AMAZON Fire Stick users have had their bank accounts bruised by surprise charges from subscription services.
Giving guests free reign of your TV might just be being a good host, but it can result in some unexpected purchases – as several Fire Stick owners have found out.
One user, in a post on Reddit, explained that they started seeing mysterious charges to their Amazon account after having their wife’s sister and her husband move into their basement flat.
The Redditor told guests they shouldn’t watch anything that required a subscription.
They added: “Last month I found an unexpected charge for Kids+, which Amazon agreed to reverse, but then it showed up again and I realised they had subscribed.
“They swear they didn’t, so I chalked it up to Amazon error.
“But in the past four days I found two more subscriptions added to my account, and this time checking their viewing history I know for sure they did indeed watch shows that required Starz and Acorn TV subscriptions.”
Subscriptions for Kids+, Starzplay and Acorn TV each cost £4.99/$4.99 per month – and add up to about £15/$15 per month.
Going unnoticed, these unexpected subscriptions could cost you up to £180/$180 over the course of a year.
“I wouldn’t have realised except when they subbed to Acorn last night,” the Reddit poster warned. “It sent me an email about my free trial starting up.”
They added: “I went down this morning and locked them [with a PIN] again.”
Another user, in a separate Reddit post, added that they too have had to cancel subscriptions they were accidentally signed up for.
“I’ve had to unsubscribe from so many Amazon channels that were automatically subscribed to when my dad clicked on something from one of those channels,” they wrote.
“They auto renew each moth and [I] didn’t realise they were billing me for multiple channels for almost a year.”
Amazon has a PIN feature that allows Fire Stick owners to put purchasing luxuries behind a passcode.
However, the feature has been likened to “using a sledgehammer on a thumbtack” for its blanket application.
That being said, it is the only option for UK users who want to protect their bank account from trigger-happy guests.
In the US, Fire Stick users have the option to create a Teen account for guests or younger users.
With a Teen account, the Fire Stick owner receives a text or notification every time a purchase attempt is made – and has the option to approve or deny the action.
While the feature is intended for teenagers, it can also be helpful when it comes to guests or elderly family.
Teen accounts are unfortunately not yet available in the UK – and it’s unclear if Amazon plans to roll them out any time soon.
