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FTC sues Amazon over ‘deceptive’ Prime sign-up and cancellation process

cnbc.com

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Re: FTC sues Amazon over ‘deceptive’ Prime sign-up and cancellation process

#211

Post by JohnFen »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #164
gmd63 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is horrible UX. I feel for the designers that are bossed around by the short sighted people who rationalize manipulating customers at Amazon and hope they have the courage and means to move to a better workplace where they can build something with positive-sum value.

I don't feel for the designers. Whenever I see horrible UX from big tech it creeps into my mind that the people making it are some of the highest paid in the world and these companies are some of the richest in the world. It's either intentional or we are all suckers.

I agree. There's no reason to feel bad for such employees. They've chosen to work where they work, and I assume that they're happy with that choice.

Re: FTC sues Amazon over ‘deceptive’ Prime sign-up and cancellation process

#212

Post by JohnFen »

taude wrote: post #181
scrum-treats wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say, new "lows" are in store for Amazon. Amazon is now requiring customers to file police reports in order to have any chance at refunds now. Customer Service spews tons of lies, customers half-heartedly believe in good faith, and then get screwed. Customers then take to social media forums such as Reddit to request help and to vent. Instead they are met with Amazon employees who gaslight them further. Again,…

Not to defend amazon, but at least in the US, they have a awesome return policy. It's even easy to just scan and drop-off at UPS/WF, etc...

I hear this, but it's hard for me to believe. I was a customer (in the US) for over 10 years, spending several thousands of dollars without an issue, but then -- on two different instances -- I needed their awesome return policy.

In both cases, they completely stiffed me. That was the final straw that made me stop using Amazon.

Re: FTC sues Amazon over ‘deceptive’ Prime sign-up and cancellation process

#213

Post by chang1 »

scrum-treats wrote: post #114

As someone who managed to successfully cancel Prime, and then tried to purchase an item on amazon.com, it took me over a minute to figure out how to not accidentally sign up for Prime membership when trying to checkout. There was only one place I could click that would allow me to advance to the next screen (simple text), the text was super small placed below a giant image, and my cursor didn't change to indicate tha…

Funny, I just encountered the same experience.

I cancelled Prime after 12 continuous years of subscribing. I placed my first Amazon order a few days ago sans-Prime and was amazed at the blatant dark patterns put in place to get me to sign up again. When I finally got to the checkout page, I had to manually change the shipping for each item from $5.99 standard shipping to free shipping (because I hit the $25 threshold).

A few hours later, I get a solicitation for Amazon Music (not sure if I would have gotten this if I was a Prime subscriber).

Then the next day I got an email saying "Your package is arriving earlier than we previously expected"... the same as Prime 2-day shipping. Maybe it's logistically easier to just ship 2-day instead of holding on to inventory?

I thought cancelling Prime would have been difficult (especially with Prime only discounts at Whole Foods), but finding alternatives to Amazon and Whole Foods has been easy. I guess it's no wonder Amazon tries to push it so hard because it's relatively easy to live without.

Re: FTC sues Amazon over ‘deceptive’ Prime sign-up and cancellation process

#214

Post by pwg »

brewdad wrote: post #199
stronglikedan wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry to say, but there's a "delete" option for every item on the checkout page. Just click the quantity dropdown and change it to "delete". Simple as.

Not on the "checkout" screen. It is there for the "cart" screen but once you get to checkout, you are stuck either proceeding or abandoning the page.

If by "checkout" screen you mean the "Review items and shipping" where the yellow "Place your order" button exists to actually "order" the items, then "delete" is hiding behind the "Qty" dropdown that is present on each item (at least for me). You have to click the "Qty 1" dropdown, and only then does the "delete" option appear.

So it is well hidden away, but at least for my Amazon account, one can delete from the "checkout" screen.

Re: FTC sues Amazon over ‘deceptive’ Prime sign-up and cancellation process

#215

Post by dylan604 »

abnercoimbre wrote: post #167
dylan604 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s just a light knocking on the door. If they even hear it to open that door, you’ll find sitting comfortably inside the much more well funded lobbyist from Amazon whispering sweet nothings into the ear of the Congress critter you just wasted money on

This is depressing. On a more cheerful note, the FTC has already proposed a rule [0] called "Click to Cancel" > Proposal seeks to make it as easy to cancel enrollment as it was to sign up Fingers crossed. This FTC is a welcome change, thanks to having a young tech-savvy chairwoman who was a scholar. (The norm seems to be "old corporate executive.") [0] https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/03/...

>This is depressing.

I clearly don't have a cheery outlook on how congress operates, or the ethics of most businesses.

Re: FTC sues Amazon over ‘deceptive’ Prime sign-up and cancellation process

#217

Post by anotherevan »

In Australia, I've found the "get one month of prime free and we'll expedite your delivery" offers, while pushy, clear and easy enough to avoid.

Likewise once you find the https://www.amazon.com.au/mc page, cancelling your membership from there is about three clicks through the "are you sure?" and "are you really, really sure?" pages not too hard.

I've probably had one month free prime memberships about three times now just to get the fast delivery. In fact I had a reminder for three days time to cancel the latest membership, but I just did it now. (I usually let it run for twenty days or so.)

I wonder if there are consumer protection laws in Australia that are limiting the amount of dark patterning they can do.

Re: FTC sues Amazon over ‘deceptive’ Prime sign-up and cancellation process

#218

Post by nanidin »

paddw wrote: post #47
JohnFen wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why people keep suspecting a political motive. That Amazon is huge seems sufficient explanation.

You don't think there's any political reason they are going after Amazon rather than, say, the New York Times? Just the impartial watchmen of Democracy studiously promoting the adherence to regulation here?

There are ~10 million NYT subscribers. There are ~160 million Amazon Prime subscribers.

Bad practices by NYT impact 3% of Americans. Bad practices by Amazon impact 48% of Americans.

You can be cynical and say that going after Amazon is political because more voters are impacted, but at the end of the day it seems reasonable to go after the biggest target where the biggest impact can be made to benefit Americans.

Re: FTC sues Amazon over ‘deceptive’ Prime sign-up and cancellation process

#219

Post by berniedurfee »

I’ve been subscribed to prime for a long time. I do remember unsubscribing several times, but somehow always end up back on the list.

I finally gave up and convinced myself it’s worth it to watch a few crappy movies on occasion and get my horrible used knock-off products shipped to me for free after paying for the shipping anyway as a markup on the product price.

Re: FTC sues Amazon over ‘deceptive’ Prime sign-up and cancellation process

#220

Post by lost_tourist »

PaulHoule wrote: post #2

I wouldn't say the process of unsubscribing from Prime is 'deceptive' but it sure has many steps. They tried just about everything to persuade me to stay except offer to bring back two day shipping. (I know many of you in urban areas are getting one day shipping but those of us in less favored geographies, such as the same ZIP code as AMZN warehouses, have seen two day shipping turn into five, which makes Amazon unco…

1-2 shipping is all that's keeping me aboard
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