• Scribd

Scribd

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Overview

Scribd has a rating of 1.4 stars from 877 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about Scribd most frequently mention credit card, free trial, and customer service problems. Scribd ranks 199th among Ebook sites.

  • Service
    145
  • Value
    137
  • Shipping
    82
  • Returns
    109
  • Quality
    128
Positive reviews (last 12 months): 0%
Positive
0
Neutral
0
Negative
5
130
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How would you rate Scribd?
Top Positive Review

“Surprisingly good”

Dominik K.
7/10/23

Been a user for about 3 years now and I'm continually surprised by what I can find here, from mags, through books to audiobooks. All at a bargain price, half of ehat audible charges for 1 book a month.

Top Critical Review

“Not even worthy of one star!”

J. R.
3/18/24

Joined Scribd/Everand a month ago. Their "free trial" is not free. They charged my account twice within that 30-day free trial period...once after two weeks of the trial and then at the end of it. I canceled my subscription and notified my bank of the fraud. Not only am I disputing the charges but a Have had the bank remove the card from my account so they can't continue to steal from me. I had hoped this subscription would be good...it seemed so at first. Then, I found out that not only are they fraudulent in their charges but there's a limit on how many books you can read in a billing cycle. Initially, when you search online for a good ebook subscription, Everand seems like a good choice until you actually have to deal with them. The complaints about them outweigh the good reviews and all seem to have a common thread - deceptive business practices.

Reviews (877)

Rating

Timeframe

Other

Reviews that mention popular keywords

credit card (172) customer service (117) trial period (29) bank account (28)
Thumbnail of user davids7595
Oregon
1 review
0 helpful votes
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February 18th, 2022

I have had scribd for a week last year, then cancelled. 6 times I have been charged and re cancelled. I swtich credit cards and they still bill me. Super frustrating. Worst subscription service of all time. I hate scribd.

Tip for consumers:
avoid like death

Products used:
none

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi David! We are sorry for the difficulty you have experienced. Once a subscription is canceled, our system should no longer bill your account. We would love to look into this for you and make things right! To better assist you, please submit a ticket to our support team here: https://scr.bi/assist. Thank you, we look forward to getting this resolved. - MR

Thumbnail of user helenk942
Australia
1 review
0 helpful votes
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November 19th, 2022

I am embarassed to have fallen for this and will be seeking compensation. Once signed up, you cannot unsubscribe. Am a teacher and have spent two hours of a precious Saturday night - now gone - trying to unsubscribe. What a joke.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

I apologize for any trouble you've had unsubscribing, Helen. We recommend you review this guide on how to cancel: https://bit.ly/3gxxTVT and if you need help from support, please email us via this link: https://scr.bi/assist and one of our agents will help you within 24 hours -EC

Thumbnail of user veryunhappyc
Australia
1 review
4 helpful votes
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April 22nd, 2016

This piece of $#*! is the $#*!test company and $#*!test app ever. LITERALLY A $#*!ING SCAM! I got ROBBED of my money. So one day i was searching for some sheet music and clicked on this Scribd website then without warning it said you purchased a membership. Like what the actual $#*!. No $#*! i didn't purchase anything, there weren't any credit card details i need to fill out to purchase the membership but then it just started charging me and i think its a plan so it will continue to charge me money. $#*! this $#*!. Someone please file a lawsuit and get this company in jail. I need compensation. This company should die in hell. Period.

Thumbnail of user faeryshopf
South Africa
1 review
10 helpful votes
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February 9th, 2016

Joined on 20 January for 14 day free membership. On that day usd 8.99 was removed form my credit card. I emailed your office to cancel my membership as I joined to read a book- Just listen by sarah dessen and after the money was deducted from my credit card, I found that the book was suddenly unavailable to download.

