Is Amazon Prime Too Hard To Cancel? A Jury Will Decide. (msn.com)
(Monday September 22, 2025 @11:21AM (msmash)
from the closer-look dept.)
- Reference: 0179461368
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/09/22/1450209/is-amazon-prime-too-hard-to-cancel-a-jury-will-decide
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/is-amazon-prime-too-hard-to-cancel-a-jury-will-decide/ar-AA1N0dKw
Subscribing to an online service is often as easy as a click of a button. Is it illegal if it takes a maze of clicks to cancel? That issue is at the heart of [1]a civil trial beginning this week that will scrutinize the tactics Amazon uses to entice consumers to sign up for its signature Prime service -- and to steer them away from leaving. WSJ:
> The Federal Trade Commission alleges the online giant has duped nearly 40 million customers, in violation of consumer-protection laws. It is seeking civil penalties, refunds to consumers and a court order prohibiting Amazon from using subscription practices that could confuse or deceive customers. The case, which will unfold in a Seattle courtroom, is a top test of the agency's enforcement campaign against allegedly deceptive digital subscription practices.
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> Amazon's Prime membership, the largest paid subscription program in the world with at least 200 million users, has helped the company become an integral part of consumers' shopping habits. The FTC, which sued Amazon in 2023, alleges the company tricked people into signing up for the service without their knowledge or consent, including by obscuring details about billing and the terms of free trials. It says Amazon created a labyrinth to make it hard to cancel, which the company dubbed "Iliad," a reference to Homer's epic about the long, arduous Trojan War. The FTC says Amazon required customers to navigate four webpages and chose from 15 options to cancel a Prime membership. The company streamlined the process in April 2023, ahead of the filing of the criminal complaint.
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> The FTC [2]won an initial pretrial victory last week when a federal judge ruled that Amazon did violate consumer-protection laws by taking Prime members' billing information before disclosing the terms of the membership. But he said jurors still would have to consider whether the customers gave their consent to enroll and whether Amazon provided a simple cancellation mechanism.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/is-amazon-prime-too-hard-to-cancel-a-jury-will-decide/ar-AA1N0dKw
[2] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/09/18/0449219/amazon-violated-online-shopper-protection-law-judge-rules-ahead-of-prime-signup-trial
> The Federal Trade Commission alleges the online giant has duped nearly 40 million customers, in violation of consumer-protection laws. It is seeking civil penalties, refunds to consumers and a court order prohibiting Amazon from using subscription practices that could confuse or deceive customers. The case, which will unfold in a Seattle courtroom, is a top test of the agency's enforcement campaign against allegedly deceptive digital subscription practices.
>
> Amazon's Prime membership, the largest paid subscription program in the world with at least 200 million users, has helped the company become an integral part of consumers' shopping habits. The FTC, which sued Amazon in 2023, alleges the company tricked people into signing up for the service without their knowledge or consent, including by obscuring details about billing and the terms of free trials. It says Amazon created a labyrinth to make it hard to cancel, which the company dubbed "Iliad," a reference to Homer's epic about the long, arduous Trojan War. The FTC says Amazon required customers to navigate four webpages and chose from 15 options to cancel a Prime membership. The company streamlined the process in April 2023, ahead of the filing of the criminal complaint.
>
> The FTC [2]won an initial pretrial victory last week when a federal judge ruled that Amazon did violate consumer-protection laws by taking Prime members' billing information before disclosing the terms of the membership. But he said jurors still would have to consider whether the customers gave their consent to enroll and whether Amazon provided a simple cancellation mechanism.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/is-amazon-prime-too-hard-to-cancel-a-jury-will-decide/ar-AA1N0dKw
[2] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/09/18/0449219/amazon-violated-online-shopper-protection-law-judge-rules-ahead-of-prime-signup-trial
July court decision (Score:2)
by michael_cain ( 66650 )
Back in July the 8th Circuit Court overturned the FTC's "one-click" rule which required that it be as easy to unsubscribe as to subscribe. This case is based on different misbehavior, in particular collecting billing information before revealing terms of service.
This is the way (Score:3)
by blowdog ( 993153 )
It should be as easy to leave as it is to join.
many times over the years I've had prime trials (Score:2)
by williamyf ( 227051 )
and every single time, un-enrolling was super easy.
But one thing is what I think, and a very different one is what a judge and/or jury think.
JM2C
YMMV
I just tried it (Score:3, Interesting)
I just tried it. It's fine. It's no more tricky than anyone else, and offers you plenty of "Ah go on, stay, and we'll give you this bonus for cheaper"
Re: I just tried it (Score:1)
For funzies I just looked too. Settings->prime->dropdown to manage membership->tap manage and there it is. Sure its not one-click but I dont particularly want a big "CANCEL MEMBERSHIP" button front and center every time I open an app. Theres a lot in there and the management area seems placed in a perfectly reasonable location.
Re: (Score:2)
Cancelling Prime is very easy. These people probably never had to deal with TiVO or XM cancellation back in the day...
Limits of applied psychology? (Score:1)
Are you sure that you actually cancelled your Prime account? How long until you are sure that you really did it?
I think this is a sort of joke, but my guess is that you only got far enough to convince yourself that you could cancel it, but somewhere along the way you changed your mind and decided not to. Sort of like "I can quit gambling/drinking/gaming whenever I feel like it, so I'm not addicted." If you had gotten too close to actually cancelling your membership, then they would have pulled out the big p
Re: (Score:2)
Well the summary did say that Amazon streamlined the process in April 2023 ahead of the filing. How was the process before that?