Sneaky Amazon

[Garno]

For the last couple of weeks I have noticed that my bank account had less money in than I thought (was hoping) it had in it. I put it all down to the external SSD debacle I had and just assumed that it was how I was refunded (gift cards).
Something did not feel right with that so today I ended up checking my account online, it is such a depressing task and one that I very rarely do, I suppose that is an advantage to being skint, never having to check one's account.
Anyway Amazon took £79 from me on the 8th, no warning, no messages, no email saying thank you. I don't mind paying the yearly Prime subscription but it would be nice if they let me know before hand. (that's an angry emoji by the way)

 

[Geoff_S]

Didn't they warn you a year ago that it is renewable annually?

 

[powertools]

For the last couple of weeks I have noticed that my bank account had less money in than I thought (was hoping) it had in it. I put it all down to the external SSD debacle I had and just assumed that it was how I was refunded (gift cards).
Something did not feel right with that so today I ended up checking my account online, it is such a depressing task and one that I very rarely do, I suppose that is an advantage to being skint, never having to check one's account.
Anyway Amazon took £79 from me on the 8th, no warning, no messages, no email saying thank you. I don't mind paying the yearly Prime subscription but it would be nice if they let me know before hand. (that's an angry emoji by the way)

The things I find sneaky about Amazon is that every time you buy something the default setting is that you sign up to Prime and you have to change that yourself and the other thing is that orders over £20 sent from Amazon are free delivery but the default on the payment page always is plus delivery at £4.95 you have to change that to free delivery that is supposed to take longer but in practice free delivery still usually comes next day.

 

[Garno]

and the other thing is that orders over £20 sent from Amazon are free delivery but the default on the payment page always is plus delivery at £4.95 you have to change that to free delivery that is supposed to take longer but in practice free delivery still usually comes next day.

Now I'm really miffed ..........

 

[eribaMotters]

I thought some years ago that the law was changed, making it illegal for the default setting to automatically opt you into a contract. ie if you did not want something you had to opt out.

Colin

 

[gregmcateer]

Yeah, and Amazon is a huge respecter of laws , or at least moral ones

 

[D_W]

Amazon has never been a particularly principled company.

 

[HappyHacker]

I try to avoid Amazon like the plague. On the very odd occasion I can only find something on their site I spend ages playing hunt Wally trying to find the button that lets me buy it without signing up to Prime. Their site is useful for finding stuff and getting reviews so that I can go and buy it somewhere else, often cheaper.

 

[Sandyn]

I was looking for a wheel for my bike on Amazon. Found one at £68, but didn't buy it. I decided to try rebuilding a new wheel using an old rim. Day later, I gave up trying to build the wheel, the rim was too far out of shape, so i went back to Amazon to buy the wheel. To my disgust, it was now £80+ I hunted for the one at £65. Nowhere to be found, so I tried with Firefox rather than Chrome. I have Firefox set to clear all cookies on exit and it doesn't sign me into Amazon automatically, Straight away I found the £65 wheel, so I copied and pasted the amazon description back into Chrome. Amazon would not let me see the £65 wheel when signed in with my details on Chrome. I eventually had to sign in using Firefox to be able to buy it.

 

[pe2dave]

I thought some years ago that the law was changed, making it illegal for the default setting to automatically opt you into a contract. ie if you did not want something you had to opt out.

Colin

One such supplier (defaulted to renewing annually) has a (pretty well hidden) page where you can change it. Wonder if that's how they get away with it? I have a reminder in my diary - Amazon prime due renewal.
I only wish it was illegal @eribaMotters

 

[Sheptonphil]

A call or chat to Amazon and they will cancel the Prime membership and refund your fee, assuming you haven’t used the Prime benefits yet. I had to do this when I found out they had charged a duplicate Prime membership when I trialled the business account. It was absolutely no problem to get the refund.

 

[SammyQ]

Yup. I had to do same as Phil.

 

[Woodmatt]

I was looking for a wheel for my bike on Amazon. Found one at £68, but didn't buy it. I decided to try rebuilding a new wheel using an old rim. Day later, I gave up trying to build the wheel, the rim was too far out of shape, so i went back to Amazon to buy the wheel. To my disgust, it was now £80+ I hunted for the one at £65. Nowhere to be found, so I tried with Firefox rather than Chrome. I have Firefox set to clear all cookies on exit and it doesn't sign me into Amazon automatically, Straight away I found the £65 wheel, so I copied and pasted the amazon description back into Chrome. Amazon would not let me see the £65 wheel when signed in with my details on Chrome. I eventually had to sign in using Firefox to be able to buy it.

