Amazon - Mystery £8.99 charge

Verulamium_Vixen

I am a member of Amazon Prime - my husband isn't. 
Yesterday a mystery £8.99 charge for Amazon Prime appeared on his bank account. Our immediate suspicion was that he had been unwittingly signed up for this while buying his railcard last night as the railcard site has a number of pop up voucher offers.
Today we called Amazon - spoke to someone in the US who said it was nothing to do with Amazon and suggested we call the bank.
I did a web chat and was put in contact with someone - heaven knows where,  who told me OH has given his bank details to a family member who bought something without his knowledge.   I replied that  this couldn't have happened but he insisted we get the card blocked immediately.

I then went  through my account and requested a call back.
Spoke to a lady, possibly in India (based on accent) who was absolutely wonderful and helpful, she said that his card had been used to buy something on my account in the past and as it was still registered on my account it had been used to take my monthly subscription when payment failed on my bank account. 
It would have been useful if I had been sent an email when the original payment failed informing me that an alternative account had been used but hats off to this lady who listened to the problem and looked into it rather than just fobbing us off with  - "not our problem" and "someone has accessed the bank account"

Olinda99

yes Amazon do like you to have a 'backup payment' in case the primary payment fails. I agree it would be nice to get an automatic email or something if backup is used.

molerat

The card must be showing in your payment methods in your Amazon account.

If one fails they will move on to the next method you have authorised them to use.  Your back up payment methods are specifically listed and you can turn back up off.

bucksboomer

Verulamium_Vixen said:

I am a member of Amazon Prime - my husband isn't. 
Yesterday a mystery £8.99 charge for Amazon Prime appeared on his bank account. Our immediate suspicion was that he had been unwittingly signed up for this while buying his railcard last night as the railcard site has a number of pop up voucher offers.
Today we called Amazon - spoke to someone in the US who said it was nothing to do with Amazon and suggested we call the bank.
I did a web chat and was put in contact with someone - heaven knows where,  who told me OH has given his bank details to a family member who bought something without his knowledge.   I replied that  this couldn't have happened but he insisted we get the card blocked immediately.

I then went  through my account and requested a call back.
Spoke to a lady, possibly in India (based on accent) who was absolutely wonderful and helpful, she said that his card had been used to buy something on my account in the past and as it was still registered on my account it had been used to take my monthly subscription when payment failed on my bank account. 
It would have been useful if I had been sent an email when the original payment failed informing me that an alternative account had been used but hats off to this lady who listened to the problem and looked into it rather than just fobbing us off with  - "not our problem" and "someone has accessed the bank account"

Obviously delete the additional payment method but the issue remains of what is the charge for.

I have complained many times at how with every sale Amazon prefills a confusing and misleading charge for Prime, it breaches the Data Protection Act and Consumer Rights Act by selecting these options without you actually filling them.

Amazon have made it a nightmare with how they charge for delivery when certain items are not counted in "free delivery" then it has the misleading and confusing selection of prime delivery which costs £5 more and as you say adds £9 to the order.

Then it misleads you by suggesting delivery costs more when it is within the free delivery amount

and as if to add insult to injury it has made the minimum order value increase to a massive £35 and when it finally comes to delivery they breach the Consumer Rights Act (2015) because they do not deliver to your door, the CRA says that risk of delivery lies with the supplier.  This usually requires a picture of the open door of the customers home, (not an open door of a communal area or some other property) and the parcel in question.

Recently there was a case with H Samuel Jewelers on the JVS Show on BBC 3CR for a £6000 ring, in that case the caller said an empty box was delivered, he said there were no signs of tampering so H Samuel must have failed to put it in the box.  The case ran on for a long time with H Samuel refusing to engage with the BBC.  The show got a consumer lawyer in after the parent company tried to allege some dodgy blurred picture of their staff was evidence, it was rejected.  The finance company said they had been shown some CCTV but H Samuel refused to honour a Subject Access Request for the alleged CCTV stating that it was confidential due to business practices.  The caller issued a claim in the County Court under part7 small claims track, H Samuel then settled the claim including the Court fee of around 5%.

It is worth recording the Channel 4 video from C4 YouTUbe channel that shows how Amazon drivers are so rushed that they pee in bottles and dump those bottles as they return to the Amazon Depot.  The drivers are put under intense pressure, they regularly fail to deliver parcels to my door and by the time I am made aware of an alleged delivery the item has been stolen. I have a video doorbell so I have evidence of nobody coming to my door except for carers etc.

 It really puts me off dealing with Amazon, so I had an order sent to my son's home as it was a gift for my grandchild, he too has a video doorbell, the Amazon driver did not even TRY to deliver the item, he did not ring the doorbell, he just dumped it near the bins in the rain. Needless to say yet another refund, on one order I asked them to repeat the order and even that was not delivered to my home.  I have provided delivery instructions and made it very clear to deliver to my floor, but I don't think they all can read and comprehend the English Language.

Albermarle

 It really puts me off dealing with Amazon

Then don't. Life still goes on if you do not buy things from Amazon.
There are still some shops and other internet retailers left !

In reality it can be useful to buy the odd thing from them but personally I keep it to a minimum, due to their tax avoidance tactics.

giraffe69

"It really puts me off dealing with Amazon"

You disapprove of their tactics but you will buy some things from them!!!