Class Action Settlement for Audible Customers
A class action settlement claiming that Audible doesn’t provide enough information to customers about how membership credits work, has been approved by the court.
The lawsuit says that customers may not understand that unredeemed credits are lost upon cancellation of a membership plan or upon reaching rollover limits and, for gift memberships, that credits expire following the end of the gift membership term. The lawsuits also challenged the adequacy of information provided to Audible customers related to Audible’s practice of charging other credit or debit cards on file with a customer’s Amazon account if a customer’s primary card is declined.
Audible and its parent company, Amazon, dispute the claims in each of the lawsuits and believe that their business practices, and the information provided about them, are clear and understandable to customers and comply with all applicable laws. But they agreed to settle because they believe that it is in the best interests of both the Audible business and Audible’s customers.
Eligibility
You are a member of the class affected by the settlement if you fit within one or more of these definitions and did not submit a valid opt out:
- Regular Member Class: “all individual consumers of Audible in the United States who, between March 10, 2013 and August 17, 2018, lost any unredeemed Paid Membership Credits.”
- Gift Member Class: “all individual consumers of Audible in the United States who, between August 11, 2011 and August 17, 2018, purchased or redeemed an Audible Gift Membership that resulted in one or more unredeemed Audible gift membership credits being lost.”
- Payment Card Class: “all individual consumers of Audible in the United States who, between March 10, 2013 and August 17, 2018, incurred charges from Audible to a credit or debit card other than the card originally designated as the primary payment card for the customer’s Audible membership.”
What Does the Settlement Provide?
Regular Class Members and Gift Class Members (as defined above) are eligible to receive between one and four audiobooks from a settlement catalog, according to the following:
- Credit(s) Lost from Rollover Limit. Every Regular Class Member who lost one or more Paid Membership Credit(s) from March 10, 2013 through August 17, 2018 due to rollover limits will be eligible to select one audiobook from the settlement catalog.
- Credit(s) Lost from Cancellation. Every Regular Class Member who lost one or more Paid Membership Credit(s) from March 10, 2013 through August 17, 2018 due to cancellation of the member’s Audible membership will be eligible to select one audiobook from the settlement catalog.
- Lost Gift Membership Credit(s). Every Gift Class Member who lost one or more Audible gift membership credit(s) from August 11, 2011 through August 17, 2018 will be eligible to select one audiobook from the settlement catalog.
In addition, any class member who lost five or more credits in the aggregate under any of the circumstances identified above will be eligible to select one additional audiobook, for a total of up to four audiobooks.
Payment Card Class Members may be eligible to receive reimbursement for any Qualified Payment Card Expense that they submit to Audible along with proper documentation within 60 days of this notice of final approval of settlement. A “Qualified Payment Card Expense” means an overdraft fee or similar fee for exceeding an available balance incurred by a Payment Card Class Member between March 10, 2013 and August 17, 2018 as a direct result of Audible having charged a backup payment card instead of the Payment Card Class Member’s primary payment card. To be eligible for reimbursement, a Payment Card Class Member must submit documentation sufficient to confirm that the expenses submitted for reimbursement are Qualified Payment Card Expenses.
Settlement Info
Grant McKee et al. v. Audible, Inc., Case No. 2:17-cv-01941 (C.D. Cal.), and Eric Weber et al. v. Amazon.com, Inc., and Amazon Services LLC, Case No. 2:17-cv-08868 (C.D. Cal.).
Additional information and documents related to the Settlement are available at www.mckeesettlement.com.
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