Awesome. Heres the worthless response I just got:

Thanks for writing to Amazon.com with your concern.

Please rest assured that you have only been charged once for the
orders placed before two months. Most likely, your bank is holding
the extra authorizations on your card for this order. Some banks
have been known to hold these authorizations for 7-10 business days.

When you place an order with Amazon.com or on Amazon Marketplace, we
contact your credit card's issuing bank to confirm that your credit
card has a valid number, and has not been reported as lost or stolen.

This is communicated via a full authorization for the amount of the
purchase. However, we do not actually proceed with the charge.
This is simply one of the security measures we use to protect our
customers.

If your bank requires further assistance from us to remove the extra
authorization(s), we will work with your bank to resolve this matter
as quickly as possible. Please click the link at the end of this
message and let us know the name of the issuing bank and the bank
phone number that appears on the back of your credit card.

Further, if you used a debit card for this order and have incurred
any overdraft fees or service charges as a result of these
authorization requests, our accounting department will reimburse
you if we determine that these charges were the result of our error.

If you still have any questions, please use the direct link below to
e-mail our appropriate department so we can investigate further....

...blah blah frakin' blah...

I found a post about this situation at slashdot this morning:

http://slashdot.org/articles/07/02/15/1356226.shtml

Hopefully, this will lead to even more coverage.

Oh boy. This may finally lead to mass media coverage.

Well, I got charged. I called amazon who is sending it to billing. I am calling DISCOVER to file a chargeback.

UPDATE: DISCOVER was going to wait and see if I got a credit, when I read email saying the original email was an error to disregard it they went ahead and credited me and filed the chargeback.

There is a very interesting post there, which I have quoted in the other Amazon thread (because it addresses the morality issue).

I sent out a second email this morning in hopes of getting a refund after receiving an FU response to my first email. The response to my second email is so incoherent that I'm not sure whether they are going to issue a refund or not(probably not). It would be nice if Amazon made sure that their customer service representatives had a basic grasp of grammar, spelling, etc.

you know how when you call now, you're likely to get a CSR that's not even located in this country and speaks with a heavy accent? well, the two emails I got (did the same thing you did, sweet baby james) were both FU responses and they read as if it were written by someone who did not grow up speaking english as their first language.

that aside, the new charges (just as most people here have reported) are incorrect amounts as per the original "sale".

I too got charged for my two orders. Interestingly, the final email i got saying i would be charged, quoted the price of each higher priced boxset plus shipping, but they charged me just for the higher priced boxset. Grant it i already paid some to begin with. However that last email aslso stated that they would refund me. Sent an email to amazon, and gave them a call. Got someone that spoke perfect english and he put me in for a refund. So we will see. My bank says I have 60 days to dispute the charges if the refund doesnt come through.

Part 1 - I got charged also and for the wrong amount of money. I just talked to the CS and he told me the same thing that the email said of returning the items or be charged. i told him that what the company is doing is illegal and he just repeated the same email like a dumb robot. i told him I was completely dissapointed in the stance that the company has taken and that I would be filling chargeback.

Part 2 - I talk with my credit card companmy and they told that they were going to investigate the case and would be doing a chargeback to my credit card. The interesting thing here is that the CS for my Credit Card company told me that Amazon.com was applying those charges with the reason that I owed them money on several items I ordered on October. I told her that wrong, that the items were purchased in December and she told me that Amazon was putting these charges in a sketchy way, so they are going to launch a criminal investigation on them, because what they are doing to me and the bank is fraud.

