I routinely check transactions online and saw what I suspected was a recovery charge appear in February that had a transaction date of 02/12 for an amount that didn't match the duplicated promotion amount for my only order from back on December 23 (this was a case of unequal dollar amounts on the two DVD sets with the lesser amount being the promotion amount, but Amazon has miscalculated and wants to collect the amount for the costlier set).

I called the credit card company to say I didn't recognize it and asking what it was. They determined it was a manual transaction, couldn't explain what it was for, and said they would remove it for now and throw it back on Amazon to show validity.

At the end of March I saw the same wrong amount appear as AMAZON RE-BILL (again with a transaction date of 02/12) and immediately called the credit card company again and was told they had received documentation from Amazon and determined the charge was valid. The rep told me the documentation was for a transaction on December 23, 2006. I told him that if it was related to that transaction then the amount was wrong and asked how it showed the calulation for that dollar amount. He noted that the RE-BILL transaction did not refer back to the original 12/23/06 transaction date, but rather the 02/12/07 date from the original manual rebill transaction and was also not able to determine from what he was seeing how the amount was construed. Due - I think mainly to the wrong date - he again reversed the amount and sent it back to Amazon.

A few days later I received both a dispute form to fill out and seperately the documentation they used to detemine the validity of the charge. It was a 2 page attachment they received from Amazon that had a delivery confirmation from 1/2 of a split shipment order with nary any number that could equal or add up to the amount in question. I would have to think that the credit card people don't even look at the documentation they receive, they probably blindly assume that since Amazon took the time to respond that it must be valid.

I do find it annoying to have to provide any justifcation for an error Amazon made that is costing all this time and effort to resolve (between the time for myself, the credit card company, and Amazon the measly under $19 amount they promoted twice on my order has probably cost much more already). So I took the easy way out on the dispute form when I answered the question asking me to provide information as to why I am continuing to dispute this transaction. Rather than any long winded explanation or justification as to how the amount is entirely wrong, I keyed on the transaction date and said that I had no transaction with Amazon on the listed transaction date of 02/12 for that amount or any other amount.

The other question the dispute form asks for is the merchant's response when contacted to resolve. For that one, I stated that since I had no transaction on that date with Amazon, I chose to contact [the credit card company] to protect against an incorrect or fraudulent charge.

I kind of wonder how long this will go back and forth, but I'll be darn if I am going to give Amazon $2.50 more than they deserve; that is, unless I know it is going to be targeted to quality control and testing of their promotions before they get implememented on their web site.

I checked my AMEX account online yesterday and saw the two charges reversed!

After initially being denied, I am finally done with this after the second attempt!

I disputed it successfully with my Amazon Visa the first time. Just sent in copies of the receipts and the original charges. Then 2 weeks later they told me via phone the charges were permanently taken away.

It's almost been 2 months since I sent in all my purchase information and Amazon Visa has still not made a final decision on my dispute. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out why some people have gotten charges reversed quickly from the same credit card company, while it has taken me months of going around in circles with them. My last conversation with the dispute department I got the impression they were worried Amazon would challenge the dispute if they reversed the charges. That attitude is not leaving me very confident they will side with me on this issue, and that they are more concerned about their relationship with Amazon. It didn't even seem during the conversation they were basing a decision on who is right or wrong.

Amex divided my chargebacks into two groups. The first chargeback (5 orders), they decided quickly (within about two weeks) and reversed the charges. On the second set (2 orders), I just got a response yesterday stating that they were siding with Amazon and the charges would stand.

I could try to dispute the outcome, but at this point I don't really care. I won the majority of my chargebacks, so I'll leave it at that. I do find it curious, though, how a credit card company can come to completely different conclusions on identical chargebacks for the same cardholder.

I still find it odd that they never even tried to charge my old account at all. My bank told me they would let me know if any attempt to take money out of my old account was made. And they did once, when I used my old card number for a car payment on accident. So I know Amazon never tried to charge me. I'm curious if they just sent it to collections or something.

yeah nightfall, you either really lucked out or you're really in for it down the road!

I purchased 2 DVD sets on Dec. 23. Amazon charged me after the fact on Feb. 12 (a total of $68). After a couple of weeks, I decided to protest the charge because Amazon CS refused to acknowledge that they violated their own pricing policies, despite clear explanations of my position, and were very annoying in the process.

I sent AmEx a copy of the Amazon order details and confirmation e-mails indicating my order was complete. Just yesterday, I received a letter from AmEx saying they reviewed my case and documents, gave Amazon an opportunity to present their side of the story, and after consideration, decided that the charges were improper and that the pending credit to my account would be permanent.

