Amazon Charges Woman $1,000 To Ship Paper Plates Less Than 300 Miles

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A woman in Tennessee is regretting her decision to buy paper plates on Amazon after the online giant charged her more than $1,000 in shipping fees.

Lorie Galloway of Gallatin says she does a lot of shopping on Amazon, however, a December 2017 purchase stumped both Galloway and her husband.

"He sent me a text," Galloway told WTVF. "'What did you order at Amazon?' And, I'm like, 'What?' He said, 'Our bill is a thousand and something dollars.'"

The Amazon shopper had been charged $1,080 to ship a $24 pack of heavy duty paper plates. To add insult to injury, the plates were not coming from halfway around the world. They were shipped from a seller in Atlanta, less than 260 miles away from Galloway's home.

"The reaction from the customer service representative at Amazon was, 'Wow, that's ridiculous,'" Bob Galloway said. Despite the admission, Amazon's investigation into the purchase claimed that the Galloways were "not overcharged for the transaction."

The online marketplace alleged that Lorie Galloway selected "expedited service" for the delivery, resulting in the higher charge. "If it would have said a thousand and something dollars, I would have noticed that," Galloway argues.

Reporters for WTVF discovered that the individual seller who sent the plates has already been removed from the website. A company representative reportedly told the Galloways that the seller overcharged other customers in the same way. Amazon refused to confirm the rep's claim.

"If they [Amazon] are not going to take care of their customers, why should I order from them again," the shopper added. The Tennessee couple took the fight to their credit card company and recently received a refund for the shocking shipping charge.

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• Amazon
• Tennessee