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AIBU?

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Original poster

Holiday home bill on Prime :(

273 replies

BroodleToodle · 09/05/2022 17:56

More of a wwyd?

I went to a holiday home in the uk around a month ago and while we were there we logged into our own Netflix and Prime onto the tv as this was available. I logged out of Netflix but didn’t the prime it seems as today I’ve had a credit card bill for 340.00. My CC is attached to my prime account.

It lists a lot of prime video, and on logging in I can see that a lot of films have been bought, some to permanently keep in HD (15.99) a piece. All are charges from 1 week, so I’m guessing when a family were staying there?

the thing is what to do next? DFriend says that I should phone the credit card company and deny the charges? But it’s from my account!

DM thinks that I should call the bloody police as it’s theft

and I’m just at a loss, I’m aware that I left it logged in so I’m not sure if I’d even be able to put blame. I’ve messaged the holiday home owner and I’ve logged myself out of all devices

but wwyd?

also name change because I’m mortified

OP posts:
BeforeGodAndAllTheFish · 09/05/2022 21:21

Blueberrywitch · 09/05/2022 21:15

It’s still theft even if you didn’t log out!!! That’s the same as saying you didn’t lock your car/front door therefore the person wasn’t “stealing”. Absolutely you would have a claim.

Well, yes it is. But since the police dont even attend burglaries, they're really not going to investigate this.

It is theft. That would be a job for the police. But they wont deal with it.

But that doesn't really chance the stance a bank will take; if you leave yourself signed in then you haven't taken basic precautions to safe guard your money. They dont refund for that.

Amazon MIGHT as a gesture of goodwill, but they dont need to. If you leave yourself signed in and choose not to have a PIN then you're not taking any precautions to protest yourself.

Its theft but it's so low level that police wont do anything and the only recourse is relying on a goodwill gesture from amazon.

NumberTheory · 09/05/2022 21:22

StaunchMomma · 09/05/2022 20:43

It sounds like you have instant purchase on (no entering of a code when buying) and a child has gone mad.

Was it an air bnb? If so I'd speak to the host because they'll know who was in the property in that period. They can also give the holiday maker a negative review that would put other hosts off accommodating the family in the future.

This is a really harsh lesson to learn, bless you.

Show quote history

If it was some kid clicking through on a service that shouldn’t even be there it would be outrageous of the holiday home owner to give that family a bad review. Giving OP a bad review for leaving her account logged in with no pin or timely notification on purchases would be more reasonable.

bridgetreilly · 09/05/2022 21:26

I think you need to pay it, I’m afraid. If I went to a holiday home where there was Prime video on the TV, I’d think it was a nice perk and use it. I wouldn’t download paid things but I can see why people might. And I don’t think it’s anyone else’s responsibility to pay.

oioimatey · 09/05/2022 21:35

That's rough. I've not RTFT but ask Amazon first, and after that I'd contact the HH owner and ask them to contact the people who were watching that week, leaving your contact details.

Good luck!

Stravaig · 09/05/2022 21:36

@BroodleToodle Have you now set up a PIN so that every video purchase has to be approved? Stops any and all unauthorised spending.

On website:

Log in
Account & Lists (top right menu bar)
Your Account (from drop down list)
Digital Content & Devices box (scroll down)
Video Settings
Parental Controls (horizontal options)
Switch ON purchase restrictions & choose PIN

That's it!

AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair · 09/05/2022 21:41

Dibbydoos · 09/05/2022 20:33

Def call amazon whooght help, but if not do this!

The user knew it wasn't their account, but used it anyway, cheeky f-ers!

Show quote history

They clearly knew it wasn't theirs but surely the most likely assumption is that it comes as part of the rental not that the person before you has been foolish and left it logged in. Especially if a child has done it

Wetblanket78 · 09/05/2022 21:45

That's very cheeky😠😮 I'm not sure what you can do about it. Maybe contact Amazon my brother did when my niece ran up a bill over £100 on the app store. It's been done fraudulently by someone else on your account.

TooGiddy · 09/05/2022 21:50

It's so cheeky that they even did that!!! I really hope you manage to get your money back. It's so easily done to forget to log out somewhere.
Have the holiday home responded? What have Amazon said?

BeforeGodAndAllTheFish · 09/05/2022 21:52

@AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair

You think the most likely assumption is that they thought they had unlimited purchases on amazon prime?
Like, you think the majority of people would believe that they could purchase as many movies as they liked on amazon as part of their rental?

No. That is not the most likely assumption.

You would assume you can watch anything in the "free to me" section. A decent person would not start purchasing things.

I stayed in an air bnb and they had an alexa dot. We used it to play music. We asked for a song and it said it was onoy available on music unlimited and 'would you like to subscribe for £X a month". We obviously said no. Because it wasnt ours to spend money on!

In this case it sounds like a child just picking everything they fancied. Parents may or may not have known but it was probably a child going mad with the options so it's a bit different here but on no planet is the "most likely assumption" going to be that you can spend as much as you like on movies.

PurpleSalami · 09/05/2022 21:56

Serving police officer and as PPs have said this would likely be a fraud rather than theft.

Report for a crime number. Speak to your local force or actionfraud.police.uk.

If you provide the crime reference to Amazon they may refund.

Rainbowshit · 09/05/2022 22:03

I have a PIN on my account to approve purchases.

My sister doesn't and it's her account that's logged into at my parent's holiday home. I've bought films a couple of times on it to wind her up and she's texted me instantly to tell me what a CF I am. 😂😂

Did you not get any emails from Amazon?

