I recently bought an item from Amazon using their free shipping to NZ option. The shipping was free but they also charged some $30 for what they noted as Import Fees Deposit.
The item arrived and was under the GST limit so nothing was charged. An initial call to Amazon and they said wait a bit and the charge would be reversed.
It wasn't so I called again and they happily refunded the import fees deposit. Since I am sure I will be buying again I just told them to add it to my gift certificate balance rather than have it put back on my credit card and wear exchange rate differences.
Interestingly though the credit was shown as two separate transactions
- a refund on an item I had purchased and had not returned!
- a $5 credit for an item I had purchased but the text said damaged in transit!
I was initially confused but the sum of the two credits added up to the import fees deposit so maybe that's how their CSR's process things?
Anybody else experienced something similar to this?