Audible.com - trouble / hassle to cancel account

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on November 20, 2002:

From:

RE: Audible.com - trouble / hassle to cancel account

I just thought I would help out some of your customers complaints about Audible.com.

Their service is horrendous! I finally challenged them with the MR Dept. of my charge card people and got several months refunded to me. This took me a couple months but was well worth the fight. Now for my NIGHTMARE with Audible:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the kind of emails I got after canceling my membership with audible(several times I might add).

Trying to cancel is next to impossible because you can never reach a human.

Sunday, February 10, 2002 1:11 AM Dear Audible Customer, Our records indicate that our attempt to bill you for this month's AudibleListener membership fee was unsuccessful. Since we were unable to bill you, we have not updated your account with this month's allotment of books and/or subscriptions. The most frequent reason for this type of problem is out-of-date credit card information in our website. You may use this page to correct any information, or provide a new/active credit card number. Once your payment information has been updated, Audible will bill your credit card and update your account within 48 hours. If you believe that the payment information provided to Audible is correct and up-to-date, please contact your credit card company to determine why they declined our charge for your monthly membership fee. Your business is important to us and we hope to continue to offer you the best audio on the Internet. We appreciate your attention to this matter. Should you have any questions about your account, please feel free to contact our customer service at 1-888-283-5051 10AM-8PM EST Mon-Fri. Sincerely, Audible Customer Service. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Naturally I was upset, so this is my reply to their email.

Note the lengthy email I then received!

-------- Original Message ------

ARE YOU PEOPLE THICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I CANCELLED MY AUDIBLE ACCOUNT LAST YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I called in august and in September after my year agreement was up!!!!!!!!

I DID THIS THROUGH A SUPERVISOR THERE........I SUGGEST YOU LOOK THROUGH YOUR RECORDS BECAUSE IF YOU CONTINUE TO TRY TO BILL ME I AM GETTING A

LAWYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I DO NOT WANT ANYTHING FURTHER TO DO WITH AUDIBLE, YOU GOT THAT! VERY DISGRUNTLED CUSTOMER!!!!!!!!!

JoAnn Fahey

This message is an auto-reply from the customer service team at Audible. Audible is currently running a few days behind in responding to customer emails. We apologize for this temporary backlog. We would like to offer you what may be the quickest and easiest way to answer your question. We recommend visiting our online help center at www.audible.com/helpcenter. Our help center contains answers to customers' most frequently asked questions and is conveniently organized to allow you to get your question answered quickly. If you are unable to find your answer at our help center, please reply to this email within the next 10 days. We ask that you include the information below (where applicable) to help us provide the best answer to you. 1. What is the nature of your problem? 2. If you are receiving an error message, what error message are you receiving? 3. When did this problem first occur? 4. Do you have a PC or a Mac? (If Mac please skip to question 7.) 5. For NT, XP or W2K - Are you logged in as a user or an administrator? 6. Have you added or removed any software recently? 7. Are you behind a firewall? (Yes/no/I don't know) 8. Are you required to log on to a proxy server? (Yes/no/I don't know) 9. Which Mac operating system do you have? (Mac Only) 10. Which version of Real player do you have? (Mac Only) Thank you for your patience. You will hear from us soon. Sincerely,

Beth Gorman

Customer Service Manager -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- then I sent this:

__________________________________________

STOP SENDING ME EMAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JoAnn Fahey

and I received this:

Dear Joanne, Thank you for contacting audible.com. I have removed your name from getting emails. Please include this message if you are replying with additional information. If this response to your email does not resolve your problem, please visit our new help center at http://www.audible.com/helpcenter .

Sincerely, Stefanie

Audible Customer Support

www.audible.com Oh but they never take you off their email listing.

I am still getting ridiculous emails from them and It has been over a year since my refund and my cancellation of their services!!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, April 16, 2002 8:38 AM So, I wrote to them again!

I am finally being forced to take further action by disputing this monthly charge on my charge card and possibly taking legal action against your company! I have tried several times from August of 2001 until the present to cancel any ties I have with Audible. I cancelled my subscription in August of last year and have spoken with an Audible Supervisor at that time. They assured me that I would no longer incur the monthly fee of 9.95, however 8 months later I am still being billed for a service I cancelled last August. I have sent a dispute to my charge company and expect full reimbursement for all these months you have charged my credit card. I have tried to reach you by phone unsuccessfully as there are no working numbers in your email correspondence and on your website! I have emailed your customer service department only to get an automated reply that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I have cancelled my agreement with your organization! As far as I am concerned if the Merchant Resolution Department with My creditor cannot recover the losses I have incurred with Audible, I am seeking legal council against your despicable organization! I furthermore will NEVER say a decent word about an organization that is determined to undermine the consumer and trap them in this despicable web that you have apparently done to hundreds of your customers , as the message boards reflect you have done this on numerous occasions to many audible customers who have repeatedly attempted to cancel their 12 month obligatory agreement with you. I do not know how to make it any clearer to you. THERE WILL BE NO FURTHER CORRESPONDENCE FROM ME. You will hear from my lawyer next!

