While it is very easy to sign up for Amazon Prime, it is much more difficult to cancel your subscription. A commercial technique deemed manipulative by the European Union, which requires simplifying the process.
Amazon Prime, the paid service of the e-commerce giant, has won over many customers. But for those who regret it or no longer want to pay it, the termination promises to be difficult. A way for Amazon to dissuade its users while automatically renewing their subscription… A subscription, billed at 49 euros per year or 5.99 euros per month, which notably makes free and priority deliveries while offering access to Prime Video, the platform video on demand (SVOD) from Amazon, 2 million music titles to listen to offline and a selection of digital books. And since you benefit from a 30-day free trial – a test offer offered with each order – it is very easy to subscribe inadvertently… and then forget to suspend the subscription only to find yourself debited the following month.
This is a classic process called dark pattern, which consists of influencing customer behavior to the advantage of sites and merchants, here by making it difficult for them to dissuade them from unsubscribing. The European Bureau of Consumers’ Unions (Beuc) thus considered that the e-merchant’s termination procedure included “a large number of obstacles to unsubscribing, including complicated navigation menus, biased wording, confusing choices and repeated pressing“.
The European Union forces Amazon to simplify the procedure
In a press release published on July 1, 2022, the European Commission has announced that Amazon will have to comply with the directive against misleading commercial practices. The e-commerce giant had to commit to very quickly offering a simplified termination procedure for its service. “Signing up for a subscription online can be very convenient for consumers, as it is often a very simple process. But the reverse action, namely unsubscribing, should be just as easy. Consumers must be able to exercise their rights without any pressure from the platforms“, explains Didier Reynders, the commissioner responsible for justice at the European Commission. A request which is based on thesection 4.2.7 of the European directive, which requires it to be “as easy to unsubscribe from a service as to subscribe to it”.
Even if Amazon started in 2021 to simplify the unsubscribe procedure on its site, it is not enough for the European Commission. Jeff Bezos’ company will therefore have to offer its customers “to unsubscribe in two simple steps, thanks to an easy and visible cancel button”, while simplifying the explanations surrounding the process “so that consumers are not distracted by warnings and deterred from cancelingr“.
Amazon commented through a spokesperson on the European Commission’s decision: “transparency and customer confidence are among our top priorities. By default, we make it simple and clear for our customers to subscribe or end a Prime subscription. We are constantly listening and working to improve the customer experience, as here within the framework of a constructive dialogue with the European Commission.“
Amazon is not the only one to use this process to keep its subscribers. This is also the case of Instagram, from which it was until now impossible to unsubscribe from the mobile application. Not long ago, Apple banged its fist and forced the app to update its iOS app to allow you to permanently delete your account from the app settings. In any case, the European Commission will continue to scrutinize, thanks to the national authorities, the implementation of the commitments made by Amazon in order to comply with European Union law on consumer protection.