practice Plan), but you do get valuable guidance in your studies at a much more affordable price.
Price Changes
We have updated our pricing to be a bit more consistent, and, in several cases, more affordable as well. Please note that 6 month Premium subscriptions are now $11 cheaper, and the Executive subscription prices fell even more drastically.
Of course, you can find info about all this stuff on the Subscription Information page.
jane
June 28, 2008, 10:34 AMsarahjs
Many thanks for your reply, I will email them. I wondered if some of my posts went missing!
Regarding your earlier post on subscription, I also found ChinesePod very friendly and accommodating.
light487
May 27, 2008, 09:41 AMNo need to call me Sir, bro.. :)
So the test would be used to further evaluate my spoken skills at the end of each month. Sounds great! And all for only $49 a month!! Wow! I know I'd much prefer to have a daily thing but I can't afford that.. but $49 is well within my monthly budget.
So I don't get to pick my teacher then? :p
fordbronco
May 27, 2008, 01:15 PMOn the subscription page, the words Starting From.. seem to be used in the opposite sense of what I'd expect.. shouldn't the Starting From price be based on the cheapest price over a long term?
perle
May 27, 2008, 05:48 PM...I like the idea of guided lessons. I currently have a Praxis pass which doesn't expire until July- I found I dont ofter use the Praxis since Mandarin takes up most of my interest and study time, BUT I dont mind having it as an extra. Can the guided lessons start before my expiration with an upgrade? Can the praxis still be added to the guided lessons?
sarahjs
May 30, 2008, 09:37 AMI think you can downgrade and upgrade you subscription. Change it around to suit your needs, E-mail chinesepod and ask, they are very friendly.
If you go to your subscrition information (you account) that they now have acoount credit like I have $232.67 (as I paided for 1 year premium)
so I think they have added move flexability.
perle
June 01, 2008, 07:52 AMThanks Sarahjs- I will get in touch with them. I think they are all struggling to get everything up to optimum- I will give it a few days and then do my upgrade.
auntie68
June 27, 2008, 01:39 AMNaughty CPOD! I've only just noticed the 15% price increase for a 12-month "Basic" subscription ($69, up from $60). And btw, your "payment history" info needs serious attention; dates and amounts all wrong.
clay
May 27, 2008, 09:35 AMLight487,
When you first sign up for Guided, you will get an initial consultation over Skype with one of our teachers. This will take about 20 mintues. From that evaluation, they will establish your level and objectives and assign you lessons for the next month (4 work weeks). At the end of this period, you will be given a test based off the materials assigned to you. This will again take place over skype, where you will communicate verbally and through its messenger.
so...
1. Would this been done only once? Or would it be done at the start of each month? On the first month, you will have two half hour conversations (the initial call and the follow up test), and every month following, you will have the live test
2. As I live in Australia, how would the live voice thing work? Would I need Skype or similar application? Would I have to be home/available at certain time of day? They will establish the times that you have available to talk, and place you with one of our teachers based on that.
And just out of curiosity, how would the Executive plan phone calls occur? I guess it's the same as #2 question above but on a daily basis. You are correct sir. Same monthly testing, but you get to talk 5 days a week with our teachers.
fordbronco
June 27, 2008, 02:09 AMYeah, so? It's their right.
auntie68
June 27, 2008, 02:14 AM@moloch: What is it in the tone of my post that you are reacting to?
fordbronco
June 27, 2008, 02:20 AMThe scolding tone.
rrrandy
June 27, 2008, 02:49 AMYou are going to complain about 75 cents a month ? Haahahaha. I thought my grandma in Vitebsk was cheap.
jane
June 27, 2008, 05:04 AMI have no need to have the fancy title Executive subscription, the Practice Plan describes what I do five days a week, with my teacher.
It is now a full month since the site update. For the privilege of being an Executive subscriber I have lost the following study facilities:
Vocabulary manager:
1) There is no choice of Random.
2) There is no facility to alter the pinyin.
3) When a word is added there is no audio, even such a common word as 最. I get the ridiculous response "No lessons related to this word".
4) The audio comes and goes on the flash cards. Perhaps this is a temporary problem
I have only mentioned one aspect!
I don't know what has happened to Cpod recently but this is no longer the product for which I and my husband were happy to pay our annual subscriptions.
This is no longer "Mandarin on my terms". It appears no one is interested in my concerns, i hope I am wrong.
sarahjs
June 27, 2008, 09:24 AMJane, I would see if e-mailing them helps (if you have done so already) I think that sometimes, posts can get lost in the sea of all the other posts.
I think the upgrade to the site, didn't go all to smoothly and there have been many problems, but CPod does seem to be fixing them.
I see problems such as the no data dialogue box when clicking on the little players for the sentences in the expansion, it's annoying but I'm sure that it will be fix soon. There are other posts stating what is going on, usually John (the guy from the intermediate lessons) is the poster, telling us whats happening.
auntie68
June 27, 2008, 02:07 AMNaughty CPOD! I've only just noticed the 15% price increase for a 12-month "Basic" subscription ($69, up from $60). And btw, your "payment history" info needs some serious tweaking; dates and historical payment amounts are all wrong.
light487
May 27, 2008, 09:09 AMI'm seriously considering upgrading to the Guided subscription level. It's very affordable and looks like exactly what I have been needing lately. My only questions would be about the "Live Voice Evaluation".
1. Would this been done only once? Or would it be done at the start of each month?
2. As I live in Australia, how would the live voice thing work? Would I need Skype or similar application? Would I have to be home/available at certain time of day?
And just out of curiosity, how would the Executive plan phone calls occur? I guess it's the same as #2 question above but on a daily basis.