View Full Version : Outside US Audible Member
JimmyJ2k
02-18-2004, 01:24 AM
Hi I live outside the US in Australia and I had a question about cancelling your account after your first free month.
In the terms and conditions it states that if you want to cancel then you have to call a number which I assume is a US number. What happens if you are outside the US? I guess they are making you make an international phone call to cancel.
CarbonRods
02-18-2004, 07:42 AM
They are.
Doesn't give you much confidence about dealing with such a company does it?
Audible are very happy to make it very easy to sign up for one of their subscription plans and take your money via the web site, but they force you to make an international telephone call during American time zone business hours to cancel that same account.
Do you want to stay up until the early hours of the morning to make that international telephone call?
And of course you won't be left on hold or get a busy signal...
Still want to do business with them??
Already signed up? and now you are feeling you might have made a terrible mistake?
I know the feeling well...
As it happens they are OK to deal with, and I've been a subscriber for more than 3 years, but that particular part of their business sucks and should be addressed urgently.
CR
jbanger
02-18-2004, 09:27 AM
I'm pretty sure I saw an intenational or outside US number on their site for cancelling subscriptions....
CarbonRods
02-18-2004, 09:37 AM
You did -- and that's what we are saying...
kristofer
02-26-2004, 07:22 AM
Oh well that's just put me off signing up with them :((
I actually pay for access to a premium news server in the US (easynews.com), I can chnage my subscription, cancel etc all from their web site.
IpodAlien
02-26-2004, 01:44 PM
Well I think I'd best step in here to defend Audible! I wanted to cancel my account and didn't want to phone the international number so I just E-mailed them. I think it took two E-mails and they did it for me. It is a shame it can't be done from the site, this was about a year ago now so I thought they might have sorted something.
david1951
02-29-2004, 07:40 AM
I have actually been through the exercise of cancelling my Audible subscription (about a year ago) from Australia. It wasn't that big a deal. The call was answered quickly and efficiently. I'm pleased to hear, though, that you CAN do it by email.
However, I recently re-subscribed (having acquired my iPod), and am very happy.
david1951
02-29-2004, 07:44 AM
A much bigger issue, commented on elsewhere, is how annoying it is that Audible won't sell you certain books unless you live in the US. We're talking best sellers here, not "How to Build Your Own H-Bomb". It's apparently a very stupid remnant of the old copyright agreement between the British Empire and the Americas. The sooner we lose all that ancient baggage and have a unified world copyright regime, the better.
robert
03-07-2004, 08:57 PM
Out of Audible Book Recommendations Thread (click here) (http://ipodlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15460) I got
a pm from someone in Germany that Empress Orchid was not on Audible...
For those who do not live in the US, you will not be able to get all the books available to us in the US on the lists here. A copyright by country, publisher problem, apparently.
Suggest you post to register your displeasure. You may get more than sympathy.
david1951
03-18-2004, 07:50 AM
I just have a lot of trouble understanding the silliness of the copyright issue for Audible.
I mean, I can buy a hardcopy of a John Grisham novel in Australia, no problem. I can even buy an American edition from Amazon.com. Why, then, can't I buy the audio version? It's not as though anyone in the British Commonwealth is offering to sell me such a thing and would thus lose out on the sale. It's plain silly.
It's not up to Audible to make these contracts folks. So don't blame them. The publisher of the printed book is often times different than the publisher of the audio book. And with that you now have VOICE TALENT contracts that need to be negiotied and are often under SAG contracts. So don't go off on audible for this, it's not their fault.
For a shock - my father in law signed up for 2 books a month in January. March came and went and he realized he forgot to download his 2 books! So, sometime in April, he emailed audible and complained that he lost his credits. He got a response within 24hours and got his 2 credits back!
God I was ####ed! I've missed my 2 credits so many times. I've got this huge library of books that I have yet to listen to because I don't want to miss my credits. Grrr...
