How to get a £95 Amazon Prime refund as it agrees to £1.1billion payout for US customers over sign-up failures

AMAZON has agreed to a huge $2.5billion (£1.9billion) payout for allegedly tricking customers into signing up for Prime membership.

A massive $1.5billion (£1.1billion) of that money is being paid directly to customers.

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The US-based company had been accused of duping customers into signing up for Amazon Prime and then making it difficult to cancel.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which brought a court case against Amazon over the issue, said around 35 million Prime customers will be eligible for a payout.

Customers who signed up for Prime between June 23, 2019 and June 23, 2025 through certain offers and who used few Prime benefits afterwards will automatically receive $51 (£38).

Amazon’s Prime service gives members unlimited free one-day deliveries on certain items, as well as access to its music and video streaming services.

They can also borrow some Kindle books for free and get unlimited photo storage on Amazon photos.

It’s not yet clear whether Prime customers in the UK will be able to get the compensation too.

The Sun has reached out to Amazon for comment.

However, there is still a way to get your money back for an unwanted Amazon Prime subscription – we’ll have more on that below.

What is the case against Amazon?

The FTC had accused Amazon of making it deliberately difficult for customers to buy an item without also subscribing to Prime.

It said that in some cases customers were presented with a button to complete their transactions which didn’t clearly state it would enrol them for membership.

The complaint also said getting out a subscription was often too complicated.

Amazon was accused of slowing or rejecting changes that would have made cancelling easier.

The settlement came days after a trial began in Seattle this week.

Amazon admitted no wrongdoing in the case.

It said it was confident it would win but chose to resolve it quickly by settling rather than going through potentially years of trial and appeal.

Amazon spokesperson Mark Blafkin told media: “Amazon and our executives have always followed the law and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers.

“We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership, and to offer substantial value for our many millions of loyal Prime members around the world.”

Under the settlement, Amazon is not allowed to misrepresent the terms of its subscriptions.

It must fully disclose any costs for the customer and get their express consent before they are signed up.

Amazon said it didn’t need to make any additional changes as it’s had a new sign-up and cancellation process in place for a year.

How you could claim back £95

Some shoppers say they have been signed up to Amazon without realising.

This might be if they were signed up for a free 30-day trial and didn’t realise they needed to cancel during the trial to avoid being charged.

If you sign up for the trial but don’t cancel, you will be automatically enrolled for either a year or pay-monthly depending on which option you chose when you signed up for the trial.

If you’re charged the annual fee you’ll have £95 taken from your account, or if you’re charged monthly it will be £8.99.

You can check if you have Prime by logging into your Amazon account and going to Manage Prime Membership.

If you’re a member then it will show details of your Prime plan and cost.

Of course, if you’re still within the free trial period then you should make sure to cancel before the trial ends.

You will still continue to receive Prime services until the trial period ends.

There are still ways to get your money back if you’ve been charged after the trial ended.

If your free trial has ended and you’re still being charged, go to Manage Membership and click ‘End membership’.

Amazon says that if you haven’t used your Prime account for any Prime services since the trial ended, you’ll automatically have your money refunded.

It is harder to get a refund if you’ve unknowingly used Prime services.

You could contact Amazon directly, explain what’s happened and ask for a refund in this case.

If you subscribed to Prime without a free trial, you can cancel within 14 days of signing up.

Again you’ll just need to go to Manage Membership and click ‘End membership’.

As long as you haven’t used any Prime services in this time, you’ll automatically get your payment refunded.

If you did use Prime services within the first 14 days, you’ll be given a partial refund based on your “use of Prime benefits”.

Once the 14 days have passed, your only option again is to contact Amazon directly and explain what’s happened.