SAN DIEGO — Amazon is refunding sales tax overcharges to customers in Del Mar Heights, thanks to a campaign led by a retired doctor who contacted The San Diego Union-Tribune and sounded the alarm on the NextDoor social media platform.

Del Mar Heights, a neighborhood in the city of San Diego, shares the 92014 ZIP code with the city of Del Mar, California. But the two areas have different sales tax rates, because Del Mar voters approved a one-cent surcharge back in 2016.

Amazon had apparently been charging customers the proper rates — 7.75% in Del Mar Heights and 8.75% in the city of Del Mar — for many years, but suddenly started charging Del Mar Heights residents 8.75% on May 1.

Joe Witkin, a retired emergency room doctor in Del Mar Heights, discovered the ongoing error on June 26 while reviewing his purchase of a laptop for a child’s birthday.

“I don’t know why I did the math, but I figured out it was the wrong tax rate,” Witkin said last week.

An avid Amazon shopper along with his wife, Witkin discovered he had been overcharged a total of $69.90 on 66 purchases between May 1 and June 26 — 49 orders by him and 17 orders by his wife totaling $6,990.

Witkin said he thought Amazon would immediately acknowledge the obvious error when he contacted them and would then begin proactively refunding all the overcharges in Del Mar Heights.

But it wasn’t nearly that simple.

In its response to his first email on June 26, Amazon said, “I realize you’re disappointed that we’re unable to grant your request for additional compensation.”

His second email on June 27 got only a slightly more satisfying response: “I’ve opened a request regarding your tax inquiry to our tax specialists. I’ll respond to your question in approximately 2-3 business days. This time frame is an estimate and may vary depending on the amount of research required to investigate your inquiry.”

But on July 12, Witkin got some good news.

“I have taken a look at your account and I can confirm the tax rate that should have been calculated is 7.75%,” Amazon said in an email. “Amazon is actively working on getting this fixed & we will issue refund for all the orders that we charged incorrect tax rate. Please reply to this email with all the order numbers and we are happy to issue refund from our end.”

While appreciative, Witkin said he was still somewhat irked.

“Clearly, Amazon needed to proactively take responsibility for their error and reimburse all orders on which they have overcharged, without customers having to ask for it — period,” he told the Union-Tribune.

During his drawn out email exchange with Amazon, Witkin posted on NextDoor and contacted the Union-Tribune, which contacted Amazon’s corporate offices with a long list of questions.

Within 48 hours of the Union-Tribune’s inquiry, the company began proactively issuing refunds to affected customers in Del Mar Heights.

“We appreciate this error being brought to our attention, and have apologized to Mr. Witkin,” Amazon spokesperson Richard Rocha told the Union-Tribune by email. “This error was isolated to a small set of customers located in the Del Mar Heights area, and it’s been fixed.”

Rocha said the onus is on Amazon to fix the error — not its customers.

“No action is required by our customers as our team is reviewing all accounts in the Del Mar Heights area, and should we find an issue, we’ll address it immediately and issue a refund to the account,” he said.

Rocha said Amazon confirmed the error happened after an update by a vendor responsible for assigning tax rates by location. The update took place May 1 and affected customer orders after that date, he said.

The company’s move prompted an outpouring of thanks to Witkin this weekend from NextDoor members who had been complaining about Amazon since Witkin revealed the sales tax errors.

Karla Deerinck expressed frustrated in a post three weeks ago, explaining to other NextDoor users that her husband was told by Del Mar city officials that it was Amazon’s responsibility to return the money — not the city that gets the tax revenue.

But over the weekend, Deerinck’s attitude was much improved.

“We just got a notice of a refund as well without ever notifying Amazon that we were overcharged (because it was only on a few orders),” she posted. “And they gave us a $5 gift card.”

Jordan Henry also made an upbeat post.

“I just received a notification that I’m receiving a refund from Amazon regarding overcharged sales tax,” he said. “In my case it’s a pittance, but everyone’s efforts bore fruit. Thanks!”

Witkin said he received a $75 gift card — the refund he was owed, plus $5.10.

Amazon declined to say how many customers were affected and whether these kinds of errors are common or rare across the nation.

Of the roughly 13,000 people living in the 92014 ZIP code, about 4,000 live in the city of Del Mar and about 9,000 in Del Mar Heights.

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