MSE News: Amazon Prime 'free trial' ad banned

awolo1

I have no sympathy for anybody who signed up for a free trial knowing that it would continue to be free.

Free trial!?!??!?!?!?

The only people angry is the people who didn't read carefully and the people who haven't been a Prime customers. For anybody else there is nothing to complain about. For me, it saved me A LOT of money.

jon81uk

Pincher wrote: »

How many generations has it been since we started having free trial subscriptions that is impossible to cancel?


We should do a time capsule with all the magazines that has been trying it on, along with associated complaints. In a thousand years, see what has changed.

Yep, I can remember my parents being part of a "book club" where if you don't send the order form back from the catalogue they will send you the book anyway and charge you. and you had to pay the postage yourself to send the form back anyway!

Free trials followed by subscription are nothing new.

Tropez

Oblivion wrote: »

Small text at the bottom of the letter said: "Paid subscription starts automatically after free trial unless cancelled."But six people complained that the ad was not sufficiently clear that a paid subscription would start automatically if not cancelled during the trial and did not state the cost of the subscription.


I think the whole concept of starting a paid subscription automatically after the trial period if not cancelled is fundamentally wrong. This removes too much control from the consumer.

The legitimate way to operate this offer would to send an email to customers at the end of the trial asking them if they wish to continue at the specified fee and removing them from the deal if they say no.

How does it remove control from the consumer? The consumer can cancel at any time during the trial period. They can even cancel thirty seconds after signing up and still receive the whole Prime service for the remainder of their trial. It tells you on the website when they're going to charge you, just above the cancel button.

If these ads really are extremely vague, then fair enough, since you cannot base promotional terms on common sense but automatic renewal of a trial into a paid sub when the consumer is told when they'll be charged, how they'll be charged and can stop it at any point during the trial (and even after the trial if they don't use the service) is does not limit consumer control.

worried_jim

Amazon Prime is !!!!!!!' brilliant! I got given Fire tv for Xmas and with the £79 Prime subscription I am getting ready to blow out live tv and the tv license so a huge saving to be made.

Combined with my free annual trial of spotify (thank you Sunday Times) it is all connected up to my 5.1 surround receiver so I never need buy a dvd or cd again, AND I get free postage. Awesome service, stop whinging.

RandomCurve

bowlhead99 wrote: »

They would not be able to offer so many free trials if they did that, because fewer trials would convert to sales. The free trials all have a cost.

So, the very existence of the '30 day free trials for all' is only possible because they expect a certain number of sign-ups to occur regardless of suitability of the service for the individual.

Which proves the point that it is designed to mislead customers.
The fair and honest way is to give the free trail if a customer requests it, and then ask the customer if they want to continue with it. If the service was good and what the customer wanted they will sign-up.

edinburgher

Oblivion wrote: »

As a regular buyer from Amazon what annoys me is the cynical way their website has been redesigned to make it all too easy to inadvertently click on a button to sign up for Prime. It's like tip-toeing through broken glass to get to the checkout now without committing yourself.

You have hit the nail of the head Dave, this irritates me considerably. It now feels like a minor achievement 'getting out of there' successfully having selected Super Saver delivery :rotfl:

AdamPD

I use amazon quite a lot for purchases and you have to be really careful not to accidently sign up to Prime.

I also notice I've started getting regular letters (5 so far, in 2 months) through the door offering me the free trial, with a plastic card enclosed.

Of course, no opt out option, so more crap to go in the recycle bin.

Thought I'd just check my amazon account, found the section about marketing material and it does say:

You have opted out of receiving marketing information by post from us

Starting to loathe amazon.

alicienw

AdamPD wrote: »

I use amazon quite a lot for purchases and you have to be really careful not to accidently sign up to Prime.

I also notice I've started getting regular letters (5 so far, in 2 months) through the door offering me the free trial, with a plastic card enclosed.

Of course, no opt out option, so more crap to go in the recycle bin.

Thought I'd just check my amazon account, found the section about marketing material and it does say:

You have opted out of receiving marketing information by post from us

Starting to loathe amazon.

Feel the same - I had the letter today with the plastic card, pretty annoyed as I am so careful with ticking boxes that I don't want mail outs. I can't find the bit on the marketing material section (could you advise where it is) though I'm sure I have opted out.

This marketing strategy seems to be the brainchild of this bright young thing in the loose sense of the word - Russell Morris1 on Linkedin (very white teeth) - I can't post links as a new user. I'm not a member so can't contact to say what a bad move this is on his part - trying to find a postal address as I feel I should return the favour re junk mail.

I did know a little about this Prime thing and knew it wasn't free, so getting a plastic card through the post with my name on did make me wonder if I'd signed up by accident...checked my Amazon account and I'm not thankfully.

Just concerned that people not in the know and this seems to be blanket junk mail even to people who don't want it, some people will inadvertently end up with something they don't want or need. Not everyone is as clued up on such things.

AdamPD

The link to the communications preferences is - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/cpc/homepage?ie=UTF8&ref=gss_to_cpc&

Or, go into your amazon account page, scroll down to Settings and click - Notification Settings.

There's a section in there called Marketing Information by Post

Mine was already set to no, but I still get these prime letters.

alicienw

Thanks - mine was set to receive mail outs but strangely this was the first time I'd received anything so now amended - fingers crossed that and the e-mail I've sent sorts it.