Amazon Pricing Error - anyone charged yet?(for those sick of the attacks and arguing)
02-14-07 | 05:19 AM
#151
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From: NY
tdubel, according to the rep I spoke with at amazon, she said that since amazon sent an email giving us the option to return the item (and since we didn't return the item), they have the right to charge us. "its in our terms of service" was the reason.
I asked if it was true that as long as amazon lets us know they're going to take our money, they are "allowed" to take our money regardless of whether or not we said "okay." You can guess what her response was.
She also said that the packing slip and email stating "this completes your order" is not a legal document. So I asked when will the order be finished and what's to say there won't be another error in price or glitch and amazon will want to charge me again. Her response was that as long as they email me about it, they can charge me.
i'm not exaggerating when i say that i'm VERY hesitant to shop at amazon again. this means that ANY order (past, present and future orders) are subject to new charges if an error or price change happens at ANY STAGE of the order (pre-shipment, or months later). and amazon doesn't even need authorization, they just need to let you know first.
I asked if it was true that as long as amazon lets us know they're going to take our money, they are "allowed" to take our money regardless of whether or not we said "okay." You can guess what her response was.
She also said that the packing slip and email stating "this completes your order" is not a legal document. So I asked when will the order be finished and what's to say there won't be another error in price or glitch and amazon will want to charge me again. Her response was that as long as they email me about it, they can charge me.
i'm not exaggerating when i say that i'm VERY hesitant to shop at amazon again. this means that ANY order (past, present and future orders) are subject to new charges if an error or price change happens at ANY STAGE of the order (pre-shipment, or months later). and amazon doesn't even need authorization, they just need to let you know first.
02-14-07 | 06:15 AM
#152
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I got charged yesterday so I wrote them a very short email stating that I would be contacting my credit card company to dispute these unauthorized charges tomorrow if it wasn't resolved by then.
This morning I got the following response...
This morning I got the following response...
Please accept our sincere apologies for this situation. It is certainly not our intention for our customers to have anything but a pleasant experience at our store. I can certainly understand your feelings in this issue.
I have confirmed that we mistakenly charged you for your orders
xxxx
However, as customer satisfaction is our priority and in order to compensate for this inconvenience, I have requested a refund of $xx to your credit card for the above mentioned orders respectively.
This refund should go through within the next 2 to 3 business days and will appear as a credit on your next credit card billing statement.
I have confirmed that we mistakenly charged you for your orders
xxxx
However, as customer satisfaction is our priority and in order to compensate for this inconvenience, I have requested a refund of $xx to your credit card for the above mentioned orders respectively.
This refund should go through within the next 2 to 3 business days and will appear as a credit on your next credit card billing statement.
02-14-07 | 06:21 AM
#153
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From: Northern NJ
Well, I seem to have achieved some success dealing with Amazon CS. I had sent them two e-mails for my 2 orders saying that I had been correctly charged previously, and that I just noticed I had received a new incorrect charge for each order.
I received a first response to one of the e-mails saying FU and that you received the e-mail about returning the DVD's, etc. I then sent Amazon the same e-mail for that same order again. I woke up this morning to an e-mail responding to both orders, and saying that incorrect charges were applied and I'd receive a refund of the extra charges for both orders.
Hopefully the refunds appear in the next day or so, and this will be resolved quickly, without having to deal with disputing the charges with the credit card company.
I received a first response to one of the e-mails saying FU and that you received the e-mail about returning the DVD's, etc. I then sent Amazon the same e-mail for that same order again. I woke up this morning to an e-mail responding to both orders, and saying that incorrect charges were applied and I'd receive a refund of the extra charges for both orders.
Hopefully the refunds appear in the next day or so, and this will be resolved quickly, without having to deal with disputing the charges with the credit card company.
02-14-07 | 06:44 AM
#154
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Originally Posted by flashburn
I got charged yesterday so I wrote them a very short email stating that I would be contacting my credit card company to dispute these unauthorized charges tomorrow if it wasn't resolved by then.
This morning I got the following response...
This morning I got the following response...
where'd you send the email?
02-14-07 | 06:50 AM
#155
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Originally Posted by riotinmyskull
where'd you send the email?