Jaem23 · 09/05/2022 22:04

I had the same happen to me (albeit on a much smaller scale as only one film was purchased!)- I contacted Amazon and they did refund me and I remotely signed out of my account. I was shocked someone thought a holiday let would come with any Amazon account they could spend on to be honest. It baffles me!

NumberTheory · 09/05/2022 22:05

BeforeGodAndAllTheFish · 09/05/2022 21:52

@AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair

You think the most likely assumption is that they thought they had unlimited purchases on amazon prime?
Like, you think the majority of people would believe that they could purchase as many movies as they liked on amazon as part of their rental?

No. That is not the most likely assumption.

You would assume you can watch anything in the "free to me" section. A decent person would not start purchasing things.

I stayed in an air bnb and they had an alexa dot. We used it to play music. We asked for a song and it said it was onoy available on music unlimited and 'would you like to subscribe for £X a month". We obviously said no. Because it wasnt ours to spend money on!

In this case it sounds like a child just picking everything they fancied. Parents may or may not have known but it was probably a child going mad with the options so it's a bit different here but on no planet is the "most likely assumption" going to be that you can spend as much as you like on movies.

Since it’s kids stuff, I think the most likely assumption is that the kid thought that if it wasn’t blocked then they could watch it. I don’t know anyone with kids who lets them watch a pay per view service without having some kind of pin or other block to simply clicking and watching.

As an aside, I’d be furious if a holiday home I rented had a set up that let my kid spend money without some sort of parental oversight and approval. There is no way I’d be repaying the money if my kids had done that without my knowledge. OP can’t expect other parents to pay when she created the financial risk.

coffeecupsandfairylights · 09/05/2022 22:17

Blueberrywitch · 09/05/2022 21:15

It’s still theft even if you didn’t log out!!! That’s the same as saying you didn’t lock your car/front door therefore the person wasn’t “stealing”. Absolutely you would have a claim.

It may still be theft, but if you walk off and leave your car unlocked with the keys in the ignition, your insurance won't pay out if your car gets nicked.

That's what OP has done here - her Amazon account was left unlocked with her card details saved for anyone to access.

Is it theft for someone to use her account and spend her money? Technically yes, but the bank will very likely say that it's her responsibility for leaving her account open on a public TV with her card details saved on there!

ChoiceMummy · 09/05/2022 22:18

Dibbydoos · 09/05/2022 20:33

Def call amazon whooght help, but if not do this!

The user knew it wasn't their account, but used it anyway, cheeky f-ers!

Show quote history

If a child, why would they know it wasn't theirs to access?
My child understands how Netflix works, they'd no doubt assume that if everything was accessible it was a similar setup if they looked at prime. And I don't think that this is such a huge leap for many other children. Most of whom will have things locked down so they will not be used to purchases having any impact.

Cordeliathecat · 09/05/2022 22:20

We had exactly the same issue, although more like £50 as opposed to £340!
we didn’t even notice till about 6months later. Messaged Amazon and they refunded the charges and removed the content as goodwill
gesture.

MadameFantabulosa · 09/05/2022 22:22

We had this after we had left a holiday rental. I was fairly sure I had logged out, but contacted Amazon. Amazon told me that the person who had bought films on my account was in Korea. Was I, or had I ever been in Korea recently? No, so it looked like it had been hacked. I changed the password and they refunded the money.

PutTheBathOnPlease · 09/05/2022 22:30

Dur 🙄

AtticAttack3000 · 09/05/2022 22:45

Sounds like a kid to me too. I can imagine saying to my 7 year old to find something to watch on telly and then not paying much more attention (except to check it was age appropriate). If he had access to unlimited Prime he would definitely run up a huge bill & wouldn't even realise he was doing anything wrong because at home anything he's not allowed to access is protected by a PIN (which he obviously doesn't know)

AMBE123 · 09/05/2022 22:56

Ohsugarhoneyicetea · 09/05/2022 19:12

You don't know it was the holiday home, all you actually know is that your Amazon account was used fraudulently. I would contact them and state its been used fraudulently, that you have now changed your password and what is the process to recover your money. It happens and these organisations deal with it everyday. I'm sure Bezos will recover from the loss.

This ☝️☝️

Allthe4s · 09/05/2022 23:03

I have a PIN for purchases. Assumed it was standard.

sure this is no one closer to home?

PriamFarrl · 09/05/2022 23:22

Contact Amazon but I’m surprised that this didn’t flag up as unusual activity with the credit card company.

ApertureGLaDOS · 09/05/2022 23:25

I knew as soon as I read this it was going to be kids content. It sounds exactly like the trouble a lot of parents were finding themselves in on the App Store. I don’t think for smallish children this is them being naughty at all - just clicking on the things they like the look of and finding they can access it.

I don’t even think the other family are necessarily to blame either. I’d let me son use the remote to pick what he likes to watch (we do have a pin on our account) and as long as I glance up and see it’s something ‘safe’ on the opening screen I wouldn’t even think.

It’s entirely OP’s fault for a) not logging out and b) having instant purchase activated. That said, you really sure just contact Amazon and say it’s not your purchases (which is true). It’s very likely they will refund some or all the charges.

MagneticRubberDucks · 09/05/2022 23:42

This happened to a friend of mine.

she was recommended to contact Amazon and tell them she didn’t order it and to say she thinks her account was hacked, she did and they changed her password and refunded everything straight away.

HappilyHadesBound · 09/05/2022 23:53

I have to enter a pin too but anything and get a ton of notifications