Coffee Break Spanish FAQ: Premium Materials

To view the answer to any of these questions, please click on the question itself. The answer will appear below.


What does Premium Membership involve?

Becoming a member gives you access to a range of additional materials which are produced for each lesson. These materials are published in the days after the main lesson. They include the Enhanced version of the podcast which allows listeners to view a slideshow of vocabulary while they're listening to the main programme. Also included is a pdf guide for each lesson which summarises the language contained in each lesson. Each week we also publish a "bonus podcast", an extra lesson which reviews the language covered in the main lesson, but uses alternative methods to help listeners consolidate this language. See below for more information.

Can't I buy individual episodes?

While you can't buy the bonus materials for indivudal episodes, you can purchase what we call a "season pass". The basic Season Pass gives access to the pdf guides for a unit (eg. lessons 1-10, lessons 11-20, etc.) for a cost of £12.00. The VIP Season Pass gives access to all the bonus materials for the unit, ie. pdf guides, enhanced podcasts and bonus listening materials.

How much does it cost to buy the Premium Materials?

Our current standard subscription rate is £22.50 for a three-monthly membership. Please note that these amounts are GB pounds sterling. There are no plans at the moment to introduce an annual membership because we're not 100% sure how long the programme will run. From time to time we offer special discounted rates. Season Passes are £12.00 for pdf only and £20,00 for the full VIP pass.

And what's that in US dollars / yen / kronor ...?

We can't provide updated currency exchange rates on our store, so we'd suggest that you use XE.net at http://www.xe.net/ucc to convert the prices into your local currency.

What payment methods are available for Premium Membership?

For subscriptions you must have a Paypal account. It is not possible to sign up for a subscription without a Paypal account. However, our Season Passes can be purchased using credit cards through Paypal and in some cases Google Checkout.

I can't get through the signup page in Paypal. It keeps timing out.

This appears to be a common problem and we're not entirely sure why it happens. Users should be aware that it's a problem with Paypal and not the Coffee Break Spanish site. Equally we don't want to put users off from signing up! The strategies which seem to have worked for other users include trying to use Firefox or Safari if you've been using Internet Explorer; reducing your security temporarily to allow you to accept cookies from Paypal; trying to sign up using a different computer. We've been in touch with Paypal about this problem and they are apparently looking into it. For more information, and for some advice on what Paypal suggests you try, see this page on our website.

What if I don't have a credit card?

If you're particularly keen to use the subscription method you can sign up for bank funding through Paypal by providing the details of a bank account. Alternatively you can use debit cards rather than credit cards. However, do check out our Season Pass option which does not require you to have a Paypal account.

If I sign up for Premium Membership, how quickly will I receive my signup details?

CBS Season Passes provide instant access to the download page. For CBS Subscriptions our signup process is manual. When you submit your details we receive an email and then begin the process of creating an account for you in the database which will give you access to the premium materials. As soon as your account is ready we will email you a username and password. Please note that we are a small team and we try our best to get all accounts activated as soon as possible. Most of the time this can take up to 24 hours. In very rare cases signup processes can take longer when we're out of the office. If this is the case then we will have some kind of indicator on the site to explain that we're out of the office.

It's been longer than 24 hours and I've still not heard back from you. Where is my signup email with my username and password?

We receive all signups by email and reply to the email address you have provided. The email you receive will have subject line Welcome to Coffee Break Spanish, Premium Edition, and will be from radiolingua.com. Often users have spam protection on their email accounts which can involve either emails from unknown senders going straight to junk mailboxes or being intercepted by another system, eg. spam protection systems. We have no control over such systems and would suggest that you check your junk mailbox in case our email has gone there. Another possibility is that the email address linked to your Paypal account is perhaps not your "normal" email address. We can only reply to the address which is linked to your purchase, so make sure you check all your other email addresses for the signup mail. We have also had some problems which we're trying to resolve with Comcast subscribers. For some reason Comcast treats all of our mail as spam! We try to send mail from radiolingua [at] googlemail.com if this is the case. Otherwise it's likely that your signup email will be from sales [at] radiolingua.com. Our best advice is that you contact us at team [at] radiolingua.com and send us an alternative email address at which we can contact you.

How do I access the Premium podcast feed / Premium materials?

If you are a Premium subscriber you can access full instructions here. You will need your username and password to access this page. If you've purchased a Season Pass you'll be taken straight to the download page and receive an email with the appropriate link.

What is the enhanced podcast version of the programme?

Our enhanced podcast is a version of the podcast which combines the audio track with a slideshow of flashcards synchronised to the audio. This allows listeners to the show to see the spelling of words as we cover them on the podcast. Enhanced podcasts can be played on iPods (Photo, Video, Nano), in iTunes and in QuickTime Player. There are further details on accessing the enhanced podcast in the members area. Again, your password will be required to access these pages. Enhanced podcasts started recently and we're working to develop enhanced versions of archived materials. These will be published as soon as they are ready.

What is the bonus podcast?

