MSE News: Been charged for unwanted Amazon Prime? Here's how to cancel

Azari

Pollycat wrote: »

I disagree that the problem has been going on for years.
When I first posted on Amazon Prime threads - despite the many allegedly intelligent, computer-literate people who insisted they hadn't signed up - it was crystal clear that you had to click to opt for Prime as demonstrated in custardy's post #27.

As I posted previously:

so I don't know how easy it is to sign-up by mistake now.

It doesn't matter which way you cut it, many, many, people are getting caught out and the problem is serious enough to warrant a thread being created here by the site management.

That means that whatever you or anyone else may say about the adequacy of the site, it is failing to do what it (one hopes) sets out to do, namely to make the ordering of goods from Amazon as easy and mistake free as possible.

One would have hoped that this would be a site where consumers helped and supported each other.

Instead, it seems that, rather than being supportive, there are a group of people here whose only contribution to a lot of threads is to put a great deal of time and effort saying: it's your fault, it's your fault, it's your fault. (Of course, often it is - it's just a pity that when that is the case so many people feel the need to jump on the band wagon and effectively parrot what previous posters have already said.)

GreatBeyond

Azari wrote: »

It doesn't matter which way you cut it, many, many, people are getting caught out and the problem is serious enough to warrant a thread being created here by the site management.

That means that whatever you or anyone else may say about the adequacy of the site, it is failing to do what it (one hopes) sets out to do, namely to make the ordering of goods from Amazon as easy and mistake free as possible.

One would have hoped that this would be a site where consumers helped and supported each other.

Instead, it seems that, rather than being supportive, there are a group of people here whose only contribution to a lot of threads is to put a great deal of time and effort saying: it's your fault, it's your fault, it's your fault. (Of course, often it is - it's just a pity that when that is the case so many people feel the need to jump on the band wagon and effectively parrot what previous posters have already said.)

You really have it in for Amazon eh!

It's pretty clear what people are signing up for in fairness and people certainly should be reading what they are signing up for.

However people don't read what they sign up for, Amazon I think appreciate this and I don't think I know of anyone who has had to fight to cancel it - especially if they haven't used the service.

Cycrow

Pollycat wrote: »

I disagree that the problem has been going on for years.
When I first posted on Amazon Prime threads - despite the many allegedly intelligent, computer-literate people who insisted they hadn't signed up - it was crystal clear that you had to click to opt for Prime as demonstrated in custardy's post #27.

As I posted previously:

so I don't know how easy it is to sign-up by mistake now.

Like most things, its pretty easy to make the mistake if you dont read or pay attention to what you are doing.

Many years ago i was working on an online game, and it had a feature that some people didn't like, so we made it optional. People complained that it was turned on when they didn't want it. So we made it so you had to confirm it 3 times, people still just blindly clicked yes 3 times then complained when it was enabled

LlamaLlamaDuck

I signed up to Prime while using Amazon.co.uk in mid April last year. I'm always really conscious about free trials ending and being charged so I cancelled it two weeks later. Not long after I found that I had £79 taken out of my account. At first Amazon refused responsibility but then admitted that the charge had come from Amazon.com. I have never had cause to go on to, let alone use, Amazon.com so there is absolutely no reason for them to have charged me. I spoke to someone in America who said I hadn't cancelled the trial. I explained that the UK representative I spoke to told me he could see on my account that it had been cancelled in plenty of time so that was bull. They agreed to refund me but 'due to fluctuating exchange rates' short changed me by 50p. They then applied a $5 gift certificate to my account to be used on Amazon.com. The $5 will not apply to postage costs.


Ultimately I was completely screwed over by a company I have never had dealings with and now manually enter my details if I have to shop on Amazon because I simply don't trust them to keep my details saved and not take advantage again. Some people don't read the terms and conditions and then complain about being charged, but the fact is, I was charged the money by a company in America who had absolutely no right to do so.
They're lucky I was a part time shop worker then who couldn't afford to take legal action.

Pollycat

Cycrow wrote: »

Like most things, its pretty easy to make the mistake if you dont read or pay attention to what you are doing.

Many years ago i was working on an online game, and it had a feature that some people didn't like, so we made it optional. People complained that it was turned on when they didn't want it. So we made it so you had to confirm it 3 times, people still just blindly clicked yes 3 times then complained when it was enabled

I do appreciate that people can and do make mistakes.
It's when they insist they haven't clicked to accept Prime (again talking about a while ago) that I have no sympathy.

