I’m in the Amazon Prime of my life, but I won’t get fooled again

With Amazon facing legal action in the US, Will Gore tries not to be bamboozled by Bezos

Will Gore finds himself ‘trapped’ by the ‘dark patterns’ of the Amazon purchase process (AP)

In legal proceedings initiated last week, Amazon has been accused by America’s Federal Trade Commission of effectively tricking consumers into signing up for Prime accounts. The regulatory agency argues that Amazon “trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent”. Amazon disputes the contention, naturally.

Now, I like Prime as much as the next 44-year-old who thinks they’re keeping up with the times, and I’ve enjoyed many a decade-old US sitcom thanks to my wife’s subscription.

There was also a time, possibly when I briefly thought it was useful to get anything I ordered on Amazon within 10 minutes of clicking “buy”, that I genuinely thought I needed my own Prime account. But it was a short-lived relationship and I soon realised that the joy of a speedy dispatch was tempered by the knowledge of the monthly fee I was paying. The prudent fenman in me swiftly won out, and I unsubscribed.