Consumer Alert
Were you charged for Amazon Prime without your permission?
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Online shopping can be convenient and easy. But with sometimes lots of screens before you get to check-out, you could wind up signed up for a service without even knowing it. What’s worse, it can be tough to cancel. Read on to learn how to protect yourself from unwanted services and charges.
Today, the FTC filed a lawsuit against Amazon, saying the company violated the law by enrolling people in its Amazon Prime subscription service without their permission, continuing to charge them, and making it hard to cancel.
The FTC says the company used a series of hurdles — known as “dark patterns” — to make it hard for customers to understand that they were starting a Prime subscription. These dark patterns also made it hard for people to cancel their Prime subscriptions by making them hunt for the right place to cancel online, and then click through complicated extra pages to cancel. Often, consumers would call Amazon’s customer service, only to be referred back to the website to cancel, making the process even more frustrating.
To help avoid unwanted services and charges when you shop online:
- Watch what goes into your shopping cart. Even if you empty your cart and leave the site without completing your purchase, you still could have been enrolled in a subscription service.
- Watch for pre-checked boxes. They may sign you up for a product or service.
- Carefully review your order before completing a transaction. If something got added that you don’t want, make sure to remove it.
- Make sure you didn’t get charged for something you don’t want. Check your order confirmation to see. If you did, contact the company to cancel and get a refund. Make sure you get — and keep — the written confirmation.
- Watch your bank or credit card statements. If you’re in a subscription, you’ve tried to cancel, and the company won’t stop charging your account, dispute it with your credit or debit card issuer.
- Look for auto-renewals. Unless you cancel, you’ll continue to be charged.
If a company signed you up for a subscription service without your permission, or if you have problems with canceling a subscription service, tell the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
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Is this another Amazon site? Why do I keep being sent to another comment page?? No I never consented anything
Yes, I was non-consensually enrolled in Amazon Prime-- when I told the Whole Foods cashier that I did not have a Prime card (only an Amazon Visa card), she said "I'll give you the Prime discount anyway." Then a few days I got a cryptic email from Amazon that was hard to decipher and next thing I know, we get a new set of credit cards--Prime--and the Prime membership charge is posted on the Chase statement. I closed the account and was told the balance is 0, but 3 weeks later I received a mailed statement showing the Prime charge is still in the closed account and threatening me with a late payment fee (and interest). When I tried to get the charge removed with a phone call, I was bounced back and forth between Chase and Amazon, in an infinite loop, each giving me the phone number of the other. As of today, I now hear on the phone that the balance is 0, but I am not sure the issue is really settled, and the whole experience was disgusting. I felt lied to, scammed, and bullied with the late payment threat for a Prime membership I had never requested or consented to.
Not only did Amazon charge me for Prime without my permission, but they didn't even give me a Prime subscription. It was just a charge added to my debit card and when I complained to Amazon, they said there is no Prime subscription associated with your Amazon account, so take it up with your bank. I did and disputed the transaction and had it reversed, but Amazon never took any time to look into why they issued a charge against my debit card. For a company that is so technologically advanced, it makes no sense that a charge was added to my debit card without an authorization attached to it or that the company doesn't have the resources to look into my complaint and just direct me to my bank to resolve it.
In September 2023 Amazon enrolled me in Prime membership without my permission. When I try to access the Prime account management page to cancel the page is blank.
Looks like governor is after$$$
I am a victim of this scam. I would like my money
They have did this to me for the last three years… I get online to chat with them and they refund my money but have no answer as to why this keeps happening !!!
This happened to me. They charged me an annual membership fee but somehow the charge is not reflected on my Amazon transactions page.
My husband William L. MOORE HAD AN ACCOUT AND NEVER COULD GET OUT OF IT , HAD TO CHANGE BANKS TO GET THEM TO STOP.
Thankfully I keep my card locked. Today Amazon tried to charge me for a channel service..every single time my husband orders anything from Amazon, there seems to be a hit to cards for other services. This was the first I have let him use my card in years to order anything, and sure enough $12.98 for Amazon Video Channels...which I've never heard of before tried to come out. In the past we have had mysterious Amazon charges come out of our account and we don't even keep the card number stored in their or any virtual system.
Word to the wise, order, let the payment go through and lock your card. Seems to be the only way to stop them.
