Getting my geek on
In: Flotsam & Jetsam
20 Oct 2011Back in August, our family needed two laptops. It was a complicated affair, involving two different vendors (one of which was Amazon), and then a laptop swap among family members. Lots of details, complicated by the fact that both vendors sent me defective units that had to be replaced.
After dealing with all the back and forth, wiping one of the new laptops that had already been partially set up, processing the returns, setting up the new computers, and wiping and setting up my existing laptop, there was a lot to oversee on this end.
So it wasn’t until the next month that we noticed something odd. Amazon had refunded our $399 for the defective laptop but never debited us for the new one. So being honest folks, we contacted Amazon to let them know – and then had to argue with them to convince them to take their money back. The conversation was a bit difficult as it was obvious that English wasn’t the first language of the customer service rep, but eventually, logic prevailed and the cs rep agreed to have billing call us.
So imagine my chagrin when I awoke this morning, less than 24 hours later, to find my account overdrawn because Amazon had charged my account.
So no, I’m not happy. I was happy for them to get their money – why else would I have contacted them? – but I wanted to speak to someone first to confirm that they in fact hadn’t received payment before funding my account with the money.
Contacting them to point out the error was the right thing to do, and I don’t regret it, but I sure would like to see them do the right thing and cover my overage fees for what, in my mind, was an unauthorized transaction.
I blog of gadgets and digital hijinks.