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

Post by burkaman » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 3:32 PM UTC

laweijfmvo wrote: post #61

ezfe wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's deceptive about it is you click the first link to cancel your benefits, then each subsequent page is basically a quiz: "which button will boot you out of the cancel flow and which button will proceed to the next page" I agree it's not actually that hard to cancel, but the flow is so needlessly complex from a consumer perspective. It should go straight to a page with three buttons and associated explanations: 1…

As someone who regularly gets the 1-week trial of Prime (and cancels), the cancellation process has gotten a lot less deceptive recently. E.g. they used to invert the colors of the buttons to make the "Cancel Membership" look like the negative option, etc. These days it's still unnecessarily long, but requires less double-takes to figure out.

Post by 93po » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 3:33 PM UTC

version_five wrote: post #43

I still use amazon occasionally, but I think of it basically as interacting with a criminal that I know is completely dishonest and trying every trick to steal from me. Unfortunately there are sometimes still occasions when I have to hold my nose and do it, but they're getting fewer and farther between.

Post by JohnFen » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 3:34 PM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #48

adoxyz wrote: post #5

The whole Amazon.com experience has been getting worse and worse as the years go by. Everything from the products they sell, quality control, customer service, dark patterns in the UI, etc. I wonder how long until you have to call someone or mail in a 1,000 word letter on why you don't need Prime to cancel it.

> The whole Amazon.com experience has been getting worse and worse as the years go by. Maybe, but they are still miles better than most other online shops, so they still get to grow. Just for the return policy, they are kind of worth it.

Post by mindslight » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 3:35 PM UTC

nceqs3 wrote: post #37

Wild the FTC isn't suing the NYTimes, WSJ, or every other paid news outlet for far more egregious cancellation process practices. Almost as if the FTC is a political weapon.

Post by JohnFen » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 3:35 PM UTC

strict9 wrote: post #20

Glad to see this for the precedent, though Prime is far from the worst offender of employing dark patterns to cancel memberships. I'd love to see FTC target cancellations that require you to call a phone number and speak with someone. There's always a very long wait, and once you speak to someone you have to do gymnastics to get them to cancel.