Reader Craig ordered some gym equipment from Amazon, but he accidentally used his debit card instead of his credit card. Realizing his mistake, he immediately tried to correct the problem. He went through the change payment process right away and figured all was well. Of course it wasn’t, and he ended up getting charged $2,288.44 for $750 worth of equipment when Amazon got the refund process backwards. Twice. See how it happened after the jump.

On March 20, I purchased some equipment for a home gym at Amazon.com. When I hit the ‘Place order’ button I realized that I had used the wrong credit card to purchase the items. I immediately went through the ‘change payment’ process and thought all was well. I was very wrong.

It turns out that 5 out of the 6 items had been charged to the wrong card (my debit card, personal checking account). I simply called amazon and told them about the mistake. I had to speak with a supervisor, but in the end I was on my way to a refund of 572.11 for the mistaken charges. Seven days later on March 27, I finally had my refund processed…or so I thought. They charged me again…..572.11.

So now I have already paid for the items with my credit card, but have now been double charged on my debit card 1,144.22, hardly a small sum of money. Mind you, I have bills to pay…mortgage, car etc. Well here some the overdraft fees. I called amazon again to tell that they had made a mistake and charged me instead of refunding me. They apologized and said that a refund would be made in the amount of 1144.22 to my debit card. They instead refunded my credit card 1144.22, not my debit card. So at this point I am still missing my money…Overdraft fees, overdraft fees. I called again and explained they had refunded the wrong card and needed to reverse what they had done. They apologized and said that they would charge the credit card and refund the debit card…great. So yesterday I check my bank account to see if my refund has come through…charged again!!!! 1144.22.

So at this point I have overpaid $2288.44 for $750 worth of items. I sent them a nastygram and got on the phone again. The CSR was rude and insisted that a refund was made despite me telling him that my balance was negative thousands of dollars. I finally got him to understand the situation and also explained that they would owe me 245 in overdraft fees….yes, 35 bucks a pop. He had the nerve to tell me that they would not refund that money. I will keep you posted. I received an email this morning apologizing that a mistake had been made. Give me a break. does anyone at amazon know the difference between a debit and a credit? Do I need to draw a picture??

While obviously none of this would have happened if Craig didn’t screw up in the first place, it’s ridiculous that Amazon would confuse a refund with a debit. Craig, put your bank in the loop on this, if you haven’t already. Then gear up for a polite EECB to Amazon, starting with ecr@amazon.com. If the EECB doesn’t hit, it’s time to initiate a chargeback.

(photo:funny strange or funny ha ha)

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