I recently bought a Sandisk Sansa MP3 player to use with subscription music download services (Rhapsody and Yahoo Music Unlimited). The device came with a free trial for Audible.com, a website where you can download audiobook content ala carte or with a subscription.
I also have a Sonos system, which recently added Audible support, so I went ahead and signed up for the platinum Audible subscription. For $22.95 a month you can download two audio books a month and get a subscription to the audio editions of The Wall Street Journal or New York Times. A pretty decent deal I thought, since I commute over an hour to work and back each day and can listen in the car with the Sansa or at home through the Sonos.
I have no issue with Audible's website and although the audio format quality is poor, I decided to keep the service because high quality audio is not important to me for book narration.
When I enrolled in the service I was given two free credits and 14 days.
I immediately downloaded The March by E.L. Doctorow and have been enjoying listening to the novel for about an hour each day in the car.
I saved my other free credit, because I really wanted to make sure I selected the right book. I've been reading book reviews like a madman looking for my next pick. I figured with only 2 books a month, I had better make informed choices to get the most of my $23 a month.
I finally decided to download "The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century" by Thomas L. Friedman. I had been wanting to read the much-hyped book for quite some time and finally made the decision to spend my remaining free Audible credit on it based on numerous stellar reviews.
I logged into my Audible account and saw that I had 2 credits. My two week trial period had passed and my credit card was charged $23 for my first paid month. Two credits were added to my account, but where was my leftover free credit? I should have 3 credits in my account. A deal is a deal.
Nope. I discovered that if you don't use your free credits in the first two weeks, they expire, even when you have paid for a permanent membership.
This kind of trickery is a scummy business practice to begin with, but it was the way "Mike Z." handled an irate customer that really left me scratching my head.
I have not checked, but I am sure somewhere in the fine print it was written that non-used credits expire after the trial period ends. I will concede that Audible's tactics here are legal, but are they ethical? The fact that credits would expire was not "easily visible" when I signed up. I received no email to warn me they would expire either. It is obviously the hope of Audible that they would not have to pay out what they promised to schmucks like me.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Robert
UPDATE: I received a call from an Audible Customer Support Manager. He apologized and offered me two more credits. He was very professional and let me know that this was not company policy and that he had a talk with Mike Z.
I am keeping my subscription.
2 - Alex
I have used Audible for several years. While they aren't always the most technical, they usually bend over backwards to keep the customer happy. I have even gotten credits after I have purchased a book and didn't like it. I guess it depends on how rude you were to the customer rep.
As for the poor quality, the books are available in four formats 1 is like a telephone conversation and 4 is similar to an MP3.
3 - Mark
I've been a subscriber for a number of years and have listened to many audio books. Puzzled over your comment on the audio quality - all the books I've listened to have been at level 2 quality and all have been fine - what sort of problems are you having with audio quality? Maybe it's your player/earbuds? I use a Palm Tungsten T3 to listen to books - they sound fine. I've also used an Otis, a small device that Audible marketed at one time - no problem with it either. I have noticed considerable differences between earbuds, however, so you might look at that as a source of your problem, although even taking those differences into account, I've never had a problem with listening to a book.
Glad you got your issues resolved - I think Audible is one of the best things that have come along in a long time.
Mark
4 - Marc
I'm from the UK. The most frustrating thing about audible is the fact that lots of books aren't available people outside of America.
Quote: "We are sorry but your geographic location prevents us from selling you this product."
After not being able to get the books that I wanted I emailed audible and asked them to cancel my account. They informed me that I had to do this by phone. This would mean an international call to a different time zone. After informing them that this was not acceptable they did cancel my account via email.
I think they are, all-in-all, a good company and do provide a good service. I would've continued my subscription for access to all their content.
5 - Robert
This really seems to have been an isolated incident. I just happened to get a customer service rep who was inexperienced. He did not reflect company policy. And the service is great, I have a much improved impression of Audible.
6 - Jonathan
In reference to Marc's post about being based in the UK, I write to inform him that www.audible.co.uk launched in June 2005 with 25+ UK publishers providing thousands of audiobooks with UK rights.
7 - Julie
I've been an Audible member since 2000 and lately have been having an over load of problems that they can't seem to solve. Also, they're not being very helpful about it and I recently released my frustration and the response I received was less than satisfactory. Here's what I wrote last night. It's kind of long, but I had a few issues...
**************************************
Hi,
I really hope you can help me. I'm getting extremely frustrated and am ready to cancel my subscription.
I purchased a book a few months back and was never able to download it. I went online for help and was on the chat help for well over an hour while an Audible tech person tried to help me. Finally, he said that my last alternative was to remove
Audible Manager and reinstall it. I've done that, now it won't allow me to download any files at all to my Otis! It won't even read what I've got on there and says that my extra storage card is the wrong format, and I've been using it for almost a year! I've re-registered my Otis and it still won't work.
