Reply With QuoteI think they've shot themselves in the foot by forcing prime users to opt into the video service and pay a much higher annual fee. I have cancelled my prime renewal as I have absolutely no need (or desire) to subscribe to instant video.
Just Incase you weren't aware, LoveFilm is now Amazon prime video, which in a nutshell means that if you are a current LoveFilm member then you will either have to log on with an existing or new amazon account username and password, this will then convert your LoveFilm membership over to your Amazon account. Now here's the real pisser.
If you are a current Amazon user and have signed up to the Prime which last year cost you £49.99 ( you know the bit that gives you free kindle books and free delivery) this year it will cost you £79.99 whether you use Prime video or not. You have no option to opt out of the Prime video part and will have to pay full whack. You will now pay £79.99 a month and get the Prime video chucked in for the price which is ok if you use it.
If however you pay £5.99 a month currently but do not have a Amazon prime already then you will simply continue to pay £5.99 per month, nothing will change.......until you try and watch a series on there which you would normally get FREE through an I player like the Inbetweeners on 4od then if you want to continue to watch it you have to pay £1.89 per episode.......Bastards!!!!!!
If you have either LoveFilm or Amazon prime....it WILL change and you can do nothing about it apart form cancelling.
FFF.
Last edited by Franky Four Fingers; 28th February 2014 at 23:04. Reason: Typo
I think they've shot themselves in the foot by forcing prime users to opt into the video service and pay a much higher annual fee. I have cancelled my prime renewal as I have absolutely no need (or desire) to subscribe to instant video.
Amazon have gone from hero to zero for me... Just had to write around 15 emails (I can be a persistent b@stard when I need to be) in order to get them to refund me £60 on an issue that was of their making... Massively disappointing...
Luckily the wife signed up for prime last year when it was £49.99 and it runs out in May, so I will not have to pay £5.99 per month as it's been covered on the previous prime subscription. So I've cancelled both prime and prime video ( lovefilm) and they'll get naff all squared out of me from now onOriginally Posted by amii21
I hope others do similar in their droves... It'll teach them to rip people off underhandedly
Thanks for the heads up - I`d missed the change
I`ve just checked my account - found that I will be charged £79 from October - I don`t think so
Total rip off this, thought I would give it a whirl before making judgement but scanned about 200 pages of films available on their Prime Instant video service and couldn't find a single thing worth watching. Complete rubbish, they've lost a customer here.
You pay to watch movies at home! ;)
Nah most of mine I find free on the net....it's just for the kids I have Lovefilm.....doh Amazon prime
Yep and I think most people will miss it and not realise they can get the streaming service. I have not had 1 email about this at all....it really grips my sh1t
FFF
Ridiculous that Prime delivery is linked to Films now - what has one got to do with the other?
Not interested in Films but I'll have a look as it's 'free'. My Prime expires 22 December so should be good for Xmas and I'll cancel it then. Hopefully some delivery will turn up late - they usually add on a month if this happens so worth leaving cancelling as late as possible.
Well at least you realised you have the option to try it it until your prime runs out.....I would wager that many won't have a bloody clue!!
Eddie...any chance this could be put in the bear pit, just realised I've put it in the wrong place......I really want to swear!!!!!
They are pretty crap, we get the dvd's through the post. Never looked at the online stuff.
Are they not paying attention? I received an email 3 days ago titled "Kingstepper: Important information about your Amazon Prime membership" detailing the changes.
Presumably I wasn't singled out for this.
Sounds nasty, I'm sticking with my ATV2 and XBMC\Icefilms.
No I'm sure you weren't but I've just gone back a whole month on my amazon and lovefilm email and received nothing.
With that said though...it's still a kick in the nadds if you have no intention to use the streaming service whether you got the mail or not.
Yup received the same.
I've got the email but will probably end up paying to keep prime come next January when it's due for renewal unless I can get it free again, by ordering on the 23rd of Dec for next day delivery and it doesn't turn up, claim it means a ruined Christmas for the kids and bingo another 12 months free.
In fairness since getting prime I have started to use Amazon for most things and the free next day delivery is great, I must have saved the cost of prime each year in delivery charges, and others at work make use of the prime facility as well to save on delivery costs.
