Scribd has a rating of 1.19 stars from 877 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about Scribd most frequently mention credit card, free trial, and customer service problems. Scribd ranks 144th among Ebook sites.
This company responds to reviews on average within 17 days
No positive highlights yet
I have been a subscriber for years and always find something new to read or listen to. Scribd has probably saved me thousands of pounds on books over the years and hours waiting for them to turn up in my local library. I like that I can dip into anything I fancy and then wander off onto something else if I don't find it engaging without the clutter and commitment of having to pay for a physical item. It's perfect for someone like me with adhd and a wandering inquisitive mind.
Eleven months after my "free trial" subscription, which this scammers hit my card. They don't have phone support, so you must go through their email to inform them of erroneous charges. They wrote back and requested a ridiculous amount of info in ordder for you to get a refund. Each subsequent email I received from them was from a different person, yet the reply address was always the same - "*******@scribd.com". I contacted my bank with the proof of cancellation and filed a dispute with VISA, who found in my favor and refunded me. However be advised that if you file a dispute like this, VISA must issue you a new card. I did one better on this and I filed a complaint with the FTC, as I think that not only are they low-life scammers for this practice - which apparently is a common occurence, but they are also guilty of copyright infringment for selling access to copyrighted material.
I discovered today that Scribd charged me, I thought I had cancelled, I don't even used the site. The process of unsubscribing is not transparent and you need to read it carefully otherwise you will gonna end up with a surprise in your bills.
Edit:
Scribd rapidly made a refund, but I recomend you to make more transparent the process of canceling. And although the service is very useful, charge in US Dollars make it very expensive for me that lives in Brazil.
Hi, so I actually really enjoyed your service when i used it for school purposes, but since I no longer need it for school I cancelled a few months back. And yet I still see you guys charge me every single month. I cancelled and deactivated my account, can you please stop charging me? I have a pending charge for the 31st, this Monday when I don't even have an account anymore let alone an active subscription
Thank you for letting us know! We're so sorry for the trouble with those ongoing charges and, as we cannot charge someone without an active subscription, something must have gone wrong here. So we can assist you, please use this link to email support: https://scr.bi/assist and one of our agents will help you out within 24 hours -EC
I contacted Scribd and a representative returned my message saying he would refund the most recent billing. I hope he did that. Perhaps they are trying to clean up their practices. I would recommend if you do any "free trials" that you are careful to keep track and cancel when you need too.
After explaining the problem, they have been very helpful and actually refunded the money on my credit card. Thank you!
Hi Fabienne - thank you for your kind words and updated review!
Hi. I cancelled my membership in August 2018. However, I've been charged on Nov. 2nd.
Can you explain that?
I need a refund.
Thank you.
Scribd support already replied to my email after I posted a review here. Customer support assigned to my ticket responded well to my queries.
Hi Joyce, we're so glad to hear that we were able to get this resolved for you. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us again in the future if you need additional assistance. Thanks so much and have a wonderful day!
Does not respond to email! Subscribed to a free trial but immediately cancelled. Now i can't remove my card info from them! With all the bad reviews, i'm worried that my card will still get charged. Ticket # *******!
UPDATE: I want to thank customer support from Scribd in this website. They seem to respond faster, and they finally do work on your problems. I got refunded without delay. Thank you!
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I have requested for a refund for an unused account service for the month of March. I have sent three tickets, one from my e-mail and two from their website, and still no response. It seems like they don't truly care about their customers, which is really sad! My username is tsalgado_12.
And I really hope, based on previous reviews on this page, that my subscription is truly cancelled. It will be a true headache if it starts getting money out of my account after having my membership cancelled.
Hi Tania. We're sorry for the delay in response to your tickets and thank you for providing your username. We were able to locate your tickets and have responded. Thank you for your patience. -Donni, Scribd Customer Support
Unfortunatelly not all the books I'd like to read can be found on scribd and some oif them are only in audio format which I don't like either. Still it's nor a bad option especially if you're looking for something inexpensive. Once I also had to pay for one month of inactive subscription, and the problem was about apple subscriptions and how they work rather than about scribd. Or at least that's what their support agent said, but that's kind of weird...
Hey Arya - Thanks for your review! You raise some very good points, and I think our team will benefit from hearing them. I’ll be taking your thoughts and feedback back to my team for them to review when it’s time to revisit our current policies. We’ll continue to discuss our readers’ feedback as we grow and shape the future of Scribd, and I appreciate you taking the time to be a part of that. We wish you all the best and hope that you continue to enjoy Scribd. Thanks again!
