Amazon Prime - inertia selling?

Some goods are now subscription on Amazon and often the default tick setting is NOT "one time purchase".

Random Example (note the default is a 4 times a year subscription)

Check your Amazon order record for anything that may be consumed on a regular basis - in the above example Vitamin D tablets but I've seen cleaning products and pet treats with the same type of listing.

You wouldn't be the first (here) it seems.

I saw it a few times before meaningly signing up for it and think it could be misled if you weren't alert.

Well, if it wasn't wanted, only that first month Shirley (before you cancel it)?

I would be interested in the outcome as it will be something to tell the Amazon scammers who tell me my Prime account is about to be renewed. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa never knew....ha ha Amazon ae bastards

what about in his 30 day free prime trial ? ... which he never knew about

I find that a simple "f*ck off" is adequate.

Yeah when they first tried that they were using the actual price of Prime renewal... so probably got lots of people happy not to cancel it!

(to throw them a curve ball, ask them which Amazon account they are talking about. I tried that, and they gave me my phone number!)

Chances are you ordered something that was only available at the price offered for Prime subscribers, and hence they automatically included a subscription when you placed the order because that was the only way you could complete the order. (other than dropping the item from the basket, and searching for it again and choosing a higher priced version not limited to Prime subscribers)

So using "dark pattern" web design, and some underhand tactics certainly, but you can bet they won't have made obvious legal mistakes.

(they will refund you though)

That's very good, I hope you succeed.

I've bought a few things from amazon.co.uk over the last year and it gets harder each time to avoid automatically paying for Prime, or indeed an extra fee for faster delivery when free delivery is an alternative. The only way to avoid it is via a link which is deliberately obscure and much less prominent than all the other options.

I happen to think that in some cases Amazon provides a useful service so am willing to use it when other options fail, but feel quite strongly that its boss is rich enough without having me subscribe to Prime unwittingly.

Are you sure, on the web site at least I've never had such an experience, indeed before check out it will ask you if you want to continue. Maybe its like that in the app or something. Brian

On Wed, 3 Mar 2021 21:09:35 +0000, John Rumm snipped-for-privacy@nowhere.null wrote: <snip>

Yeah, hehe.

You have to give them some dues for persistence and imagination. I would imagine Telesales is a bad enough job but when you are doing immoral / illegal stuff (just to pay the rent) it must be pretty demoralising.

Mind you, that does sometimes result in dealing with bi-polar people where they constantly flip between being nice to hoping your whole family dies of cancer.

Cheers, T i m

I recently got them to have a chat with me, to correct an accidental click on a subscription order, they cancelled it immediately.

Yes. There is a tiny greyed out section that says 'no I don't want free one day shipping' or something.

I totally agree. I am finding that it's is no longer the cheapest, and since I have a paypal account and most vendors take it, increasingly I just go to the vendors site.

Not tried the app. The only time you do need to be careful is if you enable single click buying and do it via the Amazon echo device, as although you do need your code, often the prime setting is a little vague. Indeed its almost as vague as the various subscriptions for music unlimited. For the record its 3.99 for one device, any ability to share on other devices, ie have your music playing in other rooms or to get it to pay from another device is 9.99, then it gets confusing as there is a family plan which means you can play more than one track on multiple machines at the same time, plus a high definition stream which costs more still, then of course there are discounts if you sign up to prime. Quite why its so complicated eludes me. After all streaming your music to more than one device is still only you listening, so why the price hike? I guess there is some marketing drone somewhere working it all out on a vast payroll. Brian

On 03/03/2021 21:09, John Rumm wrote: ...

The people who call to tell me there is a problem with my broadband also have problem with the question 'Which one?'. I then explain I have four broadband connections, with three different providers at two different addresses and they usually give up.

;-)

After pissing one about for some time I let on that I don't have 'BT Broadband' (that they were supposed to be calling from) and they insisted that *all* Internet is provided by BT Broadband. ;-)

Bless them, they got the basic idea but didn't go as far as independent cable suppliers, like VM (is Hull Telecom (was it) still alive)?

Cheers, T i m

"Rod Speed" snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:

I recently bought something and tried very hard to not agree to Prime - but in my rush to get an order completed I accidentally agreed to Prime. Howver it is very easy to cancel if you go into your accound and "Manage My Account" or similar. I have saved the email acknowldegement.

To end your Amazon Prime membership:

It certainly requires you to keep your wits about you to avoid accidentally selecting Prime. There is a checkbox which says it will remember your chosen delivery mode, but fails to prevent it offering Prime at every opportunity.

Every time I place an order, the button to move forward is insignificant, but the Prime one is big and bright. One accidental click and you are straight in, whereas cancelling requires a series of confirmations that you _really_ want to leave, with regular reminders of what you will be missing.

It is interesting to compare the number of chances it gives you to change your mind about cancellation, with the lack of same when you accidentally join.

Chris