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Amazon Credit Card replaces default payment on your Amazon account
TwoCacheCats
Posts: 7 Forumite
Dear all,
Recently we had a message from a credit card company that affiliates with Amazon.
It said we were over our agreed credit limit and that they would be adding £24 in fees.
Now, what you need to know is that we are not ones for using credit cards but accepted the offer of the card as it always helps to have one for unforeseen emergencies. Also the offer (via Amazon) gave a £20 gift credit against Amazon purchases... So far so good.
We activated the card and our it in the drawer - still attached to its paperwork.
There for a rainy day, so to speak.
WHAT WE DIDN'T KNOW:
Amazon use the details of the new credit card to take payment for all subsequent orders on your account!!!
This means that they added the credit card as the default payment (and relegated our debit card detais).
We have a work account that has a certain amount transferred to it regularly to cover purchases from Amazon relating to my husband's job.
The debit account is ALWAYS in credit... because our bank notifies us by text if there is a payment due to go out with insufficient funds to cover it. No alerts meant the money transferred in was sufficient to be covering purchases.
We never go overdrawn, we don't have debts in credit cards... ever. Until now.
AMAZON has put us into debt AND with charges and damaged my husband's credit rating. (After a long period of ill health and being unable to work we worked hard to repair credit scores... This "con" as we feel it is (forcing us to spend with them) has actually sent him into a bout of depression because he hates owing money and feels forced into the situation he finds himself in).
Surely this isn't legal?
We paid off the card straight away once we had the statement but this will be a black mark on my husband's credit score and I am furious!
When we contacted Amazon we had a rather unsympathetic customer service operator, who was easily confused..
Were we denying we had placed those orders? No.
Were we saying we unsubscribed the goods? No.
We want to know why the credit card is the default payment option!!!
She told us that it was not possible for anyone to add the credit card as a default payment... "Only the customer can do that".
She repeatedly said we had done it, when we both knew we had not.
She said they do not have access to the credit card details yet couldn't explain how they could then take payment without the details!
Eventually we kept on long enough that she got a manager who initially told us the same thing.
I insisted he was wrong and he put me on hold while he spoke to another department.
He came back with an apology... The information he and his colleague gave was correct to the best of their knowledge but was actually incorrect. He and his department had no idea that when a customer took up the offer of an Amazon affiliated credit card that it was immediately (and without the customer's knowledge) made the default payment.
He said he would put in a complaint via the internal system and offered a £15 voucher on our account. Appreciated but does not cover the £24 charges. Whilst he sent an email confirming this, he could give us no complaint reference number or way of contacting the right department.
On 13th July (two days later) we had a letter from the credit card company telling us:
Our payment (clearing the balance and fees) was processed but before that a further £12 charge had been applied (£36 in total) and would be added to the card balance on 14th August. (29 days later).
Also the letter advised that because "we" had gone over the agreed limit, they had REVOKED the Introductory APR offer rate and the balance was now subject to 34.5%!!
Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated... And a stark warning to fellow Savers!
Recently we had a message from a credit card company that affiliates with Amazon.
It said we were over our agreed credit limit and that they would be adding £24 in fees.
Now, what you need to know is that we are not ones for using credit cards but accepted the offer of the card as it always helps to have one for unforeseen emergencies. Also the offer (via Amazon) gave a £20 gift credit against Amazon purchases... So far so good.
We activated the card and our it in the drawer - still attached to its paperwork.
There for a rainy day, so to speak.
WHAT WE DIDN'T KNOW:
Amazon use the details of the new credit card to take payment for all subsequent orders on your account!!!
This means that they added the credit card as the default payment (and relegated our debit card detais).
We have a work account that has a certain amount transferred to it regularly to cover purchases from Amazon relating to my husband's job.
The debit account is ALWAYS in credit... because our bank notifies us by text if there is a payment due to go out with insufficient funds to cover it. No alerts meant the money transferred in was sufficient to be covering purchases.
We never go overdrawn, we don't have debts in credit cards... ever. Until now.
AMAZON has put us into debt AND with charges and damaged my husband's credit rating. (After a long period of ill health and being unable to work we worked hard to repair credit scores... This "con" as we feel it is (forcing us to spend with them) has actually sent him into a bout of depression because he hates owing money and feels forced into the situation he finds himself in).
Surely this isn't legal?
We paid off the card straight away once we had the statement but this will be a black mark on my husband's credit score and I am furious!
When we contacted Amazon we had a rather unsympathetic customer service operator, who was easily confused..
Were we denying we had placed those orders? No.
Were we saying we unsubscribed the goods? No.
We want to know why the credit card is the default payment option!!!
She told us that it was not possible for anyone to add the credit card as a default payment... "Only the customer can do that".
She repeatedly said we had done it, when we both knew we had not.
She said they do not have access to the credit card details yet couldn't explain how they could then take payment without the details!
Eventually we kept on long enough that she got a manager who initially told us the same thing.
I insisted he was wrong and he put me on hold while he spoke to another department.
He came back with an apology... The information he and his colleague gave was correct to the best of their knowledge but was actually incorrect. He and his department had no idea that when a customer took up the offer of an Amazon affiliated credit card that it was immediately (and without the customer's knowledge) made the default payment.