I really like Scribd and what they do, but I just wish it wasn't so gosh darn expensive. I'm not that fast of a reader so sometimes it seems better to just buy one book and take your time with it. If you read and listen to books all day everyday then Scribd might be suitable for you.
Hi Anthony - we totally understand; we do offer audiobooks and sheet music which definitely adds value for someone who may not read as fast. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at help@scribd.com. Thank you!
I signed up for a 14 day trial and canceled on that day. I was charged 89 dollars a few days later. There isn't a number for customer service. We will see how honest they are and if I get my money back.
They emailed me back and gave me a full refund. I was pleased with the way they handled their error.
There is no way to contact their support team, I meant to ask for a refund for a service I didn't use. I'm 3 emails and 15 days in and I still haven't heard back from them. Please think twice before using there are better alternatives out there and I'd suggest the company( if they aren't fraudulent and care even a little about their customer) please get a phone helpline or messaging helpline because emailing your support team is helpless and useless.
EDIT: I did finally get a refund. Thank you for support but I'd still recommend improving your support staff
We apologize for any trouble with canceling your subscription and for any trouble with getting in touch with our support team. We recommend you review our guide on how to cancel: https://bit.ly/3gxxTVT and, if you emailed us, please let us know your ticket number. If not, please use this link to email us: https://scr.bi/assist and one of our agents will assist you within 24 hours -EC
I started a free trial but found that it didn't suit me. I cancelled on May 5 2018 but my account was billed on 31 May. I guess I am just one more who have been scammed by this group.Is there any way of involving them in a legal way? Stay away from them. It looks like I will have to cancel my card and get a new one. More expense and hassle.
Hi Brian - I'm very sorry to hear about your unexpected charge. No need to cancel your card, we will absolutely help with a refund. In most cases such as yours, a user either had a second account they forgot about or they did not fully cancel the subscription. Regardless of reason, we absolutely will make sure your account is canceled and issue a refund. Please send us an email to help@scribd.com with ATTENTION JAMES in the subject line and it'll be personally taken care of. Thank you!
I love the app, however I decided I didn't have time to read much, so I set the app to stop at the end of the first free month. I'm getting charged and not looking for a renewal.
Hi Joel. I'm so sorry to hear about the unwanted charge! We'll be able to figure out what happened and make sure you're compensated for unused time on the site. If you haven't done so already, please send a message to us at support@scribd.com and we'll be happy to help. Please include the email address you used when you registered on Scribd as well as the order number for the membership if you still have it. We look forward to hearing from you! -- Jerry, Scribd Customer Service Manager
My kids and I love audiobooks. We have used Scribd for years. When they switched to a credit service, we were disappointed at first, but as they expanded their offerings and we were still able to access several titles without using our credits, we continued to enjoy the service. We were beyond excited when Scribd switched back to unlimited this year. For the first few months, things were great. However, as summer has progressed, the service has gotten more and more frustrating.
We often listen to series of audiobooks through the day. Several times, we've had to wait until our monthly subscription renewal to continue a series. Since we had listened to several books those months, I completely get the throttling. Until
Now. We are half way through one particular series in July when we had to wait until 8/11 for the next book. Got notification that it was available but we were actually listening to book 2 again finished book 2 8/17 and went to start book three. Now it says it won't be available until 9/11. Contact support and I'm told I'm not being limited, they are just popular titles (considering I had to dig around to even find them, I doubt that). No explanation as to why the book was available for me on 8/11 but now it won't be available until 9/11.
Had this happen in June and July with a 40 year old book also. Yep, the book is so popular it is made available and then taken away since I didn't read it right away. Funny that availability date is always based on my subscription renewal. We will give this a few more months and if things continue going downhill, I'd rather be limited to one credit title a month on Audible than not able to access anything I want to read.
Hi Heather - I'm very sorry to hear about your experience with our unlimited service. We do our best to make sure that popular titles are available at all times and I apologize for the confusion and frustration you may be feeling. We have released an article that will hopefully shed some light on these recent changes, at bit.ly/2w8420d. As always, please don't hesitate to email us at support@scribd.com and we'll be happy to help further. Thank you!
Scribd came online late if it could've been launched earlier I would have saved some money. It is very extensive in regards to study material.
Based on the reviews I've read on this website, please cancel my free trial/membership. My username is ram-*******.
