Have you been screwed by Amazon Prime? (Read 6640 times)

Oldmanmatt · January 29, 2015, 10:08:06 am

Have you been screwed by Amazon Prime?

We were.

We've never signed up for or used Amazon Prime, but today we were debited £79 from our account, for membership!

Check your bank! If you act quickly, you can have the whole fee refunded!

We had an Amazon account (hardly ever used) that they AUTOMATICALLY UPGRADED TO PRIME, without telling us.

Sloper · January 29, 2015, 10:24:48 am

I've never used Amazon but I'll let my wife know.

J.Kydd · January 29, 2015, 10:31:02 am

My girlfriend got stung a few weeks back. Ordered something from Amazon and was automatically subscribed to Prime.
She called them to complain - they argued - she went ape-shit down the phone - they refunded

rossydoodle61 · January 29, 2015, 10:57:48 am

This happened to me too. I cancelled it when I realised (only after several days) and got a refund. Apparently if you cancel without using any 'Prime' specific services, you can get a refund at any time.

fatdoc · January 29, 2015, 11:17:15 am

I use it, all the time... And they are now lovefilm.

Great service. But it ridiculous they don't make it clear that
They in effect auto enrol you into the service.

abarro81 · January 29, 2015, 11:19:31 am

I don't know why, but AFAIK they've never autoenrolled me? They always offer it when you go to pay but I don't seem to have ended up on it..

adam w · January 29, 2015, 11:22:32 am

Cheers for reminding me. I was billed a couple of weeks ago and went in and got the refund, but I need to check they've done it. All a bit cheeky.

remus · January 29, 2015, 12:13:55 pm

Sounds like people checking the 'free postage with amazon prime trial' button when buying something, then after the end of the trial period they start billing you. I did exactly that and it was very easy to cancel the subscription and get a refund when i realised.

Jaspersharpe · January 29, 2015, 12:18:55 pm

Quote from: remus on January 29, 2015, 12:13:55 pm

Sounds like people checking the 'free postage with amazon prime trial' button when buying something, then after the end of the trial period they start billing you. I did exactly that and it was very easy to cancel the subscription and get a refund when i realised.

Me too.

georgenorth · January 29, 2015, 12:41:03 pm

Quote from: remus on January 29, 2015, 12:13:55 pm

Sounds like people checking the 'free postage with amazon prime trial' button when buying something, then after the end of the trial period they start billing you. I did exactly that and it was very easy to cancel the subscription and get a refund when i realised.

It's pretty shit that they don't send you any notification before charging you. I got this email - they're so generous!

Dear MR XXXXX,

As you requested, your Amazon Prime membership has been cancelled. Since you've only used your benefits a few times, we've made an exception and we are issuing a partial refund of £72.68 for the remaining months of your membership.

You can always rejoin Prime at amazon.co.uk/prime

Thank you for trying Prime.

Warmest regards,

Amazon.co.uk
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Amazon.co.uk is a trading name for Amazon EU S.a.r.l. Amazon EU Sarl is a company registered in Luxembourg, Registration Number B-101818, 5 Rue Plaetis, L-2338 Luxembourg. VAT Number LU 20260743.

mark20 · March 09, 2015, 05:58:46 pm

Just realised I'd been charged £79 last June having used the Prime free trial. I think I may have inadvertently used it for free postage once or twice since but they didn't seem to question it, and to their credit they refunded me fully without too much bother. Thanks for the heads up

Will Hunt · March 09, 2015, 08:47:54 pm

So the salt of the earth people at Amazon have been skimming 50 quid out of my account annually for the past 6 years now. Never knowingly signed up for a Prime account. Never knowingly authorised a direct debit. Never knowingly used Prime services. Barely legal springs to mind.

5 minute phone call later and a full refund is on its way. The customer service bloke on the other end didn't blink when I asked for the money back and authorised it immediately - which seems to suggest that they know they are bang to rights and don't want anyone kicking up a fuss.

I'd heard about people falling foul of this and scoffed "Well I will never be so foolish". Please can I advise you all: spend 5 minutes now checking whether you've been done. Could be worth a few hundred quid to you!

andyh · March 09, 2015, 09:13:02 pm

Time to start using alternatives? Especially when http://www.housmans.com/boycottamazon.php

petejh · March 09, 2015, 09:19:52 pm

I'd invest that £300 in Amazon. In the last 5 years their share price increased around 200%... $:-\$

tomtom · March 09, 2015, 10:02:11 pm

When it first came out I signed up to Amazon prime - and cancelled after 28 days when I had an email from them saying they were going to take money from me etc... Though it sounds like they've been less (ahem) generous with their warning emails since then...

MrsTT is an avid (with caps) TV consumer - and she really rates Amazon PrimeTV for its relentless list of shite TV series etc.. (my description not hers..!) and gladly pays the £70 per year...

tomtom · March 09, 2015, 10:04:27 pm

Shit. Just realised I'm fucked.

Osteo supporter, Statement naysayer and NOW Amazon Prime supporter... What next....

Oldmanmatt · March 09, 2015, 10:28:26 pm

Quote from: tomtom on March 09, 2015, 10:04:27 pm

Shit. Just realised I'm fucked.

Osteo supporter, Statement naysayer and NOW Amazon Prime supporter... What next....

Joining Sloper in the "Swivel eyed Loons" club...?

petejh · March 09, 2015, 10:52:08 pm

Quote from: tomtom on March 09, 2015, 10:04:27 pm

Shit. Just realised I'm fucked.

Osteo supporter, Statement naysayer and NOW Amazon Prime supporter... What next....

TT, there may still be hope - do you wear a kneepad for classic boulder probs that were done without?

tomtom · March 10, 2015, 07:39:30 am

Quote from: petejh on March 09, 2015, 10:52:08 pm

Quote from: tomtom on March 09, 2015, 10:04:27 pm
Shit. Just realised I'm fucked.

Osteo supporter, Statement naysayer and NOW Amazon Prime supporter... What next....

TT, there may still be hope - do you wear a kneepad for classic boulder probs that were done without?

No! though I have tried one on once...

tommytwotone · March 10, 2015, 09:36:25 am

Quote from: rossydoodle61 on January 29, 2015, 10:57:48 am

This happened to me too. I cancelled it when I realised (only after several days) and got a refund. Apparently if you cancel without using any 'Prime' specific services, you can get a refund at any time.

^^^ this.

My girlfriend was auto-enrolled but it turns out she used the postage thing so couldn't cancel / have the refund.