Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Yesterday I received a form-letter from one Russell Morris who is Director, Amazon Prime Instant Video.

Amazon appear currently to be making a big marketing push.

Mr Morris also enclosed a credit-card like piece of plastic – all of it was to promote Amazon Prime: a 30-day free trial. It's not the first such letter I've had from Amazon. This particular service is also promoted practically every time I purchase anything via Amazon.

It'd be easy accidentally to click the "Trial" button, enabling Amazon to collect £79 every year, if one forgets to cancel (assuming one didn't want to continue). By comparison, I understand it'd be hard to find the button to cancel during the trial.

Many have unwittingly had this £79 whipped from their bank/card accounts and have had to engage with Amazon to get it refunded.

Because these things are not straightforward to cancel, when I see something like "30-day free trial" I read, Begin Paying After 30 days.

Coincidentally, I learnt today that a Haringey resident had to extricate an elderly relative from this snare.

I find these repeated invitations to be an irritation and nuisance and I wonder if any one Amazon customer has managed to get Amazon to stop repeating their heavy promotion, , that arguably is sharp practice?

Amazon Prime charges anger customers  (BBC)

Amazon Prime 30-day trial advert 'misleading'says ASA

Watchdog bans misleading Amazon Prime 'free trial' ad  (Telegraph)

Giles Coren declares war on Amazon Prime over free trial  (Guardian)

Been charged for unwanted Amazon Prime? Here's how to cancel  (MoneySavingExpert)

Tags for Forum Posts: Amazon, Amazon Prime, annoyance, greed, irritation, sharp practice

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My son signed me up to this 'accidentally', but because we hadn't used the service, they refunded the money automatically.

Another related classic is car insurance where you find it automatically renewed after a year because you couldn't find any 'opt-out' box when you set it up online. Oh, and they 'accidentally' didn't send you an reminder email or a letter. And they took three days to update the MID database (you know, the one the police use to check you're insured). Yes at least I'm insured, but.....

I did get trapped by this when it first came out, but it was about £40 then, I made the most of it for a year then cancelled.

Quite true. I recently availed myself of the trial and then found I had the annual sum taken from my account. The reason. I was not in fact elligible for the trial, having had one recently! A quick phone call had the money directly refunded. But then, I am one of those people who keep an eye on my bank account. It's good to take advantage of the free month, mainly to use the free postage as couldn't be bothered with their tv etc, but it is def sharp practice.

No, you're not getting it. I was offered a month's trial. I accepted. I wasn't aware that I wasn't eligible. They took the money from my bank account without my knowledge or permission. I shouldn't have been offered it. It's a scam. Not sure why you are the defender of a multi national corporation? They are quite capable of looking after themselves. Amazon customer service is really very good as is their efficiency and speed of service. But it is a scam.

How about  mass tax avoidance (see link below) leading to the destruction of smaller companies that they undercut and importantly the thousands of jobs that go with it for good reason to be outraged and to not use amazon in the first place! Convenient yes, ethical - Never!

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3139123/Amazon-pays...

Just ordered some shaving stuff through an online company, had I have gone via Amazon it would have cost me at least £5 more.

Amazon give 'free UK delivery' but they load the cost onto the packing (eg £5 for a piece of folded cardboard).

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