On April 25,2017, I signed up for a free trial, downloaded the PDF I was looking for, and cancelled less than 5 minutes later. I went through the five or so pages where you click "Cancel Membership" in small font, submitted feedback, etc. I tried to remove the credit card I have on file, but the site only allows you to UPDATE your payment information, not remove it. During the 5 minutes that I had a free trial, my membership status stated that I would get billed $8.99 on 5/25/17. After canceling, my membership status says, "Your membership was cancelled on 4/25/17 and will end on 5/25/17." This makes no sense, since canceling my free trial means that my membership should end the same day. Browsing through the site, my account still has the ability to download PDFs and read books, which you can't do as a non-subscribed user. I don't know whether it means I'll get billed on the 25th or not, but I would like my trial permanently canceled before any charges are made to my card. Therefore, my review is tentatively 3 stars, based on whether or not I receive unwanted charges in the future.
Hi Ram. Have you emailed us yet for assistance with your account at help@scribd.com? I wasn't able to locate an email for any request for assistance if you did. However, thank you for providing your username and I have responded to your email that is registered with Scribd regarding your questions and concerns. If you need any further assistance, please respond to that email. Thanks! Donni, Scribd Customer Support
I had scribd back when it was unlimited e-books and audio books and it was GREAT. I recommended it all the time and I was putting away between 18-30 audibooks a month. <3 <3 <3 I totally understand how that was not sustainable. The monthly scribd selects were fine at first, but now they never change and the few times one is taken out and replaced with a different book it's usually a book that has already come through. I have a year long subscription, but I probably won't re-up after it runs out this summer. I read too much for this to be worth the money. If you're a less avid reader (3-5 books a month) this could actually be a GREAT option, but be aware there will be limitations.
Glad I read the reviews before subscribing. It did kind of have that "too good to be true" feel to it. Won't waste my time or money.
Pls cancel my acc trial promo. I cant deactivate my acc and my username is arcsepiercielinkheart and i dont want my atm to be charged without me knowing pls deactivate my account
Hi! Thank you for providing your username. I was able to locate your account and ticket. I've responded to your ticket with more information regarding your cancellation request. Thank you! -Donni, Scribd Customer Support
Have been using the site for a long time to get the books. Lately the quality of service has dropped a bit, I sometimes get the books non-openable, or on links that aren`t working. I still love the service, just get well guys!
[Update Added Below]
I gave Scribd a try by subscribing to their one-month membership trial. That wasn't bad but since I use my Kindle most of the time, so I decided to cancel the trial. They took me through a couple of steps, left me thinking that I was done. And guess what! I was charged in the next month. So I calmed me down, go to Account Setting to find that my membership is still activated. I tried to go through the cancellation again. And just like the last time, after a couple of steps, I thought it was done. But no mail, nor any notification! I started to freak out, I did it again, this time I just noticed that the cancellation just didn't end there (like most pages, you click Cancel, then you click Confirm, and you're done). Although the third page said something like they had acknowledged (We want to change or whatsoever), and below there was a tiny text, yeah, TEXT - NOT EVEN a BUTTON saying "Continue to cancel". What the hell? Okay then, take my $8.99 and you will never have me or any of my friends ever coming to your site ever ever again!
- Update - 2018/7/6
Looks like my voice was heard, and they offered me a refund after all. I can barely say that I changed my mind about their system, though. At least they tried to solve the problems that it created. And I appreciate their effort. Hope that they will make the cancellation process more transparent and user-friendly. Maybe I will be back.
Hi Trung - I'm so sorry to hear about your frustrations with our subscription, but I'm so glad it was resolved for you! If you ever have any questions or issues, please email us at help@scribd.com and, as you have witnessed first-hand, we have great customer service and are happy to help in any way!
Explore over 170 million documents and counting from a global community of users. Find and upload text on every topic and niche, including research papers, official government documents, user manuals, and more!
Our monthly subscription starts at just $11.99 USD and automatically renews unless the subscription is canceled at least 24 hours prior to the next billing date.
A Scribd monthly subscription also includes access to Everand (ebooks, audiobooks, and more) and SlideShare (presentations and professional content).
Please visit our Help Center for answers to frequently asked questions and the option to connect with our support team for further assistance: https://support.scribd.com/hc/categories/360005188511
Hi Eder - I'm sorry to hear about your unexpected charge and we're happy to help with a refund. Please send us an email to help@scribd.com. Thank you!