Now, today, money was again deducted from my account-usd 8.99

Please urgently cancel and refund amounts due to me

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi there! The charge from January 20,2016 was simply a verification process that ensures your payment method is valid. It is voided automatically and the funds never process out of your account. It does look like your subscription remained active following that free trial, which is why you were charged for the monthly subscription on February 9,2016. We've issued a refund for this charge and have canceled your subscription. We've also sent a reply on your ticket #1028173. Please do let us know if you have any other questions or concerns. Thanks! - Zoë, Scribd Customer Support

Thumbnail of user keithw185
New York
1 review
1 helpful vote
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July 25th, 2018

Signed up for the free trial. Of course my understanding was paying the first aspect up from the details listed. I cancelled my subscritpion, I noticed a few months after these charges of a subscription charge. Tried contacting them, no response. COMPLETE SCAM

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Keith - I'm so sorry to hear about your unexpected charges and we will absolutely refund them for you. Could you please reply to this with your ticket number? That way, I can personally look into this. Thank you!

Thumbnail of user bekkig
Colorado
1 review
4 helpful votes
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December 22nd, 2019

Unlimited my butt. Someone needs to start a class action lawsuits for deceptive advertising practices. Calling the service unlimited and then removing access to every single decent audiobook because you listened to too many (by the way, four is not an unusually high volume) for the month. They won't even show you what's available once your month resets. Also, the month doesn't reset until two full days after the payment date. Absolute bull. Would probably be worth the money if they were honest about the limitations but they lie and act like they aren't scamming their clients and the authors who aren't getting read because Scribd doesn't want to pay them.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hey Bekki - We apologize for any confusion with your Scribd membership. You'll notice the catalog rotate as you read. While some titles may not be immediately available, there will always be something you can read! Please feel free to email us at help@scribd.com with any questions or concerns, our support team is more than happy to assist you. Thanks!

Thumbnail of user rogerso2
South Africa
1 review
6 helpful votes
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June 6th, 2019

Two years ago, for a brief moment, I had free trial with Scribd. Although I did not use, I forgot to cancel the auto-suscription before the free trial ended and was quickly reminded when Scribd began charging. I promptly cancelled but they kept on charging for another two or three months. After I wrote angrily to their Customer Services they stopped charging my card. I went on to delete my account entirely with them. After 1 year of peace and without any valid account or subscription on my part, Last month Scribd charged my account and today again they've charged it again. With no valid account I had no way of contacting Scribd to report their illegal activities on my bank card. I had to call my bank and I reported bank fraud on their part. My bank has refunded and I have been forced to destroy my bank card. I think Scribd are engaging in fraudulent activity of some sort once they have one's bank card information. Best to stay away from them.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi there! A member of our support team can definitely look into this for you. Please email us at help@scribd.com, then update your review with your ticket number and a member of our team will reach out to you shortly. Thanks!

Thumbnail of user zelihah
Turkey
1 review
0 helpful votes
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May 10th, 2022

İ attacked the welcome mail from scribd. Without ant reminder they took my money! I trusted and didn't follow the expiry date for free trial.the fee is8.99dollars not too much but for turkey where 1dollar=15liras big money...

Tip for consumers:
Good and trustful sote

Products used:
PowerPoint slides

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Zeliha, we apologize for any confusion here. Scribd does not offer a standalone free trial. Per the terms you agreed to upon signup, you purchased a monthly recurring subscription with a free trial period. We'd be happy to help with a cancellation and refund, so please use this link to connect with our support team directly for further assistance: https://scr.bi/assist
Thanks! -VG

Thumbnail of user austinw92
Michigan
1 review
1 helpful vote
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April 9th, 2020

I signed up for the free trial and canceled the subscription afterwards. It's now been 4 months according to my bank account and it says I have been charged every month since. You would think canceling an account would stop you from being charged. I want a refund and I'd like to be reimbursed for the money I've lost to this thieving company.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Austin, we're truly sorry for the difficulties you had canceling your subscription with us. When you fully cancel your subscription, we'll ensure it remains active until the end of the month that you've paid for, but will not bill you again. We recommend checking out this article on how to successfully cancel your subscription located here https://support.scribd.com/hc/en-us/articles/210134046. For further assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at help@scribd.com for support from our account specialists. Thanks!

