WARNING for American AmazonUK customers! VAT glitch! (1 Viewer)

[AndyMcKinney]

A major word of warning to ANYONE ouside of the EU who orders from AmazonUK!

AmazonUK have somehow developed a "bug" in their system for the past few weeks in which VAT is, by mistake, not being deducted at the checkout phase. Making matters worse, in the VAT space on the order form, it reads 0.00 when you place the order, so when you e-mail tech support to tell them about it (like I did), you typically get the respose of "our records indicate that you were not charged VAT".

I had to e-mail them three times before I finally got through to them that every item in my 7-title order had been charged VAT. They finally 'fessed up and said they'd issue the incorrectly-charged VAT to my credit card.

This is a nightmare! Anyone else who orders anything from AmazonUK had best keep a watchful eye on your items during checkout. Maybe if enough of us e-mail them about this problem, they'll get it fixed more quickly (when I pointed out that various items were doing this a few weeks back, I was told "yeah, it's a glitch. Just place your order and if you get charged VAT, just write us and we'll refund it." What I wasn't counting on was having to e-mail three different people before getting someone who, apparently, actually read my whole letter for once, or at least did as I suggested and tried logging-in as a US customer to prove I wasn't bonkers!).

 

[Bleddyn Williams]

I just this minute tried putting something in my cart and checking out. VAT was deducted as normal, so YMMV.

 

[Ronn.W]

Did you check to see if the price went down like it should, or did it just show 0 for VAT? The OP says it will still show 0 for VAT, even though they didn't really deduct it.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Exactly. You should take note of the price before proceeding to checkout, because you cannot depend on the space showing VAT amount, and you should check each and every item in your order. This little bug doesn't affect every single title on AmazonUK's website (and, it would seem, not always the same items), but you will never know if you've been affected just by looking at the VAT amount space.

And yes, mileage will vary. I've noticed this problem for several weeks. Sometimes, just one or two items in my cart didn't deduct VAT, other times, most (or all) items in my cart were that way. I never actually placed an order like this one until yesterday, since I was told by a customer service rep to go ahead and order, and they'd sort it all out afterward.

Gave me a false sense of confidence in all their reps knowing about the problem.

 

[Irina]

I also thought, at first, that is was amazon.co.uk system glitch. I sent a question to their customer support. They answered that if the DVD is offered by Amazon Jersey, VAT deductions WILL NOT be applied because the price already reflects the deduction. VAT is ONLY deducted on DVDs offered my amazon.co.uk. We just have to pay attention. I think it's a relatively new thing - I noticed it only a couple of weeks ago. It would only be fair if amazon.co.uk notified it's customers about this change.

For example:
If you order http://www.amazon.co.uk/Caravaggio-M.../dp/B000LMPHEG (Dispatched from and sold by Amazon Jersey), no VAT deductions will be applied.

If you order http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nanny-Jill-B.../dp/B000KRMZPG (Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk), the VAT deductions will be applied.

This VAT 'logic' is explained under Payment Options & VAT section of HELP at amazon.co.uk:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/cust...?nodeId=502576

According to amazon.co.uk,

The "Our Price" amounts displayed for goods sold by Amazon.co.uk are inclusive of UK VAT.

The "Our Price" displayed for goods sold for dispatch to the UK by Amazon Jersey do not include VAT.

 

[Dave Mack]

indeed. I noticed this last night and emailed them. To their credit, they responded within a few hours saying that it is indeed an "error" and they suggested just ordering anyways and then emailing them for the refund. I think I'll wait...