Amazon: Still At It!

[Buzzardist]

Checking my bank yesterday I found a Debit of £79.00 paid to Amazon Prime.
Now, although I do purchase through Amazon, I have never applied for or ticked any box for Amazon Prime.
That anyone could just take money from my Bank Account without any notification or reason I regard with alarm.
I asked my Granddaughter (like you do) what she thought and her reply was that Amazon do this all the time and her friend was also hit for £79 just before Christmas and was only aware of it when her bank account was emptied!
Interesting, when I contacted Amazon the response was so quick and efficient and my account was credited immediately; minimum questions, no explanations, just send the money back, fast!
I wonder how many people failed to check their bank account over Christmas and how many £79.00s disappeared into the Amazon???

[SnookerPlayer]

Got to get money for Clarkson and co somehow.

[hc4361]

I got an email from Amazon Prime clearly headed 'Amazon Prime Confirmation'. Logging in to my Amazon account gave me a link to cancel for a refund.
Check your emails - you would have received the same.

[Buenchico]

You ticked the 'Free next day delivery' box but (like thousands of others) failed to notice that it's tied to a free trial of Amazon Prime (with payment for the service automatically being taken if you fail to cancel the trial).

[fiction-factory]

Yes, very easily done. It's very easy to sign up inadvertently to things on sites like Trainline too

[Buzzardist]

Ah yes Buenchico, "Failed to notice" and "fail to cancel" being the significant issue. When I signed off the order payment there was no mention of a commitment to £79 and it's a great money spinner for amazon taking cash from customers who "failed to notice" and undoubtedly, in many cases, fail to notice the debit on their Christmas bank statement.
I still believe that it was purposely obscure in the same way that many companies use the small print in agreements....do you always read yours?

[Islay]

It is there quite clearly for you to see, and you receive and email telling you about the benefits of Amazon prime - is it possible you mistook the email for junk and the banner telling you about amazon prime as advertising.

I think its wrong to put this in Scams as its not a scam!

[Baldric]

/// small print in agreements....do you always read yours? ///

Yes I do.

[murraymints]

me too balders !!

[Jomlett]

‪Amazon email scam could cost up to £750 - here's what you should look out for http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/amazon-email-scam-cost-online-customers-750-what-how-look-out-for-shopping-a7512566.html‬

[SlackAlice]

It's quite clearly marked out on the 'transaction' page and quite easy to avoid Amazon Prime in my opinion.

Not a scam, just an inability by users to read and understand the basics when completing orders.

[Gromit]

I got a confirmation that I had signed up to Prime which was a shock. I had been thinking of taking the 1 month free trial, but instead I had to immediately cancel it. Fortunately I acted as soon as the confirmation email arrived, so I was able to cancel before they stole any of my money.

[hc4361]

Gromit, if they offer you the free trial and you cancel it the same day, you still get the free trial.

[Gromit]

hc4361

You misunderstand. I was considering the free trial but didn't sign up. Then they confirmed I had bought a 1 year subscription, which I hadn't.

I have been using Amazon for 15 years, and have bought thousands of items, so I am not a novice. In November I was buying an item for £6. At checkout Amazon flashed up that if I spent another £4 that the delivery was free. So I changed the quantity to 2 and got free delivery. It seemed to be that which activated my purchase of a Prime 1 year subscription. I had no idea that I was signing up to Prime, so I consider it was trickery.

[hc4361]

But you got your email straight away and was able to cancel, so all was well.

Prime members also see 'Your Prime' next to 'Your Account' across the top of the Amazon website so they don't try to hide it.

I've had the same offer when ordering goods and it is clear that I would be signing up to Prime at a fee of £79

[SnookerPlayer]

I would say it is definitely a scam. Would be different if you were invited to try Prime by ticking a box. Subtle trickery.

[Baldric]

There's no scam involved, if you can't or don't bother to read the small print it's not Amazons fault, they put all the information there for you to see.

[Gromit]

// But you got your email straight away and was able to cancel, so all was well. //

I was able to stop them before they stole my money, so all was not well.

It was certainly not clear I was signing up to £79 Prime when I took their generous offer to not charge me £2.50 for delivery.

// Prime members also see 'Your Prime' next to 'Your Account' across the top of the Amazon website so they don't try to hide it. //

I have been a Prime Member in the past, so I know how it works. I did not want to be a Prime Member this time, so I was tricked into signing up.

// I've had the same offer when ordering goods and it is clear that I would be signing up to Prime at a fee of £79 //
Well it wasn't clear to this long time Amazon customer. The first I knew of it was the email that they were deducting £79 from my account.

[ummmm]

Does anyone know if it's automatic renewal? We signed up to it willingly (well he did)

[mikey4444]

My advice here is to stop using Amazon altogether.

This is inertia selling, of the worst kind.

[ummmm]

Never going to happen, Mikey.