Amazon problem with duplicate payments

Susielin

It appears that Amazon have a problem with some credit card providers who are authorising duplicate payments for goods ordered. Apparently when you place an order they check your card is not stolen and has a valid number this is done by placing an authorisation on your account (a sort of hold on the money) which should be removed when payment is taken, this is not happening in lots of cases and purchasers are being charged twice for their items. I have just spoken to Amazon and they say this is quite a big problem which they are trying to resolve as they cannot remove the authorisation and have only taken one payment but when i contacted my credit card company they say that they have authorisation for two payments and cannot refund one as that has to be done by Amazon.

Anyone else having this problem?

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

I have a "pending transaction" of (exactly) £25 showing on my Virgin Atlantic AmEx card. I have just ordered an item costing £25.99 from Amazon which probably accounts for this. I'll watch what happens in the next day or so.

jonesMUFCforever

Which IMO is why you should use a credit card for online transactions as not to 'block' day to day funds in your current account( debit card)

chexum

Susielin wrote: »

...they cannot remove the authorisation and have only taken one payment but when i contacted my credit card company they say that they have authorisation for two payments and cannot refund one as that has to be done by Amazon.

I've seen similar issues several times in the past years, but it was never as systemic as "Amazon does this", or "my card provider always does this".

It's entirely possible that they are having a problem with their payment system, but at least your bank should be more helpful. If you have a pending payment on your account AND a completed purchase as well, you CAN insist that your bank remove it. They can remove any pending authorisation, but you must know it won't prevent a valid charge. If it becomes an actual purchase, you still need to foot the bill.

If you already see the purchase, you can stand your ground and ask them to remove the pre-authorisation, otherwise the period it will be held is entirely specific to your bank. It can be 72 hours, or even 1-2 weeks, which you should not be expected to wait to access your money just because a merchant made a mistake.

Update: I guess if it's a credit card, your complaining only because the purchase was a bit bigger to prevent your use of your credit limit? They still should be able to do this. Otherwise, if it doesn't get on your statement, it won't affect the amount you need to pay at all. If it does, you can still ask them to remove the duplicate charges right away (and they will put it back if you were not right).

Degenerate

The problem is with Amazon, they have been double authing for years. It should drop off in a few days.

I_luv_cats

I purchased a mp3 track from Amazon and it let me download it.

After I downloaded it I got an email from Amazon saying they couldn't complete my order due to my payment method and I would have to complete the order again.

Checking my card payment account they have pre-authorised (pending) 99p


** Does anybody know how often Amazon pre-authorises 99p? I've just had one drop off from a recent order ** They are annoying. (why do they have to keep doing a 99p if a card is already held on their systems??)

Tremour-88

I shop online all the time with Amazon (with debit & credit cards) and I've never had any pre-auths or them holding onto money, guess I'm a lucky one.

Also Amazon made a mistake with me anyway, I brought a new PS3 game with pre-order, price dropped I had £4.07 refunded via there price promise....Twice!