Amazon Prime Member Fee? Charged £48...

George_Michael

Not bad going Azari.
Three different insults in one small posts.

Azari wrote: »

Unfortunately there are some smug smart-!!!!!!..

same smug, self-satisfied twerps..

smug gits

I know that you find it extremely hard not to insult other posters who have a different opinion to you, but you really excelled yourself this time.

55soundman

For those who say people were careless being caught unawares by Amazon Prime let me point out some facts. I have just been caught by this scam and all I did was click on a radio button that said "free postage with a free trial if Amazon Prime" I chose this option over others offering quicker delivery but with a postage charge because I did not need the item urgently. At no time in the order process was a fee of £49 mentioned or was there a tick box for terms and conditions or any notification of a subscription being agreed to. The first I knew of the charge was when it appeared on my credit card bill. When I checked my Amazon account transactions, it was not listed. Why do you think that was? So they could screw you for the subscription without you knowing! When I talked to my credit card company they said they had had thousands of complaints about this. The identifier code for the transaction on the card bill had a suffix of "Lux" so the money went to Luxemburg as part of Amazon's tax evasion scheme. As a multi-million pound company, they paid UK tax of a few hundred thousand pounds.

custardy

55soundman wrote: »

For those who say people were careless being caught unawares by Amazon Prime let me point out some facts. I have just been caught by this scam and all I did was click on a radio button that said "free postage with a free trial if Amazon Prime" I chose this option over others offering quicker delivery but with a postage charge because I did not need the item urgently. At no time in the order process was a fee of £49 mentioned or was there a tick box for terms and conditions or any notification of a subscription being agreed to. The first I knew of the charge was when it appeared on my credit card bill. When I checked my Amazon account transactions, it was not listed. Why do you think that was? So they could screw you for the subscription without you knowing! When I talked to my credit card company they said they had had thousands of complaints about this. The identifier code for the transaction on the card bill had a suffix of "Lux" so the money went to Luxemburg as part of Amazon's tax evasion scheme. As a multi-million pound company, they paid UK tax of a few hundred thousand pounds.

I pointed out the part in red where you start going wrong

so none of this?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=23370791&postcount=159

Slowhand

George_Michael wrote: »

Not bad going Azari.
Three different insults in one small posts.

I know that you find it extremely hard not to insult other posters who have a different opinion to you, but you really excelled yourself this time.

Yet he posts this:-

Azari wrote: »

...I always make a point of being very polite to shop assistants (and everyone else for that matter)...

vikingaero

55soundman wrote: »

The identifier code for the transaction on the card bill had a suffix of "Lux" so the money went to Luxemburg as part of Amazon's tax evasion scheme. As a multi-million pound company, they paid UK tax of a few hundred thousand pounds.

No-one held a gun to your head forcing you to by from Amazon if you disagreed with their trading status.

Let's not forget the millions Amazon pay in VAT, import duties, National Insurance contributions.....

Scarpacci

55soundman wrote: »

For those who say people were careless being caught unawares by Amazon Prime let me point out some facts. I have just been caught by this scam and all I did was click on a radio button that said "free postage with a free trial if Amazon Prime" I chose this option over others offering quicker delivery but with a postage charge because I did not need the item urgently.

All you did was sign up for a free trail, authorise Amazon to start charging you for this service once the trial is over and enjoy a free one-day delivery as part of the service.

Amazon offer free postage on their items by default, so there's no need to enter a free trial for fast, express delivery if you don't need it urgently.

55soundman wrote: »

At no time in the order process was a fee of £49 mentioned or was there a tick box for terms and conditions or any notification of a subscription being agreed to.

There is a mention of the fee for the service you're signing up to and it does display terms and conditions - it's a legal necessity.

55soundman wrote: »

The first I knew of the charge was when it appeared on my credit card bill. When I checked my Amazon account transactions, it was not listed. Why do you think that was? So they could screw you for the subscription without you knowing!

Because it's not an Amazon purchase, it's a subscription to a service. It does show up in your Amazon account - just not under "your orders".

You can find your Prime transactions here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/subs/primeclub/account/homepage.html?ie=UTF8&ref_=ya__31&

55soundman wrote: »

When I talked to my credit card company they said they had had thousands of complaints about this. The identifier code for the transaction on the card bill had a suffix of "Lux" so the money went to Luxemburg as part of Amazon's tax evasion scheme. As a multi-million pound company, they paid UK tax of a few hundred thousand pounds.

It's perfectly legal for European companies to operate across the EU from any EU country. There's no requirement whatsoever for Amazon to be based in the United Kingdom even if they sell here or brand their website "Amazon.co.uk". We signed that right away back in 1973 when we joined the EEC.

Amazon will pay significant amounts of VAT and National Insurance to the UK exchequer, however.

societys_child

vikingaero wrote: »

No-one held a gun to your head forcing you to by from Amazon if you disagreed with their trading status.

Let's not forget the millions Amazon pay in VAT, import duties, National Insurance contributions.....

Do they? They're based in Luxemberg

link

Amazon.co.uk was transferred to a Luxembourg company in 2006. It's UK operation is classed as 'order fulfilment' business - a delivery organisation

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2012/04/05/amazons-adding-35-million-to-the-uks-tax-gap/

Scarpacci

societys_child wrote: »

Do they? They're based in Luxemberg

link

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2012/04/05/amazons-adding-35-million-to-the-uks-tax-gap/

Yes, they do. National Insurance is generated by having employees in the United Kingdom, which Amazon do - plenty of employees in fact. Being based in Luxembourg would not effect N.I. As for VAT, it's charged based on where the customer is based and so will be sent to the UK. Amazon will be collecting on all VAT-able UK sales through its Luxembourg company for the UK authorities. As the goods are shipped from the UK, it would also be the case that import tax would be due when Amazon imports them into the UK for its warehouses.

The Luxembourg tax benefits namely apply to corporation tax. All sales are happening from this corporation - Amazon.co.uk really just being a brand name - so the corporation tax bill exists in Luxembourg, at more favourable rates than it would in the UK, France or Germany (all of Amazon's European locales are run by the Luxembourg company).

So yes, they will be paying all three of those taxes. Incidentally, those will add up to a much greater amount than what we lose from the corporation tax.

DCFC79

55soundman wrote: »

For those who say people were careless being caught unawares by Amazon Prime let me point out some facts. I have just been caught by this scam and all I did was click on a radio button that said "free postage with a free trial if Amazon Prime" I chose this option over others offering quicker delivery but with a postage charge because I did not need the item urgently. At no time in the order process was a fee of £49 mentioned or was there a tick box for terms and conditions or any notification of a subscription being agreed to. The first I knew of the charge was when it appeared on my credit card bill. When I checked my Amazon account transactions, it was not listed. Why do you think that was? So they could screw you for the subscription without you knowing! When I talked to my credit card company they said they had had thousands of complaints about this. The identifier code for the transaction on the card bill had a suffix of "Lux" so the money went to Luxemburg as part of Amazon's tax evasion scheme. As a multi-million pound company, they paid UK tax of a few hundred thousand pounds.

You can get it the money back so all isnt lost, if I remember correctly I logged into my account and cancelled the prime member option and the money was returned but you need to tell them within a set time frame.

SnowBelle_2

If you click on the 'Prime' details displayed when you check out it clearly states if the trial is not cancelled you will incur a fee of £49,
Also if you click on the FAQs of Amazon prime it says the same thing 'after your free trial Amazon Prime is just £49 per year'
I have ordered from Amazon myself today and clicked on the 'free' trail and decided it was'nt for me.