PSA: Avoid Purchasing from Amazon.com if you are "simple"

[Mpls21]

I did sign up for the free trial of Amazon Prime and was aware of the $79 fee if I kept the service - or did not cancel it before the trial ended. The part of this service that most intrigued me was not the free shipping, but being able to read the books I ordered with Prime, online in addition to having the hard copy book. I placed and received one order but decided I would not use the service often enough to justify the $79 annual fee. I cancelled the service prior to ordering any additional products, but 3 months later, I found a $79 charge on my account for the service. I immediately logged on to Amazon and "re-canceled" the Amazon Prime service, but did not receive any kind of confirmation that I would be refunded my $79, so I decided to call their customer service department to confirm this.

While it was difficult to find the customer service phone number, I did eventually find it and called them. (I know I've seen that number a million times while shopping and/or looking around on that site... why couldn't I find it the one and only time I've needed it?)

Anyway, the customer service rep was suprisingly helpful, and assured me that I'd be seeing my refund within 2 - 3 business days. How refreshing to deal with an online company that not only HAS a customer service department, but actually staffs it (I was on hold less than 30 seconds!) and provides polite, professional assistance.

Despite their error, in billing me for a service I canceled, the response of their customer service department has so pleased me that I'm now probably more likely to spend my shopping dollars with Amazon and, as a result, may end up wanting this shipping service!

[stabn]

Shill.

[Quanah Parker]

I hear that the Amazon has little fish in it that will swim up your jimmy and make your life miserable.

[jjp]

[ QUOTE ]
Hey, 80 bucks is good money, and so is the priciple of the thing. I've thought about deserting Amazon before, but actually this $80 amazon prime thing turned me around. It made them more like the company they started out as -- great quick reliable service. They have their faults -- they recently had a huge screw-up shipping some headphones to the wrong address and billing me twice, getting their own wires prodigiously crossed, etc. But they ironed it out. So even with the hassles, they're still a good company.

And some of their competition isn't anywhere near the quality anyway.

[/ QUOTE ]

So now it costs $79 extra for good service? Looks like I'll continue to shop elsewhere.

[prodonkey]

Maybe full tilt should have Prime customer service for $79/yr, how many would pay for that?

[KingDan]

OP,

This reminded me to do some shopping I've been putting off. Of course I got Amazon Prime!

Thanks,
Dan

[Archon_Wing]

Oh man OP, not too bad of a level. I almost fell for it.
Oh wait...

[kevin017]

i had a similar thing happen to me from buy.com. I don't even remember signing up for it, and doubt i did, but i do remember they had some free shipping promotions so i can't be sure. either way I ended up getting signed up to "great fun" which was a POS and i wish their company would explode.