Amazon Prime stealth renewals

ng402

in 2009, my 14 year old son signed up for the free Amazon Prime trial. Four years later, he realised that Amazon had been debiting nearly £50 from his account every year with absolutely no further email contact covering the conversion to a paying arrangement or the annual renewal.

Is this legal? I would have expected an email every time they debited the account and seven days to cancel. They certainly send out plenty of emails generally!

Optimist

From Amazon Prime Terms and conditions

Does my membership renew automatically?

Yes, your membership is set up to automatically renew annually. You can use Your Account to choose not to renew or to update your preferred payment method for membership renewals. If the preferred method is unavailable (for example, a credit card has expired), for your convenience we will use another payment method we have on record for you. Your initial sign-up is an authorisation for us to use the preferred or other available payment methods.

ng402

Thanks for your response.

Does that absolve them from sending a receipt for the money that they have removed every year without warning?

I have been a customer of Apple's MobileMe since it started. Every year they warn it is about to auto renew. And then send a receipt. Perhaps they are just a more ethical company. I note many others have had a similar problem with the auto renewing changing on the hoof terms and conditions.

"Changes to Terms and Conditions
We reserve the right to make changes to these Terms, the Amazon Prime service, Amazon.co.uk Conditions of Use & Sale, Privacy Notice or any aspect of the Amazon Prime membership from time to time by posting revisions on the website. YOUR CONTINUED MEMBERSHIP AFTER WE CHANGE THESE TERMS CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHANGES. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ANY CHANGES, YOU MUST CANCEL YOUR MEMBERSHIP. "

Nice, but they won't tell you they have changed.....

wealdroam

ng402 wrote: »

Does that absolve them from sending a receipt for the money...

No, it doesn't.
There is no legislation that says they, or anyone else, must supply a receipt for monies paid.

ng402 wrote: »

...that they have removed every year without warning?

But you did get a warning... see post #2.

Guardsman

Why had he not noticed sooner that a substantial amount had been taken from his account.

Valli

Can a 14 year old enter into a contractual arrangement like this? Somewhere in my brain a tiny bell is ringing here...

I KNEW it!

Membership Benefits
Amazon Prime members are entitled to free guaranteed One-Day delivery on all items marked as Amazon Prime eligible delivered to Mainland United Kingdom Locations (as defined below), Express delivery for £4.49 per item and Evening delivery for £7.48 per item (where available), and free First Class delivery on all items marked as Amazon Prime eligible delivered to all Other United Kingdom Locations (as defined below). From time to time, Amazon Prime members may also be entitled to free First Class delivery on items sold by selected sellers on its third-party platform. One-Day, Express and Evening delivery usually apply across business days and Saturday, unless otherwise specified; however, Amazon Prime members can take advantage of other delivery options for qualifying merchandise--these options depend on inventory availability, order deadlines, and in some cases on the delivery address. If you purchase an Amazon Prime membership, you may also invite up to four eligible family members living in your household (at the same address) as registered guests to enjoy your Amazon Prime membership at no extra cost. Your naming of an individual as a registered guest constitutes your agreement that they may use services under your Amazon Prime membership. Please note that any registered guest under age 18 may use the Amazon.co.uk Website only with involvement of a parent or guardian. The Amazon Prime member can change and/or remove registered guests at any time. A registered guest's use of Amazon Prime benefits will automatically terminate if the owner of the Amazon Prime membership ceases to be a member or removes the registered guest. An Amazon Prime membership is only available to end consumers 18 years or older using Amazon Prime for private use and is not available for Corporate Accounts, legal entities or for customers who purchase items for business or institutional use or for the purpose of resale.

You could try claiming it back on these grounds, then.

For clarification - italicised part of post from Amazon website T&Cs; bolding (other than the title of the extract) is mine.

unholyangel

ng402 wrote: »

in 2009, my 14 year old son signed up for the free Amazon Prime trial. Four years later, he realised that Amazon had been debiting nearly £50 from his account every year with absolutely no further email contact covering the conversion to a paying arrangement or the annual renewal.

Is this legal? I would have expected an email every time they debited the account and seven days to cancel. They certainly send out plenty of emails generally!

From his account? Did he have a debit card? Is it solely in his name or did you co-sign with him? Or did he use your card to pay and signed you up using your card details and you've only noticed now?