When you're learning a language it's important to practise the language in different ways. As a subscriber to Coffee Break Spanish you can listen to the main podcast as many times as you want, in order to become more confident with the language contained in the podcast. However, it may become a bit boring to be listening to the same content over and over again. For this reason we've developed the bonus podcast as an alternative way of learning the same vocabulary in a different way. The bonus podcast features music and/or relaxation techniques to help you use different parts of your brain to maximise your learning potential. The bonus podcast forms part of the Premium Membership and is only available to premium subscribers. You can listen to examples of the bonus podcast on this page.

What is the pdf guide?

The pdf guides contain detailed information about the new words and phrases contained in each lesson. In addition they also contain full transcripts of all dialogues included in the recordings and lists of basic and bonus vocabulary. The pdf guides form part of the Premium content available to Premium subscribers.

Is there any way of seeing sample materials before I sign up?

You can download samples of the pdf guides, bonus podcasts, enhanced podcasts and flashcards from our Premium Membership section. We plan to add additional sample materials to this section in coming weeks.

How long does a membership last?

Your membership will last from the day you sign up until the day your account expires. Your account will be on-going unless you cancel. See below for further information about cancelling your account.

Do I have to remember to pay my next instalment?

Paypal subscriptions are automatically renewed unless you manually cancel your account, or your account details are not valid. For example, if you have sufficient funds in your Paypal account or if you have a valid credit card linked to your Paypal account then your subscription will automatically renew one month or three months after you originally sign up. This will continue until you manually cancel your account. However, if your credit card expires before your next subscription payment is due then Paypal will send us an email to let us know that your payment wasn't made, and you'll also receive an email to the same effect. Paypal will try to take the payment again a few days later. If your credit card details have been updated then the payment will go through as expected.

How do I cancel my membership?

To cancel your membership, visit the original signup page and click the Cancel button. You'll need to sign into Paypal when asked and you'll see a list of your Paypal subscriptions. Identify which subscription applies to Coffee Break Spanish and cancel the subscription from there.

If I cancel my membership when will my access to Premium Materials stop?

If you cancel your membership your access will be active until the day before or the day of your expected renewal date. For example, if you subscribe to CBS on the basis of a one-month subscription on the 3rd April, then your membership will be due for renewal on 3rd May. If, in the meantime, you cancel your membership then your access will be removed on or around the 3rd May. The exact date is difficult to determine because of time zone variations for users across the world.

What happens if I accidentally cancel my membership?

If you accidentally cancel your membership you should first contact us on team [at] radiolingua.com. We can work with you to ensure that you don't lose any access while you resubscribe. It is very likely that you'll be able to keep your username and password, as long as you contact us to let us know that you're resubscribing.

It seems that Paypal has cancelled my membership. Why?

Paypal, for some reason, can't deal with cards which are nearing their "valid to" date. It would seem reasonable to expect Paypal to send you an email to say that your card is about to become invalid, but this does not appear to be possible. If your account has been cancelled then it's likely that Paypal did this because your card has become invalid. If you set up a new card, you'll have to subscribe again. If this happens, contact us because we can let you use your old username and password.

Do you offer educational discounts?

At the moment we don't offer any educational discounts. There are two main reasons for this: firstly, the service we provide is an educational service, therefore most of our users could claim to be "education users". Secondly, it is very difficult to confirm the educational status of any user and such systems, without verification, can be open to abuse. However, we are currently working on developing a school site license to allow unlimited use of our materials in a school context.

Do you offer charity discounts?

Again, it's very difficult to verify charitable status, but if any users can help us with this we're happy to discuss the possibilities with you. We can check US charities against the Charities Division of the Attorney General's Office database, or the IRS Publication 78 list. However, other international charities are more difficult to confirm. We would ask you to contact us and we can talk about the possibilities.

Are there discounts available if I am a member of MyDailyPhrase German or Italian?

Again, primarily due to the restrictions of the Paypal subscription system it's not possible to run multiple memberships. We are looking into this and hope that we'll be able to provide something like this in the future. We're a bit limited with our current system just now. Again, if any users have experience of running this kind of system we'd be happy to hear from you if you have suggestions as to how we could make this work!

I've tried to sign up using Paypal and/or Payloadz and nothing works! Please help

We have had a number of emails from users who have had problems using Paypal and/or Payloadz to sign up to premium materials of Coffee Break Spanish and our other podcasts. You may have set your security setting set to refuse cookies. We'd suggest that you temporarily reduce the security settings to allow your computer to accept cookies. We are working on developing other payment methods but this is proving difficult. We hope that other payment methods will be available in the future. You may also try using Firefox if you're currently using Internet Explorer or Safari, or alternatively try using another computer. Please also see this page on our site.

As a premium member, can I change my username and password?

At the moment you can change your username and password by emailing us, providing your current username and password and stating clearly your preferred new username and password. In the future it is hoped that we will be able to provide a user management system which will allow you to change your details automatically.

If your question is not answered here, please contact us and we'll get back to you.