FREE/BARGAIN - Audiobooks - 2016

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by issybird

What an absolute stinker.

Here's a link to a post on his blog, which he has linked to on his Facebook page. He's shilling a similar offer from author and narrator Kevin Pierce, using such phrases as "FREE AUDIOBOOKS...SERIOUSLY...FREE" and "working in conjunction with Audible to give you one free audiobook." Kevin Pierce's Facebook page, surprise, surprise, has this quote among others, "JUNE IS AUDIOBOOK MONTH, so Audible is giving away FREE audiobooks." and "And did I mention that it’s FREE during audiobook month?" in order to promote Tom Abrahams.

Misrepresentation is the kindest way to put this; absolute and utter fraud is the phrase that occurs to me. I hope there are repercussions, at least from disgruntled former fans who post how they were duped.

It might be a good idea if skinmaan edited his post. It would be a shame if someone else happened upon it and thought it was a legitimate offer. You have my sympathy, abqkjh, and thanks for the heads up.

I just contacted Audible and returned the book, and was told I would still be able to get a free book from a real recommendation--of course, we'll see if that turns out to be true, but I have the chat transcript.

I only gave Audible the original Goodreads link that has now been taken down, so if anyone else contacts them, it might be helpful to give them these other links that are still active.

ETA: I contacted Audible a second time myself and gave them these additional links.

My understanding was that if someone wanted to send me a book, I would get an e-mail from Audible. I can't say I remember exactly what happened when I went through the process yesterday, but I do know that I didn't get an e-mail, that it was all done with a couple of clicks.

[skinmaan]

Originally Posted by issybird

What an absolute stinker.

It might be a good idea if skinmaan edited his post. It would be a shame if someone else happened upon it and thought it was a legitimate offer. You have my sympathy, abqkjh, and thanks for the heads up.

Good idea. Done.

[ApK]

Maybe it would be worth writing to the people who made those 'offers' and telling them, en masse, what we think of it?

[issybird]

Originally Posted by skinmaan

Good idea. Done.

Thanks!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by abqkjh

I took advantage of a similar offer from a different narrator and it turns out that it used up my one and only allowed "Recommendation" from the "Send this Book" program.

Originally Posted by Catlady

I just contacted Audible and returned the book, and was told I would still be able to get a free book from a real recommendation--of course, we'll see if that turns out to be true, but I have the chat transcript.

I only gave Audible the original Goodreads link that has now been taken down, so if anyone else contacts them, it might be helpful to give them these other links that are still active.

ETA: I contacted Audible a second time myself and gave them these additional links.

My understanding was that if someone wanted to send me a book, I would get an e-mail from Audible. I can't say I remember exactly what happened when I went through the process yesterday, but I do know that I didn't get an e-mail, that it was all done with a couple of clicks.

ab, do what Catlady did and contact Audible to get your "free recommendation" back again.

Let us know if you encounter any problems and we'll help you out.

tm

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Catlady

My understanding was that if someone wanted to send me a book, I would get an e-mail from Audible. I can't say I remember exactly what happened when I went through the process yesterday, but I do know that I didn't get an e-mail, that it was all done with a couple of clicks.

Glad you got your issue resolved.

Correct, you'll get an email from Audible with a link to the book and a message (if they included one) from the person who's recommending it to you.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by issybird

What an absolute stinker.

Here's a link to a post on his blog, which he has linked to on his Facebook page. He's shilling a similar offer from author and narrator Kevin Pierce, using such phrases as "FREE AUDIOBOOKS...SERIOUSLY...FREE" and "working in conjunction with Audible to give you one free audiobook." Kevin Pierce's Facebook page, surprise, surprise, has this quote among others, "JUNE IS AUDIOBOOK MONTH, so Audible is giving away FREE audiobooks." and "And did I mention that it’s FREE during audiobook month?" in order to promote Tom Abrahams.

Misrepresentation is the kindest way to put this; absolute and utter fraud is the phrase that occurs to me. I hope there are repercussions, at least from disgruntled former fans who post how they were duped.

