Warning: Unexpected amazon charges for "Fire for kids unlimited"

fredsherbet

I think I'd gotten used to modern online companies (well, Apple) giving you lots of warning and notifications for charges, so this caught me out.

We bought a kids Fire tablet from Amazon a year ago, which comes with a year's free "Fire for kids unlimited" subscription. At the end of the year, they start charging you a monthly fee.

What's surprising is that they don't email you to let you know this is coming up, and don't even email a receipt for the payment.

In fact, I could find no confirmation anywhere on Amazon's website, or in its apps, that this payment was for this service!

The only way to cancel is from the fire tablet that it's attached to. Good job I still have it!

FYI it showed up as a £4.99 charge, to "AMZ UK Digital Dwnload" on my statement.

I hope this thread helps someone!

[Deleted User]

It's your own responsibility to cancel such subscriptions.

Just keep your own diary of the dates when free periods are coming to an end.

You can certainly cancel by calling Amazon customer service, you don't need to so via the Tablet.

fredsherbet

That's fair enough. To be honest I'm most annoyed at how I can find no information about what the charge was for; no receipt or anything emailed to me, or available in my account. It took ages to figure it out.

[Deleted User]

fredsherbet wrote: »

I'm most annoyed at how I can find no information about what the charge was for

It's the same for Prime etc. You sign up and then pay after the free trial. No receipt or E-Mail notification.

As I said, keep a diary (or don't sign up to free trials and forget about them)

fredsherbet

That's not my experience with prime. I get an email letting me know it's been renewed. It's also prominent when I log in to amazon. I can see that I'm subscribed, and manage my subscription from the website, and from their app on any device. There's also an options to receive renewal reminders 3 days ahead of the renewal.

angryparcel

but OP you stated

fredsherbet wrote: »

which comes with a year's free "Fire for kids unlimited" subscription. At the end of the year, they start charging you a monthly fee.

so you knew when you would have to start paying the subscription. The whole point of a subscription is that you are not sent invoices etc., so it is up to you to make sure you know when these start

kwikbreaks

When I bought my grandson a Kids Fire tablet I set him up his own Amazon account with no payment method attached. I did at first think it would need a CC attached and got a Pockit card loaded with £5 to use but it turned out it was unnecessary.

Good luck to them trying to charge him - he's 7. If he can't download new games it's no big deal as I installed the Google Play store on it.

Anythingwithaplugon

Just been caught in the same trap. We bought our granddaughter a Fire for Kids a year ago and just noticed a transaction on my credit card, amongst all the other Amazon transactions that I couldn't explain. Checked on my Amazon account and no mention anywhere of the deduction.
Phoned Amazon as thought account had been compromised and they said it was for the Kids subscription. I got a refund.
I was surprised at Amazon as deal with them alot and find the overall service good BUT there was no email saying the money was to be taken or reminding the free 1 year trial period was coming to an end and no trace on my Amazon account of any transaction being made.
They've gone down alot in my estimation. It's the Prime debacle over again !!

random__2

angryparcel wrote: »

The whole point of a subscription is that you are not sent invoices etc., so it is up to you to make sure you know when these start

No, the whole point of a subscription is you receive services without having to manually arrange payments each month.

Switching a subscription from free to paid without notifying the customer is poor service at best, and fraud at worst.

Do you work for Amazon or do you just like arguing?

kwikbreaks

Judging by the userid I'd guess at "just arguing"....

pmduk

random_ wrote: »

Do you work for Amazon

Resorting to accusing another poster of working for the company concerned is a classic sign of a weak argument.