What is Amazon doing?

[Texas Proud]

OK, I was looking at the mail and my DW got a letter saying that she had NOT used her Amazon Prime video and what to do if she wanted to start...


This lead to an argument on why she signed up for it AGAIN!!!


To start... my DW has her own account for some reason... last year she fell victim to that screen that screams FREE 2 DAY SHIPPING with some micro button to continue on... so they charged her the $100 for Prime... when I saw it hit the CC I was mad then... called and got a refund.... said never do that again...


Well, the letter comes and she said she did not do it... started to blame our daughter who said she did not do it... I just said I KNOW I did not as I have my own account... So, look at her account and they charged for a PRIME membership on Oct 21st.... nobody was on her account that day... so how did they get authorization to start PRIME up?


I have no idea.... but I suspect that AMAZON is trying to see if they can slip in a PRIME membership without us noticing!!!! This is very shady for a business to do that...

 

[ERD50]

IIRC, you have to be very careful, they make signing up for Prime the default button on a bunch of screens. I've almost done it a couple times, just trying to get to the next screen.

You need to be careful and look for the condescending box that says something like "No Thanks, I'm an idiot who doesn't know what's good for me, and I don't want to pay $100 for 'FREE' 2-day shipping!"

-ERD50

 

[gwraigty]

I have no idea.... but I suspect that AMAZON is trying to see if they can slip in a PRIME membership without us noticing!!!! This is very shady for a business to do that...

I had thought the same thing briefly in September, when I got a credit card notification that I'd been charged for a monthly Amazon Prime membership. It turned out to be a fraudulent charge though.

Have you checked your credit card transactions to see if/when a charge might have been made for this?

 

[Spock]

I delete the credit card from Amazon after every purchase, so they got nothing to charge it to if they tried.

 

[GrayHare]

Texas, might that prior membership have renewed itself after a year?

As an Amazon customer since the '90s, my sense is during recent years they're pushing for profits by cutting corners. In 2018 I've seen more computer errors at the site and with my account than in any prior year, and contacting customer service is not as easy as it had been in the past.

 

[Texas Proud]

I had thought the same thing briefly in September, when I got a credit card notification that I'd been charged for a monthly Amazon Prime membership. It turned out to be a fraudulent charge though.

Have you checked your credit card transactions to see if/when a charge might have been made for this?

It was from Amazon and it did show my DW as a PRIME member...


It was on a day when nothing was ordered.... not sure if someone was searching or not (but was not me)...


Was able to cancel online and got 100% of the money back today... still, if I was not careful it would have gone through and we would be out the money... plus who knows if we would actually get the shipping or not...


If you are a PRIME member are there options for shipping or just the one option being PRIME?

 

[Texas Proud]

Texas, might that prior membership have renewed itself after a year?

As an Amazon customer since the '90s, my sense is during recent years they're pushing for profits by cutting corners. In 2018 I've seen more computer errors at the site and with my account than in any prior year, and contacting customer service is not as easy as it had been in the past.

The first time was Feb 2017, so it was not an annual renewal... I was thinking that at first... but no...

 

[Fireup2020]

It was from Amazon and it did show my DW as a PRIME member...


It was on a day when nothing was ordered.... not sure if someone was searching or not (but was not me)...


Was able to cancel online and got 100% of the money back today... still, if I was not careful it would have gone through and we would be out the money... plus who knows if we would actually get the shipping or not...


If you are a PRIME member are there options for shipping or just the one option being PRIME?

Yes there are shipping rates as options. I’m happy to write off Prime membership as a business expense since we do order business stuff...but we have Firesticks and enjoy amazon video as well as free shipping for personal stuff too!

 

[Freedom56]

OK, I was looking at the mail and my DW got a letter saying that she had NOT used her Amazon Prime video and what to do if she wanted to start...


This lead to an argument on why she signed up for it AGAIN!!!


To start... my DW has her own account for some reason... last year she fell victim to that screen that screams FREE 2 DAY SHIPPING with some micro button to continue on... so they charged her the $100 for Prime... when I saw it hit the CC I was mad then... called and got a refund.... said never do that again...


Well, the letter comes and she said she did not do it... started to blame our daughter who said she did not do it... I just said I KNOW I did not as I have my own account... So, look at her account and they charged for a PRIME membership on Oct 21st.... nobody was on her account that day... so how did they get authorization to start PRIME up?


I have no idea.... but I suspect that AMAZON is trying to see if they can slip in a PRIME membership without us noticing!!!! This is very shady for a business to do that...

When you buy something on Amazon, it defaults to a free trial of Amazon Prime if you are not a subscriber. I recently bought a camera lens, and discovered that I was signed up for a 30 day free trial. I can cancelled the trial after the 30 day period which expires November 19th. You should be able to check your order history to determine who and when prime was ordered. That being said, Amazon prime video is pretty good. The 4K picture quality is much better than Netflix. Some of the original series are pretty good such as Goliath, Bosch, Sneaky Pete, and others. The free 2 day shipping is a bonus. We may just keep it after the 19th. My wife loves the programming. The music is great also.

