Is this an unauthorized cc charge by Amazon.com?

[lizzy123]

What is the name of your state? IN

Quite often I will shop at Amazon.com and apply a gift certificate towards the purchase. I will complete the check out steps, apply the gift certificate, amazon presents me with the total and ask if I wish to place the order. I will accept the terms and afterwards receive an email confirming the order and the amount to be charged to my credit card or payed for by gift certificate. However, later on I will discover that a greater amount has been charged to my credit card than I originally agreed to and the gift certificate has either not been applied or only partially. Nor will amazon.com make any attempt to notify me of this. Do I have any legal rights here? Usually their customer reps tell me that there is nothing they can do and that it is simply part of "current policy" with no clear explanation as to what that policy entails.

 

[Veronica1228]

What is the name of your state? IN

Quite often I will shop at Amazon.com and apply a gift certificate towards the purchase. I will complete the check out steps, apply the gift certificate, amazon presents me with the total and ask if I wish to place the order. I will accept the terms and afterwards receive an email confirming the order and the amount to be charged to my credit card or payed for by gift certificate. However, later on I will discover that a greater amount has been charged to my credit card than I originally agreed to and the gift certificate has either not been applied or only partially. Nor will amazon.com make any attempt to notify me of this. Do I have any legal rights here? Usually their customer reps tell me that there is nothing they can do and that it is simply part of "current policy" with no clear explanation as to what that policy entails.

I would say, from a banking perspective, that if you authorized a certain dollar amount, and they charged a different amount that this would be unauthorized. However, you may want to cover your bases by checking out their site to see if there is some kind of disclaimer either there or on the emailed confirmation you receive. There may also be something on the electronic "receipt" you get immediately after you place your order.

What does your credit card company say about this?

 

[lizzy123]

Well they do say this

A2Z GIFT CERTIFICATES, INC. ("A2Z") AND ITS AFFILIATES MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO GIFT CERTIFICATES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN THE EVENT A GIFT CERTIFICATE CODE IS NON-FUNCTIONAL, YOUR SOLE REMEDY, AND OUR SOLE LIABILITY, SHALL BE THE REPLACEMENT OF SUCH GIFT CERTIFICATE.

However, that does not address the fact that Amazon.com arbitrarily charges my cc without informing me of any changes to the original purchase agreement. Most companies either inform you up front that final costs might be different or they contact you to see if you are still interested in making the purchase given the difference in charges. In this case it would seem that you are being asked to gamble as to whether the gift certificate will be applied or not and therefore need to be prepared to pay the entire amount. I just wish that I was given the option to cancel the transaction if it does not function as I originally planned.

 

[Veronica1228]

A2Z GIFT CERTIFICATES, INC. ("A2Z") AND ITS AFFILIATES MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO GIFT CERTIFICATES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN THE EVENT A GIFT CERTIFICATE CODE IS NON-FUNCTIONAL, YOUR SOLE REMEDY, AND OUR SOLE LIABILITY, SHALL BE THE REPLACEMENT OF SUCH GIFT CERTIFICATE.

However, that does not address the fact that Amazon.com arbitrarily charges my cc without informing me of any changes to the original purchase agreement. Most companies either inform you up front that final costs might be different or they contact you to see if you are still interested in making the purchase given the difference in charges. In this case it would seem that you are being asked to gamble as to whether the gift certificate will be applied or not and therefore need to be prepared to pay the entire amount. I just wish that I was given the option to cancel the transaction if it does not function as I originally planned.

Any concerns or complaints you have about unauthorized charges on your card should be reported to your credit card company, so again I ask:

What does your credit card company say about this?

 

[lizzy123]

CC company is vague

but then the card is an Amazon.com cc! They said they would look into it if I wanted to but my husband wants me to drop this, drop the card and not do business with Amazon again. He thinks that it is futile even to begin to confront this since there will be hidden disclaimers that it would take hours to find and analyse. They have a team of corporate lawyers that will protect them while it isn't financially worth my while to pursue (its the principle that I am upset about , not the $ amount). They're big, I'm little end, of story.