• 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

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Other

Reviews that mention popular keywords

credit card (172) customer service (117) trial period (29) bank account (28)
Thumbnail of user lanap42
California
1 review
2 helpful votes
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April 14th, 2020

I joined Scribd 5 months ago. I used it for one day only! I cancelled my membership the same day.
5 months later I accidently found out that I have been charged $9.99 each month!
What a scam!

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hey Lana, we’re so sorry for any confusion here! Since we cannot bill a canceled subscription, it sounds like these charges might be originating from a duplicate account or unsuccessful cancellation. We’d be happy to investigate this and stop any further charges! Please email our support team at help@scribd.com if you haven't already and update your review with your ticket # so we can get this taken care of for you right away. Thanks!

Thumbnail of user gs517
Texas
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
October 22nd, 2020

Fix this now, Scribd. I am filing a complaint for this unauthorized transaction with the Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud.ftc.gov This is elder abuse.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi there, it sounds like you have an active subscription for us. We're more than happy to help with a cancellation and refund, so please follow this link to create a ticket and connect directly with our support team: https://scr.bi/assist
Feel free to update your review with your ticket number as well for a faster response -- thanks!

Thumbnail of user supriyap4
Iowa
1 review
4 helpful votes
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June 27th, 2018

I paused my subscription to Scribd within free trail month (Ideally in pause condition you should not be charged), it notified that the account would be activated again on 7th August 2018. I have since then still been charged for their services! Scribd overdrew my account, ultimately my account was closed by the bank and I am being charged high penalty fees! I rarely use that bank account and got to know about it much later. Scribd do not even send a single email notification telling you that they have been billing your account. I am very careful about my subscriptions and paused their service while going outside the country. I haven't used their service and have cancelled the subscription today. They do not even have customer service representatives to attend calls of aggrieved customers! Terrible company, awful services. I would not recommend it to anyone. I have never been treated this disgracefully before. I have raised a dispute request with my bank against Scribd as I am not the one who should pay the penalty.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Supriya - I'm so sorry to hear that you were charged after you paused your subscription! When this happens, usually the subscription was not paused correctly or you have a second account with us that you've forgotten about. Not to worry, please send us an email to help@scribd.com and we'll get to the bottom of this and issue a refund!

Thumbnail of user andreap695
New York
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
October 21st, 2021

I was charged for 4 months of subscription with no authorization. I emailed them after the first charge requesting them to refund me for the charge and make sure I was not to be charged again. I was charged another 3 TIMES after this. I just emailed them AGAIN and have had no response to my emails to their support team. I WANT A REFUND ON MY 4 TOTAL CHARGES!

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Thanks for informing us and we apologize for the delay from support. Let us know your ticket number and we can help escalate your case -EC

Thumbnail of user robertop17
California
1 review
3 helpful votes
  • Send Message
April 12th, 2016

I already sent three messages to Scribd to refund me, still no answer. They say it's the Netflix of books, but the charged me four times in a row three books, I feel fooled.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Roberto - It looks like one of our support reps refunded your charges for the audiobook credits on April 18,2016. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns via support@scribd.com. Thanks! - Zoë, Scribd Customer Support

Thumbnail of user samk287
Netherlands
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
May 11th, 2020

I just cancelled my free trial and I know you guys are about to start stealing from me... I will sue you if you don't cancel my subscription asap... My ticket id is #*******

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Sam, we have already resolved this for you via email in ticket #2688231. You will not be charged and your account is cancelled. Thanks!

Thumbnail of user oo28
Romania
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
August 3rd, 2022

This is the worst site I have ever opened!
You can't even download stuff from them anymore. And customer service is so bad, they can't even answer to a simple question. Worst site ever!

