I have found that it is very easy to "purchase" an Amazon Prime membership without intending to.
It seems that if they have your credit card details on file, and you are putting items in your shopping cart, they have the process triggered and without even checking out, a notification is received stating that you now have Prime membership.
I know you can cancel it, but what a PIA, and opportunistic practice.
Agreed.
I am not sure how but I also triggered an Amazon Prime monthly membership without going close to the Prime area.
I never checked any check boxes, I was just adding stuff to cart then going to check out to guage delivery (knowing Prime would be $7).
I had to get onto Amazon chat but thats 10 mins I did not need to waste.
Dont agree with the practice but I will say of all memberships I pay for, Amazon has consistently been easily the most worth.
You may be right, but the practice should be stopped.
It is aimed at enlisting people who may not be savvy enough to know what has happened.
It should not be necessary to trick or deceive people.
It happened to me for the second time today.
The previous time, I was still on the free 30 day trial.
Today, I replied to the notification email telling them to cancel this and no t charge me for it. I them went into Amazon and cancelled membership so that it cancelled immediately.
I very much suspect that Amazon will not do anything, so if that is the case, I will be putting a stop on the payment via credit card company.
We lucked out with our Prime Membership - signed up for a free trial maybe 2 years back and it's been free ever since! Thanks Amazon.
lol this is something you should not be saying on a forum… keep your secrets!
Jeff B is probably hacking into my ozbarg account as I type this trying to reclaim his 200 bucks!
Ummm … you didn't luck out! Maybe Amazon did…
Haha nah I don't buy much impulse stuff these days just necessities so it's all bloody nappies and baby wipes. Super handy though as Amazon is usually the cheapest and free delivery to our doorstep.
have u actually checked your credit card to see they didn't actually charge you?
from experience they'll renew it without notifying you.
Yeah never charged, it's just a free trial that expired but still have all the benefits of Prime - I don't even have the card anymore.
I've got Amazon Prime and I've had this happen where my card that wasnt even linked to Amazon was charged a membership fee
Just rang the bank and got it reversed and the card cancelled.
So you're saying Amazon charged a credit card they don't have the number for?
Yep it was really weird - I rang Amazon and they were like "we can't tell you what the charge is for because you dont have the credit card on your account" - That whole process got too hard, and the bank just went "cool, reversed…done!"
The card was linked to a different account.
There is literally no way for them to charge a card they have never been given, but I do believe you. So, what I think may have happened…
Working at a company years ago that had a huge billing system, someone once had the same problem - being charged to a card they didn't provide us with. The card wasn't on their account, and those charges weren't there either, but the money was taken from our company. After a lot of sleuthing I found that someone had taken their card details and used them with their account.
Get your card number changed.
That sounds dodgy, WTF. Something to look out for if I cancel my Prime subscription.
It is easy to, you just missed the "Free shipping with Prime membership" in the shipping options.
That said, don't be silly and call the bank to get it reversed. Don't make your next few weeks difficult by getting the card cancelled for a legitimate transaction. Just call/contact Amazon and explain what happened. It's a couple of dollars for a month membership, they're more often than not quite happy to help.
Edit: Damn, the conspiracy theories in here are making me think I must be a shill for Amazon. How the heck do people think this is a compromised credit card? Amazon charging credit cards that they haven't been given the numbers for? Take off the tinfoil! There is literally a shipping option that says "FREE Shipping" then in blue next to it "With Prime trial/membership". It was ticked, guys. That's all. It may have been easily missed, but it isn't more than that.
I second Morien - the selection was automatically made on the shipping screen (I have noticed Amazon doing that myself), and the OP just hasn't noticed when confirming the order.
You just probably didn't look hard enough, it auto selects for you to sign up to prime, and you didn't untick the sign up button, lesson learned.
Still shouldn't happen.
Deceptive Practice if it's being added in without your explicit request.
I had same thing happen, some how auto added it when checking out .. buggers.
i wen't in and cancelled it but given I've had my free month if it happens again it will likely charge me and it will be the last time I use Amazon