Amazon - Subscribe & Save 20 May 2021 at 6:03PM in Praise, vent & warnings 12 replies 736 views

pd1000

My 90 year old father has been subscribing to every item he is purchasing on Amazon. After cancelling many subscriptions, I realise it is very easy to do - if you do not have the best vision and do not find computers that easy. They make the subscription service the default option, so you actually need to opt out of the service - this is outrageous - this should be an 'opt in' service. There must be many people that mistakingly get items on subscription. I would like to make an official complaint and would like to know more in this position. 

elsien

I disagree @MalMonroe,
I've just gone to order some dog food and the subscribe and save is set as the default and you have to actively change it to single purchase. I can see how confusion could arise if you're not used to it.

Carrot007

To be fair to OP S&S is now the default option.

Yes you click "Set up now" rather than "Add to basket" or "Buy now" on that option.

This is annoying if you just want one (or extra when it's already on S&S (yes you can set up a S&S item multiple times (and yes they will eventually ban (and eveyone using amazon on your IP) you if you buy S&S with instant delivery for the discount and then cancel it a lot)).

However it also clearly says how often do you want the delivery. If you are capable of ordering and selecting 1 item you can see the rest. If not, maybe you should get someone else to order.

This is not an opt in/out point either. This is a default option, you can aselect your option. There is justa  pre-selected one. I would think eventually there will be no selected option, but you can imagine the extra calls to amazon to ask whats up!

MalMonroe

elsien said:

I disagree @MalMonroe,
I've just gone to order some dog food and the subscribe and save is set as the default and you have to actively change it to single purchase. I can see how confusion could arise if you're not used to it.

Well it must be a very new thing, then. I don't understand why they would suddenly start doing that. . . I've just looked at the deodorant I usually buy and it says as below. But yes, I agree if they have just started doing that then it needs to be reported but it sounds as if the OP's father has been using it for a while. But I've always had to opt in to use S&S and have just completed my order for June. Has it always been that way when you've ordered your dog food?

MalMonroe

Sorry OP, I'm going to delete my post because it appears that amazon has started doing this very recently. When I prepared my order for June amazon wasn't like that at all. 

I'm now thinking I'm going to stop using amazon altogether, their practices have been unethical for years!  

Carrot007

MalMonroe said:

Well it must be a very new thing, then. I don't understand why they would suddenly start doing that. . . I've just looked at the deodorant I usually buy and it says as below. But yes, I agree if they have just started doing that then it needs to be reported but it sounds as if the OP's father has been using it for a while. But I've always had to opt in to use S&S and have just completed my order for June. -

Try clicking the second option, the one you selected is not available on subscribe and save it seems. And indeed seems to be defaulting to a morrisons quick delivery. Which does not have a S&S option.

(you do know you've just posted your name (at least the name of the address you set up on amazon) and postcode right?)

elsien

And you’ve just quoted it, which doesn’t help! 

IvanOpinion

I noticed this exact same issue the other days as well.  I think Amazon are wrong on this one,  They should auto select the single price and, if they want, be heavier on the advertising of the S&S.

Carrot007

elsien said:

And you’ve just quoted it, which doesn’t help! 

Noted and fixed ;-)

Mnoee

pd1000 said:

My 90 year old father has been subscribing to every item he is purchasing on Amazon. After cancelling many subscriptions, I realise it is very easy to do - if you do not have the best vision and do not find computers that easy. They make the subscription service the default option, so you actually need to opt out of the service - this is outrageous - this should be an 'opt in' service. There must be many people that mistakingly get items on subscription. I would like to make an official complaint and would like to know more in this position. 

As a practical solution to being unable to read the screen easily, have you considered changing the text size in the settings of your father's PC? If it's a Windows desktop, Ctrl and + usually works to make everything larger, or there are settings you can Google to just make text bigger and learn about other accessibility features that might be useful. 

I know amazon are terrible for trying to sign you up for absolutely everything (has he got prime accidentally or on purpose? He almost certainly is signed up for it if he has difficulty reading and goes with the default), but I fear the most you will get out of a complaint is a goodwill voucher. If you can read the screen then its clear enough - so I'd focus on trying to fix the problem of not being able to the screen, which thankfully is pretty easy to do. 

qsk

Carrot007 said:

...  (yes you can set up a S&S item multiple times (and yes they will eventually ban (and eveyone using amazon on your IP) you if you buy S&S with instant delivery for the discount and then cancel it a lot)).

Do you have evidence of this?