I've now had a further look at Amazon, apparently with a Prime account people get unlimited one-day delivery or I could borrow over 200k books at no extra cost.

I have used Amazon once this year and once in 2010. You can see I am not a regular user. I have not had any communication from Amazon asking if I wanted to join this scheme they merely deducted £49 from my bank account without any authorisation from myself.

I'm sure amongst the users of Mudcat there are people who can advise on the legality of such(to me)flagrant abuse.

I have now contacted the Police and advised them of the situation, however as the computerised messages from Amazon have indicated I will get a refund they (the Police) will not take any action. My next move is to contact my bank and then notify all my contacts and suggest to them they check their bank accoun