I was checking how much damage had been sustained to my funds over the festive period a couple of days ago when I noticed a £7.99 membership payment to Amazon Prime. I don’t even know what Amazon Prime is. And it’s not something I would’ve bought intentionally. I very occasionally buy a book from Amazon so maybe I checked or didn’t check the little box marked ‘Sign me up to Amazon Prime.

So, if you’ve bought something from Amazon recently – check your bank statements. Or, more simply check your Amazon buyers account and see if Prime is activated. To their credit, they cancelled the membership within an hour of contacting them and refunded the money in a few days.

Yep, they make it the default option when you check out.

it’s sneaky as ****, contact them via there web chat and complain, I have to reasonably regularly.. as footflaps says it there default option, so if you click buy now..”next, next, next (join amazon prime), next” your in without even realising (or in my case, before I really registered what I’ve clicked)…

TBF last time I though **** em, and used the month free trial then cancelled.

on the flip side, if you see an amazon prime only deal you like, you can sign up, buy the deal and then get a full refund on the prime membership a few days later.

8)

Yep – easily done, they make the ‘sign up for amazon prime’ look like the button you press to continue your order when in fact the link you need is plain text just to the side of it.

Its easy to fall for (more than once – even if you know its there)

They’re pretty good at cancelling and refunding though – mainly because they’re well aware they are tricking people.

it’s sneaky as ****, contact them via there web chat and complain,

Or just shout all your resentment into a paper bag. They don’t give a shit.

on the flip side, if you see an amazon prime only deal you like, you can sign up, buy the deal and then get a full refund on the prime membership a few days later.

can you? I thought the “automatic refund” policy was conditional on you not actually using the Prime service before cancelling?

Now TV too. I had a fun half hour live chatting to various assistants trying to recover 10 months of auto renew sky entertainment passes I had stupidly not cancelled after a free trial.

Cancelling it last night took five or six confirmations with increasingly desperate offers from them. And I got most the money back.

My fault but a sly trick.

OTOH, Prime is bloody brilliant

Now TV too. I had a fun half hour live chatting to various assistants trying to recover 10 months of auto renew sky entertainment passes I had stupidly not cancelled after a free trial.

As you say, your fault. Does no one read the terms & conditions these days?

Now TV make it perfeclty clear it will renew monthly. It also takes about 10 seconds to cancel from their site.

OTOH, Prime is bloody brilliant

But only if you’re actually using it – its cheap if you use it, but very expensive if you don’t. And although ‘Prime’ delivery is ‘free’ once you have a subscription goods available with prime delivery seem to be a bit more expensive than alternative vendors through amazon. So in a lot of instances you’re paying delivery for it twice

They had a free Amazon Prime trial….which then rolls over to a default £7.99 a month subscription.The scamps.

What is it anyway?

They had a free Amazon Prime trial….which then rolls over to a default £7.99 a month subscription.The scamps.

Which, to be fair, they are pretty clear about and remind you of.

FWIW I think Prime is pretty good for the money.

The Prime deals, Pantry and next day delivery of parcels was used heavily over Christmas. Plus Prime Video and Music on top of that for entertainment.

Worth having if you use Amazon a fair bit and want some on-demand telly/movies/music as well.

But only if you’re actually using it – its cheap if you use it, but very expensive if you don’t.

Kinda like anything you pay for but don’t use then?

What is it anyway?

Next Day or Same Day delivery + video and music on-demand + Amazon Pantry + Audible Channels + Kindle lending library + unlimited photo storage + access to Lightning deals.

Read

http://uk.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-uk-membership-perks/

or

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/prime/

They had a free Amazon Prime trial….which then rolls over to a default £7.99 a month subscription.The scamps.

I used a trial membership during December and was great for christmas presents. I clearly knew I was signing up for it and turned off auto renewal immediately. They do also send reminders, but I guess people love to pass the blame for daft mistakes.

Prime is awesome if you live in the sticks. Increasingly buying bulk PITA items like dried dog food and dishwasher salt that way.