So audible isn't ALL that bad.
Denise
robert
04-20-2004, 10:47 PM
For what it is worth, I just ran across a FAQ at Audible.com and it says they will credit one time only when you forget to order your monthly books.
The real answer is to subscribe to the stealth Ultimate Listener Plan -- 12 books for $120 in advance and two years to use up the credits. Warning, Audible will charge you the $120 renewal on the first anniversary unless you tell them not too. You can even sign up initially on UL. See Audible.com Ultimate Listener Plan (Click here) (http://www.ipodlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13888) for details.
I agree, Audible support has been good.
Podunk
04-20-2004, 10:48 PM
Hey BigD,
Audible offers a one-time replacement if you forget your books.
Just call or PM them and they will take care of you. I doubt if its retroactive back to last year though.
Also, you can suspend your account for a month or two if you need some time to catch up on your reading. (I don't think this applies for the one year commitment plans for a discounted iPod/ free player. And of course, you can always buy a book ala carte during this period if something new comes out that you've gotta have.
If you are interested in any of the periodical content, you can also switch your plan to the Basic Plan which is cheaper and gives you one book a month plus a periodical. Then if you get caught up, you can switch back to the two book plan at any time.
And you are absolutely right about the international issues. Much like iTunes, I'm sure Audible would love to be able to offer everything for worldwide sales. But its up to the publishers.
Happy Listening
P
david1951
04-20-2004, 10:54 PM
I agree - Audible is a great organisation, offering real bargains. I like them a lot :)
I know the copyright thingy isn't Audible's fault. I just want to storm the barricades of this ancient left-over copyright nonsense.
Copyright in itself is valuable to protect authors (and actors). Agree with it entirely.
There was a time when there were regular American rip-offs of novels by Charles ####ens and Wilkie Collins, where the publishers didn't pay these British authors a cent. However, this was over 150 years ago! Times have changed.
There needs to be copyright - but there is no longer any justification for dividing copyright into different regions of the world. The Internet makes this a nonsense.
david1951
04-20-2004, 10:56 PM
Ho, ho! Love the fact that the silly censorship thingy in this forum won't let us talk about such great authors as Charles ####ens, #### Francis, or Charles Cockburn!!!!!
dordale
04-21-2004, 01:44 PM
David--
Looks like we can talk about Charles Cockburn--Just not Charles ####ens or #### Francis!
LOL
dordale :D
AMRivlin
05-28-2004, 11:08 AM
Originally posted by CarbonRods
They are.
Doesn't give you much confidence about dealing with such a company does it?
Audible are very happy to make it very easy to sign up for one of their subscription plans and take your money via the web site, but they force you to make an international telephone call during American time zone business hours to cancel that same account.
Do you want to stay up until the early hours of the morning to make that international telephone call?
And of course you won't be left on hold or get a busy signal...
Still want to do business with them??
Already signed up? and now you are feeling you might have made a terrible mistake?
I know the feeling well...
As it happens they are OK to deal with, and I've been a subscriber for more than 3 years, but that particular part of their business sucks and should be addressed urgently.
CR
Same Problem, I ended up with 9.99 first month and now 19.99 second month, I am not too upset yet. I have found 4 great books, I might hang on another month too.
Podunk
05-28-2004, 11:57 AM
Well, don't forget, you don't have to subscribe to an AudibleListener plan at all to purchase books from Audible. You can just buy books on an ala carte basis and download whatever you want, whenever you want, with no commitment whatsoever.
I recently signed up for the "get two books free" trial offer. Cancelled my subscription online - the trial lets you do that for the first month.
Felt guilty... and signed up again to the basic plan.
From what I know, if you have been on a listening plan for more than a month, click "help" and "send an email to audible.com" and you can cancel that way.
Otherwise, a quick international phone call (on a non-busy day, NOT monday) should do it. Does anybody know what Audible opening hours are in GMT +8 time?