He said he would put in a complaint via the internal system and offered a £15 voucher on our account. Appreciated but does not cover the £24 charges. Whilst he sent an email confirming this, he could give us no complaint reference number or way of contacting the right department.
On 13th July (two days later) we had a letter from the credit card company telling us:
Our payment (clearing the balance and fees) was processed but before that a further £12 charge had been applied (£36 in total) and would be added to the card balance on 14th August. (29 days later).
Also the letter advised that because "we" had gone over the agreed limit, they had REVOKED the Introductory APR offer rate and the balance was now subject to 34.5%!!
Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated... And a stark warning to fellow Savers!
0
Comments
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I don't understand how Amazon have put you into debt.
You've still spent the same amount as you would have, and your statement will tell you how much to pay.
If he went overlimit, ask Amazon (NewDay) nicely if they will consider refunding the charge as a one off. Also check his credit file (not the pretend score) to see what appears.
Finally, make sure you check what the default payment method is and change it if needed.0 -
It states that it will do it when you sign up for the card.
You just chose to not read that part obviously.
2. Instant Spend allows you to spend up to £500 at Amazon.co.uk before your card arrives in the post. Instant Spend is subject to identification checks. Upon approval for Instant Spend, your card details will be automatically loaded to your Amazon.co.uk account as your default payment method and you can use those card details to make purchases at Amazon.co.uk. If you choose to skip the identity check questions or are unable to answer the questions correctly, you will not qualify for Instant Spend, however your card details will be automatically loaded to your Amazon.co.uk account as your default payment method once you have activated your card. You will be told your full credit limit when you receive your card.
Also your credit "scores" and "ratings" aren't used in lending decisions.
The only "stark" warning here is for you to read T's and C's when you sign up for things.0 -
This was all in the terms you agreed to when signing up.
And pretty obvious what they would do to enable the advantages odf the card.
This would have been shown on every order after that.
Unfortuntatly it all comes down to paying attention. (and I agree all of us do not enough).0 -
It states that it will do it when you sign up for the card.
You just chose to not read that part obviously.
The only "stark" warning here is for you to read T's and C's when you sign up for things.
Gary Dexter is right, online retailers aren't always forthright with information, very similar to signing up for free trials etc. Many will take your details and charge you as soon as the trial is over which some people are unaware of because they didn't read the T &C.
It sounds obvious but I am sure we all do it, when you pay for anything online, always check the correct details are been used..
I think the best thing to do would be to ring Amazon again, be nice and explain that you didn't realize. Do not blame them for it because they were acting according to their T & C. Even if you don't feel it was forthcoming information, Be the 'bigger person' and see if they will reverse the charge.
Good Luck
0 -
Gary Dexter is right, online retailers aren't always forthright with information, very similar to signing up for free trials etc. Many will take your details and charge you as soon as the trial is over which some people are unaware of because they didn't read the T &C.
It sounds obvious but I am sure we all do it, when you pay for anything online, always check the correct details are been used..
I think the best thing to do would be to ring Amazon again, be nice and explain that you didn't realize. Do not blame them for it because they were acting according to their T & C. Even if you don't feel it was forthcoming information, Be the 'bigger person' and see if they will reverse the charge.
Good Luck
Amazon don't provide the credit card which is why they weren't able to answer the OP to begin with.
OP needs to go to the lender (NewDay) and speak to them about the charges, late payment marker/s, and the interest increase.
Though NewDay are not obliged to adhere to this request for a rollback.0 -
I'd personally just chalk this up to a life lesson about making sure to always read the fine print, particularly when there is a decent chunk of money on the line. I agree it's frustrating but technically you did agree to using your Amazon card as the default payment method when accepting the terms of the card, and you also decided to make those purchases so I'm not convinced it's Amazon's fault here. You would've made these purchases regardless it sounds like, so it's not like you're out of pocket apart from the fees.
I'd pay the fees and then complain about trying to get them refunded (not that I expect you'll get too far with that unfortunately), otherwise you may be hit with missed payment markers on your credit files whilst you are trying to sort this out, which will hurt a lot more than the £24 worth of fees!0 -
I just took out the same card to get the £30 Amazon gift voucher, it's made very clear that Amazon will use the new card by default.
So you were buying things from Amazon and not noticing you were not being charged on your original credit card?0 -
TadleyBaggie wrote: »I just took out the same card to get the £30 Amazon gift voucher, it's made very clear that Amazon will use the new card by default.
I also have an Amazon credit card and was just about to post the same thing, unless they completely ignored the T&Cs I'm not sure how the OP could have missed this.0 -
£30 intro + £15 goodwill offset by £36 in charges = net profit and not the worst way to be caught out by small print. Agree with the poster above - put it down to live experiences0
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I've just placed an Amazon order and the default payment method is right there in front of you. How it can be missed I really can't understand?
I had the same when I had a Newday (Amazon card). Information was there that it would be the default payment method. Again this is quite easily changed. In "YourAccount" - "Payment Options" and at Checkout - 2. (staring you in the face), "change".
I am of a certain age and it really isn't that difficult to comprehend.
I say - operator error. It's not Amazon's or Newday's fault.0
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