Amazon - bait and switch.

[LAS14]

Last edited Wed Mar 25, 2020, 10:48 PM - Edit history (1)

I signed up for Amazon Prime a few years ago. At the time, I thought the fee was $50. I can no longer remember why I thought it was that, but I didn't make it up out of whole cloth. Today I got involved in chat with Amazon because I couldn't find a MasterCard charge for $119 in my orders list at Amazon. Turns out this was the yearly Prime fee and didn't show up in the orders list. Fifty dollars is the cost of you're on Medicaid or are a student or.... something else.

All I can think is $50 was in big font and $119 was tucked away somewhere.

I'm pissed.

[lisa58]

1. I've been a prime member for several years...

And it was never as low as $50, probably closer to $80. I know it’s more now and they probably send me an email telling me. This is why I don’t “E” all my accounts and my coffee table is covered in paper

[Afromania]

2. At one point you could get it for 50 with an .edu email and proof of college.

[lisa58]

3. Ohhhh - I'm too old for that😂

[Afromania]

4. Not even close to too old:) If you were taking a single course at your local CC

and had that email you were good to go.

[lisa58]

5. I wasn't even doing that - who knew?

[procon]

6. I think I get a fair value for the cost of my Prime

membership, or I did until recently. I utilize most of the available services, and the free 2 day shipping is a big plus factor. That said, with the onset of the corona virus scare Amazon has made some significant changes to what's now included with Prime.

They have totally shutdown the Prime Pantry, so I can't order any if the staple foods that my local grocery is always out of. Even the regular grocery section of Amazon is sparse and the prices have gone up substantially, hitting my alarms for price gouging. All my regular brands of dog and cat food is out of stock. There no discount or lower fees for this loss of service so I guess Amazon expects that most customers will just absorb the difference without protest.

The tipping point may have arrived with the loss of 2 day shipping which is now at least a one month delay. Wal-Mart has better service. I'm still trying to decide if it's worth waiting out the shortages and keeping my Prime because I do use most of their entertainment services - movies, premium channels, books, music, books.

[RobinA]

10. I've Found Amazon

to be fairly sucky in this crisis, but I’m giving them a pass until things get back to normal. My big complaint pre-virus was that their searches turn up too much extraneous crap. If I do a search for Maytag washing machine I want the items at the top of the list to be Maytag washing machines and nothing but. Instead I have to wade through things that I can’t figure how they relate to my search to see the washing machines. It’s a damn mess.

[procon]

12. Yeah, I noticed their search results are skewed to

push unrelated items. I think those sellers paid a premium to get better product placement in hopes of hooking a sale. Google does the same thing but at least they warn when a product or website is a paid sponser.

[lettucebe]

13. I agree with you on their search

It almost never shows me what I asked to see, until I scroll down down.

[Ms. Toad]

15. Yup.

Our thermometer died this morning, no one local has a thermometer or the battery we need - and just before it died it declared she had a 107, then 106 degree temperature.

So - after scouring every store within 20 miles, begging one from a neighbor (needed batteries, and then wildly inaccurate), I decided to buy one from Amazon.

Searching for oral thermometer still brought up tons of non-oral thermometers - and then sorting by lowest price first it still displayed the $100+ non-oral thermometers.

(We found another neighbor with a thermometer that works - daughter's fever is 102.7 - likely the flu, but might be COVID.)

[gldstwmn]

7. Mine is as part of my cell phone plan.

It is $65 a month for phone and Prime.

[TheBlackAdder]

14. That sounds like a lot. T-Mobile is $70 for 2 unlimited phones, inc all taxes & fees for 55+ folks.

[Aquaria]

8. Yes, it's $119 now.

The $50 was an introductory price. It hasn't been that low in years now. I had it in the beginning, then let it lapse, so I don't know how long the $50 price lasted. I do know it wasn't forever, because I got Prime when I became a college student, and thus qualified for the $50 rate again. At the time (2014), the regular Prime was $99.

So, yes, students and some other people can get a reduced rate of around $50/yr, but, even then, you won't necessarily qualify for that rate forever. For instance, college students qualify for only five years, unless they can provide documentation that they're in grad school.

Whether or not you want to pay the regular rate depends on what you use Prime for, or if you like what they offer enough that it's worth $10 a month to have it. Only you can decide that.

[LAS14]

11. I think that must be the explanation. Thanks. nt

[lettucebe]

9. My annual fee is $119 -- they must have made a mistake

I see no membership level that is $199 but maybe if you add extras? I'm canceling my Prime. It's not worth it to me.