Amazon Prime Rip-Off

[HM]

Seems the OP has already taken herself off Prime. Too bad, I love the service if only for shipping alone. (Just recently bought a Fire for DH, so haven't had much chance of using the streaming yet).

Anyway, you can have multiple credit cards attached to one account. You just have to tell which one to use at any time. There would have been a bit more work to get to the correct CC/DC each time you wished to purchase something, but it was doable.

Also, if using for streaming, there are a lot of shows available without a cost, and would not have meant using a CC/DC at all.

 

[poegirl30]

I'm sorry that you have had issues with Amazon. I absolutely love my Kindle and Kindle Fire, and love having prime. We have had nothing but stellar customer service at Amazon. I do let my six year old use my Kindle Fire to watch prime tv/movies children's programs, and he loves it, but it is under my account.

 

[MrsPete]

My DH signed up for an amazon prime membership today b/c we are getting my DD7 a Kindle Fire for her birthday. We wanted her to be able to use the free book a month and the streaming. We are going to open a seperate amazon account for her using a pre-paid debit card. We don't want a 7 year old having a Fire linked to our accounts (hence our credit card.) Well, the "invitees" of a prime member are not allowed to use any of the features of amazon prime except the free shipping. That's right! For me to stream on my account I have to pay ANOTHER $79 and my daughter would have to pay ANOTHER $79. That's $237 for 3 people who all live in the same house to use the streaming service on amazon. That doesn't even give you access to every movie/ TV show; only the ones amazon says. We pay about $180/ year for Netflix and everybody in the house can use it on every device we want to. Get a clue, amazon!

If you're already paying $180/year for Netflix, why can't she stream through her Fire using that account? Why pay for a separate account?

The free book a month isn't a great deal. You don't get to keep the book; it's only on loan, and you have to return it before you can have another one next month. This isn't a rip-off because they don't hide these facts -- it just isn't a very good deal. Unless, of course, you want the other features of the Prime Membership.

 

[elfbo]

My DH signed up for an amazon prime membership today b/c we are getting my DD7 a Kindle Fire for her birthday. We wanted her to be able to use the free book a month and the streaming. We are going to open a seperate amazon account for her using a pre-paid debit card. We don't want a 7 year old having a Fire linked to our accounts (hence our credit card.) Well, the "invitees" of a prime member are not allowed to use any of the features of amazon prime except the free shipping. That's right! For me to stream on my account I have to pay ANOTHER $79 and my daughter would have to pay ANOTHER $79. That's $237 for 3 people who all live in the same house to use the streaming service on amazon. That doesn't even give you access to every movie/ TV show; only the ones amazon says. We pay about $180/ year for Netflix and everybody in the house can use it on every device we want to. Get a clue, amazon!

I was really excited when I heard that you got free video streaming with prime. Then i actually read the terms and conditions and realized that it wont work with the kindle app and it only works with the primary account. And for netflix, you have to sign in with the same account to get the video streaming, so im not sure why you thought you could get the streaming with different accounts with amazon, even if they were in the same household.

One last thing, with netflix, you have a limit of 6 devices you can have the account active on at once. It just makes you type your password in when you go over that amount, but once you reach that 6 device limit, it starts getting to be a bit of a pain. Just wanted to warn you! Between PCs, laptops, tablets, game consoles and phones, we reached the limit quick at my house.

 

[luvmy3]

How is this a rip-off? Did you read the terms for Amazon Prime before you signed up? This information is clearly stated. Personally, I think extending the free shipping to several other people is very generous. I don't understand your complaint.

 

[luvmy3]

I'm also on Amazon's side with this. Their policies are pretty clear. It's not their fault you misunderstood them. You are making this way more difficult than it needs to be. Just let her share your account with you and make sure she asks before purchasing anything.

My kids share my Amazon account. They both know to ask me first before purchasing a single thing. If they ever purchase anything they have not authorized, then they know they will lose their kindles. Heck, my daughter asks me before downloading anything free.

There are plenty of ways to teach your daughter money management; you don't have to rely on having her own Amazon account to do that.

