# Misleading advertising by Amazon



## Brendan Burgess (3 Dec 2021)

I wanted to buy a book and got the following  


Free delivery. I was delighted. 

Then when I went to pay, I got...




I have to sign up for Prime and pay £8 a month. 

Brendan


----------



## RedOnion (3 Dec 2021)

No, there's an option there on the left in blue text to decline 1 day delivery. It's almost hidden, but it's there.

It is so easy to sign up to Prime by accident.
Not nearly as easy to unsubscribe!


----------



## Monbretia (3 Dec 2021)

Let them sign you up, take the free delivery and diary it forward to cancel before the trial period is up and it won't cost you anything.  Order plenty while you have the free trial!


----------



## Brendan Burgess (3 Dec 2021)

Hi Red

It's misleading advertising.

It says free delivery. It does not attach conditions.

(I ordered during the week from BookDepository and from Easons both of which had free delivery and meant free delivery) 

I went through all the hoops of ordering only to find I had to take extra steps including figuring out how to cancel which I am not going to waste my time doing.

It's very similar to that other scam - Complete Savings -  which people signed up to by accident.



Brendan


----------



## odyssey06 (3 Dec 2021)

I signed up to the Amazon prime trial half by accident, so totally get where Brendan is coming from.

At the end of the period, I didn't renew.
They still pop up 'free Amazon prime trial' to me even though I've availed of the offer.


----------



## RedOnion (3 Dec 2021)

Brendan Burgess said:


> It's misleading advertising.
> 
> It says free delivery. It does not attach conditions


But there is free delivery, without any conditions. 

They just have an incredibly anti-customer practice of making it look like you have to select next day delivery and sign up to Prime. But you don't. There's another option there for you to select.

I'm surprised they still do it. 
The Advertising standards authority in the UK have previously ruled on this specific issue:




__





						Amazon Europe Core Sarl
					






					www.asa.org.uk


----------



## Brendan Burgess (3 Dec 2021)

I still think it's misleading. 

Easons and Book Depository have no extra steps or choices or conditions.

Amazon requires me to study the terms and conditions and notice that I can get free delivery. 

I have already gone through the hassle and cancelled my order. Not sure I will waste any more time on it.

Brendan


----------



## Brendan Burgess (3 Dec 2021)

I had to find this in very small writing


Then it added postage and packing anyway



And then I had to study it again to find


Then it recalculated it without the delivery.

This is unnecessarily complex

So it's misleading.

I only know all that, because you told me. Most people would just get suckered into joining Prime and being hit with a monthly charge they did not intend to apply for.

Brendan


----------



## RedOnion (3 Dec 2021)

Brendan Burgess said:


> I only know all that, because you told me. Most people would just get suckered into joining Prime and being hit with a monthly charge they did not intend to apply for.


Just to be clear, I only know because I've had to unsubscibe from Prime, on more than 1 occasion after clicking the yellow box in auto-pilot.


----------



## CuriousCork (3 Dec 2021)

I note that Amazon are going to stop accepting credit cards from next Month. They say they are stopping because of the high CC commissions, I wonder if it is because of customers doing charge backs all the time. You can'd do a charge back on a debit card.


----------



## RedOnion (3 Dec 2021)

CuriousCork said:


> You can'd do a charge back on a debit card.


Yes you can!

Amazon are only stopping accepting Visa credut cards.


----------



## Sunny (3 Dec 2021)

And it's only UK issued visa credit cards.....

The prime things is annoying but I just keep signing up and cancelling the free trial. I have had nearly a year of  free Prime including Prime video


----------



## RetirementPlan (3 Dec 2021)

I don't think this would be considered 'advertising' in Ireland. It's just part of how they do business on their website, not advertising as such.

It may well be an unfair practice, probably something for CCPC here, not the toothless ASAI (industry body, not a real regulator).

BookDepository IS Amazon, btw - both awful businesses, both treating their employees very poorly, while Bezos uses space as his little playground. 

There are lots of great Irish bookshops that would welcome your business, and avoid any difficulties with customs or duties.


----------



## Brendan Burgess (3 Dec 2021)

RetirementPlan said:


> BookDepository IS Amazon, btw



I find Book Depository very good.
Great prices and no messing with postage. 

They didn't have the book I wanted. 

I would prefer to order in Ireland, but you would have to do a lot of searching. 

I did buy a book from Easons on Wed, and it arrived today. I was very impressed.

