amazon still banning accounts?

[jbcohen]

I have heard about some of these individuals returning to Amazon under different names and different account information. One of the people I spoke to that had been banned from Amazon did understand why it occurred and returned under a very different name and different account information and different credit card number. This time the individual (not named to protect the person) did not engage in any of the activity that the person got banned for in the previous case. However did want to return to buy more from the electronic store. So far this person has had no trouble from Amazon.

[pedrobear]

thanx for the info
I'm a little scared of getting banned I ave had a ps3 not show up once so amazon sent another same with a game around 6 months ago now yesterday i returned a game because it did not work I sure hope I dont get banned because I have over 400 dollars worth of pre ordered games that I bought with a gift card..
also if I do get banned what happens with my giftcard account? 400 is a lot of money to loose for nothing

[DiapDealer]

I smell a FUD outbreak.

Only return things if they need to be returned.
Don't get in the habit of reading books and then returning them (by the bucket-loads).
Don't play fast and loose with billing addresses, credit cards, and proxy servers trying to circumvent geographic restrictions (or at least don't cry when you get nicked).
Don't tell them "I never received it" if you did.

Comply with the above, take deep breaths, and you'll be fine.

And as abookreader said; if having access to your books in the future worries you now... then take care of business today.

[Blossom]

I had my Amazon account for over 10 years now. I've never had an issue with them. I shop regularly with them and not just ebooks. Amazon's never given me a problem in returning anything. How they pack items now that a different story. I've had a few things arrive in bad shape but they replaced them when asked.

[heckfive]

Originally Posted by JaylieG

They still ban accounts yes.

But I don't agree with vaughnmr.. yes some people take advantage but to be punished for getting actual dud items is not the consumers fault. Nor should Amazon "punish" them.

My account was banned, now its it not banned. I hardly think returning 3 items in a 6 month period deserving of a ban, but according to your comment, I did. How very tolerant of you.

-- How do you get unbanned I returned 3 things out of 32 because they had serious issues looked opened missing components etc...
Who do you call?
What do you say?

[DiapDealer]

Who do you call?

Amazon Customer service

What do you say?

"What's going on with my account?"

[Noughty]

Firstly, it would be nice to have something like your account status (like a seller rating which shows if your account is in bad shape). I think that it would be better for everyone if user was informed that he is doing something wrong - like returning too many products or something else. This way he could change and try to be more careful or whatever so his account isn't closed. Now people might be paranoid about returning stuff even if it's needed. If the loss of banned account is bigger than some faulty device. Of course returning one item doesn't put you in risk but we have to admit that there are people who are just unlucky with electronics for example. At the moment I don't own an electronic device which works without flaws. Only Kindle seems to be holding up at the moment, hope it lasts.
As someone mentioned, customer who had his account banned can change and be a good customer of amazon. I think people deserve a chance. Some abuse policy because they just don't think about the consequences to amazon and to themselves. If they knew their account status they could act accordingly if they don't want banned. But of course amazon would never loudly tell everyone what you account might be closed if you return too much stuff or for a number of other reasons. They might loose some clients that way.

Secondly, we buy books/electronic content and we don't own it. We can loose the book at any time and it's normal. This really should make that content cheaper than paperback or a cd. If I buy those I know I will own them for as long as I want. Most books kindle versions are cheaper but some are more expensive or has the same price.

Thirdly, if the account is closed you shouldn't loose all the stuff you paid for. Especially if it was closed for returns. If it were closed for something like reselling stuff without any right when it could be repossessed to stop that.

I only recently opened amazon account and I don't think it is worth it for me to buy books from there. I'd rather buy from small publishers with no worry that I might loose my books some day. They also never have any DRM, so I can read on any device. I actually feel like I own the book. The only advantage of amazon is that you can download straight to kindle.

I also wonder how kindle itself would work if amazon account is closed. Would you lose collections feature/time settings? Apparently to have all functionality for the device you paid for you need to register. If I myself closed my account would I lose that too? I am forced to keep my amazon account just to have collections on my device?

On final note, why electronic stuff has less value and rights than material. My professor who taught about electronic commerce said that they should have equal rights. If amazon account is closed and you loose all electronic content why don't they come and take the material content too? A book is a book, no matter if it's electronic or paperback. Now they take away electronic but leave the paperback. Some often argue that ebook and paperback price can be the same since it's not the form what matters but the content. But apparently here form makes all the difference. You BUY paperback, you RENT(?) ebook since the owner is always the seller and can always take it away. You buy just license with other sellers too, but with them there is no danger of losing a book, so for you it basically becomes buying the book.

[darryl]

No one in this thread seems to refer to the thread of 19 February 2012, admittedly under a somewhat strange headline.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=169602

I too have been with Amazon for a few years now, and have found them an excellent company to deal with. However, the practices described of banning whilst refusing to provide any details and restricting subsequent communication to email only with certain "experts" who are not contactable otherwise are quite simply unacceptable.

