Amazon Prime Enrollment in Audible Subscriptions New York Class Action

Amazon.com, Inc. offers Amazon Prime membership for around $119 per year. Prime claims to offer many benefits, including free shipping on certain purchases, free media, and so on. But the complaint for this class action alleges that Amazon claims to offer “Free Titles at Audible” but then charges monthly fees for an Audible membership.

The class for this action is all persons in New York who were charged for Audible services, between April 26, 2019 to the date of judgment in this case.

Unfortunately, the complaint claims, Prime members do not get Audible services for free but are enrolled without their affirmative consent and then subjected to monthly payments. Audible is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon, which appears to give it free rein, the complaint alleges, in charging the payment methods used by Amazon customers.

The complaint argues that Prime members are enrolled in monthly Audible subscriptions “through a process that is not clear to members” and that they may not be aware of until they notice the monthly charges on their payment methods. The complaint claims that “the Prime member does not receive any conspicuous materials from Audible by email confirming enrollment and then notifying of monthly charges. In other instances, Prime members unsubscribe, yet continue to be charged across the various payment methods in the Prime members’ ‘Wallet.’”

The complaint alleges that Amazon “makes it exceedingly difficult for its Prime members to discontinue the Audible service … then limits refunds of those monthly subscription fees to its Prime members to only a few months of charges, refusing to refund all the money that was improperly taken.”

The complaint quotes a complaint from a customer on Amazon’s forum:

• “I never authorized this charge, plus I never signed up for this membership plus the address is incorrect. … I removed the card it was charged on. … Now you went to my checking account and charged me $14.95. I have never signed up for this membership…”

The complaint also quotes other online postings about this problem:

• “I renewed my [P]rime with a trial because I let it go for awhile to save some money. A few days later [A]udible is charging me 16.99…”
• “…Even after confirming being unsubscribed on multiple occasions over multiple months, it keeps charging!”
• “I do not have an [A]udible account but was charged for a monthly subscription. Audible claimed my credit card was a default backup credit card because my wife had used that credit card for a purchase on Amazon a year ago.”
• “I’ve had an [A]mazon [P]rime account for years. NEVER ordered, authorized or accepted an [A]udible account. Was charged on Sunday, called, complained and had it refunded. Immediately after refunding, they charged my son[’]s account…”

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Deceptive Advertising, Unfair Business Practices, Unfair Subscription Practices