GE Money Bank and Amazon.com
Complaint 72065 Details

On November 27, 2011 I purchased an item from Amazon.com and used my VISA debit for the purchase--the amount $20.30. On December 16, 2011 I purchased items from Amazon.com and used my VISA debit--the amount $34.64. On December 27 I purchased an item fromAmazon.com--the amount $28.67. As is my usual procedure, I pulled up my online account history a few days later and saw that the withdrawals had been made which meant the items would be shipped in 2 or 3 days. On February 10, 2010 I received a call from a female representative of GE Money Bank informing me that if I did not pay $110.56 to GE Money Bank my "credit rating would go down." My first response was utter shock because I do not have an account with GE Money Bank. I told the representative as much; she insisted that I did. After recovering enough to think, I told her about my quandary when I reached the "check out" for the above transactions. For the first time in my ordering-from-Amazon experience the site said GE Money Bank. I assumed that GE Money Bank was the billing agent for Amazon.com and completed the online transaction. My effort to get the representative to understand that the purchases had been paid with my Emory Alliance Credit Union VISA debit card were to no avail. The woman maintained that my account was delinquent and refused to accept the truth. After realizing that I was not going to be bullied into paying what I did not owe, she gave me the number of Amazon.com Customer Service (866-634-8379). I spoke with Neil who, while amenable to listening to my dispute of the charges was in no position to remove them. He told me to fax a copy of my account history for November and December or mail it to the Amazon.com Store Card El Paso, Texas office. He told me the due date for paying $110.56 was February 20. I thought this was totally inacceptable. Why should I pay all this money I do not owe? I called the Customer Service # a second time; this time Eddie talked to me. He said he would waive the late fee and the fee for "online help." He also said the female representative "had no business telling me" my credit rating would "go down." Eddie was quite willing to hear my predicament and said he would "close the account and the Amazon Store Card will not come up on my screen any more!" But I would still owe $85.56 (the purchases' total $83.61). This is the reason I feel scammed. I have paid double. Marie from EACU, my banking institution, the Amazon rep (he sounded like Eddie) and I had a conference call today since Marie could not find the purchases on my account history. Once more I told him I had put the charges on my VISA debit and saw the withdrawals on my online account history before the items were shipped. Sympathetic Eddie said "you now have a zero balance." Amazon.com withdrew $85.56 from my account electronically today. I told him the withdrawal information must have been manipulated on their end. Dead silence followed. I broke the silence stating that I would not be able to get my glaucoma prescription filled this month and would never ever order from Amazon.com again. The call ended with my saying I would write Mr. Bezo and tell him. GE Money Bank, I might add has been obnoxiously aggressive in trying to get me to open an account with them ever since I paid out the account in full, an account that my dentist opened for payment of extensive dental work almost two years ago. I have repeatedly told them I am not interested and would never voluntarily have a credit account with company that charges 25% interest.