Amazon Hidden Additional Charge for Substitutions

JaneR66

I have just completed an Amazon Morrisons Grocery delivery order and was shocked when, whilst my order total showed £62.10, the amount taken from my account was £71.44. I immediately contacted Amazon and was told that they add an additional charge to cover for any substitutions they have to send if something is out of stock. There is nothing warning you that they will be taking a different amount from the order total, no prior warning at all. They stated that, if no substitutions were provided or if the substitutions didn't come to the additional amount taken, the remainder would be refunded in 3-5 business days. 

I have complained to them and pointed out that if someone was on a strict budget then they could be put into an unarranged overdraft position and incur interest charges for the time it takes them to refund the money, or they could have other charges bounce, or be unable to pay for other items that came due because of the money held by Amazon. 

I don't know what might come of my complaint, but has anyone else experienced this? We've done lots of Amazon orders in the past and had no previous issues like this so I wonder if it is a new policy. Also, other grocery deliveries do not do this - they either don't provide a substitution, provide a cheaper substitution that they then provide a refund for the difference or provide a higher value substitution but at the price of the originally ordered item. I have never known a grocery order to cost more than the price stated on the original order. Is this even legal without prior knowledge? 

mjm3346

Morrisons "pre Authorise" an amount - think it's 5% extra, don't know about the rest -(it's a hold not the amount deducted)