I paid $200 for a new textbook directly from Cengage's website. It took 20 days for it to arrive, and it is clearly used. Pages are folded over, and gunk is spilled on the back cover. How can a publis... See more
While we don't verify specific claims because reviewers' opinions are their own, we may label reviews as "Verified" when we can confirm a business interaction took place. Read more
To protect platform integrity, every review on our platform—verified or not—is screened by our 24/7 automated software. This technology is designed to identify and remove content that breaches our guidelines, including reviews that are not based on a genuine experience. We recognise we may not catch everything, and you can flag anything you think we may have missed. Read more
Review summary
Created with AI, based on recent reviews
What people talk about most
Reviews shaping this summary
Company details
Written by the company
Cengage helps higher education instructors, learners and institutions thrive with course materials built around their needs.
Contact info
200 Pier 4 Blvd., 02210, Boston, United States
- www.cengage.com
No history of asking for reviews
This company hasn't invited their customers, so reviews may not be representative
Hasn’t replied to negative reviews
How this company uses Trustpilot
See how their reviews and ratings are sourced, scored, and moderated.
Cengage is a Scam
I contacted Cengage in August to inquire about obtaining teacher status for their educational materials. A teacher profile was created, and I was particularly interested in using their "Voices" textbook series for my classes starting September 1st.
Unfortunately, my experience with Cengage Spain has been extremely frustrating. Despite multiple attempts to resolve the verification process, Beatriz, who leads the Spanish team, has been completely uncooperative in processing my teacher credentials. Her unwillingness to assist with the verification process forced me to seek alternative materials from other publishers for the start of my school year.
I purchased the online Upper Intermediate book expecting to use it with my students, but I still cannot access the teacher resources due to Beatriz's refusal to process my credentials. The timing of these delays appears intentional, as the company seems to be extending the response time beyond the 14-day return window.
As an educator trying to provide quality materials for my students, this experience has been both costly and disruptive to my lesson planning. The lack of professionalism from key staff members and the absence of urgency in resolving teacher verification issues is unacceptable for an educational publisher.
I cannot recommend Cengage based on this experience, particularly for international educators who need responsive customer service and timely support for their classroom needs.
Called cengage for support regarding a…
Called cengage for support regarding a purchase, waited on the phone for a support assistant and nobody answered for 20 minutes. I proceeded to hang up and then call again and the same thing happened the second time.
ive never hated a scholarly website so much
ive never hated a scholarly website so much. it does not work, I HAVE 20 ASSIGNMEN TS I NEED TO DO AND NOTHING IS ACCESSIBLE. Saying it's not working because another tab is open. it's the only tab open on my browser. no support, doesn't work and doesn't even have my grades load after ive finished the work. Y'all gotta fix your stuff because I am not paying all this money for school for you guys to have a crappy learning system.
They don't deserve any stars or any…
They don't deserve any stars or any money for their products and services that don't work. I really am not sure why colleges continue to give money to them. The only thing cengage does is cause stress.
This whole thing is terrible
This whole thing is terrible. Broken links in the on-line textbooks. The text referencing companion files that aren't included in any of the student resource sections. I HATE this product and that I'm forced to use it, especially for the ungodly price they charge. This whole thing needs to die in fire.
1 is too good for them
1 is too good for them. Worst customer service. Placed an order for a ESL church program and we couldnt get the materials in time. We called them every day. Sales rep stopped contacting us after she made her sale. Do not care about customers at all.
Absolutely horrible- tried to purchase…
Absolutely horrible- tried to purchase their materials for my son. The prompt asks if youre a student- if you click "No" it automatically places you into an instructor account - then you have no way to access the course materials you paid for.
Trying to contact support is a total joke. The online form goes into some black hole and after being on hold for hours, I never reached a real person. Doing a charge back.
The worst company ever
The worst company ever. I can never reach them and I have been on the phone for hours while also having support cases. They have problems with ordering, refunding and they charge without orders being places. Horrible company.
Cengage is the single worst online…
Cengage is the single worst online learning experience I've ever had the displeasure of using. Their software and structure are disorganized to the point of psychosis and their live labs are borderline non functional. Their "support" if you can call it that is practically non existent and I shudder every time I think of the premium I paid in tuition going toward their bottom line.
worst website ever
worst website ever, doing pre calc algebra and trying to complete graphing multiple segment and having the most frustrating time in the world. The UI is a complete unpolished mess. every time you try and graph a point on a graph the retarded program will mark your segment wrong because you didn't plot your point on the exact nanometer pixel for it to count. Also what the hell is the graphing options. Why is it overly complex and annoying the plot things. Ive used around 6-9 different websites for math semesters and have never strugged with it anywhere near as much as this one. Please delete the whole thing and make a new website that actually works
Forced breaks! Give me a break!
