Amazon.com over the past week charged thousands of its customers for "free" shipping and did not apply discounts they were supposed to receive, the e-commerce giant said Thursday. The company began notifying affected customers Wednesday, promising to issue refunds to their credit cards, Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith said. Customers should see the credit on their next credit card statements, she said. 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 e-mail to customers. "We apologize 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" that has since been corrected, but 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.