I wonder how legal this is. I pre-ordered lbp2 from Amazon using a gift voucher I received and the original email confirming the order has vat calculated at 17.5% This morning sat in my inbox is an email from Amazon advising me that my copy of lbp2 is winging its way, hooray. However, the price has changed to reflect the rise on VAT. It's added 4p to the price which isn't the end of the world tbh, but it's a bit strange that the amounts have changed. I know that if I have to reprint an invoice here at work and that if it's before 4/1/11, it has to have 17.5% VAT put in. It was the same when the VAT changed to 15%, I had to be careful and make sure the right vat calculation was put in depending on the date the original invoice was. So, do I have an argument I can put to Amazon about this? Is it legal what they've done?
Pre-orders are usually charged to your card on the day of release, which for lbp2 is after 4/1/11 I think?
no its not legal if your order was placed and payed for before the date of the increase in VAT you should have been invoiced for the original price before the increase,this is not unusual as many high street shops were charging 20% VAT well in advance of the increase date
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/cus...1?ie=UTF8&nodeId=502570&qid=1295530369&sr=1-1 Point 2: Also, some pages on preorders have this written on them: Then there's this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/promotions/details/popup/AZ9P2SJV7UBYB
Aye, I had the pre-order price guarantee. It was £38.99 (+£1.69 for p&p). I ordered on 3/1/11. Also, from directgov: At no time during 'checking out' was I advised that the VAT may change on the order. Which is why, in all honesty, I ordered before it went up, to beat the small increase in price.
Well, I was invoiced the 'correct' amount initially. The email regarding confirmation of my order and that payment had been taken was dated 03/01/2011 and the amounts shown reflect that the rate of VAT was 17.5%. Nope, payment was taken there and then. My gift card balance reflected it straight away.
It all depends on when the final price is agreed on. For different sellers it is at different points (e.g. order confirmation email). For amazon, it might be the email confirmation of delivery that they have as their price confirmation (and it probably is that because amazon only charges you for your item once it has been despatched iirc) Up until that point, they are fully within their rights to change the price however they please. It is to allow for mistakes made with pricing on websites etc.
The thing is though that it's not a mistake in the pricing. The prices are all correct, they've just changed! The fact that there was no contact and no mention of the fact that it could change (other than the pre-order price guarantee, which would ensure if the price went up that I would pay no more) just irks me. I genuinely believed that the price I paid was the price I paid, as is evidence by the original order email I received on 03/01/11. I'm not arguing about 4p. I'm simply stating the fact that the prices changed, the only consistent amount on both orders is the p&p charge, whereas the amount for the item itself and the vat have changed. I find it strange as I'm sure the amount should have stayed the same. Also, I guess gift card purchases are different to credit/debit card purchases as after I pre-ordered the game, the amount available on my gift card balance had gone down there and then. I.e. as the gift card was £50, I had £9.02 left on it. Just checked, yup it's now £8.98.
Depends when they billed you. If they billed you after the tax rate has changed you can't do anything.
They billed me on 03/01/11, before the change, when my order was originally confirmed. They also billed me (with the altered vat rate) today, when delivery of my order was confirmed.
If you had the amount actually deducted from your card at the point at which it was value A, then you probably do have a leg to stand on. But I don't know how it works with gift cards, there will be small print somewhere that covers them though, no doubt about that.
No, they didn't billed you @ 03/01/11. Don't mix billing and locking the amount on your credit card. They didn't take the money on 03/01, they just asked the bank to reserve the value of your order on your credit card to check if you have enough money on your credit card. These "locks" usually expire in 14 days. They billed you today, and if VAT changed, they can't do anything with it. Of course it would be nice if they ask even at this small change, but it happened. Once again, Amazon takes the money from your credit card only at the moment they are starting to pack and dispatch your order. Anything before that is just the credit lock on your card.
+1 to the above they do not charge you until the item has been dispatched if this was after the 4/01/2011 then you are subject to the VAT increase
Surely vat was already charged on the original gift voucher? If that was the case then they shouldn't raise the vat on the purchase.
That is the thing, I have already said that if it is a card purchase (credit/debit) then they bill it only when being despatched etc. But this was a gift card, and the amount did apparently go down prior to despatch. Surely they don't need to 'reserve' an amount on their own gift cards?
Please read the thread The purchase was made on a gift card, not a credit or debit card and the amount was taken there and then, not put into a 'reserve'. I do realise that Amazon wait until the item is in dispatch before actually billing you, if you pay using a debit or credit card.
And you base your statement on what ? On the fact that your gift card balance was lowered at order time ? Well, that is exactly the "reserve" function, but inside their own system. Your gift card was charged at shipping day, that is the moment when they definitively took the funds from it. For example if you cancel a order with gift card applied, you get the funds used from that gift card back.
What the..? Of course I'd get the funds back if I cancelled the order So why should they take payment once.. and then amend the payment later? Please either read the thread or don't bother at all. I'm not going to explain it all over again. Jesus this is bloody hard work!
Tbh it sounds like you're making it harder work than it is, faugusztin's point seems pretty clear if you ask me. When you placed the order Amazon reserved the funds on your gift card, just as they would have done with a normal card order. It wasn't however until the order was shipped that the funds were actually removed from the card. Or to put it more simply, in the time between your order and dispatch your gift card continued to have £50 on it, it was just that whatever would be used to pay for your order was reserved and therefore unavailable for use.
Incorrect. It had £9.02 on it. Payment had been taken. Please read the thread. I'm not trying to make it harder than it is, honest, really I'm not.
