Amazon.com angers customers with 'free' fee fiasco

Amazon.com has angered thousands of customers by charging for "free" shipping and failing to honour discounts.

The company has now begun the process of notifying all affected customers, promising to issue full refunds to their credit cards, according to Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith.

Customers should see the credit on their next credit card statements, said Smith. The problem affected only a portion of Amazon's customers who placed orders requesting free shipping or using gift certificates between Friday and Tuesday, Smith said.

"We regret that due to an error, you were charged for Super Saver Shipping," Amazon said in its email to customers. "We apologise for any inconvenience this may create, and would like to issue a refund for the full cost of shipping that you were charged.

"Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com - we hope to see you again soon."

Smith blamed the problem on a system error which has now been corrected. She did not give further details about the glitch.

Amazon became aware of the problem earlier this week, she said. "For whatever reason the orders were not reflecting the free-shipping promotion or gift certificates," Smith said.

Troy Wolverton writes for News.com