Amazon has started refunding fees for the lockscreen ad removal that customers were paying for on their Prime Exclusive phones, a move the company has made following the official announcement it made in recent weeks that it would be offering all Prime Exclusive phones going forward at a discounted prices but without the lockscreen offers and ads. For any consumers that paid for to have these ads removed, Amazon’s refund will come in the form of an Amazon gift card and it will be for the exact same amount that was paid to remove the ads.
That said, uses shouldn’t expect to see the refund immediately as it will take a few days before it shows up, however, the gift cards will be digital and added to each person’s Amazon account and it shouldn’t take more than a few days according to Amazon’s email that’s being sent out to users. Amazon says that the refund should appear within two to three days exactly, so users who are expecting the refund will probably end up seeing it by the end of the week at the latest.
Amazon’s Prime Exclusive Ads did cost a total of $45 for some users. With that said, the refund amount will also vary as the discount for the Prime Exclusive phones is different for each model of the phone. With that in mind, refunds should start going out from today and any user expecting a refund will want to keep an eye on their emails. Though users aren’t getting a refund in the same method they paid for the fee, meaning they’ll have to spend that refunded amount through Amazon, allowing Amazon to essentially keep the money in a round-about way, it’s a gesture that Amazon didn’t exactly have to put forth and yet it’s doing so to keep consumers happy. For consumers who had considered purchasing a Prime Exclusive phone before now, the discounted price is $20 more than it used to be, relative to the phone you would choose as the prices are different for the different models. The extra $20 is also less than the $45 that users had to pay to remove them in the first place, and although Amazon is refunding that $45, it still has to be spent with Amazon.