Changes coming to Amazon Prime

Participant

Participant

Participant

Caporegime
Joined
13 May 2003
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Location
Warwickshire
I just got this email (important bit in bold):

Dear Participant

We're pleased to announce some exciting upgrades and changes to your Amazon Prime membership. Since 2008 we've increased the number of items eligible for Unlimited One-Day Delivery from 1 million to over 7 million, in addition to adding over 500,000 books to the Kindle Owners' Lending Library for you to borrow. Now we're making Amazon Prime even better.

Your Amazon Prime membership will include Amazon's new Prime Instant Video streaming service beginning February 26, 2014

Prime Instant Video - Britain's largest subscription streaming service - will give you instant and unlimited access to over 15,000 digital movies and TV episodes. Watch instantly, anywhere by streaming from Amazon.co.uk or via hundreds of compatible devices from Kindle Fire, iPhone and iPad to smart TVs, Blu-ray players and games consoles.

Prime Instant Video will give you unlimited access to popular TV shows like Dexter and Prison Break, exclusive movies such as The Hangover: Part 2 and Friends with Benefits, and exclusive hit TV shows like Vikings and The Walking Dead. There will always be something great to watch with new titles added every week.

As a valued Prime member you will be able to start streaming videos at no additional cost beginning February 26, 2014 and your Prime annual fee will not change until you renew on February 26, 2015. After that, your membership will continue for the new price of just £79 per year (passing on £41 in annual savings compared to adding a separate streaming membership).

If you have questions, we are always happy to help. You can contact us via email, phone or chat from the Help section of Amazon.co.uk.

Thanks for being a Prime member,

The Amazon Prime team
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Cleverly worded, but at next renewal they're upping the annual fee to £79 (from £49) p.a., but including some streaming service that I personally don't want.

Although Prime is great, I don't pay for it and certainly wouldn't pay £79 pounds for it. Bit sneaky really; loads of waffle and then the bombshell about the price hike hidden down near the bottom of the email.

It's a common tactic, add on some stuff that few want to pay for, then tout the new price as a saving over what they would have paid for the stuff that they never asked for in the first place. Good for Lovefilm subscribers though, I suppose?

Nothing changes for me, as I didn't pay the sub and I still won't. Some of you might be affected though. Anyone signing up for Prime after the 26th pays £79.

My main gripe, I suppose, is that there's no option for people that want the delivery but not the streaming. I'm guessing they're trying to grow their streaming service numbers any way they can.
 
Saw this on Hot Deals the other day and like you I use a shared prime account so was quite happy with the current setup.

We do have a lovefilm subscription though which will now only be the disc postal service with the streaming being Amazon.

All a but confusing but with rumours of a Amazon TV set top box coming along I guess they want to get subs up rather quickly.
 
I took up the Prime membership in November for the free shipping on all the Christmas presents I was buying, and it's been useful since.

I too probably won't ever use the Instant Video streaming - I guess I'll have to see come the end of my subscription whether I've managed to save £79 worth of shipping costs over the year...
 
Cancelled my subscription the moment after hearing about it. I don't use love film and don't buy as much from Amazon as I used to.
 
Isn't Prime just fueling the 'want it now must have it now regardless of cost culture'?


I only choose Amazon when it's the cheapest and only choose Free Delivery, it's not done me wrong so far?
 
maccapacca said:
Isn't Prime just fueling the 'want it now must have it now regardless of cost culture'?


I only choose Amazon when it's the cheapest and only choose Free Delivery, it's not done me wrong so far?
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I like it because:-

1 - it can deliver not only to billing address, i can get it sent to work.
2 - I can time it to delivery on Saturday (big plus)
3 - 99% of the time i gets here next day, if not I get another month free.
4 - Real time stock levels
5 - It has almost everything I want, with the same level of customer service, from green tea to £2k camera

£79 is now a bit expensive and don't really want the streaming service but over the year I would think the saturday delivery alone would cost more than £100.

I do wish they offer the streaming service as an upgrade price with discount if you are a Prime member, as opposed to mandatory.
 
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I cant remember the last time I paid postage from Amazon, just choose standard / free 3-5 working days and 99 Times out of 100 its delivered either next day or at worst the following.
 
I got this -

Dear xxx,

We're pleased to announce some exciting upgrades and changes to Prime and LOVEFiLM. Since 2008 we've increased the number of items eligible for Unlimited One-Day Delivery from 1 million to over 7 million, in addition to adding over 500,000 books to the Kindle Owners' Lending Library for you to borrow. Today we are announcing changes that will make Amazon Prime and LOVEFiLM even better.

Your Amazon Family free trial membership will include Amazon's new Prime Instant Video streaming service beginning February 26, 2014

Prime Instant Video will give you unlimited access to Britain's largest subscription streaming service with over 15,000 titles to choose from. It includes the same great movies and TV shows and the same apps for tablets, TVs and game consoles that you've enjoyed with LOVEFiLM.

With these improvements in Prime you will no longer need the streaming element of your LOVEFiLM membership, and we will cancel it for you when Prime Instant Video launches. We will also extend the end of your Amazon Family free trial to May 24, 2014. On that date, your Amazon Family free trial will convert to a first-year fee of £49. After that, your membership will continue to renew on an annual basis for the new price of just £79 per year (a saving of £41 compared to adding a separate streaming membership).

Your LOVEFiLM By Post and Amazon Prime Instant Video memberships should be accessed at Amazon.co.uk from February 26, 2014

You will continue to enjoy the same selection of great movies and TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray.
• Your Rental List, Watchlist and account settings will all be available on Amazon.co.uk
• Your monthly LOVEFiLM bill will be reduced by £5.99 as the cost of the streaming service will be included in your Amazon Prime Membership
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So I am currently on a Amazon family with prime free trial and have lovefilm. I pay £7.99 for lovefilm.

So from this, I read that I have prime with streaming free until May, at which point I will pay £49 for a year for it, then my lovefilm DVD rental will go down to £2 a month - So in year one I will pay £73 for Prime, Streaming and DVD rental.... Which at the moment costs me £96 and would be £145 if I let the prime go on after the trial......... I think I win....
 
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If you use something like Netflix or Lovefilm anyway then this is actually a great deal, it goes from ~£70 a year just for streaming to £30 (if you had prime before) and a switch to Prime Streaming.
 
Its a blistering deal, wasn't interested in prime until I saw this the other day. Depending what is in their library I will be signing up (on the 30day trial until' the video instant is released, if its rubbish I'll cancel)
 
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LOAM said:
I cant remember the last time I paid postage from Amazon, just choose standard / free 3-5 working days and 99 Times out of 100 its delivered either next day or at worst the following.
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This. The most you ever wait is a couple days.

Can we really not wait a couple days?
 
FoxEye said:
This. The most you ever wait is a couple days.

Can we really not wait a couple days?
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Most people can and do? Which is why most people only get Prime when they have the free trials. I guess those that can't wait are just prepared to pay to get things really quickly. Nothing wrong with wanting quick satisfaction imo!
 
Raymond Lin said:
They need to develop their app though, currently its not on either Apple TV or Roku.
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Also be nice if the book lending was available on their app, not just to kindle owners. I have Xbox and windows laptop, both of which look supported. WinRT tablet isn't though :(
 
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