Thats really interesting,I must try and remember that for next time I'm re searching something,thanks

 

[HappyHacker]

I was looking for a wheel for my bike on Amazon. Found one at £68, but didn't buy it. I decided to try rebuilding a new wheel using an old rim. Day later, I gave up trying to build the wheel, the rim was too far out of shape, so i went back to Amazon to buy the wheel. To my disgust, it was now £80+ I hunted for the one at £65. Nowhere to be found, so I tried with Firefox rather than Chrome. I have Firefox set to clear all cookies on exit and it doesn't sign me into Amazon automatically, Straight away I found the £65 wheel, so I copied and pasted the amazon description back into Chrome. Amazon would not let me see the £65 wheel when signed in with my details on Chrome. I eventually had to sign in using Firefox to be able to buy it.

A lot of companies do that. Especially travel type companies. It is always worth trying on a different computer or clearing cookies before trying agiain if the price changes. The other thing is the low price on a large time but when you buy the large item you also buy the accessories that are more expensive than elsewhere.

A friend found an item on Amazon £10 cheaper than he could buy it from the wholesaler but it was supplied by the wholesaler he used. He rang the wholesaler and asked why.They said they sold to Amazon at the same price he would get but Amazon were offering a £10 discount deal so Amazon were taking the loss presumably so they could sell the expensive accessories to go with it.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_pattern

 

[D_W]

A lot of companies do that. Especially travel type companies. It is always worth trying on a different computer or clearing cookies before trying agiain if the price changes. The other thing is the low price on a large time but when you buy the large item you also buy the accessories that are more expensive than elsewhere.

A friend found an item on Amazon £10 cheaper than he could buy it from the wholesaler but it was supplied by the wholesaler he used. He rang the wholesaler and asked why.They said they sold to Amazon at the same price he would get but Amazon were offering a £10 discount deal so Amazon were taking the loss presumably so they could sell the expensive accessories to go with it.

I'd bet they're establishing themselves as the source and will be offering an alternative. Read about their predatory behavior with the Amazon basics brand.

 

[redhunter350]

I avoid Amazon and buy only as a last resort ! Lots more reasons not buy from them on here but my gripe is they automatically store CCard details they don’t ask if you want to do this which in my opinion they should. I challenged them and the response is “it’s a hundred percent safe it’s all encrypted etc etc no one can break into out servers blah blah” except of course someone did ! If I have to use them I always go back and delete my card details. A very unethical company IMO

 

[pgrbff]

For the last couple of weeks I have noticed that my bank account had less money in than I thought (was hoping) it had in it. I put it all down to the external SSD debacle I had and just assumed that it was how I was refunded (gift cards).
Something did not feel right with that so today I ended up checking my account online, it is such a depressing task and one that I very rarely do, I suppose that is an advantage to being skint, never having to check one's account.
Anyway Amazon took £79 from me on the 8th, no warning, no messages, no email saying thank you. I don't mind paying the yearly Prime subscription but it would be nice if they let me know before hand. (that's an angry emoji by the way)

If you ask them, say you didn't intend renewing, they might just refund. They have done with me before.

 

[pgrbff]

I avoid Amazon and buy only as a last resort ! Lots more reasons not buy from them on here but my gripe is they automatically store CCard details they don’t ask if you want to do this which in my opinion they should. I challenged them and the response is “it’s a hundred percent safe it’s all encrypted etc etc no one can break into out servers blah blah” except of course someone did ! If I have to use them I always go back and delete my card details. A very unethical company IMO

I ordera few times a week from Amazon. I live in a remote area and if it's cheaper on Amazon I'm quite happy to use them. I'm glad they keep my details and make it so easy to order.

 

[pgrbff]

I was looking for a wheel for my bike on Amazon. Found one at £68, but didn't buy it. I decided to try rebuilding a new wheel using an old rim. Day later, I gave up trying to build the wheel, the rim was too far out of shape, so i went back to Amazon to buy the wheel. To my disgust, it was now £80+ I hunted for the one at £65. Nowhere to be found, so I tried with Firefox rather than Chrome. I have Firefox set to clear all cookies on exit and it doesn't sign me into Amazon automatically, Straight away I found the £65 wheel, so I copied and pasted the amazon description back into Chrome. Amazon would not let me see the £65 wheel when signed in with my details on Chrome. I eventually had to sign in using Firefox to be able to buy it.

Amazon is rarely the cheapest if you need something quickly but often have some incredible bargains. Special K here in Italy is never less than €2.60 a box at the supermarket and often more. On Amazon it is €2.05. My son can get through a box in 3 days. A retired neighbour was complaining about the price of pine nuts, €120 ish a kilo in the shops. I got her 500g for €15, thats a quarter of the shop price. And it was an extremely well known Italian brand. We are all in charge of our own destiny, use them or don't use them. Accept their terms or go elsewhere.