What To Do If Charged For Amazon Prime But Not A Member?

Why are people getting charged for Amazon Prime but not a member? Well, there are quite a few different possibilities, and the main aspect is the true nature of your Amazon charges!

If you’re charged for Amazon Prime but can’t recall subscribing to the service, you need to check your account to confirm whether you’re a member or not.

The next step is to identify the charge, what it’s for and most importantly acquire a refund (if possible).

Amazon Prime Charged Me for Prime but Not a Member!

If you’re not a Prime member and you’re confident that your Amazon account is not currently subscribed, well, you can get a refund.

Prime Membership Refund Policy

When you’ve subscribed to Amazon Prime through the official Amazon website you can cancel your subscription anytime.

Upon subscribing you’re provided with a 3-day trial period, during which you won’t be charged.

However, after the trial, your membership converts to be paid.

The only way to receive a refund after the 3-day trial period is to prove that your account was mistakenly (accidentally) signed up for the Prime membership.

To do so, it’s important that your account did not benefit from any of the Prime benefits during the membership period.

Third-Party Prime Charges?

You could be subscribed to Amazon Prime via a third-party supplier or a merchant, and the order recipes would be sent to the associated email address.

The only way to receive a refund if subscribed to Prime via a third-party supplier, is to contact them, according to their policy.

Charged for Amazon Prime But Not a Member – Things to Do!

If your account has been charged for Amazon Prime but you’re not a member, follow the steps below to identify and solve the issue!

1. Check for a Free Order Confirmation

If you’re a Firestick or Fire TV user, you will receive a confirmation receipt when downloading an app from the content store, even if the apps are free.

Well, the same thing goes for purchases from Amazon or simply when we buy an app from the store.

Inspect the Recipe!

In case you’ve received a recipe confirmation, open your email and closely inspect the grand total of your order.

If you’re seeing “Grand Total = $0”, then it’s probably a confirmation receipt for a downloaded “free” app from the content store.

Amazon Order Details?

In the provided email “order confirmation”, there should be “Order Details”, where you’ll find the ID of your order (hyperlink) for more details.

In addition, you would be able to see the date on which the order has been placed and whether it’s for a Prime Membership or not.

However, if you’re charged from Prime, but you’re not a member, try the next steps!

2. Check Your Amazon Prime Status

If you’re charged for an Amazon Prime membership, but you’ve never subscribed, you need to check your Account Status.

To do so, you can use your smartphone or a computer since all that’s needed is a device with an internet connection and an online browser.

Here’s how to check your Amazon Prime status:

1. Go to Amazon.com and sign in to your account.
2. Use the drop-down menu to see the Prime Membership.
3. Info: The page will display the end date and the plan type.
4. Click or tap on the “Prime Plan” to manage the subscription.
5. Go to Manage Membership to cancel or update the plan.

Tip: You can also go to the Prime Membership settings by clicking on “Prime” from the banner!

3. Review the Amazon Payment History

In case you didn’t know, you can find details about all orders made from your Amazon account, whether it was for a Prime membership or something else.

To check the transactions you’ll need to go to Amazon Pay and sign into your Amazon account.

The next step is to select “Your Transactions”, to check the order and charges history of your Amazon account.

In addition, you’ll be able to see any Cashbacks or Refunds that were applied to your account, so your Prime Membership charges should appear.

Note: Feel free to filter your transactions with the menu on the right for easier orientation!

3. Secure Your Amazon Account!

This is an extremely important step, especially if your Amazon account has been charged when you’re not a Prime member.

It’s necessary to first check whether anyone has accessed your Amazon account from your surroundings (family and friends).

The best place to begin would be the Login and Security Information, where you’ll need to sign in and confirm your account via number.

Then you’ll see all of the securing options that are listed so we’ve got a few recommendations:

Change Your Amazon Password:

You need to click or tap on the “Edit” button next to your Password and insert the old password as well as the new one.

Then your Amazon account password will be changed and all devices such as Fire TV or Firestick will be disconnected.

Compromised Account?

There is a  “Start” button next to “Compromised Account?” on the Login and Security page so don’t hesitate to start the recovery process.

In addition, if you see that your email has been changed, then directly contact Amazon Customer Service for additional help.

5. Set up “Two-Factor Authentication”

Most people skip this security measurement, but they don’t know that this is the only way to monitor and track suspicious activity on your Amazon account.

There is no information about which devices and when trying to access your account.

When you have a Two-Factor Authentication, every time you want to sign in to your Amazon account on a new device, you’ll need to confirm through your smartphone. 

This additional layer of security is really easy to set up:

1. Go to Amazon.com and sign in to your account.
2. Tap or click on “Hello, [Name]” and the top.
3. Then select “Account” from the drop menu.
4. In there, select the “Login & Security” tab.
5. Then, locate the “2-step verification” option.
6. Finally, tap on “Turn-on” and follow the steps.

Tip: When you’re ready, sign-out and then try to sign into your Amazon account from any device to check whether the protection works.

6. Issue a Prime Charges Refund!

Now when you’re confident that your account is secure, you would need to issue a refund and there are two general ways of doing so.

It’s only important to note the most-important rule that will make your refund issue invalid.

• You can’t issue a refund after the trial period if your account benefited from the Prime services!

Issue a Refund via Amazon.com:

1. Go to Amazon.com and sign in.
2. Go to Account from the top right.
3. Then go to the Contact Us Form.
4. Choose the “Prime” option.
5. Select Membership Management.
6. Then select “I Need More Help”.
7. Select the chat option to issue a refund.

Issue a Refund via Phone:

If Amazon charged me for Prime but not a member, contact an Amazon customer service representative by calling them on their hotline at 001-206-922-0880 or 1-888-280-4331. 

Then you would go through a verification over the phone, which would require you to provide some personal account information.

Note: Refunds take up to 3 business days!

7. Request an Account Evaluation!

Unknown Prime purchases from your Amazon account shouldn’t be ignored so if you weren’t able to identify the source, contact Amazon Customer Care.

When you’re on the support page, you need to click on the “Prime” button, if you’re confident that you were charged for Prime.

• Select “Cancel Prime Membership” and then “I Need More Help”.

After this you would have two options – “Request a phone call” or “Chat with us”, so proceed as per your preference.

Then describe the unidentified charges to your Amazon account so a representative would help you identify and (if possible) initiate a refund of your funds.

Will Amazon Prime End Immediately After Cancellation?

Yes, the Amazon Prime membership will end immediately after you click the cancellation button but your remaining days will remain activated.

This is when you want to only cancel and will not issue a refund, since refunded charges for Prime, also take away the remaining Prime days.

Cancellation During the Trial?

In case you subscribed to Amazon Prime and decide to cancel within the 3-days trial period, you will not be charged but the 3 days will remain active for benefit.

However, once the trial period ends the only way to renew all Prime benefits and services is by subscribing to the membership.

Quick Recap:

Now we’ve learned why users could be charged for Amazon Prime but not a member, and the essential steps that we need to immediately undertake.

They involve securing our Amazon account and checking whether we’re eligible to issue a Prime charges refund.

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