Amazon "Prime" surprise ghost subscription charges.

A question about : Amazon "Prime" surprise ghost subscription charges.

I got an unexpected balance appear on an old credit card, and on investigation discovered that Amazon had deducted Ј79 from my card as an annual charge for their Amazon prime streaming TV and film service.

I never knowingly subscribed to Amazon prime, and had never used it. It appears to be one of these services where you have to positively opt out to avoid getting charged (happy to be corrected on this).

On contacting Amazon they agreed to refund without quibbling, but it makes me wonder how many of you with an Amazon account may have missed a Ј79 debit.

I have spoken to three friends this evening all of whom discovered that they had been charged for this service they didn't want, and to their knowledge hadn't asked for.

Would like to know if anyone else has suffered this, and if so whether Amazons approach to this is ethical?

Best answers:

• Their approach is fine in my view. I'm sure you'll dispute this but Amazon Prime isn't an opt-out service (and isn't purely streaming, its primary benefit is free next day delivery), it's one they advertise on the site and ask you if you'd like to sign up for it and get your first month free.
  If you then don't want to be charged you need to cancel it before the free month's up, but you have to actively signup for the service to begin with, and its cost is very clearly displayed.
• As above you must have signed up for the free trial, not read the T&Cs fully and then forgot to cancel.
• I tend to also fall into the group that would smugly say its a simple case of having forgotten a trial, or not reading a webpage, but my point is that I did not knowingly subscribe to a trial of this service, and had no notification of it or the payment request.
  As I ask around I see that others are also paying for something they do not want and do not use, hence posting on this forum to raise awareness and hopefully help people reclaim money they did not know they had been silently debited from their Bank Accounts or Credit Cards.
  So far I have spoken to three work colleagues and each of them has now reclaimed the Ј79, and none of them knew they had subscribed.
• Yes I was a little surprised too until i checked with three others who found the same as me. My Credit Card is linked to my Amazon account already.
  I am posting this so others can check and ensure they are not having the money deducted unknowingly.
• The rights and wrongs of the process are not why I have posted this.
  My point is that there are people who have unwittingly (or stupidly if you prefer to believe that) had Ј79 deducted from their account that they can claim back by simply checking and if need be cancelling.
  So far four people I know who have checked have found this to be the case and have achieved a refund.
• You can't call it "unknowingly" just because you didn't read the T&Cs properly.
• Bluehoops - the offers I have had from Prime always state it is a paid service where you get a month free trial to see what it is like - they give you a promotion (like free next day delivery) before you complete the order and you can either choose to accept and cancel after a month or reject it. If you accept it then you either have to cancel or you get billed as the page says you will.
  If you see this link:
  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/prime/pi...nav_prime_join
  It says under the button to start:
  Quote:
• There is no "I didn't sign up for this" argument, its nonsense. Amazon dont fraudulently sign up people for this, you sign up for this service when logged into your Amazon account. You were happy enough to sign up for a free trial and either didn't read what it was or forgot that it was only free for 1 month, so they correctly charged for it.
  You are not due a refund. I would just take this as a lesson and be careful in the future.
• The good news is that Amazon will refund without quibble if you contact them, so there is no loss.
  Without getting into a flame war here, (The circumstances are well documented on the Daily Mail money site which I am not permitted to link here, so if you are interested, google is your friend) enough to say....
  "Check your Amazon Account to see if you have been charged for the Prime service. If you do not want it and have not used it you can get a refund without penalty."
  After all this forum is to help people save money. Peace out.
• If have just discovered that I've also 'signed up' for this and had the Ј79 deducted.
  I haven't bought anything from Amazon for almost a year, and have certainly not signed up for anything. I have no interest in prime at all, not even a free month.