I can understand the hesitation, kids don't always do what they are supposed to. On another board I frequent there is a poster whose friend's kid charged over $4000 (yes you read that right) in stuff on his Kindle Fire. Apparently Amazon has agreed to drop that significantly, but the mom is on the hook for 100's of dollars still.
I fund my dd's account with gift cards. She has a pre-paid CC set up as her 1-click payment but there is never more than $10 on it. I didn't trust her to share my account because its just too easy for things to add up before even realizing it. Some adults can't even manage that

 

[MisWal]

... He kept saying "That's not right" (in broken English of course).

Completely irrelevant. Period.

 

[crostorfer]

I'm the Prime subscriber in my household and we stream on my computer, my husband's computer and our PS3. Not sure what the problem is?

I LOVE Amazon, btw. LOVE them. I bought the Prime membership because it's a good deal for me. I buy everything from vitamins, to coffee, to books, to electronics from them.

 

[delmar411]

Your complaint has no merit OP and a 7yr old is not allowed to use Amazon without an adult. Amazon sells all sorts of items that are not appropriate for a minor to view or purchase but a 7yr old shopping on their own would have full access to those items.

I cannot believe that someone who's so protective of "their GCs", isn't even partially protective of their child!

Teaching a child about money management doesn't mean sink or swim. Teach them, instruct them, ask them about their choices and why they think a purchase is a good idea or not.

 

[bumbershoot]

Nope, I'm not adding my daughter on my account. Period.

So add your devices to her account. Not sure how it works with streaming, but my brother, sister in law, and her parents move their devices around in accounts, so they can read books that the others have purchased. When they go back to their "own" account, they don't see the books from the other account, but all books are saved in *accounts*, even if not on the actual Kindle


He kept saying "That's not right" (in broken English of course).

Sigh. If the membership info is spelled out in the terms and conditions (and it's been quoted here), it's just not right for you to focus on that when you've misunderstood the T&C.



DH just verified that there are *call* centers in other countries, but they aren't who you will speak with 99% of the time. If you want more of an explanation, call during US business hours, not on a weekend, and definitely NOT on a holiday, and you'll get someone in the US. If they still have broken English, they still might be US citizens (my MIL is an example, though she doesn't work for amazon), and the important thing to remember with those who speak English as a second language is...they know at least two languages!

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Nope, I'm not adding my daughter on my account. Period. I save up my swagbucks amazon gift cards and have almost $500 in credit in my account. I'm not linking my daughter to it. Period. I'm also not going to add and delete my credit card info every time I purchase something. We want her to have her own account with a little bit of $ in it to teach her to manage that $ and have to make choices about what to buy and what not to buy.

It is NOT made clear when you sign up for the amazon prime that others linked to the account can't use the priviledges. We would not have purchased if it was. In fact, when we called the customer rep he didn't know it either. He kept saying "That's not right" (in broken English of course). I also called a couple of months ago when my DH recieved his Fire and got a month free of prime. The rep told me he couldn't share that with anybody, but if we paid for the membership we would be able to share the streaming, books, etc. So I have had not 1, but 2, amazon reps tell me we should be able to share.

We have called and cancelled the prime and won't use it ever again. Period. For the pp that said you could share it with your friends, etc. amazon prime is ONLY supposed to be shared with other people in the same household according the their policy. That means amazon ASSUMES you all have seperate accounts. If you are sharing with your friends, then you are violating the amazon prime membership guidelines. They could easily check the IP addreses to keep that from happening.

You do realize that the poor Customer Service Rep you just insulted is from HERE in the USA, living here in the USA (if you live in the USA that is), is well trained and fairly well paid for dealing with upset people who don't feel particularly like being rational, right? A dear friend of mine is an Amazon Customer Service Rep. They treat their Customer Service employees well and many make this line of the business their career.

I'm sorry you were upset and wanted something that Amazon couldn't give you, but please don't insult or cast aspersions on a group of people who do their best to bend over backwards for customers 24/7.

