Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Scribd's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Scribd

  460 Bryant Street, #100 San Francisco, CA 94107

• 

  Scribd

  539 Bryant St Ste 200 San Francisco, CA 94107-1269

• 

  Scribd

  333 Bush St Ste 2400 San Francisco, CA 94104-2806

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/17/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have received a monthly charge from Scribd for the following amounts Nov 17 2022 - $8.95 Dec 17 2022 - $9.13 Jan 17 2023 - $9.01 Feb 17 - $ **** Attempted charge Mar 16 - $9.33 which I have now locked my Credit Card to avoid any further transactions and have contacted my ******************* to dispute the charges.I will not be communicating at all with the company as it is a SCAM! and I don't want to provide them with any more personal info.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/18/2023

  Upon review of the email address provided, there is no active subscription associated with account. This means any charges the customer is seeing is a result of a duplicate/separate account under a different email address. In order for us to further assist, we will need to connect ***** with our support team directly via email.

  Please have her use this link to submit a ticket, and specialist will follow up right away to help: *********************************
  Please also remind the customer that should they need assistance, a first step should always be visiting our ************ This allows the most efficient and quick resolution. They can easily find the link to our *********** and information on how to submit a ticket on our BBB business profile. Here is the direct link for their reference: ****************************************
  Thanks! -VG

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/16/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I was using Scribd for a couple of months in 2021 for some of my books for a class I had. I thought it would be a cheaper option as Im a college student. I requested a refund in around December 2021 and have been getting charged since then its 2023 of March and I just realized Ive been getting charged for a year without using their site. I read online that Scribd continues to charge other people even if they cancel their account, I would like a refund as I havent used the site in more than a year.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/17/2023

  We can confirm the user created an account a while back and never unsubscribed. Per our Subscriber Agreement, accounts will continue to be charged monthly until canceled. They can review our subscriber agreement here: **********************

  That said, it looks like they have already canceled their subscription and refunded the last two months. If either payment was still "pending" they need to allow time for it to cancel, otherwise, refunds typically post within 3-5 business days. 

  Please inform them to continue to correspond via email if they need more help. Thanks! -EC 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/15/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I canceled my subscription in September 2022. I put a block with my credit card company and filed a dispute with them via my credit card company. On September 3, I was able to login and cancel my subscription, but I am still getting charged. To date, they have not stopped charging me. I have emailed them several times requesting formal cancelation - they do not respond, and there is no phone number to call. I have now put another dispute in to them with my credit card, emailed them again and will try to log in and cancel, but so far it won't even let me recover my password. They clearly are making this very challenging in order to scam people out of the monthly cost.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/16/2023

  Thank you for informing us. 

  We can confirm there is no subscription associated with the email she has provided, however, as we cannot charge for the monthly subscription fee without an active subscription, there has to be an account with a different email resulting in the payments she is seeing. 

  We followed up with the user via email, so please have them check their email for our reply and we'll wait for their response via email. Thanks! -EC 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/17/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is not yet  satisfactory to me.  They have still charged me for 11 months of service. I requested them to assist and stop charging me in September of 2022 and they continued to charge me with NO response to my request. I am awaiting a refund. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/10/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I just discovered that Scribd has been billing my credit card monthly for the past 18 months without authorization from me. I did not sign up for Scribd and have never used the service. The total charged by Scribd--and paid by my credit card--is $229.50. Thank you. *************************

  Business Response

  Date: 03/13/2023

  Thank you for informing us. Scribd is a digital reading subscription service. Any payments they are seeing would be for our monthly subscription fee.

  As we cannot charge for the monthly subscript-on fee without an active subsciprtion, there has to be an account in our system somewhere causing their charges.

  We located an email in our queue from the user and escalated their case. We just responded to them now requesting the information we need to find the subscribed account. 

