Amazon Prime - anyone else been duped like me?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 8/30/2017 at 0:13 AM, Deez said:

Hardly duped. They have some of the best customer service in the world and will refund you no questions asked. They are not a Thai business

 

 

As a longtime user, I agree that Amazon has historically had excellent customer service, and still do--sometimes.

 

But in the past year or two, I've noted a troubling trend, and that is that a lot of their customer service calls now seem to be getting routed to call centers in the PH, even during U.S. business hours. And my experiences with the PH staff there have been horrible: women who jabber on a mile a minute that with their accents can't understand a word they're saying, don't seem to be able to do much, don't seem to know much about Amazon customs or procedures. Overall, pretty much useless. And not surprisingly, when I've mentioned the topic to others including family members, they've had comparable/bad experiences.

 

Anytime I'm calling Amazon for customer support, and get a PH voice on the other end, I ask to be transferred to U.S. customer support. And, FWIW, I have nothing against the PH or Filipinas. If they did their job for Amazon and properly handled customer service in Amazon custom/style, I'd be fine with them.

 

[Lancelot01]

I was almost caught by the scam. I tried the Amazon Firestick in UK and was offered a month's free service after which I would be subscribed to Amazon Prime.

The subscription was initiated immediately and the onus was on me to opt out rather than opt in.

Fortunately I noticed this and was able to initiate a cancellation. I never used the Firestick and will never use Amazon again.

[mikiea]

On 8/27/2017 at 1:25 PM, mtls2005 said:

Personally, I would DISPUTE the charge with my CC company - which means you don't have to pay them, then work to resolve a reversal with Amazon.

 

It seems like it is getting easier and easier to mistakenly/accidentally subscribe to Amazon Prime.

 

There's also an Amazon Prime Phishing scam just popping now.

 

 

you clicked on the wrong button , plain and simple . this is what they hope for as it was designed for button pushers .

[Meljames]

18 hours ago, Deez said:

Please do share your wisdom, Mr Wordsmith

They sold him a service he neither requested or wanted. In other words he was duped. 

 

 

The Op might have some $$$ coming to him for his trouyble:

 

Quote

 

A Chicago woman who claims Amazon continued to draw payments from her bank account for an Amazon Prime membership she says she didn’t even purchase has filed a class action suit against the online retailer.

On Feb. 20, plaintiff Latoya Christmas filed a complaint in Chicago federal court against Seattle-based Amazon, alleging the retailer violated the federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act and Illinois’ consumer fraud law for allegedly refusing to stop taking the money after she demanded they stop.

http://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/511086290-amazon-hit-with-class-action-over-alleged-wrongful-debits-for-prime-memberships

 

 

Edited August 31, 2017 by Meljames

[chubby]

On 8/30/2017 at 8:09 AM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

As a longtime user, I agree that Amazon has historically had excellent customer service, and still do--sometimes.

 

But in the past year or two, I've noted a troubling trend, and that is that a lot of their customer service calls now seem to be getting routed to call centers in the PH, even during U.S. business hours. And my experiences with the PH staff there have been horrible: women who jabber on a mile a minute that with their accents can't understand a word they're saying, don't seem to be able to do much, don't seem to know much about Amazon customs or procedures. Overall, pretty much useless. And not surprisingly, when I've mentioned the topic to others including family members, they've had comparable/bad experiences.

 

Anytime I'm calling Amazon for customer support, and get a PH voice on the other end, I ask to be transferred to U.S. customer support. And, FWIW, I have nothing against the PH or Filipinas. If they did their job for Amazon and properly handled customer service in Amazon custom/style, I'd be fine with them.

 

Sadly, this has been ubiquitous for many years, only banks, I think by regulation have not sent their CS offshore.  In fact, I think it has swung back a little to a certain percentage randomly get US CS,  and/or you have to ask for  "US CS" , some will quickly route you, others insist you tell your sad story to their broken english(to which they take offense, if you point out, the whole reason your calling is nuanced, and their  2nd language interpretation is defeating the whole purpose), but then they pay then $1 and hour, and you should feel bad for them, having to listen to  Americans all day, who take complaining as a right ..... :)

 

Further, I think as a rule online websites, don't feel they should even have phones, they are so modern and all,  ie try calling google  55 ;   btw, last few times, I wanted to return something  they  just credited me and told me to keep it  including  a $50  item,  I guess they got   billlions  to burn, and this  negates bricks and mortars  advantage ...... :)

[chubby]

On 8/26/2017 at 11:45 PM, WorriedNoodle said:

I got a reply from Amazon within about 6 hours, as below. Now I have to check with bank and see if I need to pay the bill first or the refund will cancel it out. Usually takes a few days dealing with bank. Amazon are very sneaky with their Prime service and caught me out just browsing this time. One needs to remain on guard as Prime can be reactivated at any time even tho its cancelled by user. 

 

Dear <name>,

As you requested, we've canceled your Amazon Prime membership.

Since you have not used your Amazon Prime benefits, we are refunding you $10.99 which includes the full membership fee and any applicable fees and taxes. Your refund should be processed within the next 3-5 business days and will appear as a credit on your card's next billing statement. If your latest membership charge is still processing, we'll issue the refund as soon as the charge is completed.

If you'd like to join Amazon Prime again, start a paid membership by visiting the Amazon Prime page.

Thank you,

Amazon.com Customer Service
 

seems that for many years now, companies prefer to sell you an annual service, rather that something you own, if they can do that will an auto-renewal credit card, 1/2  the folks will forget to cancel it, and then  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endowment_effect ,

 

pretty soon, you end up paying the minimum on your loan shark 25% interest, and we have a rentier economy http://michael-hudson.com/2016/10/rentier-capitalism-veblen-in-the-21st-century/

 

:)