It might be a good idea if skinmaan edited his post. It would be a shame if someone else happened upon it and thought it was a legitimate offer. You have my sympathy, abqkjh, and thanks for the heads up.

Thanks for the additional follow up. I intended to research it further, but dozed off

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Glad you got your issue resolved.

Correct, you'll get an email from Audible with a link to the book and a message (if they included one) from the person who's recommending it to you.

Except that didn't happen with the fraudulent freebie offer--this creep must have tweaked something to bypass that. I did have to enter my e-mail at the beginning on his offer page--which I assumed was the tradeoff for the freebie, that I'd get on another mailing list--but then, I think, there was just a page from Audible saying here's your free book.

Am I possibly misremembering? Did anyone else use the offer yesterday?

[abqkjh]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Dang; that's cold! Did you get a warning first or did the "purchase" go through immediately?

I already used up my freebie from "Send this Book", so this is what I got when I clicked on one of his free books:

I realized after the fact that I had gotten a sort of warning but not recognized it (just a page, like Catlady said). It certainly wasn't clear.

I called Audible and they told me they couldn't reset my Recommendation; but they gave me a credit instead, so I'm satisfied.

When I posted a gentle warning on the Facebook post (that accepting the offer would use up your only free selection) the narrator's response was "Totally worth it."

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by abqkjh

I realized after the fact that I had gotten a sort of warning but not recognized it (just a page, like Catlady said). It certainly wasn't clear.

I called Audible and they told me they couldn't reset my Recommendation; but they gave me a credit instead, so I'm satisfied.

When I posted a gentle warning on the Facebook post (that accepting the offer would use up your only free selection) the narrator's response was "Totally worth it."

Glad it worked out for you.

...and what a crass response to your post!

[tubemonkey]

I posted this warning over at Goodreads, since the originating post came from there:

EDIT: Tom has amended his blog post to include the following statement (in bold below). I appreciate the update and hope this avoids any confusion from here on out - thanks

Warning Concerning Free Audiobooks from Authors

Several authors/narrators are promoting free audiobooks during the June Is Audiobook Month campaign, claiming that they're working in conjunction with Audible to give you one of their audiobooks for free.

What you're not being told is that if you accept this offer, you're using up your one and only free selection from the Send this Book (aka OneBook) feature.

This is flat out misrepresentation, if not worse! So be wary before accepting any book from an author for review that doesn't come with a code or as a gift.

Here is one such offer from Tom Abrahams. Offers are also being cross posted all over Facebook.

[1234]

I just tried to sign up for the free trial to Downpour from http://www.downpour.com/free-trial/.
I was a little surprised that the cart showed a total of $12.99, but I figured it was just telling me how much it would auto renew for. Besides, under details it showed that what I was "buying" was "Subscription: FREE Trial Membership to Downpour®" (bold added by me).

After subscribing, I double checked my bank account. It appears that they have stolen $17.46 from my account. Since when does FREE mean $17.46?

[skinmaan]

Originally Posted by 1234

I just tried to sign up for the free trial to Downpour from http://www.downpour.com/free-trial/.
I was a little surprised that the cart showed a total of $12.99, but I figured it was just telling me how much it would auto renew for. Besides, under details it showed that what I was "buying" was "Subscription: FREE Trial Membership to Downpour®" (bold added by me).

After subscribing, I double checked my bank account. It appears that they have stolen $17.46 from my account. Since when does FREE mean $17.46?

I (and others here) have used the free trial successfully. I would call customer service on Monday; you'll likely get satisfaction.

[1234]

Originally Posted by skinmaan

I (and others here) have used the free trial successfully. I would call customer service on Monday; you'll likely get satisfaction.

Thanks, I have filed a support ticket. Hopefully that will work.
Did your cart show the $12.99 when you were getting the free trial? Or did it actually show 0?

[skinmaan]

Originally Posted by 1234

Thanks, I have filed a support ticket. Hopefully that will work.
Did your cart show the $12.99 when you were getting the free trial? Or did it actually show 0?

I don't honestly recall.