My NOT so AMAZing AMAZON Experience!

I recently had a very bad customer service experience with Amazon.  They charged my credit card $135.02 rather than charging $100 to my Amazon Gift Card and the remaining balance of $35.02 to my credit card.  They claimed this was my fault for not knowing that my Kohl’s $25 ($27.99) Gift Card purchase would disallow the use of my $100 Amazon Gift Card to be used for ALL of my purchases in my “shopping cart” per Amazon’s policy that states you can’t purchase a gift card with a gift card.  Which is a silly policy in my opinion, but my point is it shouldn’t have disallowed the use of my $100 Amazon Gift Card to be applied since my other 6 items in my “shopping cart” cost $100+.  Below is the email I sent Amazon and below that is the last email Amazon sent me informing me that “I can certainly use my gift card funds on my next order.”  This was supposed to be a $100 Christmas gift to me from my wife, but per Amazon’s response it is I spend $100 first then get to use my $100 gift card.  Their above statement just infuriates me.  Do they seriously not get the point????  I don’t understand their logic!

Dear Amazon,

I have purchased numerous items in the past from you.  That will no longer be the case.  Seems silly to me that Amazon would rather force me to spend $100 (again, using the Amazon gift card that should have been charge the first time) and never get my repeat business for life than to do the right thing and refund my credit card for the $100 charge that should have been charge to the Amazon Gift Card.

I would like to take a moment to point out that your response below doesn’t make sense.  You stated that Amazon charged my credit card ($135.02) instead of my Amazon Gift Card ($100) because my purchases included a purchase for a Kohl's $25 ($27.99 total) Gift Card and that gift cards cannot be charge to gift cards.  I'm not a mathematician, but it seems to me my total was $135.02 - $100.00 (Amazon Gift Card) = $35.02 balance to be charged to my credit card.  Why in H - E - double hockey sticks would ALL of my purchases be banned from using an Amazon Gift Card for payment only because ONE of the items in the cart doesn't qualify?  Also, why wouldn't the checkout process clearly inform me of such when this was happening, so I would at least know to create a separate cart for the Kohl's Gift Card.?

Listed below (in chronological order) are the facts pertaining to my "awful customer service experience.":

1.  Received four $25 paper Amazon Gift Certificates from my wife for Christmas (12/25/11)

2. On 12/26/11 created a shopping cart with 7 orders totaling $135.02....Note: 1 of the 7 items was a $25 Kohl's Gift Card ($27.99 total charge)

3. During checkout (12/26/11) I selected the Amazon Gift Card option as payment and enter all four paper Amazon Gift Certificate codes, which were successfully verified.

4. All my orders are delivered throughout the next 5 days.

5. Around (01/02/12 Morning time) I was balancing my checkbook and discovered that my credit card was charged $135.02 for ALL of my purchases.

6. Around 01/02/12 (Same day as above, Lunch time) spoke to first Amazon representative who told me that my purchases didn't "qualify" for Amazon Gift Card purchasing, but due to her accent (India?) I was unable to understand her explanation.

7. Around 01/02/12 (Same day as above, Evening) I spoke to another Amazon representative, Lisa or Jen (?), who seemed more concerned with "pointing the finger" than "finding a solution".  She kept telling me "didn't you look at the account ending in xxxx portion of your final invoice" and "why did you wait til now to call?"........Note:  I called as soon as I discovered the problem.

8.  Around 01/02/12 (Same day as above, Evening)  Spoke to Amazon representative Damian who I have to give "some" credit to.  He and I "worked together" to try to resolve.  He stated that "since my Amazon Gift Cards were paper and not digital, he was unable to reverse and recharge."  I then asked if I could use my current $100 Amazon credit to purchase a $100 digital Amazon Gift Card, thus allowing him to reverse the transaction and recharge correctly.  He tried, but was unable to do so.  He then fwd: me to the Gift Card Department and said they would call me within 48 hours.

9.  48 hours later no call from Gift Card people, so I called Amazon and they fwd. my message to Gift Card Department that I want a return call.

10. 72 hours later I receive the below email from the Gift Card Department..........Note:  I asked for a phone call!!!!!!!!!

11.  1/6/12 I respond to below email with all of the information here within.

*Note:  5 phone calls and several "customer service - rate our service" emails later......still not resolved.  I gave all low ratings obviously.

12.  1/7/12, Posted my bad experience to my new blog (TKuhnBlog), linked to my website http://www.tkuhn.com/, and sent to http://www.consumerist.com/ for all the world to have access and read about! 

So, Amazon I sure hope it was worth it to "force" me to purchase $100 of additional merchandise rather than fixing your mistake.......because it WILL be the last time you get $ from me............and you will get a lot of negative publicity as well.  So spend your last $100 from me wisely.

-Tim Kuhn

-----Original Message-----
From: Amazon.com Customer Service

Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 12:26 AM
To: kuhn, timothy
Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry

Hello,

I'm writing to follow up on our conversation about the Gift card not being applied to your orders that wear placed on December 26, 2011.

I checked orders placed on December 26, 2011 and verified that your gift card funds were not applied; your visa was used instead.

I'm not able to change the payment method for your order at this point--it's already entered the shipping process and payment has been settled for the order.

I've checked your orders and see that you've placed order for a Kohl's Celebrate Gift Card. Since you had a Gift card in your shopping cart gift card was not applied to your orders.

If you do have gift cards in your shopping cart when you place your order, you cannot pay for that order with another gift card, gift card balance, or promotional balance on your account. Gift cards can only be used to pay for eligible items.

You can certainly use your gift card funds on your next order. If you need more information about using a gift card, please see the "How do I use my gift card?" section on this Help page:

http://www.amazon.com/help/giftcards

I hope this helps. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Best regards,

Amazon.com