This is the most user UN-friendly App I have ever come across. I signed up about a month ago as I was going on a long car trip and wanted to listen to an audiobook. After spending about an hour messing around trying to get it to work, it charged me twice ($7.95 and then $15.95) even though the second payment was to be for an upgrade to the Premium Plus and not, of course, in addition to the Audible Plus subscription for $7.95. I also had a problem with my address which I repeatedly entered and which was correct, and it told me to contact customer service. At this point I no longer had the time to try and get the book for my car trip so I had to leave without being able to use the App.
When I got to my daughter's house, I asked her to call on my behalf as I was thoroughly confused as to what to even ask customer service. My daughter was very busy at the time and it took her about 3/4 hour to get through to the correct department as evidently it was i-tunes who handled the payment, I believe, and not Amazon. They did, in fact, refund the money but now I was back to square one without an Audible subscription.
A month later I decided to try again. I saw on Google and elsewhere that they offer a free trial for 1 month and then charge $14.95/month if I choose to continue and, in addition, I would get 2 free credits to start with. This trial offer was not apparent when I initially tried to purchase Audible on the App Store. Again, I had another car trip to go on and thought I would try from scratch to purchase the subscription, and surely it would work this time. Apparently it did work as it said I was now a member and could use one of my credits (Hallelujah)! So I clicked on "use credit". However, after 30-40 mins the book wouldn't download and I couldn't wait any longer. My husband was with me and despite being good with technology, couldn't get it to work either. Needless to say, I was extremely frustrated to have to leave on yet another car trip without being able to listen to the book. Once we were home, my husband, seeing how upset and frustrated I was, felt sorry for me and tried to help me again, spending at least 2 hours (that night and the next morning) trying to troubleshoot. In the end he signed me up for the regular Premium Plus membership for $15.95, instead of $14.95 and without the free trial and 2 extra credits, as he himself no longer wanted to waste time on this (every time he tried to follow the link to the special free trial offer it would revert back to the regular offer)!
After all this, it ended up saying that my address was not correct and to call customer service so I was back to where I had started a month ago when I first tried.
I know that I am 65 years old and not great with technology, but evidently I have above average intelligence and like to think that I possess at least an average level of common sense and logic. So for goodness sake... PLEASE make this App more user friendly for the average, perhaps somewhat technologically challenged, customer like me.
Thank you!

Last year I tried audible for a month. Since I did not use it much I decided to cancel my membership, It hought everything went well because I followed all their steps. Two weeks ago I went to check my card and I found out that my membership was not cancelled... 150$ were charged on my card after I CANCELED my membership. I got 6 credits after being charger for 11 months! And I bought NOTHING with them: nor the 6 credits I still have nor the 5 credits they took away from me. I immediately contacted the customer service to get assistance and explained my situation and received a message stating my enquiry was received and I would get a reply in 24 hours. I waited from monday to friday uselessly... no answer came back to me so I decided to write again... and still no reply. The worse thing is the automatic reply stating all the times my message got received.
After finding out about the charges on my card I was quite disappointed because I cancelled my membership in time, following the steps and also got a message of confirmation.
At first I thought it could have been a mistake and decided to write them. I mean, after all, technical problems can occur. So I contacted them but now I feel like I am being played. I CANCELLED THE MEMBERSHIP FOR A SERVICE I DID NOT LIKE, AUDIBLE CONFIRMED ME I WAS NOT A MEMBER ANYMORE. AND NOW, I FOUND OUT IT KEPT ON TAKING MY MONEY FOR ALL THESE MONTHS? AND AFTER WRITING THEM THEY EVEN SEND ME A MESSAGE ASSURING ME I WILL GET AN ANSWER IN ONE DAY WHEN I STILL GOT NOTHING AFTER 7 DAYS?
I CAN'T EVEN CANCEL MY MEMBERSHIP ONCE AGAIN SINCE I WILL LOSE THE CREDITS I UNFAIRLY HAD TO PAY. SO, I'M NOW STILL WAITING A REPLY FROM AUDIBLE AND I HOPE IT COMES BEFORE THEY TAKE EVEN MORE MONEY FROM ME.