 

[crazelion]

WOW how world is paying 180 for Amazon Prime. You don't need mutpile accounts. Just put all the devices on one account. That what I do. I am training be Amazon customer service rep.

Plus I love amazon prime for shipping.

 

[bumbershoot]

You do realize that the poor Customer Service Rep you just insulted is from HERE in the USA, living here in the USA (if you live in the USA that is), is well trained and fairly well paid for dealing with upset people who don't feel particularly like being rational, right?

DH works in the Kindle dept (not CS), and checked for me before I responded. There *are* international Call Centers that a .com customer might actually reach, in a small percentage of the contacts, IF the US call centers are "full".

This is very different from when hubby and I met working amazon CS, when the only people you would reach by phone were in the US. We did have email support in India then but not phone.

And I was even an outsourcer for amazon.co.uk, by email! They paid us cheap US-based CS reps our pittance (LOL) while the very very well paid UK reps were sleeping or having holidays. And I haven't been able to spell "color" in the US way (without thinking about it) since then!

 

[Sheaboys]

I have 5 Kindles on my Amazon Prime account. 2 regular kindles (one is mine, one is my MIL's), and 3 Kindle Fire's (for our 3 oldest boys). No one has ever had an issue with streaming the free stuff, I have 1 kid that watches stuff all the time on his. They all share the games and we all share the books. Because what I buy and my MIL buys for books shows up on their kindles.

No issues. My MIL pays me back on what she purchased once every 2 months or so.

Every single time someone purchases something with their kindle it comes directly to my e-mail, even if it is free, which is what the boys always get is the free games.
I Love Prime!

 

[topolino]

In fact, when we called the customer rep he didn't know it either. He kept saying "That's not right" (in broken English of course).

This makes you sound like a xenophobe and it won't win you much favor with many of the posters here on this board, myself included.

 

[Hrhpd]

My DH signed up for an amazon prime membership today b/c we are getting my DD7 a Kindle Fire for her birthday. We wanted her to be able to use the free book a month and the streaming. We are going to open a seperate amazon account for her using a pre-paid debit card. We don't want a 7 year old having a Fire linked to our accounts (hence our credit card.) Well, the "invitees" of a prime member are not allowed to use any of the features of amazon prime except the free shipping. That's right! For me to stream on my account I have to pay ANOTHER $79 and my daughter would have to pay ANOTHER $79. That's $237 for 3 people who all live in the same house to use the streaming service on amazon. That doesn't even give you access to every movie/ TV show; only the ones amazon says. We pay about $180/ year for Netflix and everybody in the house can use it on every device we want to. Get a clue, amazon!

I have 5 fires on our family account. They all have full streaming privileges.

You can put in a different cc for your Kindle purchases than the one you use for shopping. Just have the whole family use the pre-paid card for Kindle stuff.

 

[Hrhpd]

I can understand the hesitation, kids don't always do what they are supposed to. On another board I frequent there is a poster whose friend's kid charged over $4000 (yes you read that right) in stuff on his Kindle Fire. Apparently Amazon has agreed to drop that significantly, but the mom is on the hook for 100's of dollars still.
I fund my dd's account with gift cards. She has a pre-paid CC set up as her 1-click payment but there is never more than $10 on it. I didn't trust her to share my account because its just too easy for things to add up before even realizing it. Some adults can't even manage that

That is hard to believe that a child could rack up $4,000 before a parent would notice. I get an immediate e-mail for every purchase, even the free stuff downloaded. Easy to track who is downloading what.

 

[princessnoelly]

.

Amazon is the furthest things from a rip off I have ever experienced. We love Amazon!

 

[Alesia]

That is hard to believe that a child could rack up $4,000 before a parent would notice. I get an immediate e-mail for every purchase, even the free stuff downloaded. Easy to track who is downloading what.

I agree. How could you not notice?

 

[LuLuO]

We have two kindles and a fire. The fire belongs to my mom. The fire and our roku are set up for streaming. Never had any issues.

Amazon customer service is really fantastic in my experience. They are always more than accommodating.