Amazon prime charged me despite cancelling my membership. What can I do

[ChildOfTheMoon]

I cancelled my prime membership on 2nd January.
My membership ended on 11 Jan. I received all emails confirmation of cancellation on 2nd Jan
yet amazon have automatically decided to take it upon themselves to charge me for another month.
I watched a film yesterday, before my membership ran out. Finished the film but didn't close prime down . As a result they are saying I've used prime and will not refund me. I had no idea it was not supposed to be active since it allowed me to play, I assumed it must still be active yet.

I assumed once my membership expired Amazon couldn't continue to use prime membership anyway? Since I had cancelled it. How can they automatically renew the membership after customer has cancelled ? Surely this isn't allowed.
They have activated my membership and charged me without my permission and are now refusing to refund me the full amount.
The way I see it is I shouldn't have used any prime at all since it should have expired when my membership ran out.
I didn't realise what time of day it would expire, and had I tried to use it without a membership then it shouldn't have been allowed to play at all. Surely it should say you don't have a membership to watch this?
Is there anything I can do anout this?
Amazon are basically telling me too bad.
I find it so infuriating this company is allowed to active membership and charge people without their permission .
I didn't renew it because I can't afford to take prime this month , and while it may be a little amount for some people this month it is for me considering I'm not going to short for a bill and will likely have to pay £24 for a late fee and admistration fee for that bill which I cannot afford since my rent has now increased £60 this month a month and I'm struggling this month as it is.
I'm just bloody fuming these companies can just disregard the cancellation agreement and charge people anyway

I would complain and complain some more, usually via the chat. By their logic, anyone can log in to Amazon video and watch something and find themselves charged. Essentially if your membership ended the onus is on them to switch off your access. You did pay for the 11th if that was your end date.

How did you get in contact with Amazon? Ring them or use their live chat. They're normally quite forgiving with the refunds in my experience. What they're saying only makes sense if you hadn't cancelled it beforehand and are asking to cancel it now. You definitely cancelled the subscription on 2nd? Get in contact with them again.

Prime is so irritating. I don't want it, but they're constantly trying to trick me into signing up for it. They succeeded in the past, too. The first time I agreed to the trial period on the assumption they'd give me a choice at the end of it. In fact they charged me. I called and got a refund. That put me off it for life.

Wow that’s ridiculous.

Don’t Amazon offer some free content? So how is a customer supposed to know what’s free or not?!

It’s their job to ensure you don’t watch their content for free, not yours!

OP, get angry, they are in the wrong here!

I’m assuming you didn’t agree to sign up to a new sub when watching?

Keep complaining. If someone has to spend more than maybe an hour dealing with your complaint, it becomes uneconomical for them.

Yes contacted them via chat.
They indeed confirmed that my membership was cancelled on 2nd January but keep banging on about how I've used prime after I've been charged this month so won't refund me fully.
I told them I want to file a complaint with the relevant department but they said just ok do that we can't help you since you've used prime benefits.

That's exactly how I feel. Once my membership expired they should have cut access off

This is what is says in their terms and conditions:

Paid members who haven't placed an order using the benefits of Amazon Prime are eligible for a full refund. Paying members who have only used Amazon Prime delivery benefits may be eligible for a partial refund. If the other benefits (Prime Video, Prime Music, or Prime Gaming) have been used, members aren't eligible for a refund

So I'm guessing because you've used Prime Video in your current membership month you won't be entitled to a refund.

@Flower35214 thankyou for that , but the thing is I hadn't consented to paying for prime membership as that should have terminated when I cancelled my membership

Just go back on live chat they are usually very good.

Ohhhh, so they've charged you for the month after the 12th?

Why did you watch a film after you had cancelled your membership? I think by doing that you have entered, albeit unwittingly, into a another contract with them.

Sorry, I’m finding your post very confusing so may have got this wrong.

I'd try email them. Are you sure you didn't buy anything else since it expired as sometimes it's hidden in there "I'd like to take advantage of prime and get free delivery" type thing, and it's very easy to just see the "free delivery".

I cancelled my prime and got about a dozen messages telling me that my card had expired and I must renew it asap otherwise my prime membership would expire.
The card hadn't expired, but I assume that cancellation looks like that to them.

I phone the bank and cancel dds if I don't want to renew a subcription. Some companies, Sky looking at you, pestered with letters and calls to come back but all were ignored.

@ChildOfTheMoon cancelled the membership of Prime early, which expired 11/01/24. She was entitled to use it up until 11/01/24.

She watched a film on 11/01/24 but Amazon are saying that she used Prime overnight, so they charged her.

Thanks.

I’m a bit confused too. So you cancelled on 2 January, and the last day of your membership was 11 January? And you started to watch a film on 11 January, went to bed leaving it on, and then on 12 January, what? Watched the rest of the film or turned it off? But they’re saying because you had it on your tv on 12 January, you used a Prime benefit?

It’s not really fair… once you’ve cancelled, I agree you just shouldn’t be able to use any of the benefits without consciously signing up again. When I’ve cancelled my subscription to other streaming services, if I’ve opened the app I haven’t been able to use it (ie I cancelled the films part of my NowTV subscription but not the TV part, so I can still stream TV shows but not films - if I try, it just says I need to upgrade my subscription, it doesn’t let me watch the film and start billing me!).

So was the 12th your renewal date, maybe there was some confusion between the end date and the renewal date. Mine renews on the 16th so end date is 15th

@spanishviola I cancelled in good time before renewal, but your entitled to use your benefits until the next bill date.
It didn't state a specific time on the 11th at which it would expire. I assumed like all previous subscriptions I've had with Disney ect that it would expire at midnight but they charged me early on 11th , they charged me BEFORE I had watched anything

If they charged you on the 11th that must have been your renewal date not end date, end date was the 10th, what did the email say.

If they charged you on the 11th then your renewal must have been the 11th. You could go to your bank and ask them to do a chargeback because you didn't authorise the payment.

You chose to watch the film despite knowing your membership was about to run out but not knowing exactly when, so I'd say it's tough luck.

I would have thought the same though I’m ultra cautious about things like that.

My guess is membership ceases at 00.00 on the 11th. That’s way you have been charged. Had you watched the film 9n the 10th you would probably beenok

but I agree I would have expected prime to say you dont have access

Are you sure that the 11th was not your renewal date? This would mean it expired on the 10th.

Maybe Amazon feel they have enough of a monopoly now to start showing their bad face.

What they’re going to OP would have unthinkable 5 years ago.