Amazon is changing its policy for Prime members. But how will it affect customers? One Prime member on TikTok says it has her considering canceling her membership.
Candace (@momma1323) aired her gripes with “Amazon’s new policies” in a viral TikTok that’s garnered over 3.1 million views. At the top of the clip, she states that Prime’s $180 cost, folks are ultimately getting less from the service.
“Most places you can no longer get 2-day shipping guaranteed. Now it’s 3, 4, 5 day shipping,” she says. “I just found out when you make a return, like I’m fixing to return some things that I bought. You know have to wait 30 days after they’ve received the item.”
While making this point, Candace shows a screenshot detailing the return policy. And it seems that her claim is correct, according to the information listed on this Amazon web page.
“I’m sorry what?” she says, incredulous as to how low long it takes for returns to officially process from the massively popular online retailer now.
Missing items
Candace says that to make matters worse, she’s noticed that while making large Amazon orders, an item will almost always be missing. When this happens, she says that she’ll often just contact Amazon and they’ll “refund” her or “send a new item out.”
She doesn’t fault the company when they do miss an item, stating that she understands due to their sales volume. But, she does have a problem with their new policy pertaining to these replacements and refunds.
She says that now, the company expects customers to send them a document explaining that an item is missing from their order. After the document is reviewed, it can take 24-48 hours to see whether or not a refund will be processed.
These refunds are based on “internal investigations” conducted by Amazon staffers themselves. “So they can legitimately just decide—no it’s not missing…and then you’re screwed.”
After listing these issues, Candace says that she doesn’t think the $180 a year Amazon Prime membership fee is worth it.
“Remind me of the benefits we’re paying $180 a year for again? Like you’re taking away all of the instant benefits that I pay for?” she says. “So that’s gonna be the next thing I’m canceling.”
@momma1323 You can’t take away all the benefits and still charge me the same and even continue raising the prices for less. ##amazon##amazonfinds##amazonscam##amazonprime##relatable##fypシ゚viral##foryoupage##fyp##viral##trending##inflation ♬ original sound – • C A N D A C E •
Prime members are canceling memberships
There were other folks who said that they, too, got rid of their Amazon Prime account due to the same issues.
One commenter on Candace’s clip said that they still enjoy free shipping on items as long as they’ve accrued $35 or more worth of products, too. “I cancelled Amazon prime. Still get free shipping on orders over $35. Still a week or so turn around time tho so didn’t see the point in paying for prime,” they wrote.
One person in the comments section, however, stated that they used to work for Amazon’s return center. According to their assessment of Candace’s gripes, they said that they believed she was “flagged” for returns not made in good faith. “I worked for Amazon customer return center, seems like someone reported/flagged you for fraudulent returns,” they said. “So when you return it will take longer bc they will investigate all your returns.”
Someone else said that Candace should probably order her items one at a time to make Amazon’s job more difficult and ensure the chain’s paying for more shipping: “Sounds like it’s time to order one..item..at..a..time. They can pay all that extra shipping.”
However, one user in the comments section replied that they haven’t had any issues with their Prime account. According to them, it’s business as usual. “That’s odd. I just did a Kohls return for Amazon this afternoon and the money is already in my account,” they claimed.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Amazon via email and Candace via TikTok comment for further information.
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