Okay, so I am writing this review because of two things. First, I just don't understand all of the billing problems that I have seen by multiple reviewers. Twice I have had to cancel my billing, and neither time did I experience a single charge after requesting the hold on my account. Once I was suspended for over a year, and I still had no issues. The second reason is because every time I have EVER had to call for any reason at all, they happily served my request up on a silver platter. If I wanted a refund, I got "No problem!" If I said, I am missing a book, they never once said, "Can your prove you bought it?" They said, "No problem, let me re-add that title to your library." Last night was the first time I ever called and said, "I have a problem" and did not get satisfaction within 5 minutes time. So what happened last night you ask? Well let me tell you all about it.

I purchased a book on 10/6/2006. I know this because I meticulously track my book library. Keeps me from buying multiple copies of the same book. Anyway, I went to listen to this well worn favorite and I was completely flabbergasted. The voice sounded wrong. My first response was to check my speakers to see if they were going out. My second was to check my audio settings on my laptop. When there was nothing wrong with my computer or speakers, I looked up the book on their website. Maybe I was remembering the wrong narrator and the book sounds just the way it was supposed to sound. But the website, and book cover still boasted the narrator that I was expecting. So I then relistened to the introduction and confirmed this was a different narrator than the one posted. I am now very unhappy because if I had not wanted the book I had I wouldn't have purchased it.

So, I did what anyone else in my position would naturally do. I contacted their support. I was told by their "chat" support that the title with the original narrator is no longer available so their was no way to restore that to me. I rejected this reality and continued to politely and firmly repeat that I wanted the book I paid for. She then irritated me by offering to remove the title and give me a credit, "As a 1 time exception" like I asked for that. Now I'm furious... I went to bed disappointed and frankly hurt by the loss. I kept thinking, if I went to B&N to buy my book, if they had made an agreement with the publisher to begin selling a different edition of the book they could not have just come to my home and repossessed my book and replaced it with their new version of the book. I couldn't let it go.

This morning I called Audible. I described the whole scenario again. I was still polite, and still very insistent that what had happened was not right. By now I am no longer just considering the experience I had with this one book, but how I can protect my extensive library from having the same problem. I have over 600 titles and many of them were purchased because I was as much a fan of the narrator as I was of the author. The young lady I spoke with suggested she get a supervisor for me to see how this could be resolved... The supervisor was supposed to call me back. No call came.

On my lunch break I called in again. Now I explain my previous 2 contacts as well as my issue. Finally a supervisor took my call. I got to explain it all for the 4th time. By this time I have accepted that I cannot have back the book I purchased. I have been told 3 times that they no longer have the original version I purchased. I told this supervisor I wanted 2 things from the contact. I wanted to know if simply changing the file name so that it could not auto sync with their system when I attempted to play a book would preserve the integrity of my files. He confirmed this would work for me. I also wanted this concern to be escalated to their marketing and customer satisfaction teams. Because as far as I am concerned if they can email me anytime something on my wish list goes on sale, they can email me anytime something in my purchased list is going to be changed. A simple email to notify me and give me the option of changing the file name to preserve my copy would have made me happy. I can't believe I am the only one who would have a problem with this.

The supervisor promised me he would take the appropriate steps to get this issue escalated so that precautions can be taken to protect customers from this experience. He sounded sincere. He asked me to check my email when I get home, and to please respond to it with an email detailing my experience and everything I had gone through with this issue through the different customer service representatives that tried to help me, etc. When I got home there were 2 emails. One was to allow me to detail my problem. The second, was a link to my lost file. I tested, verified that it was in fact my lost book with the right narrator.

Then to my absolute delight when I called in to say thank you, I was routed back to the representative that took my call in the morning. So I could thank her to for caring about my problem and asked that an email be sent to the supervisor or whoever it was that restored my file.

This is why I still say they have the absolute best customer service. Maybe for the first time I didn't get my way in the first 5 minutes. But the fact that that email showed up 2 hours after my lunch break proved that they keep working on what bothers you even after you are off their phone. They care, they respond, they resolve.

PS. I do NOT work for Audible. But I have been a loyal subscriber for 11 years.

You know you people who instead of actually trying to help someone who's asking a question and actually wants an answer to their questions, you instead repeat the same thing you have already said multiple times in other places and if you actually read more reviews then just the bad ones before you posted you would see that several people that had the same problem as you actually were helped by audible and then posted the way you and others could do it alot easier and get helped quicker because they were smart enough to actually pay attention to what the information that is provided to start with and if a problem occured the info that tells you how to handle it quick and easy, but instead you say that you hate having to cancel over the phone cuz they don't speak English but if you had actually read some of the positive reviews or even the responses from audible themselves in response to the negative posts towards audible on this site in fact some of those such responses are to some of you naysayers yourselves, you would have found that if you can email audible at the email that audible leaves in those responses to recieve quick and easy help and refunds to charges that have occurred after cancelations or charges that never should of happened without the hassle of having to call again maybe you do have to call to actually cancel the free trial quick enough to be charged but if you weren't smart enough to start canceling well before the end of the free TRIAL that the offer clearly says (what is definitely never said in the offer is, not this ridiculous idea that so many of you people that are ranting about, that you didn't know that you actually accepted the trial offer because after you looked at the collection of books or the app interface or whatever made you decide that it wasn't for you before you actually purchased and downloaded any books or even if you didn't even decide to download the free books that made you try this trial for audible in the first place and they charged you after the 30 days or 3 months, whichever offer you tried, without telling you that your time was up and you get all mad at them. Well I have news for you you signed op for a free trial it doesn't matter that you didn't actually use your perk from that time, you still started it and after the TRIAL period ends they have every right to charge you for the subscription fee if you were dumb enough to not cancel the trial as soon as you decided you didn't like it then that's your fault. You have no right calling the offer a scam cuz your a numbskull you should have paid attention and even with that absolute fact that it was your mistake audible still refunded part of the amount that you had been charged cuz they ft bad for your inate stupidness that led you to believe you shouldn't have been charged without being told that you were going to be( in point of fact every subscription charges without emailing you before they do, they only inform you if you only subscribed to a set amount of time and that time was about to end then they would notify you that charges would cease but in this instance you signed up to a TRIAL that after the free period it will charge you monthly until u can't afford to pay or you cancel) so therefore stop calling audible a scam. As for the people who never even looked at audible at all then you have been unfairly charged but from the reviews from people that I figured out actually had been screwed all of them had notified audible and had been refunded and apologised to and the people who complained in reviews all had posts replid to their review by audible's support staff that they were sorry and if they would email them, not call like all of you who are still complaining that you were screwed and no help came, they would make it right for you if you would just email them. Instead though you keep posting audible's a scam. I had almost decided not to sign up and believe that it was a scam but I decided to read more of the bad reviews and noticed that the reason most of you people were saying it was a scam was wrong and then I read several good reviews that pointed to the same stuff I have just pointed out to you and that even though this isnt Amazon or Audible's website, Audible's support staff still came to this sight and read every review and posted replies to anyone who had actually been wronged to email them and it would be rectified and that they apologized for any inconvenience or problem that had wrongly befallen you, so unlike you people I believe that Audible cares a good deal about losing good and loyal customers for them to comb all reviews from a sitebashing website and I'm sure this isn't the only site that they have scoured through either so quit ranting and raving and actually pay attention when people try to help you. I hope what I've said here might be able to keep someone else just like me from accepting the reviews that say Audible is a scam and no good.

Scam.

I signed up for the service in January, after 30 days decided it wasnt for me and received a refund of my first month payment on 2/10.

Then on 7/1 I received another billing for $14.95 from Audible. I had not re-signed up for the service, so I emailed and received canned responses from 2 reps but no solutions to my problem.

I called and spoke with a rep who told me they have no record of the additional charge in July and can not find any other accounts associated with my email address. I provided a screen shot of the transaction ensuring them that it was their company and they informed me that I may have signed up through an Amazon offer.

In searching my Amazon orders there is no record of any orders of Audible and Audible has no record of an account created with my Amazon information. The Customer Service Rep then instructed me to contact my bank to have them resolve the issue, which means that I would be filing a charge back.

I insisted that I wanted to determine which account the charge had come from and that future charges would not occur. The Customer Service Rep instructed me that if I contacted my bank, there would be no further charges. This basically means that if I file a chargeback, the company will no longer bill me because they will deem me to be an undesirable customer. This does not provide reconciliation to where the charge originated from and how the Account was created.