If they hold their hands up and say 'Whoops! Silly me. My fault. What can I do about it?', then that's different.

Azari wrote: »

One would have hoped that this would be a site where consumers helped and supported each other.

Instead, it seems that, rather than being supportive, there are a group of people here whose only contribution to a lot of threads is to put a great deal of time and effort saying: it's your fault, it's your fault, it's your fault. (Of course, often it is - it's just a pity that when that is the case so many people feel the need to jump on the band wagon and effectively parrot what previous posters have already said.)

As above, if someone insists they did not sign up - despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary - should posters really be 'supportive'?
Should we say 'Of course, dear, you're right, dear, you didn't sign up for Prime trial at all, dear'?

Quite often, the posters you think are 'jumping on the bandwagon' do so because the 'intelligent, computer-literate people' who insist they hadn't signed up won't admit they're wrong.

I didn't realise this was a forum designed to tell people what they wanted to hear.

Maybe it's me who's wrong.

GreatBeyond

LlamaLlamaDuck wrote: »

I signed up to Prime while using Amazon.co.uk in mid April last year. I'm always really conscious about free trials ending and being charged so I cancelled it two weeks later. Not long after I found that I had £79 taken out of my account. At first Amazon refused responsibility but then admitted that the charge had come from Amazon.com. I have never had cause to go on to, let alone use, Amazon.com so there is absolutely no reason for them to have charged me. I spoke to someone in America who said I hadn't cancelled the trial. I explained that the UK representative I spoke to told me he could see on my account that it had been cancelled in plenty of time so that was bull. They agreed to refund me but 'due to fluctuating exchange rates' short changed me by 50p. They then applied a $5 gift certificate to my account to be used on Amazon.com. The $5 will not apply to postage costs.


Ultimately I was completely screwed over by a company I have never had dealings with and now manually enter my details if I have to shop on Amazon because I simply don't trust them to keep my details saved and not take advantage again. Some people don't read the terms and conditions and then complain about being charged, but the fact is, I was charged the money by a company in America who had absolutely no right to do so.
They're lucky I was a part time shop worker then who couldn't afford to take legal action.

Amazon.com would not have been able to see that you cancelled the .co.uk subscription and it wouldn't have made any difference anyway, although they are both under the banner of Amazon the Customer Service teams can only deal with anything from their own marketplace. A bit like the situation with the credit - .com CS can only issue something for .com.

Prime on .com is a different subscription to that on .co.uk. It's most likely that you have been on Amazon.com and not realised.

The-Truth

Azari wrote: »

The problem is that Amazon seem to be wilfully making the site operate in such a way that people do sign up without realising.

This is a screen grab I've done today. It's pretty clear in my opinion!



That's not a small box. It covers the entire page left to right as displayed above.

Ojivar1975

GreatBeyond wrote: »

Amazon.com would not have been able to see that you cancelled the .co.uk subscription and it wouldn't have made any difference anyway, although they are both under the banner of Amazon the Customer Service teams can only deal with anything from their own marketplace. A bit like the situation with the credit - .com CS can only issue something for .com.

Prime on .com is a different subscription to that on .co.uk. It's most likely that you have been on Amazon.com and not realised.

Actually the exact same thing has just happened to me, signed up for a .co.uk trial on the 27th Feb, cancelled trial in plenty of time but then been charged from the .com site for a year.
Seems odd that I would accidentally sign up to .com at exactly the same date and time I signed up to .co.uk!
Went on online chat and got it refunded but it should never have happened at all.

C_Mababejive

Hi all,

Its true and it happened to me but ive fixed it !

This very morning i was ordering a couple of items on amazon and confirmed my orders.

A short while later i checked my email and found a "welcome to amazon prime" email so yes, in fairness to Amazon they do send and email.

I had no intention of subscribing and the email said i would have a free trial then be debited with £79 annual recurring fee after the first months free trial if i did not cancel.

I navigated back to my account page and unsubscribed using the "do not continue" click box then printed/saved screen just for my records

I'm normally very attentive so it proves that its easily done in error,,especially if your eyes arent what they were or should be.

Percy1983

I can confirm I am on my second prime trial and have never been charged.

I have always read what is in front of me and cancelled before the end of the trial.

One tip, if like me you just want a trial for some quick postage. As soon as you have finished you order go straight into you account and tell it to not renew, you will still get the trial but there is no risk of forgetting to cancel.