  Please inform them to check their email for our response and we'll wait for their reply via email. Thanks! -EC 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/05/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On November 18th, 2022, I had a 30-day free trial at Scribd.com (account email: *********************** I was supposed to receive a reminder email from Scribd.com after the 30-day free trial ended, but I didn't.On December 18th, 2022, Scribd.com charged me $127.84 for the Annual membership fee from my Paypal account ****************** On the same day, I canceled my subscription and contacted Scribd.com to ask for a refund (request number: #*******). The customer agreed with this refund and said the refund takes 3-5 business days to back to my bank.However, until December 29th, 2022 (9 business days later), I still didn't receive any refund back to my Paypal account or by credit card (Discover, card number ending with ****). So I asked ************* for a dispute.On February 22nd, 2023, the bank said the dispute is not available because the "Transaction has been found to be valid". I contacted the bank and they said I need to provide a prove that the merchant agree to refund the card number ending with ****. I contacted Scribd again (request number: #*******), and the customer said since I have already asked for a dispute with the bank, they cannot give me a refund or any other file to prove that the merchant agree to a refund other than the old ticket (request number: #*******).Now, the bank said the dispute has already been closed and I need to get a refund from Scribd.com. And the Paypal showing that "Refund not received - chargeback, Case status: Close".Now I hope to receive a refund and a reply or a file or and email that show when can I receive the refund to card number ending with ****.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/07/2023

  Thank you for informing us 

  In review of the account associated with their email, I can confirm that the agent refunded their charge on December 19th, 2022, however, the charge was canceled when the refund was issued as the charge had not yet processed. When charges are canceled they may take a bit longer to clear from the account. 

  That said, once chargebacks are issued we are no longer able to assist from this end. Any further questions from the user will need to be addressed by PayPal. Thank you for your time and have a good day -EC 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/08/2023

   
  Complaint: 19542515
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I just contacted PayPal and they said the seller has not issued any refunds on this payment yet. I am still asking to receive a refund and a reply or a file or an email that shows when can I receive the refund to the card number ending with 2570.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************

  Business Response

  Date: 03/09/2023

  Thank you for your message and I apologize for the ongoing confusion.
  
  When we processed the refund for this transaction, it was "canceled" not "refunded" as the refund was processed within a few days of the charge and it had not yet posted. When a transaction is canceled, the pending charge disappears from the billing statement as if it never existed. When a transaction is refunded, the pending charge has already processed, and a new credit transaction is created to issue the refund.
  
  The reason they are not seeing a credit transaction on their account is because this charge was simply canceled. If they look back through their billing statement, they should not see any original charge from Scribd. Again, I'm so sorry for any confusion this caused!
  
  Please have them tell us if they need any further assistance or if they have any questions. Thanks again, and have a wonderful day! -EC

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/15/2023

   
  Complaint: 19542515
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I checked my online bank statement again and found that the money was indeed charged instead of disappearing.  I contacted the customer ******* of ************* and PayPal again, and they confirmed that the money was indeed charged and not yet refunded. They suggested that I ask the merchant for evidence of refund, including the date of refund and where it refunded to (such as credit card  ending with xxxx.)
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/04/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I cancelled my subscription before the new pay period and they still charged **** made a ticket but you cannot talk to anyone.and no one gets back to you.I just want my money back please.it was $12.56

  Business Response

  Date: 03/07/2023

  Thanks for informing us and we apologize for the frustration. 

  We located the users account and can confirm it was set up via a different email and the account shows no sign of a cancellation, which is why they were recently billed. 

