Amazon beware

23mako

Ten Pointer
I just had a look at my bank statement for the first time in a couple of months and noticed amazon was charging me $10.66 a month for Kindle Unlimited Services.

Well it turns out this is some agreement that is buried down in some 500 page document that basically says after a free year trial they get to charge you monthly. Just figured I would pass this along to some of the folks here so you can take a look and make sure you aren't being deceptively charged.
 

Newsome Road

Ten Pointer
Almost every ad I see for kindle unlimited says 9.99 a month, and I certainly haven't read any 500 page documents.
 

Longrifle

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Gotta read the fine print. I took advantage of a two week free trial that included free shipping. Forgot to cancel. Cost me a Franklin to join for a year but I've damn sure got my money back in free shipping. If I've gotta order toilet paper, I'm using them until I get my money's worth. Saves me a trip to the store....
 

Briargoat

Ten Pointer
Had to order some supplies yesterday and signed up for 30 days trial of Amazon Prime to get free shipping. I hope they let me know when the trial ends and don't just charge me for a membership
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Had to order some supplies yesterday and signed up for 30 days trial of Amazon Prime to get free shipping. I hope they let me know when the trial ends and don't just charge me for a membership
They won't, up to you to keep up with it. They will charge your card and renew it.
 

Rescue44

Old Mossy Horns
They won't, up to you to keep up with it. They will charge your card and renew it.

Consumers Reports does the same. Got refunded. Asked them how they could charge me for another year without my permission for renewal. Was told the banks normally let them do that. BS!!!
 
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nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Consumers Reports does the same. Got refunded. Asked them how they could charge me for another year without my permission for renewal. Was told the banks normally let them do that. BS!!!
Yeah, I got caught up in that roller coaster with some anti virus once. The were renewing it automatically without my permission. When I called to inquire the got pissy, so I put a halt to it or so I thought. Dang if they didn't do it the next year. I made dang sure that was the end of them and wound up with a refund after about a dozen calls to my CC provider.
 

chevync20

Twelve Pointer
Just an FYI, if you are in college or have a college ID, you can get Prime for half off.

Regarding your first comment, many services are like this. Free trials will turn into subscriptions if you do not cancel. That is just the way things work these days.
 

Jlewis74

Old Mossy Horns
Gotta read the fine print. I took advantage of a two week free trial that included free shipping. Forgot to cancel. Cost me a Franklin to join for a year but I've damn sure got my money back in free shipping. If I've gotta order toilet paper, I'm using them until I get my money's worth. Saves me a trip to the store....

That $100 for Prime saves me more than I spend every year. Anything I plan to buy I don't care what It is I check Amazon, 90% of the time I can find it there for less money and the free shipping. Plus I use it to watch movies when on the road!
 

23mako

Ten Pointer
Almost every ad I see for kindle unlimited says 9.99 a month, and I certainly haven't read any 500 page documents.


I think some of you are misunderstanding what I am saying. I have never used a free trial of kindle. The free "kindle unlimited" was bundled into something else that I bought and I automatically started getting charged for it without explicitly signing up.

I have been a prime member since college and never had an issue with amazon until now.
 

chevync20

Twelve Pointer
Same thing happens if you sign up for a 6 month trial of Sports Illustrated for example. After 6 months, you do not even have to consent before they start billing you. You have to call and cancel or they will continue charging you either way.
 

DRS

Old Mossy Horns
I hate the ones where you have to write a letter requesting to stop the service. No email or phone calls.
 

Harpoon

Guest
Yeah, I got caught up in that roller coaster with some anti virus once. The were renewing it automatically without my permission. When I called to inquire the got pissy, so I put a halt to it or so I thought. Dang if they didn't do it the next year. I made dang sure that was the end of them and wound up with a refund after about a dozen calls to my CC provider.

There is one (the big one) that wont take a new subscription without a CC (obviously) but then they give you no way to opt out of "auto renewal"...its "mandatory".

What a racket....like the Sat Radio service, and so many other sorry :donk:donk:donk American companies.
 

GSOHunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Prime has saved me a ton. It was really good when you could get anything expedited for $3.99.
 

Harpoon

Guest
I started using PRIME last month or so for buying......I've had two deals out of maybe 12 that havent worked out so hot.....one still isnt here after 8 days.
 

Mr.Gadget

Old Mossy Horns
There is one (the big one) that wont take a new subscription without a CC (obviously) but then they give you no way to opt out of "auto renewal"...its "mandatory".

What a racket....like the Sat Radio service, and so many other sorry :donk:donk:donk American companies.
The easy thing is to just ask for a new CC at least on time a year.
That will head off most of that.
Sat radio is the biggest bunch of bull to fight with.

Last time I said bill me I have no CC. If not I will have no.Sat radio.
they sent a bill.
 

Jlewis74

Old Mossy Horns
I started using PRIME last month or so for buying......I've had two deals out of maybe 12 that havent worked out so hot.....one still isnt here after 8 days.

One thing I always check is make sure it says "fullfiled by amazon"
 

hunter

Eight Pointer
Contributor
The easy thing is to just ask for a new CC at least on time a year.
That will head off most of that.
Sat radio is the biggest bunch of bull to fight with.

Last time I said bill me I have no CC. If not I will have no.Sat radio.
they sent a bill.

Yep, sat radio is a pain. I called to cancel 3 days before a introductory offer expired and was told that I couldn't cancel before the actual end date. BS Of course because they would then activate the full rate subscription. I couldn't get anywhere with the guy on the phone so I looked up every board of director for the company and sent them all a blistering email about the company's business practices and my experience. Within 24 hours I was communicating with one of the company VPs and ended the subscription with no problems. My guess is that there is a lot of pressure to upsell and as long as it is making money middle and upper management doesn't look too hard at what is going on.

Relative to the OP, Kindle Unlimited offers access to any of the kindle books that are part of the Kindle Unlimited program for a flat monthly fee. You can check out up to ten at a time. Amazon Prime is the free expedited shipping program. We have used if for years and it works well most of the time. Though the two day shipping sometimes becomes longer now that a lot of it is going through the US Post Office for delivery.
 
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