Thumbnail of user bernadineg
South Africa
1 review
7 helpful votes
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April 19th, 2016

When I joined scribed, the first month went well. I was allowed to read any titles I wanted. I am not sure if this is to get people to think that their site is good. After a month, I was suddenly sent a notice that now you are only allowed to read 3 titles for the month and then scribd selects which are all the crappy books and there are only about 5 titles under scribd selects. This is pathetic and definitely what I DID NOT sign up for. Their membership is not cheap and we as paying customers should not be restricted on only 3 titles a month. I cancelled my account and I will not go back

Thumbnail of user jasond509
Florida
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 2nd, 2020

1. Credit card processor does not work on site and they do not accept pay pal or google pay. The entire payment system is broken on scrib.com
2. https://support.scribd.com/ refuses to answer any question. They do not answer questions. I waited over a week, NO response.

They have books but they do not allow subscription to site. Amazon is 100X better,
I seriously tried 5 credit card, 2 paypal and 1 google pay. Scribd returns the SAME error message.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Jason, please update this review with the ticket number you received when you emailed help@scribd.com. We want to escalate your case to a specialist for review. Thanks!

Thumbnail of user michelles931
Brazil
1 review
5 helpful votes
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October 17th, 2019

I made an account and subscribed to a free trial one year ago. At the end of the trial period, I tried to unsubscribe but it was not possible since my account stated I did not have a membership with Scribd. I reached out Scribd and was informed that they couldn't locate any membership linked to my e-mail address. Nevertheless, they charged me. I reached them out again and I quote their response "as a one-time courtesy", they will refund me PARTIALLY. They make it hard for people to unsubscribe and do not take responsibility for it. Worst service ever. Do not subscribe to Scribd.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Michelle - We sincerely apologize for the trouble here. Upon review, we see that your support ticket (#2334583) is currently being handled by our Trust & Safety team. Please continue to follow-up via email with them in the meantime. Thanks!

Thumbnail of user boob13
Colorado
1 review
7 helpful votes
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August 31st, 2016

I signed up for a free trial and tried to cancel it five days later but got no email notification confirming my cancelation. I then tried to change my credit card information and it wouldn't let me. Next, I tried to delete my account and it said I still have an active membership. Finally, my credit card was charged 8.99 anyway and I had to get a NEW DEBIT card in order to stop them from stealing my money. I feel sorry for the other people who they stole a lot of money from...

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi there! I sent you a private message on here on September 2, but have not heard back from you as of yet. Please let us know the ticket number you received when you wrote in to us, or the email address associated with your account. Thanks! - Zoë, Scribd Customer Support.

Thumbnail of user edwind40
Netherlands
1 review
2 helpful votes
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July 2nd, 2018

On the 9th of June I started a free trial subscription, however, on the 1st of July I decided I do not want to keep using scribd and cancelled the subscription. However, I received a confirmation email, saying that 'Your Scribd membership has been cancelled effective August 08,2018.' But August 08 is two months after I started the free trial! I do not want to pay for this second month, since I cancelled the free subscription more than 24 hours before the start of the new period. I read a lot of reviews here about people who are charged after they deactivated their account. I hope scribd can cancel my account as soon as possible! I do not want to pay for an extra month! Paying would be a problem too, because recently I cancelled my credit card. I opened a ticket about this issue, but got no response yet. I hope they can ensure me that I will not be charged any money.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Edwin - We're happy to verify that your account was canceled for you and issue a refund, if you've been charged! Please send us an email to help@scribd.com.

