Amazon will refund $1.5B to 35M customers allegedly duped into paying for Prime Amazon has settled the Federal Trade Commission's case against it for making it too hard to quit Prime, and while it naturally didn't admit to any wrongdoing, it's still going to pay out one of the largest settlements in FTC history to make the matter go away. The case, which Big Tech nemesis Lina Khan brought in 2023 under …
I was accidentally signed up, using the website on mobile I fat fingered the very close buttons and that was all, one click, I was in.
Took the free delivery during the free trial and then cancelled prior to being charged, so, more fool them for making it too easy to sign up, but least cancelling is relatively straight forward (once you click through all the bait of "are you sure you want to lose access to this thing we've not actually mentioned you have access to before?"...).
I ended up being conned into signing up for Prime several years ago.
The website usually has a big green "Yes, I want Prime" button at check out, with a smaller grey "No thanks" button next to it. A few years ago, they changed it such that the grey button *also* became a "Yes I want Prime" button with the opt-out shifted to an ordinary link underneath. Obviously thanks to muscle memory, you go through checkout and click the small grey button. To say I was pissed off when a big "Welcome to Prime!!" screen appeared is an understatement.
Thankfully it was just a free trial, but I immediately cancelled it, then swore blind that I would never, ever pay for Prime as long as I lived thanks to their dodgy, underhand tactics. I do actually try to avoid buying from Amazon where I can, but sometimes the cost/palaver involved with avoiding it is too much.
Cancelling in the EU (and UK) is straightforward, although it does ask you about three times, "Are you sure?" before shutting up and cancelling.
In the US, it's probably some form of 'forced arbitration' gymnastics printed out in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'.
"We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership, and … we will continue to do so."
They really should not have to work incredibly hard to do that. It is technically easy to have a cancel feature that is as easy as the enrolling process. The only difficult part is persuading senior management to agree...
Big Brother icon, because management are always watching anything that might reduce their bonuses.
I just don't sign up for memberships and rewards cards willy nilly. There are a few things at the big box store that make it worth the membership, but the last time I was there, the self-checkout was asking if I wanted to renew/upgrade my membership and it isn't due for another 3 months. I had to stop and read all of the mice type since I forget when it's due when I spotted that it wasn't due. Big print asking if I wanted to add my renewal fees to the transaction and mice type telling me it wasn't due. I'm not happy. I know they lose money on the rotisserie chicken and I was compounding that by getting several to strip and freeze dry. Most of the other things they have are more money than the discount grocery and on par with the wholesale food/commercial kitchen stores. This past year I'm not so sure that I'm getting any ROI on my membership fee. I don't buy from Amazon so Prime isn't even a consideration. I can go to the corner shop to buy counterfeit goods.
Met many consumers, especially American ones, have you? It seems to many that a day without a new cashflow-draining loyalty programme is a day lost.
In Europe we've had several cases which considered such Hotel California subscription practices anti-competitive. But that's because we're pinko-leftist socialist free market lovers!
Not in the UK. As long as you're over the free delivery threshold (recently upped to £35) you still have the free option. Often gets delivered next day anyway, despite the "delivery within 2-3 days" note (which can be annoying when I know I won't be in tomorrow, and actually prefer delivery on, say, a Saturday).
...When "Amazon Prime" meant legit free two-day delivery on everything?
Nowadays "Amazon Prime" means free overnight (which only actually arrives 25% of the time), or get it sometime next week with no shipping costs.
Oh, and "Included with Prime" Amazon Music actually had music you had heard before. And "Included with Prime" Amazon Video did not include advertisements. I can get those with AM radio & over-the-air TV.