Also, I've been trying for months to add my Rio 600 and can't get Audible Manager to recognize that either, even after following all of the
instructions over and over again. I've used the Configuration Wizard, tried to download new components, all of that - nothing.
I've been a member since 2000 and I would like to continue my subscription but my level of frustration has gotten so high I'm ready to give up and cancel all together. No one has been able to help me on any of these issues.
I don't know what else to do. If I can't get my issues resolved soon, I'm done. As it stands, I can't even listen to my books so why should I stay?
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And here's the reply I got today...
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Thank you for contacting Audible.com.
To help with the Otis issue, try changing back to the previous version of AudibleManager. To do that, proceed to www.audible.com/software and click on the AudibleManager link that reads Windows 98 and ME. Select the Otis from the initial device list and click install. If you continue to have an issue, provide a contact number along with a time to be reached and someone from support can contact you to assist you.
Also, please be aware that the Otis is no longer supported by Audible.
If you need further assistance, please respond to this email. For additional questions, feel free to use “Find An Answer” at our online Helpcenter ( http://audible.custhelp.com ), or contact us directly by phone during our regular business hours.
*************************************
I've done all of this and it didn't work. There was no attempt to address any of my other issues, so does that mean that I have to fill out a seperate ticket for each issue???
I love the product - I've used it faithfully for six years now and would love to continue. My experience with their customer service, however, has been way less than satisfactory.
Just my input :-)
8 - Cinnamon
I had many complaints about audible (not returning emails, getting transferred and disconnected, not receiving credits), but after being extremely persistent, I finally found two people that were both knowledgeable and helpful. I learned that not only did I not receive credits promised to me after lengthy telephone calls, but I was being billed under two different accounts. I finally feel like the situation was resolved and only feel cheated out of two downloads. My advice… Stay on top of your account. If you need to contact customer service for any reason, document it and call until you get someone who can actually help.
9 - Neil
I think you were stupid to give them a 2nd chance. No way would I let them talk to me like that. I don't care what the manager said.
My experience with Audible has been awful. Poor quality audio, APPALLING service, useful support files and so on.
Why would you bother to persist with such a company?
10 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Speaking as a former Burger King manager, I'll tell you all up-front that "the customer is not always right". There are times when the customer must be told this, politely and firmly, and in some instances, even escorted from the premises under armed guard and told never to return.
That is the "other" side of the "customer service" argument.
Having said that, that does not excuse a company for what is evidently a slippery relationship with many customers due to slippery practices which seems to be the case here.
Robert, if you are still tracking this article you submitted 10 months ago, you achieved your goal of making audible.com pay for their less than professional behavior.
11 - Diane Jenkins
I too have had a really bad experience with audible customer service. I wanted to cancel my audible subscription two years ago, but they forced you to do it over the phone. Of course, signing up for the service takes only a few minutes online, but cancelling involves calling customer service and sitting on hold for 20 minutes. I tried to call a couple of times, but they were either closed, or the wait time was excessive.
Then they sent me an e-mail saying my credit card expiration date had been exceeded, and they would not be able to continue to charge my card if I did not contact them with updated information.
I did not update the information, and foolishly assumed that they really would not be able to charge me anymore. Since my husband took over our family accounts at that time, I never saw that the monthly audible charges continued. Clearly, audible found a way to continue charging me even though they had said they could not charge me unless I got in touch with them and updated my credit card.
24 (yes, 24!) months later, I found out that they have been charging me all along. Since they don't roll over credits, for reasons only known to themselves, I have nothing to show for nearly $400 in charges but 1 book and 1 magazine credit. 3 calls to audible customer service (including several disconnects before I even got to customer service, and long wait times) I got run arounds, evasions, prevarication and double talk. I never got any satisfaction. They offered me 6 months of credits or refund, but they charged me for 24 months, so that was unacceptable to me.
Am I crazy, or are these people theives?
12 - Joey
I used to think that Audible was a good company. That ended yesterday when I called about what should have been a simple solution to my problem but instead was compounded by "Ed", of "customer service".
I had been a member for about a year at the "Platinum" level which cost $23 a month and offers 2 book credits. I am usually cafeful about which books I buy and check rewiews. I felt that I should be able to download tbe books of my choice on MY timetable, not Audible's
I should have had 13 unused credits but while checking my online I saw that I only had 12.
I then noticed that they only "allowed" 12 rolled over credits to accumulate. Reluctanly I had to accept the fact that I paid for a credit that I could not use.
