Is there a law gainst this?

I think you will find that you accidentally clicked on the shiny "yes" button instead of the discreetly positioned "no thanks" button at some point.

Very easy to do. The site is designed that way.

Cheers

Dave R

SFAIK, it is illegal for you to be enrolled in a paying service without your consent. However, if you have, at any time, accepted a trial of Prime, you have agreed to it being automatically renewed when the trial period ends. Given the way they present the options, it is not difficult accidentally to chose to trial Prime when navigating to the checkout.

No. I did NOT.

I did that once before and have been uber careful ever since

Except that having been caught that way once, I am uber careful.

They got me that way as well.....shower of barstewards .........some would say we should have avoided it but they are so sneeky ....

In message , The Natural Philosopher writes

They nearly got me when it was first introduced. ISTR some online discussion warning people.

A greater annoyance for us technically challenged is the proliferation of *clickbait* found when following up a seemingly innocuous upgrade message. CCleaner is a prime example with lots of attractive green please click here buttons:-(

The usual one is an option "While we install this program that you have asked for, do you want us also to install some unrelated program and change your default browser to Google" (I'm paraphrasing the wording!) on one of the several screens that appears during installation. I always read each screen carefully and look specifically for tick boxes that may be ticked by default, especially with a new program as opposed to an upgrade to a program I've already installed.

I never just blindly click through Next, Next, Next on those screens.

I have just given up using Amazon. Except in extremis, where no one else has what I want.

Are you sure that they signed you up? They are rather sneaky in what options they present on the screen when you want free postage. Say yes to next day free postage and you are signed up to the Prime trial period.

In my experience you have to say no to the free postage for next day delivery at least twice (after reading the small print) and then in one of the final screens change the option from postage with an additional cost to the 3 to 5 day delivery option.

I have noticed that Amazon are pushing Prime and to make a difference in the service they are hanging on to other orders for a week before dispatching them. The dispatched order will then arrive the next day!

I was caught like this, where I was given an option of two buttons to press.

I deliberated for a while, believing one definitely signed me up to prime, and the other I eventually clicked on had an ambiguous description but was the lesser of two evils. I then found I was signed up.

I felt Amazon put me in a position between a rock and a hard place, and still have no idea how I could escape signing up.

It was a simple matter to cancel, but I made my feelings made through a varied choice of words in their complaints channel.

I said no to next day free - because that was today anyway - but they still signed me up.

When I was in business we expected to win customers by listening to what they wanted and selling it to them. And supporting them.

Today's consumer market makes Clive Sinclair look like an honest man.

It's bloody browser highjackers I hate .....

Indeed. That was pretty much my experience.

A lot of things are like that. When I was researching my family tree some years ago, I used Ancestry occasionally, taking out a one-month subscription. But I would cancel it within 48 hours, otherwise they would roll it over without asking at the end of the month, and keep charging you. By doing what I did, I still got the one month I'd paid for, which was usually more than long enough for what I wanted to do, but it avoided the roll-over.

ISTR my wife had a similar problem with Readers Digest, several decades ago.

There are times I have knowingly signed-up for a Prime trial, and got a s*it-load of free next day deliveries in before cancelling, and apparently like many people, I've somehow been suckered into clicking for free delivery and ended up on paid Prime when I didn't want it (they did refund it), similarly I just think TNP wasn't careful *enough* despite what he thinks.

I've not found that, I've had free delivery items ordered on a saturday evening arrive sunday afternoon - imagine how much you'd have had to pay for that a few years ago?

On 22/04/2018 10:32, alan_m wrote: ...

I regularly use Amazon, but don't use Prime. Looking at the last month, none of my deliveries have taken more than 2-3 days.

I had this happen last year. I let it run for the free month they gave me, troughed music straight off my echo dot then closed it, that will teach em!

Its only really worthwhile if you buy most of your stuff like groceries etc as well as other things through them, then the sub is worth the money due to the savings on the prices, but otherwise its just a way to make money.

I was told when I enquired that a free gift for a month was not against the law until possible May 25 this year when the new rules of data usage kick in in the Eu.

It may be just a ploy to get as many signed up before the deadline as possible It is though, usually a free month. and yes it can be a pain to cancel as it keep on saying OK but how about keeping music unlimited at 3.99 a month, or some oddboall video sub at some other price etc, but as long as you are wary, it does not hurt to make use of the extras and then ditch it. grin.

Are you saying they did not offer a free month? I thought this was the deal? Brian

Me too.

I *may* be wrong, but GDPR might be tightening up on this. OK Amazon are sneaky, but they are also pretty good on customer service. I suspect that if you found a debit, and challenged it, they would refund it.

Actually no, as being blind there is no shiny button, only a yes and no thanks. However I think randomly customers are placed on the free month offer. Its much like in the old days of Tandy, you had a leaflet in your bag saying we are giving you so many free batteries for some months, but if you wanted to retain these extras, you had to get their card,. That was an auto opt out though, and as such OK, Amazon make you opt out and after 25th may if I read the law right, they will have to auto cancel after a month or whatever free period, and they don't like that idea at all! Luckily as I say the audio for the buttons is pretty obvious and not confusing neither is the state of checkboxes on the items that have a special prime price, if you select one you also get prime membership. Brian