Amazon Dinged by FTC for Poor Customer Experience

The Gist

Dark patterns. Amazon allegedly used "dark patterns" to trick customers into Prime subscriptions.
Subscription cancellation. The FTC claims Amazon made it intentionally hard for users to cancel subscriptions.
Legal consequences. Amazon's actions allegedly violated the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act.

Say it ain't so. Amazon getting called out for poor customer experience?

It is so. And it's not some lone Twitter rant, either. It's the US federal government.

The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint yesterday against Amazon for its "years-long effort to enroll consumers into its Prime program without their consent while knowingly making it difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions to Prime." Amazon knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in Amazon Prime and used "manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as 'dark patterns' to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically-renewing Prime subscriptions."

Doesn't sound Amazon-ey. The company's been hailed for its superior customer experience, with analysts and customer experience leaders often citing the ecommerce provider as the standard-bearer of customer experience excellence.

'Amazon Tricked and Trapped People'

Not in the eyes of the FTC, which dinged Amazon for failing at two hallmark elements of a customer experience program: customer acquisition and customer service. Considering the praise Amazon gets in these departments for being super easy and flexible, the FTC revelations should be a shocker to the CX industry.

The FTC claims Amazon's goal with the Prime cancellation process was not to stop customers from doing so. You can't fault companies for offering incentives to stay around as customers when they want to leave. That's a pretty common tactic. ("You sure you want to go?") However, the FTC cites Amazon's actions as trickery.

“Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in a statement. “These manipulative tactics harm consumers and law-abiding businesses alike. The FTC will continue to vigorously protect Americans from 'dark patterns' and other unfair or deceptive practices in digital markets.”

Because Amazon used so-called “dark patterns” to cause consumers to enroll in Prime without their consent, this violated the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, according to the FTC.

FTC Breaks Down Amazon Prime's Poor CX

According to the FTC, here's how Amazon delivered deceptive practices around Amazon Prime:

Tough to make purchase without subscription. Amazon offered numerous ways to subscribe to Amazon Prime for $14.99 per month during its online checkout process. However, it was difficult for consumers to purchase items on Amazon without subscribing to Prime. In some cases, the button presented to consumers to complete their transaction did not clearly state that in choosing that option they were also agreeing to join Prime for a recurring subscription, according to the FTC.
Hard to cancel subscription. Amazon aimed to deter consumers from successfully unsubscribing from Prime. It included multiple steps to actually accomplish the task of canceling, according to the FTC complaint. Amazon made it difficult for consumers to locate the cancellation flow, then were redirected to multiple pages that presented several offers to continue the subscription at a discounted price, to simply turn off the auto-renew feature or to decide not to cancel. Only after clicking through these pages could consumers finally cancel the service, according to the FTC.
No actions until FTC intervention. Amazon's executives failed to take any meaningful steps to address the issues until they were aware of the FTC investigation, and it attempted to delay and hinder the FTC's investigation in multiple instances, according to the FTC complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Amazon: We'll Prove Ourselves in Court

In a statement, Amazon disputed the claims by the FTC and called the FTC's complaint announcement this week premature.

"The truth is that customers love Prime, and by design we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership," an Amazon spokesperson said. "We also find it concerning that the FTC announced this lawsuit without notice to us, in the midst of our discussions with FTC staff members to ensure they understand the facts, context, and legal issues, and before we were able to have a dialog with the Commissioners themselves before they filed a lawsuit. While the absence of that normal course engagement is extremely disappointing, we look forward to proving our case in court."

Have a tip to share with our editorial team? Drop us a line: