Amazon is not just an online store. The company offers its users (and companies) all types of services with which it seeks to engage its customers and, in the process, offer a complete experience when its name is spoken. These services are generally paid, such as Prime Video, Music or Audible. And, although some of them are included in the Prime subscription, others we have to pay for separately if we want to use them. Unless Amazon charges you for them without your permission, as has happened to me.
I have been an Amazon Prime user for many years, practically since the service landed in Spain. I use it mainly to shop online, although as they have added some services (such as Prime Video, or free Prime Gaming games), I usually use them, since they do not entail any additional cost to me.
In addition to these free services, Amazon has other additional services that, to use, you do have to pay a separate subscription. We are talking, for example, about Audible, its audiobook service, or Prime Music Unlimited, its streaming music playback platform without the limitations of the “Prime” plan. I do not usually use these services, among other things, because I already have alternatives that satisfy these needs. In the case of Audible I have my own private audiobook server, and in the case of music I have been a Spotify user since it landed in Spain.
So what was my surprise when, suddenly, yesterday I found a charge of 9.99 euros from Amazon on my card. A charge, supposedly, generated by paying for a subscription to Prime Music Unlimited, which I had obviously not paid for.
The first thing I did was think about whether I had accepted a trial version, which usually have automatic renewal activated by default. And no, since it doesn’t make sense (since I use Spotify Premium more than 12 hours a day). I also thought about other possibilities, such as that my daughter, or a family member, had inadvertently contracted the service through Alexa. But reviewing all the voice instructions from the last few hours, none of them talked about music, so this was not the reason either.
The subscription price doesn’t suit me either. A month ago, Amazon raised it from 9.99 to 10.99, and the charge that came to me was 9.99 euros. And I didn’t receive a payment confirmation email either. All very strange.
Be that as it may, Amazon has charged me for a service without my permission. And now that?
Claim unauthorized payment to Amazon
Luckily, Amazon responds very well to technical service. Since the payment was not reflected anywhere, what I did directly was contact them. For it, I went to this linkand I went to the “Payments, charges, invoices and gift vouchers” > “Unknown charge” > “Other unknown charges” > “I need more help” section.
I automatically landed on Amazon’s contact page. And from there I was able to open a chat (for me, the most convenient option, although you can also call by phone).
The agent who assisted me investigated my case, detected the charge (although he did not tell me why it had been made), and immediately proceeded to cancel it, cancel the automatic renewal of Prime Music, and return my money. In less than 5 minutes, the problem was already solved. And the money, in a few days, will be back in the bank.
How can you prevent it from happening to you?
We don’t know if it’s a mistake, or a “if it sneaks, it sneaks.” Be that as it may, I will not be the first, nor will I be the last, to whom Amazon has charged for a service that it does not want. To prevent this from happening to you, I recommend that you closely monitor the charges that Amazon makes on the card that you have linked to your account. Since no SMS, email or other notification arrived, if it had not been for the bank’s notice I would not have known about this charge.
In addition, I also recommend that you keep a close eye on the subscriptions you pay for. Especially the ones you activate, without realizing it, when you accept a trial version of, for example, 3 months. At the end of this period, it renews automatically, and during that time you will almost certainly have forgotten that you were subscribed.
Finally, if you encounter a charge from Amazon, it could still be for Prime. For example, if the payment is 49.90, they have probably charged you for the annual plan. If it is 4.99, you may be paying for the monthly plan for the service. And for 2.49, it would be the monthly plan for Amazon Prime students.