Thumbnail of user fionat42
Romania
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 28th, 2020
Verified purchase

So many complaints in here made by people who are being charged without
Wanting the service and me, wanting to pay so i can be legit member
With full access to books i am being labeled as "fraud ", after i sented all verification documents and being verified by custumer suport with the name Emily C. (Support Desk).
After making an account one year ago and not using it, i come back and wanted to pay membership fee, i found out that my credit card was blocked.
Fine, so be it as you wish. I will buy books somewere else.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Thanks for the comment here and I apologize for any frustration. We want to ensure we are assisting you to the best of our ability, but we will need to look over your account to confirm what happened. Let us know your ticket number and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Thumbnail of user annai5
Florida
1 review
13 helpful votes
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November 13th, 2015

They changed from $8/mo to $8/book. But when you cancel you can't read any of the books you've already paid for like you can with audible. I've already paid for those books, it's not right for you to force me to keep being charged to read what I've already paid for. Besides if you change the rules after customers have already signed up this deceitful... You should find s better way of transitioning.

Thumbnail of user caradinegeorge74
Romania
1 review
1 helpful vote
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June 17th, 2023

Scribd is a scam site, to put it bluntly. If you don't want to subscribe to their site, they ask you to upload 5 documents before you can download (so you can read the full document, otherwise it's blurred) the document you need. You upload the documents only to receive an error as soon as you push the download button. If you want to try again, you got to upload another 5 documents, all different ones than those you previously updated! Great scam to put their grubby hands on free content and charge people for that content. Not to mention that they don't even have copyrights on that content.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Caradine, we're so sorry that you ran into an issue trying to download a document! We understand this must be frustrating and we'd be happy to further investigate this. Can you please reach out to us with this link: http://bit.ly/social-support-help? Once you do so, we'll receive your new support ticket and a member of our team can follow up with you as quickly as possible. Thank you! -MW

Thumbnail of user rossr18
Indonesia
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 28th, 2016

I renewd my sub to Scribd in Sept " 16. Last year it functioned well. This month December it deteriorates rapidly.,,
Download a book then try to open it later and the site freezes.
Try download a new book and the site is frozen.

I dont think Scribd could get worse

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Ross! Our support team is happy to help with any issues you may be having with the site. Please email us at help@scribd.com and we can take a look. Thanks! - Zoë, Scribd Customer Support

Thumbnail of user leoh146
Indonesia
1 review
0 helpful votes
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March 15th, 2022

After being charged for 2 consecutive months because I actually have no idea that we need to confirm and press the unsub button from friggin 4 pages (never saw another company does that btw). This is utterly deceptive to trick ppl this way. I just signed in for the free trial to see what book they offer and after finding out that I don't even have time to read I felt it's a waste to subscribe. Yet they charged me twice already. I feel scammed.

Tip for consumers:
Be careful of their tricky unsubscribe page. Please make sure you've gone through all the pages until the end.

Products used:
None

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

We apologize for any trouble you had canceling your subscription, Leo. We recommend checking out our cancelations guide here: https://bit.ly/3gxxTVT and if You need any help with refunds or cancelations, please be sure to reach out to our customer support team here: https://scr.bi/assist and one of our agents will help you within 24 hours - EC

Thumbnail of user marcr47
Oregon
1 review
3 helpful votes
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September 23rd, 2017

During the free month and for a few months after I was able to download many useful pdfs'in math and physics. I just had to email them a few times at one point and nag them for a suff. Answer, but it could have been partly because they needed more info than I originally gave. As far as I know canceling worked fine too, no more charges. I'm just a bit dismayed because I was thinking of joining again and cost when from 4.99 to 8.99 per month. So I might not join.

Thumbnail of user carlosh172
Japan
1 review
3 helpful votes
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September 11th, 2020

Tried the free trial for 3 days and didnt like it so cancelled I my sub, and after some annoying emails insisting that I still have 3 more weeks of use it stopped. But low and behold, 1 month later 9.89 dollars were taken from my paypal account to ¨pay¨ for one more month. And now I m trying to get a refund from the site and paypal, and I will find as many sites like this to share their scammy and cheap pratice, 1/5 because I cant go lower than that, 0/5 would still be compliment.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hey Carlos, we're sorry for the frustration here. It sounds like there may have been either an unsuccessful cancellation, or you may have a duplicate account created with us that you were unaware of. For us to be sure what the issue stems from, please submit a ticket through this link https://scr.bi/assist so your request is escalated straight to my team and we can get this taken care of for you right away. Thanks!