Part 3 - I write to Amazon.com this email:


To whom it may concern,

I recieved an email in response to an inquiry I had about x charges that were put in my credit card on 2/12/07 and processed on 2/13/07. At the moment, nobody had a straight answer on why those charges were put to my credit card and your customer service representative told me that he was going to investigate. Today, I recieve an email stating that those charges were because of some orders that I placed back on December 23rd, 2006, that according to my bank statement and to my order history page on Amazon.com, were already paid, shipped and recieved by me. So now this email I recieves states that you charged me an incorrect amount at the time and now are charging me the "correct" price for those orders I made. What you guys have done is completely illegal. Amazon.com has charged my credit card without my authorization on orders that have been already paid for. Your company is violating the law and your own terms and policies. According to your policy "With respect to items sold by Amazon.com, we cannot confirm the price of an item until you order; however, we do NOT charge your credit card until after your order has entered the shipping process. Despite our best efforts, a small number of the items in our catalog may be mispriced. If an item's correct price is higher than our stated price, we will, at our discretion, either contact you for instructions before shipping or cancel your order and notify you of such cancellation."

Amazon.com had the time to cancel the order or ask authorization for changing the price before you shipped the orders. Instead, you sent the items and charge my credit card, and done deal.

I demand that an inmediate and complete refund of the new charges that have been done to my credit card for the orders:
xxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxx


I have been a loyal Amazon.com customer for the past several years and have spent an incredible amount of money on many items thoughout you online store, but I will take action if my demands for a refund are denied. I'm very dissapointed in your company right now for the action that you have taken. I expect to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

xxxx


Let's see what Amazon will do in the next couple of days.

Your credit card bank cannot launch a criminal investigation on anyone, that is the job of law enforcement. They can certainly launch their own internal fraud investigation and refer a particular case to law enforcement, which may or may not result in criminal prosecution.

Just discovered that those jerks charged me, too (for my one measly order) -- after an email last month explicitly telling me that they would not charge me.

That is exactly what are they going to do. According to the bank, Amazon.com is charging my credit card like any thief that has stolen one since they didn't have my authorization. So they are having their own investigation and refering it to the law enforcement dept. that deals with credit card frauds.

I finally received a reply to the email I sent Amazon a few days ago. I won't post it here, since it's basically the same 'screw you' response that most people are getting. I will be going to my bank tomorrow to fill out some forms to dispute the charges.

I was charged Monday for the cost of a set... the higher-priced DVD plus I what already paid (the difference between the two). I had returned it to Amazon a month ago, but they never received it.

However, I spoke with a CSR today and was told they were initiating a refund for the latest charge + what I had already paid. I was lucky to get a domestic call center (someone in West Virginia). He also gave me a $5 promo for my trouble...

has anyone gotten a refund after their stated 2 to 3 business days?

It hasn't shown up on the card, but when I go to the Amazon order history screen, it appears at the bottom and shows the amount refunded. I guess it has only been 2 business days.

All I had to do was send a quick email and they responded that I was incorrected charged and would refund.

Just a random comment that you never really can know for sure - the better call-centers give their agents a "cover" - teach them a regional accent, give them an american pseudonym and have them read the national and local daily news.

Whether Amazon outsources to those kinds of call centers or not, I don't know, but from the media reports over the last decade or so, they are a lot more common than most people might guess.

Send Amazon to collections......Maybe we could start the "DVDTalk Collection Agency"

amazon sent me an email stating that they have processed my refund...

I have been following this "Saga" for over a month, and after reading about Amazon's continual shaddy inconsistant, contradictory and generally idiotic behavior. I'm not a Lawyer, but I really think you guys should consider some kind of la group lawsuit against them. Their actions have been questionably legal at best, and they certainly have violated their own terms of agreement.
Not only does this set dangerous preceedents for future transactions, but quite honestly Amazon needs to be punished for how they have handled this so piss poorly.

Furthermore I think we should try to spread the word of what is happening around on the internet to as many sites and message boards as possible. Try to drum up as much bad press for Amazon as possible. I don't know about you, but Amazon has lost me as a customer.

GOOD LETTER, I expect we will see some refunds on Tuesday morning the earliest with Monday being a holiday. I reported my credit card as lost a week before they charged and got a replacement one.. I wonder if they still would try to send me to a collections agency?

the funny thing is most of these dvd sets are not worth the price and amazon is screwing it`s customers. I would love to see what these dvds sets are going for on february 17, 2008. should be a interesting next 12 months.

