It has been my experience that disputed charges are not refunded until the dispute is resolved. Instead they stay on your balance but do not incur interest.

The two times I've had to deal with it, the initial charges have remained on my account, offset by a provisional credit during the dispute.

Any updates? I was wondering if anyone else was able to beat a refund out of Amazon.

I was called by my bank today to let me know that someone tried to charge my old account today. Turns out I forgot to delete my old account info on my car payment website. I asked the person on the phone if there had been any other attempts to charge my card (from Amazon), and she said no, this was the first time that my old account has had anything happen to it.

So it looks like Amazon wasn't even going to try and charge me. I know this will be a jinx, but I feel like this is all over for sure now.

interesting. the $1K plus account they let go by. but the 1 or 2 order accounts they send FU emails to. is there anything that amazon does fairly?

You mean they instead just added the amounts to a new order you made?

I think they may be reserving some extra special attention for his account.

Well, happy ending for me. Chase called me yesterday to let me know that the temporary deletion of the unauthorized Amazon charges had been made permanent and the case was closed. This was a Chase Amazon rewards credit card btw. So, doesn't look like that matters like someone had said previously.

Good news for you, Sotra! However this makes me wonder...for those who have won their CC disputes, what's next? When the CC Company sided with you, it just means that they're not paying Amazon. I wonder if some of us will start seeing collection agency notices from Amazon, now that they know the CC Company is not going to pay them...

I would love to see that......Amazon trying to send me collection agency notices.....abroad! be my guest...:-)
Warrior

I was told by AmEx that the charges are put on hold (and not to pay them) pending a 6-8 week investigation. They said that no further documentation was necessary, but that it can help. So I'm sending a copy of my original order, shipping confirmation e-mail stating that the order was now complete, and their online pricing policy (stating Amazon can cancel an order or notify a customer of a price error for approval before an order is shipped). Can't hurt.

Until they have a buy 2, get both free sale.

One would be stupid not to take them up on such a generous offer.

This sucks in a way for Amazon. Yes, they are out however much from the dvds I bought from them. But there has already been well over a few hundred dollars worth of stuff I WOULD have bought from them, had this not have happened. They have had some really good video game deals every day, and quite a few other sales as well. I know that what I would have gotten so far doesn't make it "even", but I know for sure it would in less than 6 months time if I were to continue to shop there like I used to.

No offense, but after what happened, I doubt they want your business. Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't blacklist you.

Not sure I follow the logic. How come you haven't continued to shop with them? You indicate you would have bought lots more if this hadn't happened--like they've done you wrong somehow. Am I missing something?

They have shown that they are willing to charge people whatever they feel is right at any time. They have shown that they won't even follow their OWN terms and conditions on their website. After the clusterfuck of various CS replies, it shows that they have terrible communication. I for one don't trust a website like that. Yes, I know I took advantage of something, but once it was all said and done (orders being shipped and opened by me), that should be the end of it.

I wouldn't shop at any store that would charge a customer extra money after the customer was told they wouldn't. I don't see how anyone can trust a store like that.

IMO you are not thinking like a businessman. Amazon is not a little mom and pop, they deal in volume, they want everyone's business. They need max volume for max profits. Sure, there profit margins are decent, but their overhead is huge. They need max top line sales in order to grow their bottom lines. SO, they would be stupid (and they really are not) to blacklist anybody. In this case, the more X buys from them in the future, the more they recoup. Every little purchase helps in a volume business. IE Your overhead goes down as your top-line revenue increases. The incremental cost decreases as the volume goes up.

Amazon is not one to ever turn down business. I am sure someone in operations or legal tried this "return or else trick" to get back some losses. Probably knew they would lose on most credit card disputes, but look at what they recouped from scaring people into returning the items. I bet they got 50% back that way. Not a bad recovery for an error.

Just my thoughts.

About a week and a half ago I contacted Amazon and told them that despite 2 assurances from CSR's that I would not be charged, I was charged anyway. I was told that they would issue a refund to my credit card within 3 business days. Today before I sent off the payment for my credit card bill, I decided to go online and check my current credit card status to see if the refund had been posted.

Guess what wasn't there?

I followed the link from my last Amazon e-mail that said "no, this didn't solve my problem" and chose the option to have Amazon call me immediately. The phone rang right away, and I was put on hold for about 5 minutes at most.

A CSR confirmed my information and told me that the reason the refund hadn't appeared yet was because their internal system was kicking it back, something about it showing up as "being paid for by promotion," and that was conflicting with the attempt to refund. She said the easiest way to handle it would be to erase the request for a refund altogether, and credit the refund to my account.

In my eyes, that's as close to a win/win situation for both sides as you're going to get. I pay the $119 and change, and Amazon credits the money to my Amazon.com account... so while they're losing the money on the box sets, they're guaranteeing that I'm going to spend at least another $119 and change at their website.

Sounds like a great plan to me. Give me a call, I have a bridge for sale that I think you'd love.

??

I don't think you understand the meaning of the phrase "I have a bridge for sale." It means that someone is getting suckered, which is not the case here.

Now if I bought a cheap item once every 4 or 5 months from Amazon, you might have a point... but this year alone I've already ordered about $500 in DVDs, CDs, books and other assorted items from them. So it's not like I rarely order things.

I said that this is the closest you could get to both sides winning, and it is. I get to keep the items that I ordered without having to pay for them. Amazon gets a satisfied customer and a guarantee that I'll be spending at least another $120 with them.

I don't think you understand what Peep was saying. What assurance do you have that once you "pay" them, that they will "pay you back"? They obviously didn't follow through with their first promise......

No, I understand what was being said, and the fact that I have a credit on my account seems to indicate that they went through with it.

Well, my story has come to a conclusion. Discover Card says that Amazon was "legal" in what they did and they will not remove the charges from my account. "As long as they notify you of the charges, the charges are legal." Total BS.

End Result: Discover Card gets cut-up today and will never be used again by me.

"End Result: Discover Card gets cut-up today and will never be used again by me."

Make sure Discover knows of your displeasure, and tell them you're applying for a Visa or MasterCard.