There is a student version for £40 if you can think of a way for applying for that somehow, only downside we’ve found is only the student gets the next day delivery, with full Prime its the household.

Music / video are a decent bonus too – certainly had our monies worth.

You buy dishwasher salt in bulk. 😯

I’ve bought one bag in 15 years of owning dishwashers.

I don’t pay it but did once, they cancelled and refunded with ease online though.

It is easy to accept it when checking out though, non prime is a text link, prime is a button, so you are programmed to click the button.

My oother half found a prime membership on her bank statement (a full years membership). When she phoned to complain it turned out it wasn’t even for her Amazon account, but for her Mothers!!! I still havnt figured out how the two accounts got linked/connected/cross charged.

My Mrs got stung by this. I was checking our account towards the end of maternity leave, so money was very tight, and saw Amazon had pinched £79 off us.

From the phone call and rapid repayment of the £79 it’s obvious they expect people to pick up on the scam.

OTOH, Prime is bloody brilliant

We have the stoodent version.

Still haven’t found it that useful.

What am I missing ?

Watched the Grand Tour and it just reminds me of top gear from years gone by

Now TV make it perfeclty clear it will renew monthly. It also takes about 10 seconds to cancel from their site.

I know. I set a calendar reminder and everything and did cancel it! Didn’t think to check I’d got a cancellation email though like a dolt. The joys of a flaky laptop.

certainly had our monies worth.

I have it on pretty good authority that Amazon actually loses money on Prime, but obviously benefits from the increased customer loyalty.

(Not sure if that includes people who signed up by blindly clicking on things without reading them)

Student Prime Membership for me – 6 months free then £6 a month.

The Amazon Android app has also been pushing Prime pretty robustly. On the startup screen there’s a big ‘sign up for Prime’ page where it’s not immediately obvious how to skip it and just search for items.

Haven’t seen it for a few days though.

I’m going off Amazon. The free delivery option is taking longer and longer for them to despatch. Prices aren’t so competitive any more and I get the impression they do a daily websearch and just equal the other lowest price online rather than beat it (currently eyeing up a new router and the cheapest is either Amazon or PC World / Currys who are penny for penny same price.

So they’ll either beat everyone into Prime submission and then put the price up or….

I’m not a big music fan but bought a few tunes for a road trip last summer. Not being a fastidious bank statement reader it took a few months to realise there was an unknown £15/mo Amazon Digital Services charge. I eventually figured it out to be a Prime Music Family Unlimited subscription I’d never heard of before never mind signed up to – a quick email to customer service and a no-quibble full refund was immediately offered…

I’d never heard of before never mind signed up to

Do you mean you weren’t aware you’d signed up to it because you blindly clicked at “Continue” boxes without reading them when you were buying your tunes?

Or are you saying Amazon just randomly signed you up and started illegally charging you?

You buy dishwasher salt in bulk.

I’ve bought one bag in 15 years of owning dishwashers.

No-ones ever given me salt to wash the dishes!

Well if nothing else, this thread has alerted me to the shared family settings, never knew they were there, and a better solution to us all staying logged in as mrsmidlife to watch video.

No-ones ever given me salt to wash the dishes!

I guess you’re not worth it.

We use dishwasher tablets, but they taste terrible.

Do you mean you weren’t aware you’d signed up to it because you blindly clicked at “Continue” boxes without reading them when you were buying your tunes?

I’m pretty sure I didn’t obviously sign up for a subscription to a package totally unsuited to my requirements I.e. a family package, considering I’m single! And the customer service stated “I can understand that you’ve not activated the Amazon Music Unlimited Family plan and you’d like to have a full refund.” – read into that what you will…

I guess you’re not worth it.

& I guess that guessing’s not your strong point. 8)

I signed up to Prime about 18 months ago when they did the offer for The Grand Tour, since then I changed to the student package. I contacted them to switch to Student package and they refunded me the full amount for the previous 6 months I’d used it as a none student. Amazon just refund it’s what they do, seems to not dent their profits too much either.

That’s because the big profits have little to do with the mail order service

No shit.