This was the day before the recurring monthly charge is paid from my credit card. As I did not want to have to scramble and download just anything to stay under the "allowed" limit, and I certainly did not want to pay another $23 for credits that I could not access, I called Audible and asked "Ed" to suspend my service for three months to give me time to download some of my already paid for credits. I was offered this exact remedy last year, so I knew that it was possible.
"Ed" informed me that "unfortunately Audible does not offer suspended service and that I only had two options available." I could either cancel my membership (unbelievably this was his first recommendation) upon which I would LOSE ALL MY PAID FOR CREDITS, or I could downgrade to their basic $9.95 annual membership that offers no credits at all. The basic membership would "allow" me to keep the credits that I already paid for. In other words, I had to pay a fee to have access to credits that I already paid in full for. Of course I could also just leave the membership the way it was, get charged the next day $23.95, and get absolutely nothing in return.
I found this logic to be incredulous. What was the purpose of membership other than to be able to download books? "Ed's" reponse to this was that "Oh no.......you are not paying for book credits. You are paying for the privalege of membership. The book credits are only a benefit, but not sold."
HUH???? Is this a bad dream? Can this guy really be this stupid, or does Audible actually think that people pay them monthly charges just to be able to say that they are members?
He also went on to say that membership also allows me to purchase other audio books for 30% off list price. Big deal! So does Borders, Amazon, Apple Itunes, and most other retailers. Who in their right mind pays list prices? And you don't have to pay a membership fee to do so.
So, the bottom line is that I got ripped off for one credit and had to pay an extortion fee of $9.95 just to be able to hold onto my aready paid for credits.
I plan on downloading my 12 books, and cancelling my membership in this rediculously incompetant organization.
Joey
13 - Lorraine
OOoo-fah! I'm so glad I read this blog. I did the 1-year gold membership and now I'm trying to figure out a way to keep them from renewing without asking first. It appears that they'll just do it automatically.
I agree that the sound quality is not good on some of these books I downloaded.
14 - TonyK
I was about to do the 14 days but then I read about the evergreen policy and then the cnx problems with the Mike Z. Sorry Robert I do not give these guys a 2nd chance and will not be AOL'd with the "where's the cnx button." No way Audible...keep your evergreen policy and AOL hiding the cnx...no membership for me.
15 - Kevin
I have had good luck so far. This site was highly recommended by a few people. Again, only a short time, but so far so good...kevin
16 - JOAN CHODAK
I BELIEVE AUDIBLE IS A SCAM! I RECEIVED A GIFT OF AUDIBLE, MY FRIENDS PAID 150.00 FOR IT AND I HAVE HAD MANY PROBLEMS REACHING THEM AS WELL AS DOWNLOADING MATERIAL SO I PUT IT OFF TIL RECENTLY WHEN I RECEIVED AN E-MAIL STATING THAT I HAD A CREDIT OF 18.59, SO REACHED THEM AND ASKED SINCE I HADN'T STARTED THE SYSTEM WHY WAS I LOSING OVER 130.00 THAT HAD BEEN UNUSED. THEY SAID THAT WAS THE WAY IT WAS! HOW COME THEY DIDN'T E-MAIL ME EACH MONTH AND NOTIFY ME OF MY BALANCE, WHY DID THEY WAIT TIL IT WAS NEARLY USED UP. I RECOMMEND THAT NO ONE USE AUDIBLE, IT IS EXPENSIVE AND UNFRIENDLY AND NOT WORTH IT. FOLKS JUST GO TO YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY.
17 - Michael Nagle
I'm in the middle of a pretty exasperating customer service problem with Audible myself.
I have trouble reading, and a friend of mine bought me a year-long platinum subscription to Audible.com last January. It's been great! I've only used 12 books though, and the subscription comes with 24 total.
I recently got an email from audible.com saying they would renew my membership and bill for another 24 credits, and I thought "Oh, I don't want that! I've got more than enough credits" and promptly went online to cancel it.
Mistakenly, I cancelled my account, and my credits vanished. I thought "oh, that was stupid!" and wen t to their customer service department.
Here's where things get weird. So far, I've been told that audible.com can't undo my mistake and reinstate my account as it was. A manager offered to give me back 10 credits if I signed up for a paid account again.
I think this is pretty awful -- instead of just reinstating my account as it was before my mistake, they're asking me to pay and giving me less credits than I had originally. I'm also frustrated by the fact that I probably made this mistake because I missed some fine print somewhere. As I have trouble reading, I skim everything, and tend to trust that web sites will be clear when something important is happening, or that the action will be easily reversible. Unfortunately, neither is true in this case.
I hope that I'll get this sorted out in the coming days, but I'm really quite stunned that Audible couldn't just reverse my mistake in the first place.
