‘I’m out and canceled’ anger Amazon Prime subscribers over ‘disrespect’ from app
AMAZON members admit they canceled their subscriptions after a controversial change to Prime Video.
Earlier this year, Amazon started showing ads on Prime Video content.
The only way to remove the ads is to upgrade to a higher ad-free tier, which means you’ll have to pay an extra $2.99/£2.99 every month.
This sparked outrage among Amazon fans, with one irate customer calling it “insane” in a post on Reddit.
She said: “This is not just about the quality of Prime Video, but also about the disrespect towards subscribers who have to waste time watching crap ads.”
One angry user replied: “I canceled Prime the same day I got my first ad for a video I was going to watch.
“Ad is unskippable. So if Prime expires, I’ll just uninstall Prime Video.”
Another said: “We had been at Amazon for over a decade. We canceled in September when we heard there would be advertisements.
“We already paid $139, I wasn’t going to pay more money for mediocre service. We discovered Apple TV and Ted Lasso. We win!”
And someone added: “Today I canceled my subscription because they showed no respect to us, loyal customers.”
BAD ADS
The higher monthly cost of removing ads is almost $36/£36 more each year.
A regular Amazon Prime subscription typically costs $14.99 / £8.99 per month.
Some viewers in the thread also complained about the amount and length of commercials.
“It’s not even a reasonable number of ads,” said one Amazon customer.
“In the beginning I only got advertisements. Now I watched an hour and a half of children’s film with my daughter and there were six advertisement breaks.
“It’s annoying and unwatchable. Amazon essentially forces you to pay more or cancel your subscription.”
And one person who replied called it “theft,” adding: “The time you waste watching ads is way more expensive than what they’re already charging you.” Your time should be more precious.”
ALL CHANGE
To make matters worse, Amazon recently removed support for two functions from Prime Video, unless you pay for an ad-free subscription.
It is now no longer possible to enjoy Dolby Vision HDR (with improved contrast and colors) and Dolby Atmos surround sound without paying the extra costs.
But it’s worth noting that with a Prime subscription you don’t just get Amazon Video.
It comes with a slew of benefits, including free two-day shipping, Amazon Music, Prime Gaming for free titles and in-game benefits, and much more.
Amazon justified its decision to add advertising by saying it would help fund high-quality content.
“We start with the customer and work backward,” said Jay Marine, Amazon’s vice president of Prime Video.
“And by making this change, we can continue to invest in more great content – like hit movies and TV shows and more live sports – and those investments will continue to grow over time to provide an even better service to Prime members.”