I haven’t bought anything from Amazon in 2 month all my subscriptions have been canceled for a long time, but recently after I sent out a complaint I’ve been getting charged 7.41$ outta nowhere
We have been charged for three extra subscriptions for Prime Video over the past 5 months. We have been told that Amazon fraud squad will look into it and notify us of the resolution. Hasn't happened. We cancelled our subscription, changed or credit card and again we're charged for 3 subscriptions this month. Amazon Contact centre lie, ignores and deflects all calls this us simple theft.
Yes, they have taken out on three different occasions the full 100$ amount after canceling my prime subscription.
Amazon has continued to charge me more than 11cad monthly from my credit card even when I stopped using the Amazon prime TV since July. I may consider legal actions if this persists
They have been,and continue to take money out of both our accounts as recently as yesterday! We keep cancelling,they keep taking.Apparently this law suit hasnt phased them any.
I have been charged for a Prime membership for the past 4 months on one of my Wells Fargo cards and the banker has instituted recovery proceedings and issued me a new card. Today I received my Discover statement and found 2 more charges for Prime membership! I neither want nor use Prime .ENOUGH !
Got charged for three months. No warning that we were now Prime members. No emails when we were charged (unlike pretty much every other site on earth).
When we discovered this I cancelled, then chatted with Amazon reps through their website. We were able to get a full refund within a few days. That part, fortunately, was easy to remedy. Likely because of this lawsuit.
I have suddenly noticed that for the past 5 months, I’ve been being charged on my husband’s card for Amazon Prime $15.89/month. I am also paying $139/year for Amazon Prime.
Upon speaking with Amazon, I was told that my husband’s card is linked to another person’s account. That account recently added an $11.99/month premium channel on Prime Video and it was only THAT charge of $11.99 that got me investigating further to find the recurrent $15.89/month Amazon charges since March.
I reported this both to my bank and to Amazon, but it is my belief that—based on how many people have told me this is either happening to them or has happened to them—that Amazon will not do anything to protect customers.
I have been for prime nine times that I can see 😡I am not a prime member never enrolled in prime .
I called to get credit they gave $14.99 two times.
I was still fuming I called back ask for a supervisor or manager he gave me an additional 4 credits of $14.99 I took the credit but I’m still not satisfied I was cheated.
According to him their policy is they can only give back 6 credits.
CROOKS 😡😡😡😡😡😡
They charged my debit card, which I use to purchase items without my consent.
This just happened to me followed a link for free gamer skin for gun and character on COD game. Went to check if I had prime. I did not have prime asked to sign up. The cancel anytime was below get Amazon prime now button and made to look like a separate button. So when I clicked to cancel anytime it charges me 16.00 for a recurring subscription. Since I technically purchased the item I only received back half my money when I cancelled 5 minutes later. Called CS and was lied to about receiving the whole refund never given back my 16.00. Amazon has been behaving shady like this for a decade. I had Amazon prime for a year because I couldn't cancel. You would have to call wait on hold and argue with a rep. It would charge me for the whole year at once and then your just stuck with it, year after year. To cancel you have to peel back layer after layer of obstacles. It's always required a great amount of effort. If you did intend to sign up for prime it will auto charge you for another year when the end of the year rolls around and there was no easy way to shut it off without a great deal of time and effort.
Amazon talked my grandmother into getting an Amazon card a couple of years ago. They have been charging a prime membership to that card without her permission ever since. She already has a membership that is paid with another card. We only found this out at the end of last week when she got a statement that said her amazon card that was paid off 2 years ago is now maxed out. We are calling them in the morning to see what can be done.
Amazon prime unwanted subscription and I made sure the box was not checked and still I was signed up monthly for Amazon prime that they won’t even let me use!
My experience was Amazon putting a "free" Prime trial in my cart with the option to decline. But, no matter how many times I clicked to decline it would never remove it from the cart. I felt this was trickery and everytime I just cancelled the cart and ordered from another online source bypassing Amazon. I have no doubt that even though I clicked to decline, they would have billed me a recurring subscription I did not want.
This has been happening to me for the past year. I finally canceled my unwanted subscription and was just charged again. When I contacted Amazon they said I was reenrolled the day before. I never signed up for Amazon prime not even once. This is criminal.
Amazon charging me for a prime membership that I never okayed. The part that makes me angry is I have to wait 3 to 5 business days to get my money back. When they took the money on purpose without my permission I should be getting a immediate refund.
