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 Amazon.com Prime Membership Complaint
Posted Wed July 25, 2012 10:18 pm, by Nancy S. written to Amazon.com, Inc.
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For many years, I have been a faithful and loyal customer of Amazon.com, literally spending thousands of dollars on a variety of items. Until I believe November or December of 2011, I also purchased a service entitled "Amazon Prime Membership", which for an annual fee of $79 afforded me a various benefits including an upgraded shipping option. Please note that although I did purchase a vast assortment of items (pet supplies, sundries, food, DVDs, health and beauty supplies etc.), the majority of my purchases were books and novels. As a Christmas gift in 2011, I received an Amazon Kindle. At this point, I reconsidered whether or not I should renew my Prime Membership, and because I wasn't particularly savy with respect to the Kindle, I chose to let the membership lapse.
Recently, in a conversation with a fellow Kindle user, she pointed out to me that my thinking relative to the use of a Prime Membership in conjunction with my Kindle was incorrect and that I would more than likely benefit greatly by renewing my Prime membership as it would entitle me to discounted book purchases and other benefits that I was unaware of. She convinced me to renew.
So, in the same manner that I do when I purchase items from Amazon, I went to my local grocery store, purchased a $100 Amazon gift card and proceeded this evening to attempt to purchase the Prime Membership. Imagine my shock, then dismay when I discover buried in the fine print, that my Prime Membership is not eligible to be purchased via the gift card I had already applied to my Amazon.com account.
I called Customer Service to see if perhaps I was doing something wrong and spoke to a nice customer service representative named Diane, who politely listened to my complaint but was unable to help me. As a matter of fact, I would like to point out here that it took Diane several moments to locate this item in the fine print so this information is not readily accessible.
I also feel the need to comment here that Amazon.com strongly recommends the use of their gift cards, especially in the Kindle world where one is encouraged to keep gift cards on file for 1-click purchases. It's interesting to me that Amazon.com supports and encourages the use of gift cards for everything except their own product.
I asked for my call to be elevated to a supervisor and after waiting over 15 minutes, a nice gentleman by the name of Leonard got on the line. I told him I wanted to file an official complaint and stated to him much the same as is written above. I asked if I would receive an acknowledgment or reply and he told me he could not guarantee that, which I also thought was interesting and disappointing. Ultimately, I asked him to include in his written version of my complaint a statement similar to "customer is requesting response" but again he did not feel comfortable guaranteeing me any type of response. Seriously?
I would like Amazon.com to accept my gift card as the form of payment for my Prime Membership fee. Obviously, I will not threaten to quit shopping at Amazon.com, as that would be ludicrous and silly. However, I would like you to know how disappointed I am on multiple levels with respect to these issues and would appreciate hearing back from someone.
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by franese Posted Fri July 27, 2012 @ 4:15 PM
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1. It is quite clear that you cannot purchase Prime with a gift
card.
2. Your friend is incorrect - Prime does not offer lower price books
for your Kindle, but you do have access to a lending library where you
can borrow certain books (one a month) and it is only for certain
books.
3. I have been a Kindle owner for over 2 years. Amazon has never
"encouraged" the use of gift cards for ordering books for the Kindle.
What you do need to order books for your Kindle is a credit card on
file..that is for 1-click purchasing. And if you happen to have a
gift card balance the funds will come from there first. So whether or
not you have a gift card balance, you stil need to have a credit card
on file for 1-click purchasing.
4. Personally, I certainly hope you used some kind of points to get
that gift card - it makes no sense to me to purchase a gift card with
your own money and then complain that you have to spend your own money
to get something
5. We all have to take responsibility for reading "the fine print" -
and this "fine print" is not buried
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by jeishere Posted Fri July 27, 2012 @ 8:42 AM
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If you have spent thousands of dollars at Amazon over the years, it
shouldn't take you long to use the giftcard for regular purchases.
Its too bad that you missed this in the fine print, but it sounds like
it is clearly stated in there so you should just live with your
mistake. And in the end its not like you have lost anything, you
still have the $100 gift card to buy amazon merchandise.
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by Back_n_TX Posted Thu July 26, 2012 @ 5:44 PM
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I don't know about anyone else, but I really don't see any rational
reason for Amazon not to allow an Amazon gift card to be used to
purchase and Amazon item -- be it subscription or otherwise. If you
find out it's fraud -- turn of the subscription.
The only possible reason is that they want a live credit card so that
they can autorenew it.
I agree with the OP. Amazon should take the card.
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by spunkyboy08 Posted Thu July 26, 2012 @ 2:36 PM
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So you read the fine print that stated that your Prime Membership is
not eligible to be purchased via the gift card that you had already
applied to your Amazon.com account, & you want an exception to the
rules.
You indicated that you saw this in the fine print.
Why do you feel that you deserve an exception to the rules?
I am having a hard time understanding that since you indicated that
you saw in the fine print that your gift card that you had already
applied to your Amazon.com account cannot be used.
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another person who wants an exception to the rules made just for her.
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by PepperElf Posted Thu July 26, 2012 @ 11:18 AM
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"buried in the fine print, that my Prime Membership is not eligible to
be purchased via the gift card I had already applied to my Amazon.com
account."
The problem with that statement is that... you pretty much verified
that it WAS available to you if you had tried reading it.
"Fine print" these days doesn't actually mean anything when it comes
to online sources. Not when you can use "command +" on a mac or
"control +" on a PC to enlarge the print.
So if they say "no" it is something you may have to accept... since
you verified that they did indeed provide the information to you - in
writing nonetheless.
I know you want them to change the policy for you but, it is not their
responsibility to ensure customers read the rules that they agree to.
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