18 - Kia
I got the little card to try this scamming company from my RCA player. I trust RCA so I thought it would be ok.
I signed up for it, but the audiobook locks up both my player and my computer and will not play.
Suddenly my login information isnt recognized.
The link they proved to "change" my password is not valid and has timed out seconds after I got the email.
The "cancel membership" option in the email is "not valid".
These people have my CC information and I have no way to cancel this membership. NO I cant call my CC company because its a prepaid CC not a regular bank one.
A little research would have saved me a lot of grief. I have notified RCA that they are backing and endorsing a potential scam here.
Let your friends/relatives know that this is a major SCAM of the worst kind: the inconsistent type where some people have no problems and others have monumental ones. AVOID THIS COMPANY!!!
19 - Kyle
I signed up with audible via Amazon. The figures promised in their advertising did not add up with the figures in my shopping cart. There was the additional cost of the $7 membership on top of the $20 purchase which was supposed to be free because of their credit system, and it all cost way more than it would have had I just stuck with Amazon. I decided I wanted to cancel. But they have made it impossible to cancel. The help file shows an image of the accounts page with a link to cancel the membership. On my page this link does not exist. Want to cancel by e-mail? The site says "the email option is no longer available." Want to cancel by web? "Note: If you have cancelled your account online, you will not have the ability to cancel your account online." That sentence does not make sense. Its a Sunday, so I can't see if their call centre even works, and I do not live in America. That call is going to cost me a lot. And judging by all I have read above, this there is something very scary going on here.
20 - Linda
I signed up for a FREE 15 day trial in June of 2007. I downloaded the free book I was entitle to. I set up an account thinking in the future I may order additional books. Recently I checked my bank statement and discovered I have been charged $14.95 a month for the last 9 months. I had never used my account since the initial free download. I contacted audible to request them to cancel my account and issue a credit for 9 months. They said they could only issue a 6 month credit and I would have to dispute the rest with my bank. They removed all the credits from my account while I was on the telephone with them. The customer service representatives have no interest in having a customer satisfied and possibly having them return to order books. They are not listening to their customers. I would not recommend that anyone sign up to even purchase a single book from audible. Their business practices are deceptive. I never agreed to a monthly membership with audible and they changed me anyway and would not issue a full credit. Linda H. A.V, CA
21 - elaine
Have you noticed that audible is now charging 2 credits for many books. It use to just charge 2 credits for a few books, but now I feel as if my subscription has doubled because all of my old favorites now cost twice as much when a new book comes out. I guess they figure they can get away with it because they offer $10 specials - which don't really help you if you are a monthly subscriber. Lately, I have been buying and renting entertainment on itunes to sooth travel boredom. I have been a devout audible fan for years but I'm considering not renewing. Movie rentals are 2.99 to 3.99 and whole seasons of TV shows are about the same as 2 audible credits (one book) - looking less like a deal to me.
22 - ashpenaz buthelezi
I was tempted to sign up for a subscription. But I have to say I was deterred by the comments here. It is disappointing but I very much appreciate the fact that people took the time to express their opinions. I was already concerned that they were not very explicit about what books cost more than a credit nor were they clear about what books could not be purchased by a credit. All in all the concerns weigh heavily enough that I'll pass.
23 - Pam B
Try this - if you do cancel your memebership and need tech support, you won't get it. I had to restore my hard drive and reload some books. I was SOL according to Audible because I wasn't a paid subscriber. Of course, they would help me out if I signed up again... what a crock.
24 - Tim
Pam B: You couldn't be any more incorrect. I was an Audible customer back in 2001 - 2005. I have over 100 titles purchased in my library. I do not have an active membership anylonger and STILL (atleast 8 times in the past 3 years) receive FREE technical support for the Audible software, MY DEVICE, and burned CD's.
I am not sure where your information is from, but Audible's technical support has been, in my opinion, simply amazing. They are the only company I have found that go ABOVE and BEYOND every time. They even helped me fix my ipod because Apple CHARGES for technical support.
Sorry Pam B, your experience seems to be isolated to only you...
Tim
25 - Jianfeng Xu
I recently bought a GPS. The device came with a 2 week free trial for Audible.com. I tried but never used any credits excep for the free download. Two month late I found my credit card was charged twice for 2 x $22.95. I called them to cancel my account because I am not interested in their audible products at all. A man told me that they could only give me a refund of $22.95. I said it is OK even I have already wasted $22.95. Then the guy went ahead to threaten me that this would damage my credit reputation. Oh my God! Does anyone on the earth hear about this kind of things before? I would not recommend that anyone sign up to even purchase a single book from audible. I should have read the custom review first before I tried Audible.com.