  That said, we refunded their recent charge and replied via email. Please have them check their email and to let us know via email if they need more assistance and we'll help them out further there as soon as possible. Thanks! -EC 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/23/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I received a fraudulent charge from Scribd a couple weeks back. I immediately emailed them to which they were largely unhelpful. I explained over and over that I have never even heard of Scribd, nonetheless have a paying accout with them. This is obviously someone committing fraud on their account with my credit card. Regardless, Scribd simply stopped responding to my emails. Then, today I received another charge on my card and of course emailed them straight away.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/27/2023

  Upon review of the email address provided by a customer, there are no accounts or tickets within our system. However, we were able to locate their recent ticket by searching their first and last name. We can confirm that their support ticket, under the ticket number #*******, has already been responded to by our support team and their issue has been resolved. Please remind the customer to continue corresponding with us via email should they have any other questions or concerns. Thanks! -VG

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/20/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Last month I realized I had a charge on my credit card that I didn't recognize. 20 days ago I took the time and looked into this further and realized it was from SCRIBD who has charged my credit card 4 months now. I do not have, and never had an account with them. The ONLY way to contact them is through their website which sends you an email, that is their only support method. 3 responses later they agree to escalate this. It has been over 2 weeks since then. I have emailed them back twice with no response. I'm afraid I will have to cancel my credit card now with no refund. It disgusts me that a company can get away with something like this, so here I am on BBB. Here is our chat... (ME) I need this subscription cancelled otherwise I will have to cancel my credit card. I do not have a Scribd subscription and have been charged $11.99 per month for the months of October, November and December. I want you to stop charging my credit card for this subscription that I do not have. Please contact me immediately. (THEM) I'm afraid I am unable to locate an account associated with this email address. Please reply to this message with your Scribd username, a link to your profile, or the email address that you used to sign up for your Scribd account. If you don't have this information, and have either a current or prior subscription with Scribd, please provide the following: The first 6 and last 4 digits of the card, the type of card ****** Mastercard, etc.), and the date and amount of the last Scribd transaction. Once I have the above, I should be able to find your Scribd account. If you have any other questions, please let me know. (ME) Unfortunately I don't have a username or email address to refer to since I never opened an account. I can give you the card info though. **** ****** - **** December ** for $11.99. (THEM) I was able to locate a charge using your credit card details however the account is registered with the email address komos*****@gmail.com, which I have partially redacted for security reasons. If this email address belongs to you, please reply with the email address typed out in full to complete the verification process. This verification process is necessary because the email address that you are contacting us from is either connected to a free account with no paid subscription or there is no account associated with your email address at all. (ME) That is not any email of mine. Please remove my card from this subscription. I would also like a refund from October, November and December $11.99 charges please. (THEM) Thank you so much for your patience with us as we try to get this resolved for you. I'm sending this to our escalation team for further review. Just to set expectations, they are a small team and are experiencing a high volume of requests at this time, so it may take a few business days for them to get back to you. But rest assured, your issue is important to us and they will reach out to you as soon as they're able to.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/26/2023

  Upon review of the email address provided, we have located a recent ticket from this user under the ticket number #*******. We can confirm that they are currently working with our support team and their case has been escalated to our Payments and Billing team due to the nature of the concern. Please bear in mind that they are small team and are experiencing a high volume of requests at this time, but are working through each of these as quickly as possible in the order that they've been received. We have alerted this specialized team of the extended delay and the user should be receiving a response within the next 1-2 business days. We sincerely apologize for any delay in resolving their concern and are working to improve response time for our customers in the future. Please have the user continue to correspond with us via email in the meantime should they have any other questions or concerns. Thanks! -VG

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/19/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I had a subscription to Scribd that I canceled in December 2022 yet they continue to charge my account each month, albeit an unauthorized charge. Ive called the numbers as listed on their site, but I can NEVER get anyone on the phone regarding my dispute. *** also attempted to chat with the virtual assistant, but again, the system isnt helpful as it continues to redirect you to the FAQs (I believe they have it intentionally setup this way). Ive disputed each transaction with Navy Federal, but I shouldnt have to do this each month with a subscription that was canceled. In addition, when I initially started the subscription I entered my Navy Federal card (ending in ****) but the funds werent there. At that point, I decided to use my *********** credit card (ending in ****) and that card went through. However, I have since closed my *********** card and Im assuming that their system captured the initial card entered (i.e. Navy Federal) and just continue to charge that card even though they were NEVER authorized to do so. I have screenshots of everything on my phone including the confirmation that my subscription was canceled, and proof of the last 4 digits of my *********** card that was authorized and NOT Navy Federal! Lastly, their systems are clearly not in sync as I continue to get emails asking me to rejoin the Scribd network so its clear that I no longer have a subscription!