I must have been lucky as my prime membership renewed on 15.02 for £49 and it seems I now have prime and free movie streaming until Feb 2015... No complaints.
I think the pricing model is unfortunate, because it will (as demonstrated!) alienate some prime customers. I will however continue to pay. I use the one day delivery so much in a year it still works out economical, and I likely will get some use out of the instant video. It does seem it has some overlap with Netflix though.
All said, I now have Sky, Netflix and amazon prime instant video. Can't help but feel that all needs to be consolidated in some way.
Also - for anyone concerned about auto renewal - so long as you contact amazon as soon as you spot it on your statement they always offer a refund on auto-renews. They aren't trying to scam anyone.
Thanks for the heads up on this I just canceled the renewal of my prime when it comes up, I guess allot of others will as well. Seems a bit under hand they way have done this which makes me think twice about Amazon.
And I've just cancelled when my renewal comes up as well. Very poor from Amazon - but why did I expect any better..?
I'll be cancelling my Prime if they don't change their rules before renewal date. I've got no interest in paying an extra £30 to watch 5 year old films on my Kindle, when I can do the same on my TV with Netflix.
It's ok if you are a current lovefilm user and are paying for a prime as I think if you work it out will save you money. £49.00 last years prime + £5.99x12 - £72.00 =£121
Now it will cost you £79.00 for both....but if you're not going to use then it's a bit of a piss take really.
FFF
I use Prime for delivery on an almost daily basis, so £49 is more than reasonable. I cancelled Love Film a couple of years ago because it was so crap, so I certainly won't be paying an additional £30 for something I don't want. If you factor in my subscriptions they're going to be losing a lot more than they'd gain.
How does love film compare to netflix?
Well I am confused!
Found out that the account needed to be transferred over to Amazon Prime this morning when my dinosaur obsessed 3 year old insisted on watching "Land Before Time" at 530 this morning.
I have only ever been a Lovefilm customer, does this mean I now get Amazon Prime shipping rates by default for my standard £4.99 a month??
Best regards,
Chris
I emailed them about this, saying that I used the delivery bit of prime, but I don't even have any of the devices which can use either their ebook borrowing or their film streaming, so would not be renewing prime (would be cancelling) when it runs out in Oct 2014.
My email was sent a couple of hours ago, and I've had a reply.
They understand my situation (no devices), my complaint will be passed on to the appropriate management, and they were extending my prime subscription for 3 months (Jan 2015) so that I would have more time to think about it. My guess is that they hope I just forget to cancel. (I've put it in my diary, with a reminder at 7 days and 1 day :) ). Maybe they will have a rethink, you never know.
Best wishes,
Bob
I'm coming at this from a different point of view. When Amazon offered Lovefilm Instant as a £30 add-on to Prime in September last year, I signed up. It got me Lovefilm Instant for less than £3 per month. Since then I've watched enough to make it worthwhile. Amazon were up front with the announcement, posting it prominently on the front page and sending me at least 2 emails about it. I don't think any Prime customer could miss the increase and what it offers. Amazon also gave me a £30 refund so I'm not penalised for taking up the offer early. That's good customer service.
Something else to bear in mind is that this is now a very similar offer to Prime in the US. There, Prime offers free 2 day delivery and streaming for $79 per year (plus sales tax). Here we will pay £79 for next day delivery and streaming.
I find netflix has more recent releases
No you won't have to get Amazon Prime for the price of £79 a year....you can just carry on paying £5.99 per month. If you already have Amazon Prime for which you pay £49.99 last year on renewal it would be now £79.00 but you get Amazon Prime Video thrown in for the price.
Last edited by Franky Four Fingers; 1st March 2014 at 19:08.
A lot of the postal charges on Amazon are free anyway so I really don't get the point. I see no connection with Prime delivery and Prime video....they're just hoping people won't realise.
For existing Prime customers that have no interest in the streaming service, this is effectively increasing the cost of Prime by over 30 times the current rate of inflation! I've just emailed amazon to suggest they rename the service to Sub-Prime if this is an example of how they intend to treat their 'best' customers.
I buy loads of stuff from amazon, and have generally been very happy with the service, but this has left a bad taste. And I'm still waiting for my Max Bill ordered from them on 9 December!
