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"Try it free for 30 days" is very different from "Try it free for 30 days but if you don't cancel, we'll charge you from then onwards" - especially when Amazon

by ds_ 13y ago

"Try it free for 30 days" is very different from "Try it free for 30 days but if you don't cancel, we'll charge you from then onwards" - especially when Amazon already have my card on file from previous purchases.

GrinningFool 13y ago
To me it seems implied? "It is free for 30 days but then it is not free anymore." I don't know, maybe I read too much into it - but when I signed up, I was aware that I was both getting 30 days free, and that I would pay for it after. And I don't recall that I had to read any fine print to glean that understanding.
- ds_ 13y ago
  I may have been naive and I won't make the same mistake again. However, most people are used to trials expiring and being forced to explicitly upgrade to continue using X product. This practice seems scammy because it is something unexpected to a lot of users, and I'm sure whoever came up with it knew full well that people would be misled.
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > However, most people are used to trials expiring and being forced to explicitly upgrade to continue using X product. Actually, the free trial period with automatic billing at full price at the end of the period is a fairly common model that people in the US are used to (even if they don't like it); either it or the very similar discounted introductory period with automatic billing at full price at the end of the introductory period model is used for almost every periodic membership-based service that exists. So, I doubt very much that your statement about what most people are used to is accurate. (It may be what your experience genuinely was and the basis for your expectation despite the very clear explicit statement to the contrary that Amazon provides with free Prime trials, but I don't see any reason to believe, and have plenty of reason to doubt, that it is generally the case.) And Amazon makes it unusually easy to cancel it for a full refund after the trial has expired and the full membership has been charged.

by ds_ 13y ago

GrinningFool 13y ago

To me it seems implied? "It is free for 30 days but then it is not free anymore." I don't know, maybe I read too much into it - but when I signed up, I was aware that I was both getting 30 days free, and that I would pay for it after. And I don't recall that I had to read any fine print to glean that understanding.

ds_ 13y ago
I may have been naive and I won't make the same mistake again. However, most people are used to trials expiring and being forced to explicitly upgrade to continue using X product. This practice seems scammy because it is something unexpected to a lot of users, and I'm sure whoever came up with it knew full well that people would be misled.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > However, most people are used to trials expiring and being forced to explicitly upgrade to continue using X product. Actually, the free trial period with automatic billing at full price at the end of the period is a fairly common model that people in the US are used to (even if they don't like it); either it or the very similar discounted introductory period with automatic billing at full price at the end of the introductory period model is used for almost every periodic membership-based service that exists. So, I doubt very much that your statement about what most people are used to is accurate. (It may be what your experience genuinely was and the basis for your expectation despite the very clear explicit statement to the contrary that Amazon provides with free Prime trials, but I don't see any reason to believe, and have plenty of reason to doubt, that it is generally the case.) And Amazon makes it unusually easy to cancel it for a full refund after the trial has expired and the full membership has been charged.