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Amazon execs may be personally liable for tricking users into Prime sign-ups (arstechnica.com)

submitted 5 months ago by jeffw@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[-] Xanis@lemmy.world 170 points 5 months ago

I'll say this: Grabbed a free month of Prime through Google Play. Went to cancel it before it charged me again and I had so much trouble figuring out how I decided that I couldn't be the only one and ended up Googling it.

You couldn't quit in the Google Play Store. It wasn't even listed.

It wasn't any form of subscription or listed as a membership on Amazon.

You couldn't end it by following QR codes or links supplied to you on Amazon itself.

It wasn't in your Amazon profile or Google profile.

The ONLY WAY to cancel it was by scanning the QR code, following the link, clicking on a "Contact Support" button, clicking on another button under "Help Topics" that said, "How to end your Prime Membership", and finally you were taken to a page where you could actually end it. Obfuscated like a motherfucker.

[-] AtariDump@lemmy.world 54 points 5 months ago

But the plans were on display…”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.

[-] ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee 11 points 5 months ago

That’s fucked. I believe subscriptions are so be as easy to cancel as they are to sign up.

[-] lagomorphlecture@lemm.ee 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

My mom recently asked me to cancel her prime reading or whatever for her and it was infuriating. I was in the app and clicked cancel and it went to a browser where I had to click to cancel and that just opened the app where I had to click the same link that opened the browser that opened the app that opened the browser. I was getting fucking pissed when it suddenly finally opened the link in the browser so I could cancel. I'm 99% sure they actually have it coded to open in the browser after 10 tries or something to make it difficult but can't run afoul of legislation since you can technically do it if you are tenacious enough.

[-] SuperSaiyanSwag@lemmy.zip 7 points 5 months ago

Companies that rely a lot on their phone apps, but exclude the “cancel/remove account” feature in the app are the worst. This should be illegal or regulated.

[-] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 122 points 5 months ago

They claimed that the FTC never alerted them to any wrongdoing before filing the lawsuit, so how could they have known they were violating the law?

"The police never informed me I was doing anything illegal before arresting me, so how could I possibly have known?"

Ignorance of the law isn't a defense against breaking it in any other sector...

[-] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 37 points 5 months ago

I'm sure their legions of lawyers never warned them it might be illegal

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 29 points 5 months ago

I'm sure they did, but they felt that this was more profitable, even if they got caught.

[-] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 13 points 5 months ago

It can be. There's a saying that intent is 9/10 of the law.

But, they definitely intended to fuck people over, so that's a moot point.

[-] Zink@programming.dev 3 points 5 months ago

I think the saying is that possession is 9/10 of the law.

But I agree. Of course they intended to fuck people over. That’s their job, pretty much.

[-] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 1 points 5 months ago

No, it's intent.

[-] Zink@programming.dev 3 points 5 months ago

I did check myself before I posted that. In fact, if you type “intent is 9/10 of the law” into DDG, the entire first page of results gives you “possession is 9/10 of the law” instead.

But to be fair, I did see two examples of the intent version after scrolling through the first few pages.

[-] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 1 points 5 months ago

I stand corrected

[-] APassenger@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago

Ethical behavior is a thing for SO many reasons. One of them is it tends to keep you on the right side of the law.

[-] LordGimp@lemm.ee 4 points 5 months ago

That's literally the basis of qualified immunity. If law enforcement gets a pass explicitly due to ignorance of the law, why wouldn't their financiers? Further, if the punishment for the crime is a fine, then the law can only ever meaningfully punish the poor. The concept of law is working exactly as intended in this country.

[-] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 18 points 5 months ago

That's not what qualified immunity means.

Qualified immunity protects the police (or other state actors) from civil suits arising from their conduct while lawfully performing their duties. It does not shield them from criminal prosecution.

[-] LordGimp@lemm.ee 4 points 5 months ago

The civil suits that only have standing when there is criminal conduct already involved? You don't get one without the other. The only practical difference to a member of the public is the legal standard needed to prove guilt. Seeing as the criminal justice deck is already stacked in the favor of protecting their own enforcer, the difference is moot. It remains one of the only legally viable defenses where ignorance of the law is an acceptable excuse.

[-] eronth@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

Note how they literally have a special exception

[-] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 56 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Literally can't stay ahead of it.

My kid re-activated prime on me a long time ago, before I had even started thinking about parental controls, by selecting a movie on the Kindle Fire playing with the remote.

Thought I'd learned my lesson, but no. Couple years later he reactivated Audible by asking the thermostat to read him a story. He was probably like 4 or 5 by then. Not only reactivated Audible, but wasted a credit on The Three Little Pigs

[-] taiyang@lemmy.world 30 points 5 months ago

My 2 year old reactivated prime twice now, and a britbox subscription, all playing with the remote. I swear you can sit on the fire stick remote and it'll sign you up.

I actually was a prime member the first time, I cancelled it after that britbox subscription. We literally go out of our way now to avoid Amazon--- which is haaaard. At least you can get a refund if you bug them enough.

[-] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 19 points 5 months ago

It's so easy, a toddler could do it.

[-] TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago

Ok, you're the third person I've heard of that had an accidental britbox subscription. I'm not even sure you have to sit on the remote for that one.

[-] jeffw@lemmy.world 14 points 5 months ago

The three little pigs lol, that part had me dying

[-] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 months ago

I'm so confused how these devices ended up subscribing you to these services without further validation.

I use mainly Google products and I don't think I can even subscribe to audible if I tried, by voice alone.

Were these Amazon devices or something? I'm really confused.

[-] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Yes, Kindle Fire TV and Ecobee thermostat (with Alexa).

And for the record, I hate Alexa, or at least the version in my thermostat. Alexa makes Google nests look like a Nobel laureate.

These were also reactivations, so they already had all our account info, and entirely inside Amazons walled garden.

[-] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 months ago

Well, that at least mostly explains it.

But giving the ability for Alexa to activate paid services is kind of crazy to me.

[-] Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 32 points 5 months ago

Lmao no they won't

[-] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 8 points 5 months ago

Oh dear, had to pay a million dollar fine... What's this, a million dollar bonus? How did that happen?

[-] Magzmak@lemmy.world 28 points 5 months ago

I still haven't consented to the 2.99 price hike to no have commercials. I will wait until the lawsuit runs its course because fuck em.

[-] mipadaitu@lemmy.world 31 points 5 months ago

I just started pirating Amazon shows, fuck em if they bait and switch me.

[-] Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago

Piracy and iptv is back on the menu

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Pretty sure ublock works. Haven't seen any prime video ads yet.

[-] Magzmak@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

Yeah but can I get that for my firestick?

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

I just plug a really long hdmi into my computer if I want to watch things. Smart tech is pretty awful and will only get worse.

You can jailbreak a firestick but it seems like that's for third party streaming which is spicy unless you have a VPN. No idea about adblock for official apps.

[-] Veraxus@lemmy.world 26 points 5 months ago

How about the whole “sure you already paid for a year of Prime Video, but now you need to pay us again or we’re going to ruin the thing you already paid for” situation?

[-] MichaelTen@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago

Boycott Amazon.

[-] terminhell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 5 months ago

~~may~~ should

[-] chris@lemm.ee 4 points 5 months ago

On the other hand, I didn’t sign up for Prime but have had it for 2 months now. Have yet to be charged and I can’t access the page to cancel it.

this post was submitted on 29 May 2024

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