Amazon offers gift cards to those who paid to remove Prime Exclusive ads

Amazon is offering gift cards for those who paid to remove the ads on its Prime Exclusive smartphones. The news arrives soon after the retailer announced it would no longer sell the phones with lock-screen ads, but would increase the price of them by $20.

Those who bought the phones previously had the option to turn off the ads, if they paid a one-time fee (which could have cost more than $20). Now that the $20 price increase has been announced, some of the customers who did so might be feeling a bit short-changed.

Android Police got hold of an Amazon email in which the company states that it will offer affected users a gift card for the total amount paid to disable the ads. The gift cards are seemingly open to anybody who has paid the fee, at any time previously.

It’s a decent gesture from Amazon, particularly as it looks like they are actively reaching out to customers and delivering these coupons rather than waiting for them to kick up a fuss.

If this applies to you, and you haven’t received such an email, try contacting Amazon via the online store.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the one-time fee to remove the ads was $45. It actually varied by device.