McKee signed up for a free Audible trial membership in June 2016, which converted to a “Gold Monthly” membership after 30 days. “It’s a very reasonable estimate to say it exceeds $5 million and probably greatly exceeds,” Soderstrom said. The complaint states it will meet the $5 million threshold for a federal class action. Soderstrom declined to predict how much the class could claim in damages. “Audible keeps its subscriber base fairly confidential,” he said. McKee’s attorney, Jamin Soderstrom of Irvine, estimated there could be thousands of Audible subscribers in the proposed class. Representatives of the two companies’ public relations departments did not reply to emails late Monday. “This results in a modern form of conversion that is unlawful nationwide and that affects unsuspecting consumers like plaintiff without notice.” “According to Audible and Amazon (and possibly many other Amazon subsidiaries and affiliates), any credit cards stored on an Amazon account are fair game,” the complaint states. If a member’s credit card is declined “for any reason,” Audible charges the monthly fee to any other credit card or payment method linked to the member’s Amazon account - without the member’s approval and even if that card belongs to the member’s spouse or business. He also accuses Audible and Amazon of cheating customers in how they charge their credit cards. “Like defendants’ other misrepresentations concealing key facts about Audible’s plans, Audible uses the label of ‘credit’ to conceal what is otherwise an illegal gift card scheme,” McKee says in the 33-page complaint. But because they expire after six months or when a membership is canceled Audible is violating federal banking laws that require gift certificates to be good for five years and a California law that says certificates may never expire. McKee says the Audible credits, for which members pay $14.95 per month, are the legal equivalents of prepaid gift certificates or gift cards.
“But defendants’ advertisements represent almost the exact opposite of how Audible membership plans really work.” He “believed defendants’ representations that ‘one credit equals one audiobook,’ that audiobook credits would ‘never expire,’ and that a member can cancel any time with ‘no strings attached,’” McKee says in the March 10 lawsuit. LOS ANGELES (CN) - Accusing Audible of bait-and-switch tactics and false advertising, a federal class action claims the audiobook seller and its parent company lure subscribers into buying monthly “credits” they may never be able to exchange for e-books.įormer Audible subscriber Grant McKee says he trusted Audible’s promise that the audiobook credits he bought with his monthly fee would never expire - only to discover that unused credits expire after six months and vanished instantly when he canceled his membership.
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