Brendan


----------



## Bank Manager (3 Dec 2021)

https://www.kennys.ie/   Kenny's provide free delivery in Ireland


----------



## SparkRite (3 Dec 2021)

Sunny said:


> The prime things is annoying but I just keep signing up and cancelling the free trial. I have had nearly a year of free Prime including Prime video


Don't find it annoying at all. I avail of it whenever it is offered to me and then, like you, cancel before renewal charge,
I generally only purchase on Amazon when I have the free prime.

We have done this before on AAM and IMHO it is very transparent, with all charges clearly displayed on the screen to see exactly what one is signing up to.
It's not like the renewal/monthly charge is buried within small printed T&C's.
If people can't be bothered to read what they are agreeing to, then who's fault is that?
As for cancelling, before the monthly charge kicks in, it's about 3-4 clicks.

Edited to add:- You can even place the order and immediately cancel the 'Free Prime' and you can still avail of it's benifits for the following 30 days.


----------



## Clamball (3 Dec 2021)

Bought 2 books from Easons last week, free delivery and an additional 15% discount because of Black Friday.  Delivered in 2 working days.  I was very happy.


----------



## CuriousCork (6 Dec 2021)

Amazon's Foreign Exchange rate "guarantee" is expensive. I was offered a guaranteed Euro amount of €59.16 when checking out but I opted to pay in sterling, which my CC company translated to €58.39.


----------



## Leo (6 Dec 2021)

CuriousCork said:


> I note that Amazon are going to stop accepting credit cards from next Month. They say they are stopping because of the high CC commissions, I wonder if it is because of customers doing charge backs all the time. You can'd do a charge back on a debit card.


No, as above this only affects UK issued Visa cards and users who have used such cards in the past are being offered incentives to use an alternative. 

The nexus of the issue was UK Visa increasing their interchange fees. EU law caps those at 0.3%, now that the UK are out, UK Visa decided to increase that fee to 1.5%. Amazon are using their might to fight back (solely in their own interests of course).

Note, you also can request a chargeback on a debit card.


----------



## Leo (6 Dec 2021)

CuriousCork said:


> Amazon's Foreign Exchange rate "guarantee" is expensive. I was offered a guaranteed Euro amount of €59.16 when checking out but I opted to pay in sterling, which my CC company translated to €58.39.


Lots of vendors offer to convert the currency for you, none of them are going to that expense for your benefit so always pay in the vendor's local currency.


----------



## blured (6 Dec 2021)

Brendan Burgess said:


> I had to find this in very small writing
> View attachment 5951
> 
> Then it added postage and packing anyway
> ...


Hi Brendan

To be fair to Amazon - there is an option there for Free Delivery without Prime - which would get you the item by the 13th of December


----------



## time to plan (6 Dec 2021)

Brendan Burgess said:


> I wanted to buy a book and got the following
> 
> View attachment 5950
> Free delivery. I was delighted.
> ...


Most likely, they decided you deserve to be ripped off for living in Dublin 4. Blame the algorithm.


----------



## RetirementPlan (7 Dec 2021)

Bank Manager said:


> https://www.kennys.ie/   Kenny's provide free delivery in Ireland


I hover around Kennys,  and O'Mahony's. It is very rare that I can't find what I need on one or other of these.


----------



## peemac (7 Dec 2021)

RetirementPlan said:


> I hover around Kennys,  and O'Mahony's. It is very rare that I can't find what I need on one or other of these.


And add world of books to that list. About 2m secondhand / clearance books and free delivery.

Great for finding some gems. https://www.wob.com/en-ie/about-us


----------



## vandriver (8 Dec 2021)

Guess who owns The Book Depository?


----------



## Cervelo (8 Dec 2021)

Have to say I find the library a great place for all my book, DVD's and CD's and best of all it's free
I'm not saying I don't buy the above items but for the last 10 years the library has allowed me to cut these purchases by at least 90%
If they don't have what I'm looking for they will 9 out of 10 times either source it for me through the Irish or English library system 
and I believe that if they can't source an item for you they have the option to buy it and put it into the system 
Pre Covid I was able to go to the library outside normal hours with "My open Library" which was a nice bonus


----------



## roker (13 Jan 2022)

RedOnion said:


> No, there's an option there on the left in blue text to decline 1 day delivery. It's almost hidden, but it's there.
> 
> It is so easy to sign up to Prime by accident.
> Not nearly as easy to unsubscribe!


That happened to me so I don't use Amazon now


----------



## Carnmore (13 Jan 2022)

I've come across these "Prime only" items from time to time.

It can be frustrating but it does state "Prime only" so it is not misleading advertising.


----------