Ok Amazon is so messed up on this deal. How screwed up are they. For example this is one of my orders from Dec. 23rd.


Items Ordered Price
1 of: Eveready Heavy Duty 1215BP-4 AA Batteries (4-Pack) [Electronics] $1.39

Item(s) Subtotal: $1.39
Shipping & Handling: $3.36
Super Saver Discount: $-3.36
Promotion Applied: $0.00
Promotion Applied: $0.00
-----
Total Before Tax: $1.39
-----
Total for this Shipment: $1.39
-----

Shipment #2: Shipped on December 23, 2006
Delivery estimate: January 3, 2007 - January 6, 2007 (More about estimates)


Items Ordered Price
1 of: NewsRadio - The Complete First & Second Seasons [DVD] $19.99


1 of: The Nanny - The Complete First Season [DVD] $21.99


Item(s) Subtotal: $41.98
Shipping & Handling: $4.20
Super Saver Discount: $-4.20
Promotion Applied: $-19.99
Promotion Applied: $-19.99
-----
Total Before Tax: $2.00
-----
Total for this Shipment: $2.00
-----

Payment Information Print order summary
Item(s) Subtotal: $43.37
Shipping & Handling: $7.56
Super Saver Discount: $-7.56
Promotion Applied: $-19.99
Promotion Applied: $-19.99
-----
Total Before Tax: $3.39
Estimated Tax: $0.00
-----
Grand Total: $3.39
Amazon charged me $3.39. $1.39 for the battery & $2.00 off the dvds.
On Feb. 12th they charged me $21.99. So in total they charged me $23.99 for the dvds. I emailed them & told them they should only be charging me a total of the higher priced dvd in this order which is $21.99 & that since they had originally already charged me $2.00 then the new charge on Feb. 12th should be $19.99. This is their reply.
We sincerely apologize for the error that resulted in an incorrect
price being displayed for the "The Nanny".

At any given time, despite our best efforts, a small number of the
millions of items on our site may be mispriced. We do, however,
verify prices as part of our shipping procedures.

Further, regarding the $2.00 let me explain:

This order total order was : $43.37
Shipping : $7.56
Promos : ($47.54)
Tax : $0.00
--------------------------------------
Total : $3.39
---------------------------------------

So, we have charged $2.00 on December 23, 2006 and $1.39 on December
26, 2006 which bring the total charges of $3.39 has been charged to
your credit card.

Further, due to double discount we have retrocharged for $21.99 to
your credit card on February 12, 2007.
So now not only did they have the double discount on Dec. 23rd wrong they are now also saying that the dvds were incorrectly priced. Even now The Nanny is $21.99 on their website.
So even if they are able to charge us for the dvds we ordered on Dec. 23rd I am now well within my rights disputing this charge as they are now charging me $23.99 for them & had the promotion worked correctly that day, I would have only paid $21.99 for them. Nothing was ever mentioned by them in this whole mess that not only was the promotion not working correctly but hey we also messed up on the prices of the dvds too.
Per their email from Dec.28th
Please be assured that the amount that would be charged to your
account is the same price that was listed on the product detail page
on our web site at the time you placed your order.
Okay, Amazon the price displayed on the product detail page for The Nanny was $21.99. I would think that even the people on the other thread would agree that Amazon is now in the wrong by charging a price higher than we would have been charged had the promotion worked correctly on that day.

I was charged on the 12th February. I just sent an email via their Help section. We'll see what happens.

For the record, I placed one order and paid $7.47 for expedited shipping, hoping to have them faster for Christmas gifts. (They arrived late.) At the very least, I'd accept a promotional GC in the amount of the shipping I paid versus going with free shipping.

I just received the standard blow off email: "I sympathize with your frustration. However, please understand that the information provided in our last message correctly represents our policy at this time."

I just used the Help section again to propose that my original shipping charges (expedited for $7.47) be refunded in the form of Amazon credit. In other words, a compromise: I don't pursue a chargeback, I pay for the DVDs, and I get the shipping credited back. I'm going to guess that they balk at this. If so, I'm still debating calling Discover.