I just tried this approach and they emailed to advise they've cancelled my renewal. I was stupid enough to buy a 7" Kindle, which in their view is a perfectly acceptable device for viewing movies.
They've made it unnecessarily complicated IMO.
If I've got this right, I've been on the Lovefilm 2-discs Unlimted, which included free streaming of quite a lot of archive stuff, including TV series. Most of that now seems to have "Prime" written across the top - so I assume I no longer have access to that stuff?
TBF I hardly ever watched anything streamed, but it seems I'm now paying the same for less?
Been a Prime member for years. I buy lots of stuff from Amazon and allways thought it was good value. Not interested in streaming video malarkey, so just cancelled my membership. Another one bites the dust...
I think that this is going be an all too familiar sight in the coming months. I was considering getting a prime membership, but at £79 it's way too expensive for me. £49 was pushing it as it was!
Another thing which is really peeing me off about this is the fact they are charging you £1:89 to watch tv episodes you get free through an I player. I have currently been watching episodes series 1,2,3 of the Inbetweeners on Lovefilm but that is no more, it's £1:89 per episode now.
I phoned them up tonight with a rant about this and apparently it's because of licensing issue...yeh my arse it is!!
They're having our pants down, I would urge you all to phone them up and tell them to p*s* off.
Last edited by Franky Four Fingers; 3rd March 2014 at 20:55.
As a Lovefilm user with an Amazon account, nothing has changed for me so I'm pretty relaxed.
Nothing has changed? Something would have changed.......
I'm assuming you pay for prime delivery, if so then it will increase to £79.00 next renewal and in that price you get Prime video(Lovefilm) so yeh you are quids in.
The thread was started because there's many out there who have no intention or need to watch streaming video SO the increase will be £30 pa for nothing for those users.
To say nothing has changed for you, I'm also assuming you didn't watch many TV series on Lovefilm then?
FFF
A couple of incorrect assumptions there. I watch a lot of TV through Lovefilm but I don't pay for prime delivery.
Nothing I'm watching at the moment (Dexter, Nip/Tuck etc) is being charged for.
If it becomes a problem I'll vote with my feet.
Well that's good then......still at least nothings changed.
I had an email from RBS last Thursday reminding me of the benefits of my current account; one of which was, as of April 1, my complimentary Lovefilm subscription (that I didn't know I had) will include unlimited streaming free of charge. I've since signed up and have been redirected to my Amazon account but I believe I should get all streaming (and up to 3 DVD rentals per month) for nowt. Guess I should be 'on my guard'.
I don't think you get 3 free DVDs a month but I could be wrong
FFF
I am only going by what the email said yesterday, Franky.
I really liked Prime, but having had a wee look at the movies and TV available, I will not be renewing my subscription when it falls due in September. I am not paying £30 for something I don't want and didn't sign up for.
It will be interesting to se if Amazon take note of the backlash from current Prime users as they vote with their feet and change their policy.
Funnily enough, I've now managed to navigate the (very confusing) Amazon Instant Video/Lovefilm section, and it appears my Lovefilm 2-disc with unlimited streaming (prev £9.99 pm), has been converted to Lovefilm Prime Instant Video at £6.99, paying £4 for the Lovefilm by post option.
It therefore turns out I'm getting effectively the same service as before - which is only fair. I am hoping they are going to keep the prices as they are.
Amazon have either been very clever or very stupid with this move. At the moment I'm undecided.
I'm going with very stupid. A lot of people I know are leaving.
In my opinion Amazon know very well that the majority of their members do not give a rats about their 'new' film streaming and will certainly not allow themselves to be stiffed for this new massively hiked prime subscription.
My call is that their beancounters have realised that with increased postal/shipping charges, prime is now much less profitable. This is typical short-term thinking by beancounters who do not much care that Amazon's long term profitability will be affected as customers who abandon prime will certainly make less purchases from Amazon.
It is always the way with beancounters to ignore long term profitability as whenever a company's sales drop and their position comes under threat, they just move on to another company as declining sales performance is, in their eyes, nothing to do with them!
I know the beancounters on here will not agree with me, well they wouldn't, would they?
Last edited by KavKav; 5th March 2014 at 13:10.
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