Thanks, Amazon !

I ordered a shaving soap from Amazon and paid for it using my mobile phone. One of the options you can set is 'mobile 1-click settings', to easily buy things. To be honest, I'm a bit wary of these settings which make the checkout process too quick, it takes away any chance you have to reconsider the purchase.

Nonetheless, it was early in the morning and I gave it a bash.

The item I was purchasing was £11.89 so you can imagine my surprise when I saw £17.90 on my credit card bill. I wrote an email to Amazon complaining that there weren't any options to choose free postage in the 1-click settings; I didn't request a refund, but to be fair to them they refunded me £6.01 postage.

Nevertheless, if you can't choose free postage as a default in the 1-click settings (and you can't), this makes the option a bit useless for me. I looked at all the outlets selling the particular item I wanted, and some were selling it for £10 + £3.95 p&p. I figured £11.89 without p&p costs was a fair price. So to add 50% to the selling price unnecessarily makes Amazon uneconomic. The item I wanted was £10 from the retailer so obviously the £1.89 covered the p&p. I don't want to then pay for p&p a second time.I'd be better off searching out the item in a real shop In Real Life. And I don't like things In Real Life...

So what's the point? Several things, I guess...

• 1-click settings might suit Amazon, but they might not suit the consumer.
• Amazon are good at providing refunds, even if not requested
• Amazon are not always the cheapest solution; you should watch the cost of things in real life.