No charge yet for me, but I would recommend to anyone who is charged: call your credit card company immediately and dispute the charge.

I've done it twice before with success: Each time, I got a form in the mail that asks a few simple questions and requires a short description of the problem. You'll also have to provide a copy of the invoice from your order.

To find this invoice, go to the order summary in your account and click on the "Need to print an invoice" button in the payment information section. If your invoice is like mine, it still says Grand Total: $0.00. (Ironically, it also says "Final Details" and "Print this page for your records." )

My past disputes have been resolved very quickly (I even got a "nonrefundable" car deposit back this way). I don't know of any reason not to dispute these credit card charges. Don't give in!

You ordered 54 sets--$1000 worth--and you're "shocked" that Amazon is trying to recoup their money?

Wow.

Well I didn't order anything but I am not surprised Amazon has started charging people.

Their legal department probably advised them that they (rightly or wrongly) had to follow through on the threat.

If they had backed down, the next time there was a glitch or whatever they would have been "taken to the cleaners".

James

Just a clarifying question:

Has anyone actually been charged, or is everyone just seeing pending charges/temporary authorizations? (In other words, have actual charges been posted to anyone's account yet?)

Still pending on this end.

Yeah I been charged today, $31.99 twice, which is fine, I already disputed with American Express, and American Express said it's wrong for Amazon to charge me without my authorization.

Does anyone have pending charges or charges after they had emailed Amazon and the CSR said there would be no further activity?

I started this thread because of the attacks and futile debates going on in the last two threads. If you want to argue, then go to the other active thread.

G. Kleinman (founder of DVD Talk) has already posted here once warning about the tone that some are taking here. Please, let's turn it down a notch. Thank you!

What a great email I just got from Amazon:

Dear Amazon.com DVD Shopper,

As someone who has purchased television DVDs this year from Amazon.com, you might be interested in saving up to 50% on hit shows, including Weeds, Moonlighting, and more...

Well, just checked, and alas, two new charges from Amazon for my two orders. Didn't think they'd have the cojones to follow through. Gotta call the credit card company now.

Yep. Received that response multiple times, even.
As was clear long ago in this matter, Amazon CS is pretty disconnected.

Threads pertaining to this thread have been moved to it.

Administrative action may be required if people can't keep their arguing out of this one.

Thank you!

Has anyone tried to contact Amazon or heard from them since they started charging? So far I have not received anything from Amazon explaining and listing the new charges. I've checked my order summary at Amazon several times and it is still like it was when I placed the orders back in December. I've been tempted to contact them but wanted to get an idea what others were hearing.

I too have two pending charges on my card. Talked to the bank, and nothing they can do until the charges clear, then dispute them. Sort of a pain but i did use a check card so that might have something to do with it.

I must have lost it for a second there, I posted an update in the other Amazon thread and the whole thing discussion is lost in dictionary definitions and 5000 word essays. Anyways, I did get charged today for $35.99, which I believe is the correct price, or at least close. I called AMEX and disputed the charge and they took some information and said they would be back to me within a week or so. The AMEX CSR sounded like I wasn't the first person she's heard from on this and thought that the charges would be reversed, but couldn't say for sure. Like I said a long time ago, I'm most pissed that there's no way to know when it's safe to open your Amazon order anymore without fear of additional charges. I don't really care about the 36 bucks, I probably would have bought these anyway. I did call 3 times and was never told that I could return them opened and thought this whole thing was just terribly mishandled.

They didn't get the promotion right so I guess it follows that they couldn't get it correct when they placed these new charges. I order two sets that were not the same price: one was $18.94 and the other $21.49. So originally they applied a double promotion for $18.94, so in theory, if they wanted to recoup the money I deservedly owed them, they should have placed a new charge for $18.94 to recoup the second $18.94 promotion they mistakenly applied. Instead, the mystery charge that posted to my credit card today is for $21.49 - a little higher than it should be since it's the amount of the higher priced set. Of course, if both sets were priced the same it would be a wash. Seriously, I think they need to hire new programmers.

Anyone have experience disputing charges with Amex and how helpful they are? I just called up and disputed the charges; the whole process only took about five minutes. He said they would send me a letter confirming that I disputed the charges, and it could take 6-8 weeks for Amazon to respond, which I know is pretty typical in the world of chargebacks.

What has me a little concerned, though, is I asked him if they would send me any paperwork that I needed to fill out explaining the situation in more detail, and he said no. I asked if I needed to fax them any invoices, order summaries, etc., and he said no. I know most customers want a hassle free chargeback process, but in this case, I would actually feel more comfortable if I had an opportunity to send Amex as much documentation as possible.

Also, the charges are still on my statement when I log into my account. Is it typical for them to leave the charges on your statement until the dispute process is done? When I disputed something on my Chase Visa once, they immediately removed the charges and put the funds back on pending status until the dispute was done.

Ok just got this e-mail from Amazon regarding the charged they put on my card today.



Thank you for writing to Amazon.com.

First, please allow me to express my sincere apologies for any
frustration that has been caused. It is certainly not our intention
for our customers to have anything but a pleasant experience at our
store.

I have confirmed that we mistakenly charged you for the above order
and have requested a refund of $31.99 to your credit card. Please
accept my sincere apology that this occurred. As a representative
of Amazon.com, I want to assure you that we value our customers'
trust above all else--it's the foundation on which our company was
built. Please know that we'll continue working hard to ensure that
you receive accurate service, and to minimize the chances of
anything like this occurring again.

Did you receive any emails earlier saying they would not charge you? Or was this the first time you contacted Amazon? Also how many orders did you place? I'm wondering if they will claim this was all a big mistake and quickly back down and remove the charges if you challenge them.

What did you write to them? And do let us know if a credit appears on your cc account.

I'd like to know what forver681 said too cause I just got off the phone with a rep who said,

"We have the right to charge you."

To which I replied, "So that means Amazon can just take my money at any time."

"Yes." was the response.

Well, I guess AMEX is my only line of defense.

I'm not 100% certain but I believe that any disputed charges can only remain on your bill as pending until fully resolved. That may take a while as you can probably submit supporting materials to appeal an adverse ruling. The Amex CSRs probably don't think the materials/records you have are needed at this time.

That response alone is enough to make me never want to shop at Amazon.com again. Period.

Ok, just got off the phone with my credit card company.

They indicated that this should be an easy dispute because technically it is a NON Receipt of goods (which includes charging twice for same goods) because the goods I received are under the former charges with the price I paid shown. I technically never agreed to the higher prices, therefore I received NO goods at that price.

I was immediately transferred to a higher level csr for the dispute and she indicated as long as I sent in the paperwork, this should be relatively painless.

As an editorial, the csr indicated that depending on the magnitude of charges disputed, Amazon could be not only charged for the chargebacks, but fined as well. This is considered in her words "violations of the commerical agreements".

I am truly amazed that they would risk more loss unless they think that folks will call in asking to return in order for credits.

Incidentally, I was able to put one more black mark on Amazon, I requested a call in order to discuss the charges and the AMAZON csr hung up on me immediately when I indicated I was calling about unauthorized charges. This is getting to be a circus! SO< the Credit card csr put this in the notes of the dispute.

I would imagine that once the dispute goes through, that will finally be the end of Amazon's efforts. AND according the csr, they do have an out if they immediately process refunds once being notified about the disputes. They can apparently claim "technical" glitch and not be responsible for chargebacks. Oh the irony.

Good luck to all, this is fun just to fight now. They actually have finally pissed me off with their rudeness on the phone.