If anyone else is having a problem disputing charges with AmEx, they may want to point out that someone else in the same situation had those unauthorized charges reversed.

I too disputed them with Amex. Amex initially suspended the charges, and just this past week made the credit permanent.

Maybe AmEx dealt with the disputed charges from various customers collectively. Overall, I've been pretty happy with AmEx. Glad they didn't drop the ball on this one.

All my charges were reversed today. i just hope this is the last from amazon.com and they don't try to pull another one.

Good times, good times...

Well, here we fucking go again. I just recieved this from Amazon.com:

WTF! I don't have any purchases on that date. Why does amazon keep doing this? They lost the case because they don't have a leg to stand for and they keep trying to charge me for orders that already where paid for and closed.

WOW... I've said I wouldn't order from them again and now feel bad that I did it again anyway... this should give anyone second and third thoughts about giving them their business... and their card numbers. Unfrickin-believable!

After seeing Amazon's tenaciousness (when they are completely in the wrong and have even been told so by a CC company) I will NEVER order anything from them again unless it is COMPLETELY paid for by a gift certificate. I also deleted my CC information.

I remember a reporter not wanting to cover this before (something about the lack of sympathy for those who "benefited" from it?). He should rethink his decision...

I'm sorry to tell everyone this, but I am a liar. I lied to each and every one of you. I told you all, after this happened, that I would never order from Amazon again. But I did. On Wed last week, I saw they were having another B1G1 free dvd sale on some tv shows and a few other things. All different stuff than last time. I laughed when I heard about it, thinking back to all the fun this has been. I thought it was a worth a shot to see if the same thing would happen twice. So I chose two things, and added them to my cart. When I hit got to the checkout screen.......it was truley B1G1 free. So I removed the items from my cart.

But then, I tried again later, but accidently only put one item in my cart. And as I got to the checkout screen, my order total was $0.00, because my order total was cancled out by what was listed as "Promotion Applied". The ONLY logical explantion would be that this was Amazon's appology to me for all the headache from before. So I go to the store and get a $25 Visa Gift Card, just so they have a number on file, even though the orders are for $0. 39 orders later, and I call it a night. Again, I only ordered stuff that I want, and am going to watch. For examply, I have Roseanne 1-4 already. So I ordered 5 and up. I placed a few orders using overnight shipping, just to make sure I at least got some stuff. I'm very happy I never cancled my Prime membership, as shipping would have killed me.

I would have posted this deal for everyone, but in all honesty, I really wanted to give Amazon a big FU, and I knew that if it got posted here, it would have been caught and fixed very quick. Plus, I'm not sure how many of you want to go through this headache again. Just make sure when Amazon has a B1G1 sale, just throw some stuff in your cart, as you will never know.

Pics:

You already gave them an FU by ripping them off the first time.

interesting...

xNightfallx, you are still my hero

You, sir, have a big brass pair. I can only imagine what sort of grief Amazon is planning for you. IIRC, they have not yet followed up on the original charges and now you do it again. Right or wrong, you can only taunt a gorilla so much before he takes notice.

Ditto!

Unbelievable!

However if you posted this there was no way I would have ordered anything since I'm still trying to straighten out the mess from the first glitch. I can't believe Amazon would commit the same mistake a second time. You would think they would have enacted some changes to prevent this from happening again.

Hmm, I don't know... it seems to me that posting screenshots of you knowingly defrauding amazon is not a good idea. Wouldn't be difficult for amazon to figure out who you are from these screenshots, and use them against you.

I was hoping this would continue, somehow.

Um, it's not like they don't have all this info on their end already. And as I said above, I think that the only reason I got this promotional discount was because Amazon was sorry for all the trouble they out me through. What other reason could there POSSIBLY be? How am I in the wrong when all I did was add an item to my cart, and checkout? I didn't "knoqingly defraud" them, I saw that they were sorry, and I accepted their appology.

Disputed Amazon charges on my AmEx & have received this from them.

Thank you for providing us with the necessary information
we requested. We have issued a conditional credit to
your account and have forwarded the details of your dispute
to the merchant. We will notify you of their response
within 65 days. Thank you for your patience in this matter.

Received this from Amazon today.
Greetings from Amazon.com.

We have been contacted by the issuing bank of the credit card presented
for an order placed on your Amazon.com account. This charge
has been disputed and the bank has demanded payment from us. The
disputed charge will appear as a refund on your credit card statement.

Don't know if this means Amazon has given up or not. However, checking another credit card today I see a $1.00 pending charge from Amazon & I haven't ordered anything from them since Feb. Could the it be that they are intending to charge this credit card with these orders & the $1.00 temp charge is just to test that the card is good. Has anyone else had this happen?