I just got credited $130 because they charged me for subscriptions that I never even asked for headed up and alerted by my capital one card. It wouldn’t have made me even look into it because my life is so busy. They’ve done this to me at least three times a year and I am so over it. I want to file a class action lawsuit.
I have been on the phone for more than an hour and a half and no resolution for three months charges of Amazon Prime that I didn't sign up for. I called the number given on this site...got to the Amazon US site and operator cancelled my subscription and was about to refund me when she found out I was from Canada...so sent me to a Canadian operator who now can't find my account. IT IS RIDICULOUS!!! Will never use Amazon again
Yes. Three months at $14.99 US, converted to Canadian dollars
I have been repeatedly re started on Amazon Prime. It just happened again. Last time they said it would not happen again. Can't find the order though I do find the welcome message. Now the published message has a Medicare program offering before I can reach anyone. Very frustrated.
I think this charge is a fraud and I have cancelled the card to get a new Discover card.
Here is the charge: Merchant name is
AMAZON PRIME*TX7482W00 AMZN.COM/BILLWA 6XCGMH3D51G
Merchant category is
Merchandise
I was charge through google pay to my mobile carrier bill for prime membership. As add on. Cant get refund
Good info, but doesnt help me cancel. the only way i can cancel is by getting my bank to block payments.
I've experienced trying to cancel and the instructions are misleading to me
They charged $12.90 on my credit card that said Prime Video Channelsamzn.com/billWA. I never authorized or started such a charge. When I called them, they said that it was for a Paramount+/Showtime subscription. We already have it through Walmart+. I told them that they are fraudulently charging people and so many people will just go ahead and pay. She agreed with everything I said. I told her that this is a very serious fraudulent act on the part of the company she works for. She agreed 100% and told me that she will send a feedback to her employer. This is AMAZON people! They are stealing from us.
I have been paying for 2 Amazon Prime memberships for 2 years and can not watch a NFL game in my bedroom. Only living room. I want in a lawsuit against Bezos
My Amazon magically opens again after I close my account and cancel my membership. Won’t let me remove my card. I just want my account closed and to stop being charged 14.99 a month for something I don’t use!
I canceled my membership 5 plus months ago went thru all the tedious steps to cancel and they have charged my account 3 out of the 5 months. I have not purchased anything in more than 5 months. Last month I removed all the cards off of the account and just noticed they tried charging me again. How do I get them tonstop?
They tried to charge me $100 last month and I still don't know why. They also keep charging cards I deleted off of my account. They try to charge me 15 for prime and 15 for music and 11 for something else. Every month. It's insane. I'm done with them.
Thankyou for your advise, i have been charged for amazon prime for about 3 years without knowing about it until I saw it on my bank statement, i have written to them but with no reply but still trying.
Yeah my wife clicked on Amazon to see an item and put it in cart and signed out. Next I know they sign me up for Amazon Prime 3.99 a month and it was impossible to cancel. I had to call my bank. Amazon should be fined harshly for this.
I cancelled my Prime subscription more than 4 months ago, but just noticed that I've been getting charged by them all this time after the cancellation of services. Since then, I haven't used their services, and haven't asked to rejoin.
This is quite upsetting.
Good day! This post couldn't be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this post to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Many thanks for sharing!
They charge my Paypal account every time I have over 100.00 in it Usually 16.00 or so. Last month it was over 75.00 worth of 12.00 charges, 18.00 charges.......Just keeps on and on...
This just happened to me today! I signed-in to Amazon to add a product to my basket, and it automatically signed me up for Prime. I immediately cancelled it. This should be illegal.
Recently, this year Amazon may unauthorized charges to my credit card. After I removed my personal credit card from Amazon’s system the company billing department stored my credit card information without any consent or permission from me.
The button on this page to go to report a compliant does not work. What are we to think of that?
My account is currently locked, because they didn't tell me someone's had gained access to my information. They then proceeded to order 4 pages of me, draining my debit card, blaming me in the process saying, "I gave out my information," I'm down to 40 cents in my bank account.
Amazon charged me $147.34 on 9/25 for Prime membership, not a Amazon prime card. Of that $139. ,was for the membership, they tell me the remaining $8.34 was tax. That would be 6 percent tax. Is that legal?
Since May(July, Aug, Sept)….realizing that I‘m being charged $6.35 monthly for Prime Video Channels that I did not sign up for. The total cost for them to refund us is $28.57 as June‘s charge was $3.17