If this is in fact what takes place I would hope that Amazon will voluntarily introduce a fairer system. Amazon seems to be far more responsive to its customers than many other large online companies. I suspect, however, that if they do not act they will ultimately be forced to by consumer legislation in various jurisdictions.

[Dr. Drib]

"No one in this thread," when you wrote that, only referred to 3 people.

Your post was the 4th one, and mine was the 5th one.

All the other posts were written before that other post that you're referring to.





Don
(Moderator)

[vxf]

I have been a long time Amazon customer as others above. I would think ten years at least. I used to buy a lot of books, some music, the occasional game. Lately, much less, but since I got a Kindle, I have been buying ebooks.

Now, I have nothing but praise for Amazon. They have always been punctual and precise. Whenever something was wrong (the occasional book damaged in the mail is all I can really think of), I have had no problems with returns. And they had no problems with it either, as my account has not suffered. I suspect it is easy for them to spot patterns... like people returning books regularly after a week, or similar. I have had two friends banned for ordering multiple items restricted to 'one per household' on different accounts (game systems, for example). I know of someone banned for buying music CDs, copying them and returning them right away. Neither of those cases seems unfair.

Now, the other side of the issue. This whole idea that we 'rent' items instead of buying them is bullcrap. The damn button we press says 'BUY', not 'rent'. So no, I don't think Amazon - or any other digital retailer - should have the right to render legally purchased content non-accessible. So I take my precautions. I use Calibre, strip DRM off of everything (from ebooks to digital newspapers, magazines) and back it all up manually. None-the-less, I do think it is simply absurd that a customer has to jump through hoops like this to protect his own private property from the possibility of 'discontinued service' (what if Amazon, or whoever else, simply goes bankrupt, or decides to exit the business?).

I believe in free markets, and truly hope that someone spots the problems and decides to see it as an opportunity. I would pay extra (not much, but certainly a bit) for DRM-free content that is truly MINE. Yes, I can obtain the same result right now with a bit of work. But I have had better things to do with my time - and I suspect so have many other people.

[ProfCrash]

And this is why it makes sense for people to back up their electronic content on their computer and not trust it to Amazons cloud. You can download all of your e-books to your computer pretty easily. I imagine you can do the same for videos and MP3s but I don't know for certain because I have not bought any of that from Amazon.

If something does happen to your account, it is hacked or locked out for some reason, you have the books on your computer and you are good to go. At least, you have them to sideload back on to your Kindle. It also gives you options if you want to take advantage of them.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Noughty

On final note, why electronic stuff has less value and rights than material.

Not less, different. 'Cuz, see, they're different things.

My professor who taught about electronic commerce said that they should have equal rights.

You misunderstood what your prof meant by 'equal rights.'
Well, that, or your prof was wrong. Been know to happen.

Here, see if you or your prof can make an argument for the modestly equal rights I propose here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=1957646

ApK

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

And this is why it makes sense for people to back up their electronic content on their computer and not trust it to Amazons cloud. You can download all of your e-books to your computer pretty easily. I imagine you can do the same for videos and MP3s but I don't know for certain because I have not bought any of that from Amazon.

If something does happen to your account, it is hacked or locked out for some reason, you have the books on your computer and you are good to go. At least, you have them to sideload back on to your Kindle. It also gives you options if you want to take advantage of them.

Not just simple back-up, either. You need to remove DRM or you might find your backed up ebooks useless. For music, they're just plain DRM-free MP3 files so backing up is trivial.

For movies, if you have the latest version of Amazon Unbox and Windows Media DRM installed, then you can't remove the DRM. With the price of the videos for sale though, you're better off purchasing higher quality Blu-ray or DVD versions, anyway. At least there are tools available to remove the DRM from those if you want to make back-ups.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Not just simple back-up, either. You need to remove DRM or you might find your backed up ebooks useless.

That's what many of us recommend, sure enough. However, speaking for CURRENT Amazon books, there is no 'phoning home' for DRM access, so as long as you don't lose your key or serial number, the books you downloaded up to now can be stripped of DRM at anytime, even if Amazon and it's servers vanish today.

Sort of like DVDs. Once you have the disk, the tools that work on it today will work forever....future schemes will not come in and change the stuff you have in hand.

That being said, stripping immediately is the best advice.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by ApK

That's what many of us recommend, sure enough. However, speaking for CURRENT Amazon books, there is no 'phoning home' for DRM access, so as long as you don't lose your key or serial number, the books you downloaded up to now can be stripped of DRM at anytime, even if Amazon and it's servers vanish today.

Same is true for for B&N (credit card instead of serial number).

For Adobe DRM and (the now-defunct) Microsoft LIT, you activate your device/PC but once you've generated the key, it's the same used for all other devices associated with your account. Granted, it's always best to strip DRM right away, just in case.