Thumbnail of user timothys92
New Zealand
1 review
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
February 4th, 2018

I signed up for what looked like an awesome sheet music collection on Scribd. However, most of the titles I've looked at have been unreadable - the scans are terribly low quality and blurry. To see an example of this, try looking at guitar white pages volume 1. There is no zoom function in the preview window, but zooming with browser reveals the appalling quality of the scans (blurry and low resolution, so much so that it is nearly impossible to read). Downloading an archive of the webpage confirms that the jpeg of each page is very low resolution and blurry. I have come across some sheet music in the sheet music collection that have been digitalised well (ie are readable) but they are few and far between. Perhaps Hal Leonard tried to rush a large collection of music to the Scribd without taking the time to digitalise it properly, and have only started doing a better job on more recent additions? Who knows. Anyway, would not recommend for musicians.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Timothy - my apologies for any confusion here. Some of the sheet music has been uploaded by our publishing partners yet some are uploaded by individual users, which is why you may have trouble with the quality. We're happy to help with anything, so please send us an email to help@scribd.com!

Thumbnail of user sofiaa55
South Carolina
1 review
2 helpful votes
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April 11th, 2020

I remember creating an account when I was doing research and needed a book for a report but I never upload my card information unless I cancel a subscription that day so I know I never gave them my card information instead it must have been auto-filled since my laptop saves it. Anyways this was back in January, I never really check through my bank statements to see small purchases except for this month I did. Only to find that I had been charged for a website I had used once. I checked my email and they never emailed me about charging me, in fact, I had not gotten an email from them since January, despite the fact that it way now April. After reading other reviews it is clear this website is a scam and needs to be removed. Honestly, if they don't refund me I will take legal action, although it is only a few dollars, this company is scamming people and the world would be better with out it.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Sofia, we'd be happy to assist you with a refund! Please email the details to help@scribd.com and update this review to include the ticket number you receive. That way we can connect you with an account specialist asap. Thanks!

Thumbnail of user austenm10
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
January 30th, 2022

Hi, so I actually really enjoyed your service when i used it for school purposes, but since I no longer need it for school I cancelled a few months back. And yet I still see you guys charge me every single month. I cancelled and deactivated my account, can you please stop charging me? I have a pending charge for the 31st, this Monday when I don't even have an account anymore let alone an active subscription

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Thank you for letting us know! We're so sorry for the trouble with those ongoing charges and, as we cannot charge someone without an active subscription, something must have gone wrong here. So we can assist you, please use this link to email support: https://scr.bi/assist and one of our agents will help you out within 24 hours -EC

Thumbnail of user saliml5
AE
1 review
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
May 12th, 2019

First of all, I didn't subscribe at all but they got access to my credit card which is registered in my facebook account. Moreover, I canceled the subscription but they keep getting paid each month. I wish them all the misery and curse of the world!

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi there! We are more than happy to help you with this. Please email us at help@scribd.com, then update your review with your ticket number and a member of our team will reach out to you shortly. Thanks!

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Explore over 170 million documents and counting from a global community of users. Find and upload text on every topic and niche, including research papers, official government documents, user manuals, and more!

Our monthly subscription starts at just $11.99 USD and automatically renews unless the subscription is canceled at least 24 hours prior to the next billing date.
A Scribd monthly subscription also includes access to Everand (ebooks, audiobooks, and more) and SlideShare (presentations and professional content).

Please visit our Help Center for answers to frequently asked questions and the option to connect with our support team for further assistance: https://support.scribd.com/hc/categories/360005188511

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Scribd S.

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