A word of advice, $100 per year is not worth fighting over. Keep your wife happy and keep the peace at home!

 

[Scrapr]

what is Amazon doing?

they are making their quarter numbers is what they are doing

I buy very very little through AMZ. They hung me out to dry when someone hacked my account for 2 i phones. I use E Bay for most stuff now.

 

[Texas Proud]

When you buy something on Amazon, it defaults to a free trial of Amazon Prime if you are not a subscriber. I recently bought a camera lens, and discovered that I was signed up for a 30 day free trial. I can cancelled the trial after the 30 day period which expires November 19th. You should be able to check your order history to determine who and when prime was ordered. That being said, Amazon prime video is pretty good. The 4K picture quality is much better than Netflix. Some of the original series are pretty good such as Goliath, Bosch, Sneaky Pete, and others. The free 2 day shipping is a bonus. We may just keep it after the 19th. My wife loves the programming. The music is great also.

A word of advice, $100 per year is not worth fighting over. Keep your wife happy and keep the peace at home!

That is the point... nobody ordered anything on the day they said it was purchased... it was a week or two earlier for an order...


DW is not interested in their video library and does NOT want PRIME... so the only fight was why she ordered it... since I know she does not want it...



HMMMM, maybe that free month is the problem... will have to go back and see if something was bought a month ago....

 

[Katsmeow]

If you are a PRIME member are there options for shipping or just the one option being PRIME?

You are not required to use your faster Prime Shipping. If you don't you often get a credit that can be used for something else.

 

[Texas Proud]

OK... I think it was the kid... she swears up and down she did not hit a button for free shipping with PRIME and she did pay for shipping of what she ordered...


BUT, she ordered it 31 days prior to us being charged the annual fee...


If I were in a jury she would be found guilty...

 

[splitwdw]

Stop blaming family members, Amazon probably just renewed it. My sister canceled her Prime membership and a auto-renewal just appeared on her charge account last week. She hasn't placed an order in months. No email, notice or order showing on the Amazon account. When she called Amazon she was told "sorry, it must have slipped through". She removed her credit card number from her Amazon account so it won't happen again.

 

[CaptTom]

I buy very very little through AMZ. They hung me out to dry when someone hacked my account for 2 i phones. I use E Bay for most stuff now.

I don't blame you a bit.

I feel the same about eBay. They hung me out to dry, too. The problem started when one of eBay's seller's account was hacked. The hacker lowered the seller's prices, took a bunch of orders, and the money, but shipped nothing. Both eBay and PayPal knew about the fraud, and disabled the seller's account, but only after my payment had already gone through. Each sent me to the other to resolve my issue. Neither would refund my money. Had to get the CC company involved and it still took way too long and way too much effort on my part.

I find, overall, the sellers on eBay are less reliable than Amazon's third-party sellers. The product photos and descriptions are often so vague as to be useless, and the lack of product reviews and customer questions makes buying from eBay riskier.

I did buy a part from an eBay seller recently. I had a specific part number, so didn't need a good description or photo. Other on-line merchants selling that same $3 part wanted up to $40 for shipping, or didn't even offer a shipping price or estimated delivery date. At least eBay gave me some confidence as to what I'd be paying and when I might receive it.

 

[sengsational]

OK... I think it was the kid... she swears up and down she did not hit a button for free shipping with PRIME and she did pay for shipping of what she ordered...


BUT, she ordered it 31 days prior to us being charged the annual fee...


If I were in a jury she would be found guilty...

31 days...I don't think that's a coincidence. I've always felt distain for that constant push for prime sign up....too easy to make a slip of the mouse. Amazon hopes when you discover your mistake, you'll shrug and try out prime.

 

[broadway]

I don't blame you a bit.

I feel the same about eBay. They hung me out to dry, too. The problem started when one of eBay's seller's account was hacked. The hacker lowered the seller's prices, took a bunch of orders, and the money, but shipped nothing. Both eBay and PayPal knew about the fraud, and disabled the seller's account, but only after my payment had already gone through. Each sent me to the other to resolve my issue. Neither would refund my money. Had to get the CC company involved and it still took way too long and way too much effort on my part.

I find, overall, the sellers on eBay are less reliable than Amazon's third-party sellers. The product photos and descriptions are often so vague as to be useless, and the lack of product reviews and customer questions makes buying from eBay riskier.

I did buy a part from an eBay seller recently. I had a specific part number, so didn't need a good description or photo. Other on-line merchants selling that same $3 part wanted up to $40 for shipping, or didn't even offer a shipping price or estimated delivery date. At least eBay gave me some confidence as to what I'd be paying and when I might receive it.

I read the reviews on Amazon.
Buy on eBay.
No need to have Prime.
Get my items in timely manner.
Usually 5 business days from order day to receive day.
I often have to wait 3 business days before Amazon even ships.

Last two items were a TDS meter and a hygrometer.


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