A mother-of-two says her Christmas is ‘ruined’ after she spent £4.40 on nightwear but was charged a whopping £225 for postage and packaging.
Rachel Bardon, from Kingston-Upon-Thames, London, said she was horrified when she realised the Marketplace seller she bought from through Amazon had charged her so much for delivering three pieces of nightwear.
She say it charged her more than 44 times the amount she spent on the two night dresses and a dressing gown.
When Rachel complained, Amazon told her that she would have to contact her bank as the online store would take five to seven days to refund her the money.
Rachel Bardon (pictured with partner Chris Nyberg) ordered two night dresses and a dressing gown through Amazon for £4.40
Thinking she had nabbed herself a bargain, she was shocked to discover the Marketplace seller had charged her £225 for postage and packaging
Rachel, 34, said: ‘I told them: “It didn’t take you that long to take the money.”‘
Her bank cancelled the transaction but Rachel was stunned to find that Amazon had charged her a second time for the items – taking the £224 out of her account the next day.
She complained again but the bank explained they were not able to cancel the transaction more than once.
Rachel said that Christmas was now ruined for her and partner Chris Nyberg, 42, and their two children Rhiannon, eight, and Caitlin, 17.
The full-time mother said: ‘We won’t be able to go out. We’ll have to sit in at home because I have no money in my account. I can’t believe Amazon could do this to a family at Christmas.
‘We planned on going home to Ireland by coach but that’s impossible now.’
Rachel browsed the online store for cheap Christmas presents on 20 December.
She said: ‘They were really cheap – only 80p each for the nightdresses and the dressing gown was £1.80. I checked out and it came to £4.40.’
Rachel was delighted until later in the morning when she checked her bank statement online and saw that £229 had left her account.
The mother-of-two asked her bank to cancel the transaction but the Marketplace seller charged her a second time
She said: ‘£229.40 had gone out to Amazon. I thought: “No way, I didn’t spend that. The things only came to £4.40.”
‘I looked at my Amazon account and they had charged me £225 for postage and packaging.
‘I called them and said: “This is absolutely ridiculous. This is extortionate. This can’t be how much postage and packaging costs?”
‘We went to take some money out and our account was in the minuses.
‘Every time I got in touch with Amazon, they said I reordered the nightwear which I didn’t.’
Rachel accused the Marketplace seller of ruining her family’s Christmas.
She added: ‘It’s Christmas – what am I meant to do? It’s so stressful. I wanted to go see my family and buy presents.
‘It’s been a hard year for me and I just wanted to have a nice Christmas.’
A spokesman for Amazon said: ‘All Marketplace sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who don’t will be subject to action including potential removal of their account.’
Rachel said: ‘It’s Christmas – what am I meant to do? It’s so stressful. I wanted to go see my family and buy presents’