audible.co.uk credits expiring - fair practice ?

feltboots

At the end of last year I signed up for the free trial at audible.co.uk after reading about it on MSE. Thought it was great so committed to the £7.99 monthly club. £7.99 buys 1 credit each month.

However, for the last 8 months life's been hectic and I've not been using my credits. Yesterday I decided it was time to remedy this but the website is showing I have only 6 credits. Hunting around their Help section, I see a note about a credit only lasts 6 months so use it or lose it. So I've lost 2 credits = £15.98.

I've checked my emails and nowhere does it give expiration dates on the credit notifications, nor did I get any reminders my credits were about to expire. I obviously don't recall seeing mention of this practice when I signed up else I wouldn't have let this happen.

Is this fair ? Is it worth contacted Consumer Direct about it ? I will call Audible today but wonder where this stands in terms of acceptable and fair practice. Any thoughts ?

Hintza

Should read the T&C's:-

We hope that all customers will use their credits in a timely fashion; downloading and enjoying titles from the site on a regular basis. Unused credits will roll over to the following month, up to a maximum of 6 months; this is 6 credits for the AudibleListener members or 12 for Premium members.

feltboots

I realise I'm a numpty for missing this gem when I signed up, but is it still good practice for Audible to not put expiration dates on credits, or give reminders ? It feels pretty underhand to me.

cardinalbiggles

Phone them up and ask them if you can have them back, you have nothing to loose and everything to gain.

They may even just surprise you!

feltboots

Yep, absolutely agree and I will report back after I've spoken with them. As part of the Amazon group of companies, I don't believe they're trying to scam people.

That said, I do hope they improve their customer information/service so fewer people get snagged by this in the first place.

geordieracer

feltboots wrote: »

Yep, absolutely agree and I will report back after I've spoken with them. As part of the Amazon group of companies, I don't believe they're trying to scam people.

That said, I do hope they improve their customer information/service so fewer people get snagged by this in the first place.

Or people could actually read the T&Cs when the first buy a product so they know what is expected of them?

That may sound harsh but it only takes a little while to do so and then you would have found out that they had a life expectancy on them.

Call them and they will probably credit you as it was only 2 credits..

garth549

yea its worth asking , theres a chance they will give you them back - especially if you threaten to cancel

feltboots

Just to say that Audible did indeed credit me with the 2 credits previously lost. They also mentioned that they are updating their systems so hopefully in the future members will get notice about the status of their credits in good time. The guy was very helpful and I can't fault their Customer Service help desk; I've retained my membership plan.