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Amazon fined $2.5B for using deceptive methods to sign up consumers for Prime

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Re: Amazon fined $2.5B for using deceptive methods to sign up consumers for Prime

#181

Post by WorldMaker »

al_borland wrote: post #68

I cancelled Prime last year after getting fed up with Amazon in several ways. Bringing ads to Prime Video was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I do still end up ordering from time to time, and the checkout process for non-Prime members is horrific. Multiple Prime sign-up offers that I always need to carefully read so I don’t click the wrong thing, illogical default shipping options, with more tricks to try and…

I have similar experiences though a different usage graph. My shipping peaks were college (textbooks and college needs/wants) and early in owning my own home. After that point I didn't need as much delivered, so many of my purchases had moved digital (books, music, videogames) or back to retail stores. I realized late in 2020 that the only two Amazon purchases I made that year (in 2020!, with quarantines and lockdowns and it being weird to visit physical stores, I still made more retail store purchases than Amazon purchases) were inconsequential and neither of them shipped as Prime delivery because all of them I took a discount to wait a week for (because there wasn't any rush).

In the meantime I was fed up with Prime Video and wondering why I was paying for it.

Between the dark patterns cancelling Prime and the many dark patterns trying to get you to join Prime I also stopped feeling like a welcome customer of large sections of Amazon's website and have gone even more back to boring old retail stores. My biggest remaining relationship with Amazon is because of the kindle, but their worsening DRM decisions do keep me wondering if I need to explore another ecosystem despite kindle's hardware advantages (including the possibly sunk cost that I invested in too much kindle hardware).

Re: Amazon fined $2.5B for using deceptive methods to sign up consumers for Prime

#182

Post by BobaFloutist »

al_borland wrote: post #68

I cancelled Prime last year after getting fed up with Amazon in several ways. Bringing ads to Prime Video was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I do still end up ordering from time to time, and the checkout process for non-Prime members is horrific. Multiple Prime sign-up offers that I always need to carefully read so I don’t click the wrong thing, illogical default shipping options, with more tricks to try and…

Just for personal use, and not any sort of support for Amazon's business practices:

When you get a free (or cheaper than you're currently paying for shipping) Prime offer, you can accept it and then the second the order has gone through go into your account and cancel it and still get the remaining number of promotional days, as well as the benefits for the current order. It's a slightly annoying step, but I figure if they're going to be dumb enough to keep offering me free promotions I might as well take advantage of it.

Re: Amazon fined $2.5B for using deceptive methods to sign up consumers for Prime

#184

Post by robotnikman »

Macha wrote: post #166
robotnikman wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It keeps nagging me to upgrade to the family plan or plus or whatever. And if I ignore it enough it enrolls me in a free trial of the family plan without me even asking every once it a while. The amount of up-selling they try to push on you now is so annoying. If anyone has any recommended alternatives where I can learn Japanese I'm interested. Despite all the crap Duolingo has, it has been very convenient when it co…

As for alternatives: Bunpro (grammar + vocab + kanji), Marumori (tries to do everything), Wanikani (kanji) are the ones usually recommended. Personally I used Bunpro + Wanikani. That said, you do need to spread your wings out of the apps eventually. Learning words 5000-6000 are less helpful than practicing listening in context for example.

Thanks for the alternatives, I'll check them out!

Re: Amazon fined $2.5B for using deceptive methods to sign up consumers for Prime

#185

Post by Brybry »

Der_Einzige wrote: post #167
Brybry wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon will pay $1 billion to the government as a penalty and set aside $1.5 billion for consumers. The settlement terms have most of the details. [0] Amazon will do an automatic payout to some people for up to $51. No need to claim anything for that. I'm guessing they'll mail checks or prepaid debit cards or something. Then Amazon will make a website, within 30 days, and post it on their site (and I'm sure news medi…

I fking hate these sorts of pay out terms. Dont pay people automatically so that the remaining ones who do claim it get paid a lot more than 51$. In fact, a lottery where only 1% of victims got 5000$ would be even better. America loves its inequality. Stop making us equally poor and let the lucky few of us get a 1 oz bar of gold!

I don't think anyone gets paid a lot more than $51 but it's possible I read it wrong.

It read like more people get $51 but no one gets more than $51.

It wasn't 100% clear to me if some people could maybe get up to $51 twice (ie. automatic claim followed by manual claim) but it read fairly explicitly to me that they couldn't get it more than that.

The bit at the end where they pay out all the extra money doesn't read like it goes to the same people multiple times but instead opens up to an ever expanding pool of people (there are hundreds of millions of prime members).

Re: Amazon fined $2.5B for using deceptive methods to sign up consumers for Prime

#186

Post by Der_Einzige »

Brybry wrote: post #185
Der_Einzige wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fking hate these sorts of pay out terms. Dont pay people automatically so that the remaining ones who do claim it get paid a lot more than 51$. In fact, a lottery where only 1% of victims got 5000$ would be even better. America loves its inequality. Stop making us equally poor and let the lucky few of us get a 1 oz bar of gold!

I don't think anyone gets paid a lot more than $51 but it's possible I read it wrong. It read like more people get $51 but no one gets more than $51. It wasn't 100% clear to me if some people could maybe get up to $51 twice (ie. automatic claim followed by manual claim) but it read fairly explicitly to me that they couldn't get it more than that. The bit at the end where they pay out all the extra money doesn't read…

You misunderstood. I’m saying that I want the payment terms I described above. Fuck 51$. I want a 1% chance of 5100$.

Re: Amazon fined $2.5B for using deceptive methods to sign up consumers for Prime

#187

Post by sandspar »

I love Amazon Prime. I pay like $15 a month and get one-day shipping on pretty much every product on Earth. Coming from the old days of waiting two weeks for every package, 1 day shipping is a godsend. I never tire of it. Plus I get a reasonable catalog of popular movies to play in the background while I do chores.

Re: Amazon fined $2.5B for using deceptive methods to sign up consumers for Prime

#188

Post by supermatt »

Meanwhile, in the EU…

I forgot to cancel prime after a free trial - twice! Noticed a few days after they billed my account. Contacted support and they cancelled and refunded me.

Not out of the goodness of their hearts of course - A 14 day right of withdrawal is part of EU consumer rights.

Re: Amazon fined $2.5B for using deceptive methods to sign up consumers for Prime

#190

Post by Nasrudith »

rendaw wrote: post #161
sib wrote: post #100

It's sad to see it come to this. When I worked there (more than a decade ago) senior leaders and old-timers were extremely proud of the fact that they did things like sending "your Prime membership will renew in (a month - I think) - be sure to cancel if you don't want it to" emails. This was quite different from typical subscription services providers at the time. In fact, I had more than one old-timer mention that…

That's impressive but man what an unfair hiring policy. A candidate is trying to guess corporate culture, makes the wrong guess, and then you reject them? It's a coin flip.

Isn't that most social culture? Expecting people to be psychic to your unspoken or vaguely hinted desires and then promoting people for telling you what you want to hear vs what you need to hear?
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