  Business Response

  Date: 02/23/2023

  Upon review of our system, we were able to locate an account under the email address provided by the customer of ********************* However, the account does not have a current subscription with us or any current charges.
  
  We can confirm that the customer canceled their previous subscription with us on this account on December 3rd, 2022. To confirm, they were not charged again as we cannot bill canceled accounts that are no longer rendering services with us. Since it's absolutely impossible for us to bill a canceled account, or without there even being an active account or subscription in the first place, any charges would be stemming from a separate account of theirs under a different email address.
  
  We will need to connect them directly with our support team for further assistance. Please have them use the link provided here to create their ticket and a specialist will follow up to help right away: bit.ly/social-support-help
  Thanks! -VG

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/24/2023

   
  Complaint: 19431371
  
  I am rejecting this response because: As you can see, your company charged my account in December after the subscription had already been canceled. You all charged me again in January and my bank refunded me for both December and January, and then you all charged me yet again in February! I attached the documents from my Navy ******************** account as proof. Lastly, this is the only account that I have with your company and you know it! Now I have to be inconvenienced by changing my account info just to prevent having to do this every month seeing as how Ive had to dispute transactions from your company since December.

  At this point, theres really nothing else for you all to say. I just wanted to negate your statement that you all absolutely could not charge a closed account because as you can seeyou absolutely did! Point proven; case closed.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  Quanta *******

  Business Response

  Date: 03/02/2023

  As mentioned previously, there are no recent charges on the account under the email address provided by the customer. To confirm, we cannot charge a canceled account as it is no longer rendering services with us. This means that any charges the customer is seeing are associated with a separate account of theirs under a different email address.
  
  It appears that the customer has still not created a ticket with us. As a reminder, we will need them to reach out to us via email for any further assistance. In order to locate the charges and put a stop to them, we will need to launch an investigation within our payment processor. This is a necessary step and if not completed we cannot further assist.

  Please remind the customer to follow the link provided to create their ticket so we can help them get this resolved as quickly as possible: *********************************
  Once this is done, a specialist will follow up with them ASAP to help. Thanks! -VG

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/17/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I subscribed to Scribd for 1 month only back in Sept/Oct 2022. I cancelled in Oct.I was refunded for the charge in Nov. but since have been charged for *********, Jan,2023, Feb. 2023 Their website for a refund is a joke keeps referring me to customer support which does nothing,1/4/************ (Monthly)Valid: 11/4/22 - 12/4/22 $12.71 (REFUNDED)$0.72 (tax)Credit Card 10/4/22Membership (Monthly)Valid: 10/4/22 - 11/4/22 $12.71 $0.72 (tax)Credit Card 9/4/22Free Trial (30 days)Valid: 9/4/22 - 10/4/22 $0.00

  Business Response

  Date: 02/23/2023

  Upon review of our system, we were able to locate an account under the email address provided by the customer of **********************************. However, the account does not have a current subscription with us or any current charges.
  
  We can confirm that the customer canceled their previous subscription with us on this account on November 19th, 2022 and also received a refund on that same day. To confirm, they were not charged again as we cannot bill canceled accounts that are no longer rendering services with us. Since it's absolutely impossible for us to bill a canceled account, or without there even being an active account or subscription in the first place, any charges would be stemming from a separate account of theirs under a different email address.
  

  We will need to connect them directly with our support team for further assistance. Please have them use the link provided here to create their ticket and a specialist will follow up to help right away: bit.ly/social-support-help
  Thanks! -VG