Amazon Removes Non-Auto Renew Option for Prime
I noticed something with all of the Amazon Prime hoopla this last week, besides the price increase that is. Amazon eliminated the option to turn off auto renewal for Amazon Prime. I don’t think this happened recently but it is the first time I noticed it.
This is a change that is shady in my opinion and it is solely in the hopes that you are not paying attention. They do offer something in it’s place but it isn’t nearly as good.
Amazon Prime Renewal Reminder
In the past it was possible to set up your account to not automatically renew. This was beneficial for a few reasons. It didn’t lock you in if you didn’t like the service. You could take advantage of a deal, like an Amex Offer, or pick which card you wanted to bill the service to at that time.
Now it will automatically bill you when the year is up if you don’t cancel the service first. This came into play for people locking in their Prime rate at $99 by buying a gift membership last week. You can’t use the gift membership if you have an active Prime Membership. You will manually need to cancel it to set it up now.
Amazon does offer you an opportunity to have them email you a reminder 3 days before the renewal kicks in. You can do this by doing the following:
- Go to Account & Lists Tab
- Select Prime Membership on the drop down
- On the left hand side of the Prime page select Remind Me Before Renewing
This will have Amazon send you an email 3 days before renewal. You can cancel your membership then and use your Prime Gift Membership to reactivate it at the lower price. You could also put a reminder on your Google Calendar etc. in case Amazon drops the ball.
Conclusion
This is not a customer friendly change and it seems very Columbia House CD Club esque (throw back reference there!). This isn’t the first time Amazon has done something that doesn’t benefit their customers recently.
You just need to be on top of it an set a few reminders for yourself and you should be able to work around it. But the change was unnecessary in my opinion. People who love the service will renew anyways there is no need to punish those who are on the fence or who may want to maximize their savings when doing it.
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I did not have an amazon prime account but somehow in the last few months I was enrolled in their monthly prime payments, unbeknownst to me! I don’t know what or how this happened being as that I wasn’t using a free “prime” trial to begin with. Very annoyed that I’ve basically been throwing money at amazon without my knowledge.
I would chat with them and ask for a refund.
If you cancel your membership (while on a free trial, including student trials) it will still keep your Prime membership active through the original end date. They just make it seem like you’re immediately ending your membership but that’s not the case and they will still provide the full trial period. They likely just want to discourage people from canceling, but in reality just keep clicking through all of the confirmation screens and you’ll be set.
Great tip Sam
Amazon didn’t send me a reminder despite me having it checked for them to do so. So I cancelled and got a refund. The shipping benefits are convenient, but not enough for me to pay $128 for it.
Glad you were able to get a full refund!
And where is the reminder to my email? There is an option to send you a reminder 3 days before renewing the prime membership but I never got the email and now my credit card is charged. WTF!
I would chat with Amazon about it they will refund you the fee or may give you a courtesy credit for their mistake.
I do not have a remind me later option. I am going to enter a calendar reminder now.
Good idea!
When I bought 5 of the $99 prime gift memberships I went ahead and cancelled Prime. I however still have it until November and nothing has changed other than messing up my S&S system which I had to fix.
Thanks for the info – seems like it is 50/50 right now which is weird. Maybe it depends how much time was left on your subscription.
When you cancel the membership, you will see the screen that tells you “end on…” with the date of your final membership date. I think it worked the same way the last time Amazon hiked Prime. So the prorated refund wasn’t my experience, didn’t even see the option.
With this new development, it seems, the giftcards are the new way to go.
I LOVE the Columbia House reference. I had forgotten what a PITA that thing was. As a kid, it was definitely one of my first “deals”. It was like “signup for a subscription and get a bunch of free CDs”, right?
Haha I did the Disney Movie Club for my kids a few years back and it was basically the same thing but not as painful to quit.
Just FYI, we have a student membership and there does not appear to be a “remind me before renewing” option.
Interesting – that is strange. Thanks for the DP
I already contacted Amazon to stop auto renewal. I was planning on just renewing with the gift of prime on the date it expires. Will this still work now and does it affect my grandfathered household prime accounts (have 3 of them)?
Thanks.
Once your current membership ends you should be able to use the gift of prime without an issue. If you try to use it before it ends they will prompt you to cash it in for a gift card since you already have prime.
If you cancel you will still have prime until the end date. Then you can re-up when u please.
Interesting – I have heard of them issuing prorated refunds if you cancel. Is that only if you ask?
I was under the impression they weren’t giving prorated refunds anymore but could be wrong.
I was issued an automatic prorated refund last week.
Thanks for the info Pam
Hmmm, i may have made a bad assumption. I only have experience canceling prime trials and student prime trials. When you cancel benefits still go to through the end of trial period and assumed regular prime would work the same.