[fastnfurious]

Hi, hope you all are well.

I created a new Amazon account and bought something worth 900$.  Used my VISA C & within 10 minutes of placing the order, I got an email saying the following

"Hello,

We have detected unusual payment activity on your Amazon account. For your protection, we have temporarily placed your account on hold and any pending orders or subscriptions on hold as well.

If we are unable to confirm your payment information within 72 hours, your pending orders will be canceled. Your account will remain on hold until we are able to confirm that you are the authorized owner of the payment method used in the recent transaction.

To restore access to your account, sign in and follow the on-screen instructions. Once you have provided the required information, we will review it and respond within 24 hours.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Sincerely,

Account Specialist"


My VISA C was charged right away & for a day the transaction from the was on hold, but on the second day, the transaction is already posted, which means Amazon already captured the funds.  I do not want to restore my account as I know it happened due to an OFM email I received 1 year ago for which I had used the same VISA C. I did not do any SE, just returned more than I bought on Amazon.

I've spoken to 6-7 Amazon reps over the phone & two of them told me that I won't get the refund because Amazon policy is not to issue refunds for unverified payment methods, but the other four agents told me, the system will automatically cancel your pending order & I'll get my money back, but I won't get any order cancellation email or refund confirmation email. Please tell me what's true. Amazon agents can't access my account, they can't confirm if the order was canceled, and they can't confirm if a refund was issued. As of now, my account is temporarily on hold. I did try to follow the instructions on the login page & uploaded my ID, but within two minutes of doing that, I got an email that we are unable to verify your VISA c payment method,  if you can't verify it, your account will be permanently closed.  I just want my money back.  cs-reply@Amazon is useless & doesn't reply, probably because no one can access my account because it's locked.   

Has anyone experienced this issue? I'm worried that my money is lost!  I know if I had used a gift c balance, that would have been forfeited, but I used a regular VISA c.

[db8803]

If they've charged your card they will send you the item. If they don't send the item and the order is cancelled you will get a refund. I've never had a situation like this, in most cases they put your account on hold before they charge the CC.

[fastnfurious]

If they've charged your C they will send you the item. If they don't send the item and the order is cancelled you will get a refund. I've never had a situation like this, in most cases they put your account on hold before they charge the CC.

Thanks for the reply. They charged my VISA as soon as I pressed order button. The transaction was on hold for a day via the VISA, but now it's showing as billed in my statement. How would I know my order is now cancelled and refund issued?  Amazon phone, chat, email cant access anything about my account as it's on hold. I placed the order 5 days ago.

[mothered]

Amazon agents can't access my account, they can't confirm if the order was canceled, and they can't confirm if a refund was issued

Nonsense.

Their accounts/Invoicing department has access to all transactions. Contact your bank and explain exactly what you're experiencing.

[fastnfurious]

By Amazon agents, I meant customer service representatives, I know account specialist will have access to my account, but my question is, is my money safe? If account specialist say this payment method is linked to other account and we won't restore your account for any blah reason, will the system automatically cancel my order after permanent account closure? Currently it's on hold.  They will say we won't issue refund for an unverified payment method?

[fastnfurious]

When account is closed, what happens to paid "Not shipped" orders? Paid by CC

I know Amazon gift balance is impossible to retrieve when account is closed, but in my case, paid via CC

Customer service is not helpful because can't access my account and a human is yet to contact me from account specialist department. All I care about my Money.


Appreciate your help

[db8803]

I have received refunds on many closed accounts, so your money is safe

[mothered]

By Amazon agents, I meant customer service representatives, I know account specialist will have access to my account

Then why don't they use common sense and forward your claim to the account's department?

I'm at a loss as to why they're employed In that capacity - they fail to use logic, hence they're useless as customer service reps.

but my question is, is my money safe?

Yes, your money Is safe.

Amazon has performed a pre-auth transaction, which Is a temporary hold on your funds, so you will receive It when things have cleared up.

[fastnfurious]

Thanks for the replies. So it's a pre-auth transaction? But it shows as billed in my statement, not on hold.

Sorry, but I don't have accounts department email address. The two emails I received were from "no-reply@Amazon dot com"

[fastnfurious]

Update: I got the refund issued after back and forth so many emails. The account specialist department is painfully slow & incompetent. Entire process took 15 days from the time I placed the order!!