I cannot get past "taking a break" to complete assignments. I wait a day and come back, only to be told I still should be taking a break! It's confusing to navigate, and it never specifies how long the break is. I should be able to decide how I want to learn, given that I paid for the book/material!
Dooglas Skoog book on analytical and…
Dooglas Skoog book on analytical and instrumental chemistry is TERRIBLE. Gives excruciating amount of details without focus on details that really matter.
doesnt teach you anything u teach…
doesnt teach you anything u teach yourself. workload is absolutely insane and impossible to get through without cheating.
cengage mindtap -- A RIPOFF
This is 1000% THE WORST software I ever had to use for computer science classes, and I've had to use a few others that were 2/5 stars. If I could give cengage mindtap (ISBN-13: 9781337271738) NEGATIVE 10 stars I would. I hated it. It would drop connection after I would nearly have completed the lab. When I would complete a task, it wouldn't save. I contacted their customer support at least 5 times and they were not helpful at all. Even after I let them remote in and take over to try to figure out what was wrong. Their IT help desk is worthless. I was at the end of the semester and had days left to complete required work to pass course and their "customer support" couldn't help me. Trust me. I took screenshots of all communications I had with them. All. A flipping waste of $100. They need to have a class-action lawsuit filed against them for robbing college students. I checked if they are still pushing this horrendous software, they are, and have increased the price to $118. My course instructor was able to help my figure out the issue after all of cengage's so-called "customer support" could not. Fortunately, I was able to get the work done and pass the course. I loathe cengage and their sh*tty software.
Heat pump sim absolutely needs…
Heat pump sim absolutely needs improvement. It is horrible, you can't move without the whole screen moving, very difficult to impossible to put the gauges on the unit. It is ridiculous. How could anyone put that out to the public?
Do Not Use For ANY CompTia exam.
My school uses this learning platform for our computer science program. So I have experience with Cengage Physics, Network+, and Security+. All three books were terrible. The virtual labs are so frustrating and don't follow the CompTIA exam objectives; half of the pages are stories, which is annoying. I am transferring schools because of this. I wish I could rate 0. I recommend TestOut. The labs are extremely good and interactive without glitches.
Terrible Excel work assignments
An absolute gargantuan waste of money given to simply want to learn. If you are going to charge upwards of $300 for one textbook, please, ensure that your teaching resources are worth that pride statement of an amount to begin with.
I had no initial problem with reading and answering portion of the workbooks. I think it is fine that we have to answer multiple times, although, come on Cengage, is this an experimental design? More than 2 same questions is just redundant, and to which point neglects to add any more knowledge value after that. My real complaint however is the horrendous Excel Assignments you have to offer. I am taking a Statistics Course for Business in 2025.
Firstly, why is it that we have to use the same exact calculation as you have, despite getting the correct answer for the Cengage app to even be able to read it. Questions have multiple answers, if I use a calculation or function and get the right answer, then that should count.
Likewise, there for some sections of the textbook which neglect to even include the Excel function you need to even do the assignment! I mean what are you guys doing, I am sitting here 1.5 hours per problem trying to find the exact function you intended for the question, ALL while actually knowing the correct answer in my head throughout trying to solve it! It makes no sense.
Please—No, actually not please. Just get your stuff together, Cengage. This was generally an awful as it was inefficient "learning" experience.
I hate Cengage
I am not having problems with signing on or anything like that. I was a Medic in the Air Force and I also have an Associate's Degree enabling me to be a Medical Assistant. My college is using Cengage for folks who want to take the Medical Coding Test. Since I have so much experience, I thought that it would be a breeze.
The Anatomy and Physiology class, that I've already had for years and years, is extremely hard. I've gone to ICU nurses, E/R nurses, a Respiratory Therapist, a Charge Nurse (with a Bachelor's and Master's in nursing and Doctorate in Education) and they didn't know answers to some of the questions that were being asked. I asked someone else who said, "I was in Pre-Med for a while and this is exactly what i was studying". Why is coding needing a doctorate level of education? I don't understand.
CENGAGE publisher invoice different amount than quoted
We are a retailer we requested a quote for 3 books from CENGAGE publisher. After weeks of back and forth with the publisher we accepted a quote only to be invoiced a different amount than what was approved. Customer service blamed the system and was unwilling to compensate for their error. Do not trust this publisher.
The Trustpilot Experience
Anyone can write a Trustpilot review. People who write reviews have ownership to edit or delete them at any time, and they’ll be displayed as long as an account is active.
Companies can ask for reviews via automatic invitations. Labeled Verified, they’re about genuine experiences.
Learn more about other kinds of reviews.
We use dedicated people and clever technology to safeguard our platform. Find out how we combat fake reviews.
Learn about Trustpilot’s review process.
Here are 8 tips for writing great reviews.
Verification can help ensure real people are writing the reviews you read on Trustpilot.
Offering incentives for reviews or asking for them selectively can bias the TrustScore, which goes against our guidelines.








