can Amazon help themselves to my money ??

cllnc3

In November i ordered my son a batcave from amazon although received a baby safety gate (totally no good to me). Inside the box with the gate the invoice did state it was the ordered batcave with all the details. After phoning them they said they would send out the correct item straight away and arrange pick up for the baby gate and notify me when it would be collected. 2 Days later i had a card behind the door saying I had missed the arranged courier for pickup (even though i knew nothing about it).
Now with all the busy period of christmas etc i have not had time to sort this out and therefore have failed to return the useless baby gate. The ordered batcave was £35 which i paid and the baby gate is advertised on there web page for £15.
Amazon have now gone into my bank, using my saved card details on their supposedly secure site and debited the full cost again even though the item i have is less than half the cost & without permission from myself. Are they allowed do this and without giving me notification ??

sam.4000

cllnc3 wrote: »

In November i ordered my son a batcave from amazon although received a baby safety gate (totally no good to me). Inside the box with the gate the invoice did state it was the ordered batcave with all the details. After phoning them they said they would send out the correct item straight away and arrange pick up for the baby gate and notify me when it would be collected. 2 Days later i had a card behind the door saying I had missed the arranged courier for pickup (even though i knew nothing about it). So why did you not phone them or email them and sort it out?
Now with all the busy period of christmas etc i have not had time to sort this out and therefore have failed to return the useless baby gate. It is now January you ordered it in November if you wanted to return it you should have found the time. The ordered batcave was £35 which i paid and the baby gate is advertised on there web page for £15.
Amazon have now gone into my bank, using my saved card details on their supposedly secure site and debited the full cost again even though the item i have is less than half the cost & without permission from myself. Are they allowed do this and without giving me notification ?? When I order they charge my card ( or I pay for it) before it gets delivered, I was not aware that Amazon goods could be paid for after I had received them

I am sorry to say but to me you should have sorted this sooner, Christmas is a busy period but Amazon I find are normally very good at dealing with things. You chose to leave it this late.

Caz3121

so you ordered the batcave @ £35, paid £35 and received a £15 stair gate..
have you subsequently received the batcave you paid for?
If so, you now have 2 items (batcave @ £35 and gate @ £15) so £50 of goods which you had only paid £35 for.
If you never contacted Amazon again about the stair gate, I suspect, after this amount of time, they believe that you want to keep the product as you have not sent it back or chased them...they therefore need paying for it.
It is unfortunate that this was their original error but I don't think you have helped yourself here...could you sell the gate on gumtree/ebay?

ClaraPetal

Normally Amazon give you 30 days to return things, I suspect this applies also to items delivered incorrectly. OP, you are in the wrong, Christmas is ONE DAY and not an excuse to delay returning items back. You could have dropped the item off at a Collect+ shop, obtain a receipt as proof of posting and problem solved!

sjbrun

Amazon give 30 days for retrurn. They refund first and then allow you to arrange its return in your own time. If you don't return within 30 days they re-charge your card.

How long do you think you should have to return something?

unholyangel

OP how much did amazon debit in total? I thought 2x £35, but upon reading the comments others seem to think £35 total.

If they have taken a second payment, this is an unauthorised payment. They can't just help themselves to money there is no contractual agreement for.

Even the financial ombudsman has consistently ruled against banks refusing refunds in similar circumstances - with the banks often citing that the payments were authorised because the first payment was authorised. The financial ombudsman have made it pretty clear that each payment needs to be authorised and that previous authorisation doesn't carry over the subsequent payments (unless a CPA is agreed). And that is why your bank must cancel a CPA if asked - because that is you withdrawing your authorisation.

However, I have no doubt amazon will sort it out for you if you contact them.

LilElvis

unholyangel wrote: »

OP how much did amazon debit in total? I thought 2x £35, but upon reading the comments others seem to think £35 total.

If they have taken a second payment, this is an unauthorised payment. They can't just help themselves to money there is no contractual agreement for.

Even the financial ombudsman has consistently ruled against banks refusing refunds in similar circumstances - with the banks often citing that the payments were authorised because the first payment was authorised. The financial ombudsman have made it pretty clear that each payment needs to be authorised and that previous authorisation doesn't carry over the subsequent payments (unless a CPA is agreed). And that is why your bank must cancel a CPA if asked - because that is you withdrawing your authorisation.

However, I have no doubt amazon will sort it out for you if you contact them.

I called Amazon a week ago about replacing a faulty Kindle and they made it explicitly clear in both the phone call and the following email with the link to the return label that they would charge if the faulty item isn't returned within 30 days. I had to confirm which card on my account would be the one to charge in this event.

unholyangel

LilElvis wrote: »

I called Amazon a week ago about replacing a faulty Kindle and they made it explicitly clear in both the phone call and the following email with the link to the return label that they would charge if the faulty item isn't returned within 30 days. I had to confirm which card on my account would be the one to charge in this event.

Again, there is a contract in existence for that item. Not the case in OP's circumstances.

I also imagine that OP wouldn't be on here complaining about them debiting again without her permission if they had informed OP of such a requirement.

However I believe OP's complaint (if i understood them correctly) was that £70 has been debited for items costing £50.

LilElvis

unholyangel wrote: »

Again, there is a contract in existence for that item. Not the case in OP's circumstances.

I also imagine that OP wouldn't be on here complaining about them debiting again without her permission if they had informed OP of such a requirement.

However I believe OP's complaint (if i understood them correctly) was that £70 has been debited for items costing £50.

Obviously I have no idea what the OP was told by Amazon, though I do know that on the handful of occasions when replacement items have had to be sent to me the procedure has been clearly explained. I don't have the emails from prior replacements, but the one I received last Saturday does explain that I will be charged if they do not receive the faulty item within 30 days. Her situation may be a little different, but the procedure they apply seems to be the same. Perhaps the OP could confirm whether they received an email with a link to the returns label and inform us what was in that message.

I would imagine that Amazon have charged her £35 again because they believe that she currently has possession of 2 batcaves. They only have her word that she received a staircase in the first delivery.

Hopefully the OP will be able to clarify exactly what communication she has received from Amazon.

unholyangel

LilElvis wrote: »

Her situation may be a little different, but the procedure they apply seems to be the same. Perhaps the OP could confirm whether they received an email with a link to the returns label and inform us what was in that message.

I would imagine that Amazon have charged her £35 again because they believe that she currently has possession of 2 batcaves. They only have her word that she received a staircase in the first delivery.

Hopefully the OP will be able to clarify exactly what communication she has received from Amazon.

I suspect they've actioned it as just a normal return - despite as you saying her situation being different. It would certainly explain why they debited £35 again and not £15.

No one has suggested court action or compensation. OP merely asked if amazon can do that. And the answer to that is no, they can't. In fact, if the goods are not deemed substitute goods (don't really think a baby gate is a substitute for a batcave in any way, shape or form - and yes substitute goods is actually defined as two goods which can be used for the same purpose and are of similar quality and price) and luxembourg transposed the requirement (can't find anything saying they didn't) then the retailer are strictly prohibited from demanding payment for the goods.

But there's no point getting worked up over a technicality. As I said above, I have no doubt amazon will sort it out if she contacts them - but they were still wrong to do it. What may seem like small differences can make some huge differences legally.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP has Amazon's gate, which I'm sure they'll gladly attempt to collect again free of charge and Amazon has OP's 35, seems there is an obvious solution to this problem.