02-14-07 | 06:54 AM
#156
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From: Plainfield, IL ok, it's really Joliet
Originally Posted by tdubel
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.
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.
WOW! While I may not agree with the "glitch" not being abused theory, I am amazed at how poorly Amazon has handled this whole thing. Amazon deserves whatever backlash they get from the CC companies for what I would consider unethical business practises.
Someone should submit this case to some business law professor, it needs to go down in a textbook somewhere for future businesses to learn from.
02-14-07 | 07:22 AM
#157
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Can anyone tell me if this story has appeared on the news, either local or national? I don't want to get off topic, but I'm assuming some public notice and reporting might affect how Amazon handled the situation.... Amazon may make a public statement, and new services may have legal experts comment. There's likely hundreds of people being charged here, and right or wrong, this seems like a newsworthy story to me and a national story about it might affect how Amazon responds.
02-14-07 | 07:24 AM
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From: TX
Charges popped up on my Discover card this morning. Like others, even these charges were wrong - one set was $18.99 and the other was $21.99, so instead of recharging $18.99, I was recharged $21.99.
I sent amazon one last email to get their response. If they don't reply with a reasonable answer, I guess I will call Discover. I haven't had to deal with Discover or a chargeback before - anyone have any experience on how they normally handle these things?
I sent amazon one last email to get their response. If they don't reply with a reasonable answer, I guess I will call Discover. I haven't had to deal with Discover or a chargeback before - anyone have any experience on how they normally handle these things?
02-14-07 | 07:28 AM
#159
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Got charged today (can't see pending charges on my account). This was after recieving multiple e-mails telling me I would not be charged for this set. They also charged full price for the set, not counting the 5$ I paid previously due to a difference in price.
02-14-07 | 08:17 AM
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I too was charged. I was charged the "correct" price of one of the dvds, which technically completes the sale the way it was intended.
Still haven't decided if i'm going to fight the charge, as i've said many times here, out of principle. it scares me to think that they can come back and charge me whenever they want, even though i specifically told a CSR on the phone that i DO NOT authorize any additional charges and never once clicked on a link that said i authorize it.
good fun....glad its almost over
Still haven't decided if i'm going to fight the charge, as i've said many times here, out of principle. it scares me to think that they can come back and charge me whenever they want, even though i specifically told a CSR on the phone that i DO NOT authorize any additional charges and never once clicked on a link that said i authorize it.
good fun....glad its almost over
02-14-07 | 08:42 AM
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Originally Posted by vballboy51
good fun....glad its almost over
02-14-07 | 09:01 AM
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From: Northern NJ
Look, just try e-mailing customer service and see what happens. It took me 5 minutes, and I have an e-mail from CS saying they are reversing the charges.
Keep in mind that the same disconnect between Amazon corporate and Amazon customer service that was a problem during the initial response to this issue, can now work in our favor. Some customer service reps seem willing to reverse the charges and haven't been told to hold the line, and now they actually have charges to reverse, instead of just telling you incorrectly that you won't be charged again in the first place.
Keep in mind that the same disconnect between Amazon corporate and Amazon customer service that was a problem during the initial response to this issue, can now work in our favor. Some customer service reps seem willing to reverse the charges and haven't been told to hold the line, and now they actually have charges to reverse, instead of just telling you incorrectly that you won't be charged again in the first place.
02-14-07 | 09:19 AM
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From: TX
Originally Posted by jeffrey r
Look, just try e-mailing customer service and see what happens. It took me 5 minutes, and I have an e-mail from CS saying they are reversing the charges.
02-14-07 | 09:30 AM
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Originally Posted by n.phelge
I don't know how much faith I would put with a CSR that says they will reverse the charges since CSRs told some people previously that they would not be charged, and they were still charged.
02-14-07 | 09:33 AM
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From: Northern NJ
Originally Posted by n.phelge
I don't know how much faith I would put with a CSR that says they will reverse the charges since CSRs told some people previously that they would not be charged, and they were still charged.
Now, there are actual charges to be reversed and refunded. If an individual CSR does this on their own, it will hopefully be treated like any other refund and just get done (and hopefully be done). We'll see what happens. Can't hurt though, and I always have the credit card dispute as a back-up.
