Bizarre Amazon Charging Problem

DCFC79

I still believe cancelling the orders will get you your money and like a previous poster said its odd the moneys been debited but no order has been delivered.

DCFC79

mrrockford01 wrote: »

As I said in my very first post I have spoken to my bank and they have confirmed they are 2 regular charges to Amazon like the numerous others that come out of my bank every month.I have never know Amazon take money before hence the reason for this thread.I have asked Amazon for their UK head office address as I have told them I wish to take legal action against them.I will put all this to them in writing with copies of my bank statements one more time and see if it makes any difference.I am hoping that with it being delivered to their UK office they might see sense as every other correspondence has been directed from an overseas call centre and the nature of the complaint might be getting lost in translation?

Did you get the head office address ?

mrrockford01

Yes,they gave me the address of their UK legal department,it's probably more trouble than it's worth to actually take action for £19 but I feel I have invested so much times into this I might have to challenge them on principle.There is no way I could lose as the proof is there in black and white.I'll update the thread when I have some news,thanks to all who have contributed.

Matty36

DCFC79 wrote: »

I still believe cancelling the orders will get you your money and like a previous poster said its odd the moneys been debited but no order has been delivered.

I'm not sure thats an option as the OP says no changes have been made to the dispatch status and the item is still listed as out of stock. So there would be no option to cancel it in the order page. I think the OP has just signed up to be notified when the item does come back in stock but been charged for it twice.

Someone's made a serious boob somewhere along the line. Was the item directly from Amazon or a Marketplace seller?

sheramber

The OP said he had ordered, not requested an email when available.

From Amazon Help Centre

About Authorisations

When you place an order, Amazon contacts the issuing bank to confirm the validity of the payment method. Your bank reserves the funds until the transaction processes or the authorisation expires, but this isn't an actual charge.

Some banks call authorisations "pending" or "processing" charges. After an order is placed, Amazon contacts the issuing bank to confirm that the payment method is valid. While most card issuers release authorisations within 3-5 business days, some banks have been known to hold authorisations for up to 7 days. Please contact the issuing bank for more information on their specific policies regarding authorisations.

Note:

When you place your first order with us we may contact the credit card's issuing bank to confirm that the payment card is a valid number, and hasn't been reported as lost or stolen. This is communicated via a £1.00 authorisation. Learn more at our About Authorisations for £1.00 Help page
It's not uncommon for a request for payment card authorisation to fail once or twice before the card is finally authorised by the issuing bank. We'll send you an e-mail if we experience difficulties in authorising your payment card.
..............................

About Pending Charges for Cancelled Orders

Sometimes the value of a cancelled order will be shown on your card balance.

When you place an order with Amazon.co.uk, we may contact your payment card's issuing bank to confirm that your card has a valid number, and hasn't been reported as lost or stolen. This is communicated via a full authorisation for the purchase. However, we don't actually proceed with the charge. This is simply one of the security measures we use to protect our customers.

If you then cancel your order, even though we haven't proceeded with the charge, the bank may hold the authorisation on your card for up to 10 business days.

Note: You'll need to contact your bank if you want to have this authorisation removed before that

[Deleted User]

Matty36 wrote: »

I think the OP has just signed up to be notified when the item does come back in stock but been charged for it twice.

No, the OP placed an actual order. This is indeed an order which can be cancelled without any charge. See below;

mrrockford01 wrote: »

I placed an order for a CD on Amazon's website for £9.59 in July 2018 which was listed as in stock soon.For the last 9 months have been getting regular we are still trying to obtain your item emails

The regular updates are from Amazon still trying to source the errant item. It's very unusual for these to continue for quite so long. What generally happens is that the order will be cancelled by Amazon when it becomes apparent the item is not available. Perhaps the publisher of the CD has delayed it's release on several occasions leading to it still being pending?
In each of the E-Mail updates, the OP will have been informed that he hasn't been charged for the item and that he is at liberty to cancel if he wishes.

mrrockford01

Great news,my perseverance has paid off and this afternoon I finally received an apology from Amazon admitting that the error was indeed theirs after all.I have had both charges refunded as well as a credit of £30 for the trouble caused.I will post the email in full because if anyone can understand the explanation given they are a better person than me?


Thank you for your patience while we were investigation.

I have received an update on the amount of £9.59. We're introducing some improvements to payments and authorisations in order to simplify your shopping experience on Amazon.

When you pre-order an item that is yet to be released, we charge you the full order amount when the item gets dispatched. If the shipping date is set after more than five days, that charge occurs on the fifth day since your order was placed. It looks like the order # ************ "" was authorised by the new payment processing. The card gets charged five days after order was placed; the new processing doesn't wait for order to ship before it charges. This authorisation and charge was related to the order *********

From time to time, we test both new and existing features on our website to determine which characteristics or services drive customer purchases and satisfaction. We are continually fine-tuning our presentation to provide our customers with the greatest value, selection, and information for their online purchasing decisions.

We apologise for any misunderstanding caused previously. In an attempt to resolve this, I have refunded £19.18 towards order #*********** (two charges of £9.59 each). Please allow your bank 5-7 business days to reflect in your account.

Although we can't change what has happened, in light of the inconvenience experienced in relation to this issue, I have applied a gift card in the amount of £30.00 to your account as a gesture of goodwill. I hope this is something you would like to accept from me.

[Deleted User]

mrrockford01 wrote: »

Great news,my perseverance has paid off and this afternoon I finally received an apology from Amazon admitting that the error was indeed theirs after all.I have had both charges refunded as well as a credit of £30

Sounds like you were the victim of an "experiment". It's concerning to find that pre-ordered items were (apparently) charged for without despatch simply because five days had elapsed.

This does not inspire confidence in making a pre-order anymore:(

In addition, no explanation as to why you were charged twice:(

Glad you got it sorted, hopefully Amazon will swiftly see the error of their ways here..