JoAnn Fahey -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, April 16, 2002 8:41 AM I immediately get the same automated email response!

This message is an auto-reply from the customer service team at Audible. Audible is currently running a few days behind in responding to customer emails. We apologize for this temporary backlog. We would like to offer you what may be the quickest and easiest way to answer your question. We recommend visiting our online help center at www.audible.com/helpcenter. Our help center contains answers to customers' most frequently asked questions and is conveniently organized to allow you to get your question answered quickly. If you are unable to find your answer at our help center, please reply to this email within the next 10 days. We ask that you include the information below (where applicable) to help us provide the best answer to you. 1. What is the nature of your problem? 2. If you are receiving an error message, what error message are you receiving? 3. When did this problem first occur? 4. Do you have a PC or a Mac? (If Mac please skip to question 7.) 5. For NT, XP or W2K - Are you logged in as a user or an administrator? 6. Have you added or removed any software recently? 7. Are you behind a firewall? (Yes/no/I don't know) 8. Are you required to log on to a proxy server? (Yes/no/I don't know) 9. Which Mac operating system do you have? (Mac Only) 10. Which version of Real player do you have? (Mac Only) Thank you for your patience. You will hear from us soon. Sincerely,

Beth Gorman

Customer Service Manager -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I then start getting really serious! This has all been very time consuming!Finally I dispute these charges with my credit card company and they help me!

Tuesday, April 16, 2002 11:16 AM Attention MR Department Fax # 888-435-4217 JoAnn Fahey Account # 5291-0714-8815-5977 Re: Charge Dispute with Audible, Inc. 88-283-5051 NJ Audible,Inc. is located in Wayne, New Jersey Working Phone # is (973) 890- 4070, however, they advertise 2 phone Phone numbers on their website and in their automated email responses That are numbers that are not presently working! These are the phone numbers that customers are given: 1-888-283-5051 and 1-888-429-5575(they do not work) (Good luck! I called the 973-890-4070 # four times and was on hold for more than 15 minutes each time waiting for a customer service representative, at my expense!) Per my conversation with one of your representatives, Jack, this morning regarding the recurring charge from Audible, Inc. on my monthly billing statement. I have attempted to cancel my membership with Audible since August of 2001, per agreement, only a one-year membership was needed to fulfill the agreement before the customer could initiate cancellation. After many attempts to contact Audible by phone and via their customer support email address, I am still being billed on a monthly basis by Audible. I have fulfilled my part of the terms having made payments from September 2000 to September 2001. I began attempting to cancel any further renewal or continuance of my Audible Membership in August 2001. I was able to speak with a supervisor at that time named Alfred Bartone, who assured me that he would personally take care of my request for cancellation, as my attempts to cancel with customer service representatives were not successful. My Husband, Kevin had this same problem with cancellation and he disputed the charges and was ultimately credited. I am enclosing the letter he received from your department with my Fax Correspondence today. The statement, transaction date, and amounts are as follows: DECEMBER

November 9, 2001

$9.95

JANUARY

December 10, 2001

$9.95

FEBRUARY

January 10, 2002

$9.95

APRIL

March 7, 2002

$9.95

MAY

April 7, 2002

$9.95

Respectfully submitted,

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The entire ordeal taught me a huge lesson!

After writing and disputing these monthly charges

with more than enough proof that I had attempted several times to cancel my audible account after the allowed time frame, I was able to get a refund for the months they overcharged me. I just received this email. It's like a nightmare that never ends! They never did take me off their mailing list! This company in my opinion needs a total revamp of customer service!!!

Wednesday, November 20, 2002 4:21 AM Dear Joann , Our records indicate the credit card we currently have on file for your Audible account

will expire in 10 days. So that you may continue to enjoy uninterrupted use of our

service, we ask that you update the credit card information currently on record for your

account. For security reasons, please do not send this information to us via email. You can easily update your credit card information at www.audible.com/myaccount or go

to the Audible home page and click on My Account. Your business is very important to us and we want to continue to offer you the Web's

best audio. We value your membership and thank you for promptly updating your billing

information. Sincerely, Beth Gorman

Audible Customer Service

888-283-5051 Thank you for listening. I hope this might help another bewildered audible customer.

Sincerely,

JoAnn Fahey