Global content streaming platform, Amazon Prime, has been outed for intentionally complicating its subscription cancellation process to halt departing users.
Internal documents – which were obtained by Business Insider – unveiled a project code-named “Iliad” under which the platform intentionally lengthened its cancellation process via multiple layers of questions and extra offers.
According to the documents, membership cancellations actually fell 14 per cent due to more members avoiding the cancellation page, after the project was introduced in 2017.
That said, anyone with half a brain, and a subscription to any one of the dozens of global streaming services knows how difficult and confusing ending payments can be.
However, Bezos’ streaming baby seems to be “el jefe” when it comes to aggressively safeguarding any means of exit from its platform, with Insider revealing Prime has been on the end of multiple complaints made to the Federal Trade Commission for its complicated UX.
“Throughout the process, Amazon manipulates users through wording and graphic design, making the process needlessly difficult and frustrating to understand,” commented The Norwegian Consumer Council in January last year.
Amazon Prime VP, Jamil Ghani, recently responded to the allegations in a public statement, saying transparency and trust for customers were “top priorities”.
“By design we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership. We continually listen to customer feedback and look for ways to improve the customer experience,” the statement read.
This isn’t the first time Prime has been called out for its tricky UX and UI practices. In fact, in 2017 Amazon was hit with a class action lawsuit for its methods of “falsely advertising” membership offers.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged they purchased products from Amazon under the impression they would not be charged for an accompanying Prime account. However, they were all charged for a multiple year membership. Amazon reportedly refused to refund the plaintiffs.
“[Amazon] knew that their representations and omissions were untrue and misleading, and deliberately made the aforementioned representations and omissions in order to deceive reasonable consumers,” alleged the class action complaint.
Combined with dodgy warehouse practices, a storied history of union busting, and sociopathic robot coworkers, Prime’s dodgy UX and UI adds another chapter to the global tech monolith’s questionable ways.