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hello, we are sorry for any difficulty you have experienced. We would love to make things right and assist you with the issue you are having. If you have already submitted a ticket to our support team, please provide your ticket number. If you have not, please submit a ticket to our support team here: https://scr.bi/assist. Thank you, we look forward to assisting you. - MR

Thumbnail of user christinec1740
Louisiana
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
October 3rd, 2021

FRAUD ALERT. Scribd is definitely a "cash grabbing" site. They stole my money and charged me for 6 months of service after I cancelled my subscription. Their website notes the date of my cancelled subscription and the last date they say I paid for service. Yet their site does not reflect the following 6 months as they continued to charge me. I am not able to log in and use the service as the site says I have no subscription! SO They STOLE MY MONEY AND they REFUSE TO REFUND IT! This is FRAUD and they are clearly doing this on purpose KNOWING people wont notice right away. When I complained they said they have a 30 day policy and won't refund anything past 30 days. This is clearly set up to take advantage and steal from people. This is FRAUD. The authorization I gave them was to charge me for a service, when I cancelled that service that authoriation is removed. I want my money back. They also have no phone number and no customer service personnel. DO NOT SUBSCRIBE!

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

Hi Christine,

We sincerely apologize for the experience you have had. We would love to have one of our specialist to look into this further. To better assist you, submit a ticket via this link: https://scr.bi/assist. Once the ticket is submitted, your request will be escalated to a specialist who will follow up with you via email.

Please address any further questions with the specialist directly via email to ensure your concerns are addressed in a timely manner. Thank you! - MR

Thumbnail of user lindsayj47
Canada
1 review
3 helpful votes
  • Send Message
January 16th, 2020

I canceled my membership right after it began as Scribd didn't have the book I needed. When I saw my card has been charged the next month I tried to email and call multiple times but no response. My card has continuously been charged for 8 months now and I can't contact anyone at Scribd. DO NOT GET THIS MEMBERSHIP.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Lindsay, we're truly sorry to hear of the difficulties and would be happy to look into this for you. We do not offer phone support at all, however please update your review with the ticket number associated with the email you sent us and we would be happy to follow up and look at your account. Thanks!

Thumbnail of user jj619
Washington
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
January 6th, 2022

Received a gift subscription and was unable to use it. Tech support is a minimum two weeks delayed. Refunds require you to login but it doesn't allow me to login. What a joke.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention here. Our general support team is encountering a high amount of requests after the holiday season, however, we would be happy to get this escalated for you. Please update this review to include your support ticket number and we'll get you a response within 24 hours. If you haven't been successful in creating a support ticket, you can do so here: https://scr.bi/assist -AR

Thumbnail of user previousc
New York
2 reviews
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
July 6th, 2020

Invoice ID: **************

1) Do not use the website services and keep yourself away as further as possible
2) Do not register at their website and do not provide any bank cards and/or Paypal accounts details
3) Even if you cancel your free-trial membership on the same/next day, the company will not send you a cancellation number and any emails. You can see on the top of the web page the message "You still have 29 free days left of reading. If your subscription ends, you will lose access to all books, audiobooks, and documents"
4) Regardless of any cancellation the website will charge your bank cards and you should contact to a bank support to cancel the transaction. Because the website didn't provide any cancellation number, you have no chance to prove that you cancelled your subscription/membership.
Also, only after you contact about the fraud transaction either to your bank or Paypal, and do cancellation of a membership request over again, then the website is going to send you just email about cancellation without any numbers.
5) Read books only at reliable website, aka Kindle, Learning Oreily, Apress, Litres.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Thanks for your comment here - I am so sorry for the frustration with this charge! Please know, as long as your account is canceled before your next payment date, you will not be charged on the following date. That said, if you were charged after canceling, this was likely due to a failed cancelation or a duplicate account. However, again, please do not worry! We have a team of experts who can help you with this and refund you. Just contact our support team at help@scribd.com and update here with your ticket number. We'll respond and assist you as soon as possible. Thank you for your time.

Thumbnail of user johnk1828
Idaho
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
March 17th, 2020

I never sign up for automatic payments!

So somehow, they misled me or tricked me into an automatic payment scheme.

BEWARE of this kind of trickery!

AVOID this company!

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi John, we'd like to connect you with an account specialist to look into this and refund any unwanted charge. Please email the details to help@scribd.com and then update this review to include the ticket # you receive so that we can connect asap. Thanks!

