The federal government is taking Amazon to task due to the challenges associated with canceling a Prime subscription. This is a widespread contemporary issue: enrolling in a service with the intention of utilizing a free trial, only to forget or face difficulties when attempting to cancel. This dilemma is so common that various services have emerged to assist in canceling unwanted subscriptions, although they frequently require a subscription themselves.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) initiated this case, asserting that Amazon’s Prime subscription might ensnare unsuspecting customers and is especially difficult to cancel. The FTC contends that as many as 40 million users have been impacted.
This week marks the start of the jury trial, and according to The Wall Street Journal, the FTC first filed a lawsuit against Amazon in 2023 under the Biden administration:
“The FTC, which took legal action against Amazon in 2023, claims the company deceived individuals into enrolling in the service without their awareness or agreement, including by clouding details concerning billing and the conditions of free trials. It asserts that Amazon constructed a maze to complicate the cancellation process, which the company referred to as ‘Iliad,’ referencing Homer’s epic regarding the lengthy and challenging Trojan War. Several specific Amazon executives are also listed as defendants.”
Jury selection was scheduled to commence on Monday, with opening statements to follow shortly thereafter. The trial is anticipated to last approximately a month, as highlighted by The Verge.
The FTC contends that Amazon previously required users to traverse four webpages and 15 options to cancel a Prime subscription. An Amazon representative refuted any allegations of misconduct, stating to the Journal, “the bottom line is that neither Amazon nor the individual defendants did anything wrong.”
Earlier this year, the FTC filed a similar case against Uber, alleging that Uber enrolled some customers in an Uber One membership without their awareness and made it unnecessarily challenging to terminate the monthly subscription.
This serves as a cautionary reminder to be vigilant regarding free trials, as auto-renewals can easily surprise you.