Someone on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has had it with free trials that prove to not be so free months later. The federal company thought that the net signup for Amazon Prime was so shady it carried out an official inquiry into it.

The ecommerce large is dealing with the FTC’s scrutiny over its use of “dark patterns”—manipulative on-line interface methods—that supposedly lured customers into signing up for expensive Prime memberships with out their overt data.

Amazon has been persuasive in selling Prime, maybe an excessive amount of so. Manipulative, even. Federal investigators have spent the previous a number of years wanting into the tech large’s UX/UI selections in response to ongoing experiences that buyers have felt tricked into Prime enrollment by way of the corporate’s design selections.

One of these design selections needs to be acquainted to anybody who has used the tech large’s providers: by merely clicking “Get FREE Two-Day Delivery with Prime” throughout the checkout course of, a consumer will get roped right into a 30-day free-trial with Prime—which can default right into a paid one (the present annual subscription worth is a pleasant, fats $139). This is such a easy, painless enrollment course of that, up to now, many individuals seem to not have realized they had been enrolled till they noticed their first invoice within the mail. Amazon has been sued beforehand on associated grounds.

Prime—that glistening subscription service that throws underpaid employees beneath the bus to convey you discounted junk and breakneck supply occasions—is a extremely huge deal for Amazon, and the corporate has gone to excessive lengths to safe new members and maintain them subscribed, Insider reports.

At the identical time that Amazon has made the Prime sign-up course of deceptively straightforward, it has additionally made its membership cancellation course of excessively onerous, even within the eyes of its personal workers, Insider experiences. Internal paperwork seen by the outlet reveal a company venture dubbed “Illiad,” which erected obstacles in the best way of any Prime member who wished to discontinue their subscriptions. The program could have labored, too: cancellations dropped by 14 % at one level in 2017, not lengthy after this system was applied.

To high all of it off, Amazon has reportedly recognized for years that it was tricking folks with its subscription sign-up practices however has accomplished little to alter its methods. Internal paperwork seen by Insider present that, since way back to 2017, customer-focused groups at Amazon have repeatedly give you methods to make sign-up practices much less misleading, however that these options have largely not been applied.

It’s unclear what the standing of the FTC’s investigation into Amazon’s subscription practices is, Insider experiences. We reached out to the FTC for remark and can replace this story in the event that they reply.

When requested by Gizmodo about Insider’s piece, VP of Amazon Prime Jamil Ghani defended the subscription design selections, calling them “simple and transparent,” and waxing philosophical concerning the firm’s dedication to its clients: “Customer transparency and trust are top priorities for us. By design we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership,” stated Ghani. “We continually listen to our customer feedback and look for ways to improve the customer experience.”