An “Audio 99” charge on your bank or credit card statement is almost certainly a truncated billing descriptor for Audible, the Amazon-owned audiobook and podcast subscription service. Audible bills through Amazon’s digital-services payment system, and the descriptor that reaches your statement often shows up as “Amazon Digital Svcs amzn.com/bill” or a shortened variation that never includes the word “Audible.”1Amazon. Identify Charges on Your Credit Card or Bank Statement If the amount is near $8.99 or $14.95 and recurs monthly, it lines up with Audible’s Standard plan at $8.99 per month or the Premium Plus plan at $14.95 per month. Annual Premium Plus plans run $149.50 for 12 credits or $229.50 for 24 credits.2Audible. Audible Membership Benefits
Why You Didn’t Recognize It
The most common explanation is a free trial that quietly converted to a paid subscription. Audible and Amazon promote trials heavily, including extended three-month trials for Prime members, and each one auto-renews at the regular monthly rate unless canceled first.2Audible. Audible Membership Benefits Under Audible’s terms, memberships continue automatically unless the user cancels before the next charge posts, and Audible is authorized to bill any card on file without further notice unless the law requires one.3Amazon. Audible Conditions of Use
A second explanation is a shared Amazon payment method. Because Audible is tied to your Amazon account, another household member or anyone with access to a shared Amazon account can start a subscription that bills to a card you never knowingly linked to Audible. Consumer complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau frequently describe charges on cards the account holder did not associate with an active membership, with Audible sometimes attributing this to shared payment methods or Amazon’s backup payment features.4BBB. Audible Customer Complaints
A March 2025 proposed class action, Sherk v. Audible, Inc., alleges a third pattern: that Audible enrolls consumers in monthly subscriptions without their knowledge or consent by pulling payment and personal information from existing Amazon accounts, going back to at least 2018. The complaint says the resulting memberships go “unknown, unwanted and unused.” The case was transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and remains active, with an amended complaint filed in May 2026.5ClassAction.org. Audible Lawsuit Claims Consumers Are Enrolled in Monthly Subscriptions Without Consent6CourtListener. Sherk v. Audible Inc.
Confirming the Charge Is From Audible
Sign in to your Amazon account and open the “Your Transactions” page. That page lists digital-services charges with dates and amounts, and you can match them against the mystery entry on your statement.1Amazon. Identify Charges on Your Credit Card or Bank Statement If the charge lines up with an Audible membership fee, the next step is cancellation.
How to Cancel the Membership
If you signed up through audible.com, cancel there. On a desktop browser, sign in, select your username, open “Account details,” and follow the “Cancel membership” link through the confirmation screens. On mobile web, open the main menu, tap your account, and choose “Cancel membership.”7Audible. Cancel Your Audible Membership
If the membership was started through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, Audible cannot cancel it for you. You have to open your device’s subscription settings and cancel through the platform that took your payment.7Audible. Cancel Your Audible Membership This trips up many people, who reasonably assume the company collecting the money can also stop it.8BBB. Audible BBB Complaints
Deleting the Audible app does not cancel anything. Billing continues until you formally cancel through the website or the third-party store that manages the subscription.7Audible. Cancel Your Audible Membership
Getting a Refund for Charges You Didn’t Want
Audible’s written terms say membership fees are generally non-refundable and that canceling does not entitle you to a refund of fees already paid.3Amazon. Audible Conditions of Use In practice, Audible’s customer service does issue some refunds. Responses to BBB complaints indicate an internal policy that caps refunds at 26 billing cycles, which frustrates consumers who discover charges going back several years.8BBB. Audible BBB Complaints One BBB complainant reported $1,220.65 in charges accumulated over seven years.4BBB. Audible Customer Complaints
Contact Audible customer service first and ask directly for a refund of the unrecognized charges. Have your statement entries, dates, and amounts ready. If Audible refuses or offers less than you believe you’re owed, your credit card issuer is the next stop. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advises consumers to try to resolve billing disputes with the merchant first, then contact the card issuer about a chargeback. You generally have to notify the card company of a billing error within 60 days of the charge appearing on your statement. For older charges, the issuer has discretion and may or may not reverse them.9CFPB. How Can I Get a Refund on a Product or Service I Purchased With My Credit Card
If you can’t get into the Audible account because you no longer have the email address or phone number tied to it, say so plainly when you contact both Audible and your card issuer. Locked-out consumers report continuing to be billed while they try to prove ownership, and that fact strengthens a chargeback request.4BBB. Audible Customer Complaints
Your Legal Protections
The Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA) requires online sellers to clearly disclose the material terms of a transaction and to obtain your express informed consent before charging a financial account.10FTC. Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act This is the federal statute the FTC used against Amazon over Prime enrollments.
In September 2025, that Prime case ended in a $2.5 billion settlement, the largest ever in an FTC rule-violation case: $1 billion in civil penalties and $1.5 billion in consumer refunds for roughly 35 million affected consumers. The settlement also requires Amazon to make enrollment opt-outs clear and conspicuous, fully disclose auto-renewal terms, and ensure that canceling is as easy as signing up. Refunds began going out in late 2025 and early 2026, with a claims process for remaining eligible customers expected to pay out in late 2026.11FTC. FTC Secures Historic $2.5 Billion Settlement Against Amazon12FTC. Amazon Refunds That settlement covers Prime, not Audible, but the compliance requirements apply to Amazon’s broader subscription ecosystem.
If you live in California, the state’s Automatic Renewal Law, strengthened by amendments effective July 1, 2025, is one of the strongest in the country. It requires businesses to obtain express affirmative consent to auto-renewal terms, provide a cancellation method as accessible as sign-up, display a prominent click-to-cancel button even when the company presents retention offers, send annual reminders that disclose charges and cancellation steps, and notify consumers of price changes between 7 and 30 days before they take effect. Violations can be enforced by the California Attorney General, district attorneys, and private plaintiffs.13Audible. Audible Membership Benefits
The FTC finalized a federal click-to-cancel rule in October 2024 that would have imposed similar requirements nationwide, but in July 2025 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated the rule in Custom Communications, Inc. v. FTC, finding it arbitrary and capricious. The rule is not currently in effect.14FTC. FTC Announces Final Click-to-Cancel Rule
Beyond Sherk, other pending litigation targets Audible’s practices, including a March 2023 lawsuit alleging Audible used dark patterns to turn free-title offers into paid memberships,15Schneider Wallace. Dark Patterns Making Online Subscriptions Harder to Cancel16ClassAction.org. Audible Lawsuit Claims Membership Credits Expire in Violation of Washington State Law17Law360. Audible Users Seek to Certify Class in Expiring Credits Suit If your charges fit the patterns those cases describe, keep records of the dates, amounts, and any communication with Audible; class members typically receive notice through the court-approved process if a case settles or certifies.