02-14-07 | 09:42 AM
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Amazon has charged me for the half of my orders that were billed to my bank account. The other orders were billed to a credit card that is no longer valid, so they can't bill anything to that card now. I have already contacted Amazon to see if I can get the charges reversed. If that doesn't work, I'll dispute the charges with my bank.
02-14-07 | 09:56 AM
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From: Hillsboro, OR
Was charged for two orders yesterday and sent an e-mail to Amazon, and received a reply today that said, in part, "I have investigated your order #xxx-xxxxxxx-xxxxxxx and can assure you that $68.94 of promotional funds were applied to this order." It repeated the same for the second order and then said: "Rest assured you are not been charged extra." (Yes, that's what it said, "you are not been charged extra.") So I sent another e-mail, saying, well, I have been charged extra. Apparently, a lot of Amazon reps didn't get the memo.
02-14-07 | 09:58 AM
#168
Originally Posted by Jenx56
Was charged for two orders yesterday and sent an e-mail to Amazon, and received a reply today that said, in part, "I have investigated your order #xxx-xxxxxxx-xxxxxxx and can assure you that $68.94 of promotional funds were applied to this order." It repeated the same for the second order and then said: "Rest assured you are not been charged extra." (Yes, that's what it said, "you are not been charged extra.") So I sent another e-mail, saying, well, I have been charged extra. Apparently, a lot of Amazon reps didn't get the memo.
02-14-07 | 10:03 AM
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From: Wilmington, NC
I just got through firing off 2 emails: 1 to amazon asking them why I was charged when i was clearly told I would not be. And for good measure, I included a copy of the email from "Shyam" who said there would not be any further charges. The second email went to the credit card co. disputing the charges.
I'm sure it will be awhile be I get a response from either; both are probably being bombarded with these type of emails! Getting interesting........
I'm sure it will be awhile be I get a response from either; both are probably being bombarded with these type of emails! Getting interesting........
02-14-07 | 10:32 AM
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From: Northern NJ
After getting the "we'll refund you" response from Amazon CS, I just received another separate response (probably in response to one of my other e-mails) from Amazon CS telling me FU again, they won't refund, that they sent the e-mail, I didn't return the DVD's, yada yada, and here's a $15 promotional certificate for my troubles. Keeps getting more bizarre.
02-14-07 | 11:16 AM
#171
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Originally Posted by drmoze
What did you write to them? And do let us know if a credit appears on your cc account.
I told them that I am dissapointed that they charged me and I attached the original e-mail in which they stated they won't charge my credit card. The credit just appears on my cc account this morning.
02-14-07 | 11:16 AM
#172
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Originally Posted by n.phelge
I haven't had to deal with Discover or a chargeback before - anyone have any experience on how they normally handle these things?
02-14-07 | 11:20 AM
#173
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Originally Posted by cziffra
Amazon has charged me for the half of my orders that were billed to my bank account. The other orders were billed to a credit card that is no longer valid, so they can't bill anything to that card now. I have already contacted Amazon to see if I can get the charges reversed. If that doesn't work, I'll dispute the charges with my bank.
02-14-07 | 11:43 AM
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From: Formerly known as (ahem) "LASERMOVIES"/California
Even though I put in a dispute with my credit card company the charges showed up on my account last night. Amazon charged me for 3 of 4 orders in the amounts of $35.99, $47.45, and $21.99. I guess I need to call my credit card company again and ask them why they posted the charges to my account. When I called a few days ago they said it wouldn't appear, or would I be responsible for any payment, fees, or interest while it's in dispute. Also to add to the insult Amazon overcharged on one of the orders. I think I will also try contacting Amazon customer service to see what kind of response they give me. I can't believe how badly Amazon has handled this whole situation. It's probably the worst experience I ever had with them.
02-14-07 | 12:25 PM
#175
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Even though you dispute a charge, it will still show up on your account. That is standard procedure. Raising a dispute does not prevent posting of a charge. The dispute may lead to the charge being removed later, of course. That's how it works. Just subtract the amount of any disputed charges when making your next cc payment (if you pay it off in full).