Thumbnail of user daniloc9
Serbia
1 review
5 helpful votes
  • Send Message
February 18th, 2018

Hello,
I've seen many bad reviews here, and I have to say I'm scared. Just to say, I DELETED MEMBERSHIP, GOT A CONFIRMATION MAIL FOR IT, GOT PAYPAL CONFIRMATION ABOUT CANCELLING MEMBERSHIP ALSO, I WANT MY PAYPAL MAIL DELETED FROM SITE SYSTEM, ALSO DONT YOU DARE STEAL MONEY FROM ME (I ENTERED SUBSCRIPTION TODAY, AND CANCELLED IT TODAY ALSO), MY TICKETS ARE #******* AND #*******.
JUST MAKE SURE TO REALLY CANCEL MY MEMBERSHIP.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Danilo - Thanks for reaching out to us! April has confirmed that your account has been deleted and you will not be charged in the future.

Thumbnail of user nurins1
Australia
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
November 6th, 2021

I have just noticed that I am still charged for a membership after cancellation. I have cancelled a long time ago. This is so disappointing and a fraud case.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Nurin, it sounds like you have an active subscription with us as we're unable to bill otherwise. In order for us to assist you in resolving this, please use this link to connect with our support team directly: https://scr.bi/assist
Thanks! -VG

Thumbnail of user martym254
Texas
1 review
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
March 29th, 2023

I was asked to provide 5 pdf files for one of there's they took my five pdf flies and when it was my turn to receive my file in trade for my 5 files they crashed and the screen said it was no longer available JERKS

Service
Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Thank you for informing us. We apologize for any trouble you're having receiving our incentivized download and any problem with reaching support. Our support team is available to assist you via email, however, we're not seeing any emails in our queue from you. If you did email us, please update your review and provide your ticket number. Otherwise, email us via this link: http://bit.ly/social-support-help
Once this is done, one of our agents will be able to assist you shortly. Thanks! -VG

Thumbnail of user susans1011
California
1 review
4 helpful votes
  • Send Message
May 16th, 2019

I have been charged for months and customer service can not locate my account. Customer service is awful and have been dealing with this issue for week. Have to create a fraud alert!

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Apologies for the troubles Susan, we would like to escalate your case and 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!

Thumbnail of user bnks
France
1 review
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
May 18th, 2017

I fell for the scribd trap!
I cancelled my membership but I'm still charged
It's not a free trial.
My user name is bnk4simoes. Can you take care oh this issue?
My email is *******@gmail.com

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi there. Thank you for providing your email. I've sent you an email regarding the account associated with the username (bnk4simoes) addressing your questions and concerns. If you have any other questions/concerns, please reply to that email. Thanks! -Donni, Scribd Customer Support

Thumbnail of user cuckersonn
Brazil
1 review
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
February 3rd, 2019

You can't see $#*! and neither download them because you need an account
And if you try to create an account, you need to put in your credit card info

Overall: don't even go near that degeneracy

Thumbnail of user sont18
Viet Nam
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
July 29th, 2020

I canceled my subscription a month ago, but today I get charged 8.99$. WTF is going on. And this is what I found, A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE CHEATED THIS WAY! Are you guys trying to rob every customer like this?

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi there, we're sorry for any confusion here. It sounds like the charge you're seeing is actually tied a duplicate account, as its impossible for us to bill a canceled subscription. We'd be happy to look into this with you and make sure you're not billed further. Please submit a ticket through this link and a specialist will follow up to assist right away: https://scr.bi/assist

We look forward to getting this resolved for you. Thanks!

Thumbnail of user johns7619
South Carolina
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
December 1st, 2020

If they treat you like me, they will steal your money once they have your credit card. Do not let them have it.

I wanted to look at one book they had available, so I took them up on their free offer. I took that look, then canceled the service. Months later, I realized there was a recurring charge on my credit card that I did not expect. I tracked it down to them and notified them that they failed to process my cancellation. They offered to refund one of the months, but were slow to respond to my complaint. They never refunded that month. When I contacted their customer support, they explained we were so close to the next month's charge that they just decided not to charge me for that next month rather than issue a refund for the prior month - despite the service already being canceled, so no additional charge being authorized. They CLEARLY just want to get your information to start charging you and will do whatever they can to keep charging you, using unethical delays and 'system failures' to justify continuing to charge you.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Thanks for reaching out to us here, John - please know, we want to ensure we are doing everything we can to assist you. So we can ensure we are helping you to the best of our ability, please update this comment with your ticket number and we'll be there to assist you ASAP.