I requested to speak with a supervisor or manager to further resolve the issue and was informed that I would be recontacted in 48-72 hours. I think this amount of time for a recontact is unreasonable, espeically given that I began my inquiry into the issue through email (which obviously was not noted on my account by the Customer Service Reps because the phone rep had no record of these emails) beginning on July 1st.

I understand the risks of a free trial, but Amazon and Audible should take responsibility for their poor campaign and data tracking and inability to identify the account from which they processed a billing. The Customer Service practices at Audible are also extremely poor. There was no documentation of my emails to the company, no follow up to my emails and responses. The Reps are not actually empowered to resolve customer issues, most likely because they are under strict instruction to limit the number of refunds to ensure profits.

Moral of the story - stay away from this company. Great concept, but the company is running under shady customer service practices. This business model has become the oldest trick in the digital marketing book.

Sadly, many YouTube celebrities are also promoting this company and they probably have no idea that they are representing and profiting from a scam.

I have been seeing tons of complaints around the web about Audible.com's practice of seizing credits its users have already paid for.

Has anyone lost Audible.com credits after cancelling? Or lost credits for exceeding their monthly carry-over limit?

I am an attorney working on this issue and would love to speak with anyone who has experienced any loss of Audible. Com credits. Our communications would remain confidential.

Feel free to contact me directly: *******@igc.org

Thanks!

A complete and total scam.

Their website is a train wreck.

I have been a member of Audible.com for about a year now. I enjoy occasionally listening to a book rather than reading it and it has helped me make it through some extremely LONG books like The Count of Monte Cristo, Tom Jones: The Story of a Foundling, Roots and several others that are more than 1,000 pages in length. Also, I feel that for some of the "classics" it is a bit more fun to be read to rather than slog through dry sentences and have to look up words that aren't commonly used anymore (although I still did that, but I didn't have to put down the book and haul out the dictionary right at that moment in order for it to make sense).

Audio books are super expensive and I don't really think you can effectively share them unless you are willing to part with your iPod or computer... os I don't like not being able to just give away a book when I am done reading it. One thing that is cool is that I can delete them off my hard drive (for space saving reasons) but if I ever want to download it again for any reason, I own the download and I can download it for free. I have done that once.

Here are my small complaints about the company: I like to review my books both as keepsakes for me and I just enjoy giving my opinion. I like doing it on Audible (it is owned by Amazon) because people can vote if your review was "helpful" but not start an argument with you or call you names if they happen to disagree with you. I do not like that when you listen to a sample, if the book has a forward, you will get to listen to that rather than part of the first chapter, and that has mislead me more than once. But to be fair to the company, when I have complained about this and felt mislead, I was cheerfully given my credit back (you keep a valid credit card with them and they charge you every month... and there is a deep discount for the first 3 months if you have never been a member before)... so that's cool and I have purchased a few novels at deep discounts when they are having a sale.

But the part that irks me the most is when I have put a good deal of thought and care into a review, and unless you are the very first person to review the novel, your review gets buried on page 4 or 10 because it doesn't have any "helpful" votes yet.

What?

How are you able to garner helpful votes or not if no one is ever given a chance to see your review? I have complained to them about this before... why cannot they just be in chronological order? Or, why not set it up so that you have a choice of seeing the reviews with the most "helpful" votes or see them chronologically? I would think their website is sophisticated enough to do that, wouldn't you?

I wrote a very thoughtful review of Roots that is buried on like the 10th page of the reviews... so no one has seen it. It takes time and effort to write reviews and I think I deserve a chance to be read. Am I supposed to ask my friends who have Audible to vote helpful for me so that my review will be on the front couple of pages? Because, I don't think most people go beyond the first couple of pages, do you? I know I typically do not.

Anyway, that is my 2 cents about how I feel about Audible. I was bummed to find out that they were owned by Amazon, but not surprised.And, I have learned that now, if I am undecided about a book and it has lots of reviews, I really need to spend time reading the reviews. If you are an Audible member, I would suggest the same thing for you, because lately I have been swayed into buying books that I normally would not buy due to the placement of all the most helpful (meaning "good") reviews are all stacked at the top.

Thanks for reading! ~ML