Thumbnail of user joelm60
North Carolina
1 review
3 helpful votes
  • Send Message
April 13th, 2015

I love the app, however I decided I didn't have time to read much, so I set the app to stop at the end of the first free month. I'm getting charged and not looking for a renewal.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Joel. I'm so sorry to hear about the unwanted charge! We'll be able to figure out what happened and make sure you're compensated for unused time on the site. If you haven't done so already, please send a message to us at support@scribd.com and we'll be happy to help. Please include the email address you used when you registered on Scribd as well as the order number for the membership if you still have it. We look forward to hearing from you! -- Jerry, Scribd Customer Service Manager

Thumbnail of user hannahm256
Michigan
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
September 20th, 2020

I don't have a scribd account and dont even know what scribd is to be completely honest. However, I have been getting constant charges from them for MONTHS! So unethical and illegal.

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Thank you for reaching out to us here - I apologize for the confusion with these charges and for any frustration! Scribd is a digital reading subscription that brings you monthly access to the best books, audiobooks, news, and magazines. Many of our members use our website and app to read everything from bestsellers and old classics to legal documentation and instruction manuals. We also carry a wide variety of sheet music and news articles along with thousands of audiobooks. The charge you are seeing is likely for our monthly subscription fee.

That said, since it is impossible for us to charge you without a subscription, you must have an account somewhere in our system causing your charges. So we can help look into this for you and assist you with refunds, please reach out to our support desk using this link https://scr.bi/assist. Using that link will escalate you to the front of my queue so I can get back to you personally as soon as possible.

Thumbnail of user simonr152
Australia
1 review
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
March 27th, 2021
Verified purchase

Cancelled my account yet they continue to take money out. No customer support to follow it up. Straight up criminals. Had to cancel my credit card so they couldn't take money out.

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

Thank you for letting us know and we are so sorry you've had trouble contacting support! If you have an open ticket, please let us know your ticket number and we'll ensure your case is escalated to an agent who can assist you as soon as possible. If you have not yet tried to email us, please contact us via this link: https://scr.bi/assist. If you use that link, you'll be forwarded directly to the top of our queue so one of our agents can assist you ASAP - EC

Thumbnail of user jurmalag
Georgia
1 review
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
January 27th, 2023

It's a horrible scam their customer service is almost non existent and their "upload 3 files to get a pdf" is even worse, it doesn't work at all so don't even bother with it

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

Thank you for informing us. We apologize for any trouble you're having receiving our incentivized download and any problem with reaching support. Our support team is available to assist you via email, however, I am not seeing any emails in our queue from you. If you emailed us, please provide your ticket number, otherwise, email us via this link: https://scr.bi/assist and one of our agents will help you out within 24 hours -EC

Thumbnail of user jerryw395
Singapore
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
December 11th, 2020

SO I have been charged continually for the PAST 17 MONTHS and have only just realized that I'm still being charged, today, despite having CANCELLED the membership before my free trial ended. That amounts to 234 dollars in total... WHAT A FRAUD MAN. I just went to their refund policy and saw "Transactions more than 30 days old cannot be refunded". Ever so conveniently they allow refunds for "unused premium subscription", but disallows refunds for more than 30 days old. HOW ABOUT THE USERS who cancelled but were still charged, isn't that FRAUD already since the user had cancelled but somewhere somehow your system did not capture it? Then isn't it your problem, not the user's? So why is the user being penalized for your system's issue? I thought I was the only one facing this issue, not boy was I wrong; seems like I'm not the only one having this problem.

To anyone thinking of subscribing to SCRIBD, even for a free trial... don't. Unless you want to go through the same frustration as many users here, trying to cancel a subscription (or in the process, getting charged for a subscription you've cancelled more than a year ago).

Genuinely disappointed that such companies exist. Absolutely disgusted.

#*******

Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S. – Scribd Rep

Hi Jerry, thanks for reaching out. We sincerely apologize for any confusion with your Scribd membership and the cancellation process. To clarify, it is absolutely impossible for us to bill a canceled account as it is no longer rendering services with us.

We actually have a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to cancel your subscription in our Help Center here: https://bit.ly/2UpEyYF

With that being said, we're more than happy to help with a cancellation and refund for you, so please use this link to create a ticket with us and a specialist will follow up ASAP to get this resolved: https://scr.bi/assist

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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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Thumbnail of user jerryg31
Scribd S.

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