Troubleshooting Where to launch a formal complaint against Amazon?

[PaulGuy]

Try and rent a car without a credit card.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Kevin R

Simply put...
Amazons policy is socio-economically discriminating.

Kindlekitten is a very angry and bitter person. Just read the posts here and look at the profile. As a community member, I apologies on Kindlekittens behalf for such a terrible attitude to those who may stumble across this.

Also kindle kitten please note - we prefer different fonts and slow typing

I'm typing as slowly as possible now. try flying and buying an

airline ticket for cash. the men in the TSA suits want to talk to you pretty badly. most ski areas do not deal


with cash anymore. both in the ticket line and when trying to buy food.

we have entered a plastic economy. deal

[poohbear_nc]

Attention everybody:


Please note that this is a discussion-based community and as such everyone is entitled to share his or her opinion politely. Even if you personally consider another person's opinion useless, please let's all remain civil and polite to each other.

Mobileread Posting Guidelines .Thank you,

[Kevin R]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I'm typing as slowly as possible now. try flying and buying an

airline ticket for cash. the men in the TSA suits want to talk to you pretty badly. most ski areas do not deal


with cash anymore. both in the ticket line and when trying to buy food.

we have entered a plastic economy. deal

Please try to remain civil. You are a very angry and disturbed person.

The OP here did not ask about skiing or airline tickets. This is very off topic and demonstrative of your anger.

[Kevin R]

Originally Posted by banjobama

I really don't understand how it is discriminating. Banks don't discriminate; ANYONE in America can get a debit card with a Visa logo on it. If she doesn't want to open a bank account, she can use cash to buy a Visa or American Express gift card. If not, she can get free books from many other places, instead of using a system she dislikes. Personally I think this is the best idea.

Are restaurants or other places that take cash only also discriminating? Are places that don't accept checks discriminating?

As with most of this thread, it is very biased to assume that a) we are only talking about the USandA and b) that there is banking equality. Again, just try to tell that to the poorer communities.

Amazon would do well to service all people, and not insisting on harvesting credit cards for access to free content is one of the ways to start.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Kevin R

Please try to remain civil. You are a very angry and disturbed person.
...

Folks, please note that part of poohbear's previously stated requirement of politeness and civility is that "when things get controversial please disagree with the opinion, not the person". Attacking the person is just not on.

It is strongly encouraged that people refer to the MobileRead guidelines if they are not clear on this.

Cheers,
Marc
Another Moderator

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by Kevin R

Please take your right wing politics somewhere else, this is about civil discussion. Also, please note that wikipedia is not noticed by any court as authoritative for the purposes of citing case law.

Can we *please* not turn this into a political discussion. This has nothing to do with ebooks.

Thank you...

[Kevin R]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

Folks, please note that part of poohbear's previously stated requirement of politeness and civility is that "when things get controversial please disagree with the opinion, not the person". Attacking the person is just not on.

It is strongly encouraged that people refer to the MobileRead guidelines if they are not clear on this.

Cheers,
Marc
Another Moderator

Why only single this out, other posters in this thread have called people 'idiots' and the original poster was called a 'whiner'. This all went without a mention or notice. I suspect because the commenters were long time posters on these boards who get a pass on insulting folks with different opinions.

[kindlekitten]

[QUOTE=Kevin R;1047776]Please try to remain civil. You are a very angry and disturbed person.

The OP here did not ask about skiing or airline tickets. This is very off topic and demonstrative of your anger.[/QUOTE

this is so not angry and disturbed. this is nice and talking about real life!

Originally Posted by Kevin R

Why only single this out, other posters in this thread have called people 'idiots' and the original poster was called a 'whiner'. This all went without a mention or notice. I suspect because the commenters were long time posters on these boards who get a pass on insulting folks with different opinions.

this looks and reads like someone with an agenda. why do you read like you think know me and you have been a member for a month?

[Kevin R]

[QUOTE=kindlekitten;1048035]

Originally Posted by Kevin R

Please try to remain civil. You are a very angry and disturbed person.

The OP here did not ask about skiing or airline tickets. This is very off topic and demonstrative of your anger.[/QUOTE

this is so not angry and disturbed. this is nice and talking about real life!



this looks and reads like someone with an agenda. why do you read like you think know me and you have been a member for a month?

Please allow this important thread to get back on topic.

To the original poster - My best suggestion would be to send a note to the FTC consumer protection group (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/index.shtml)

or the comptroller of the currency (http://www.occ.treas.gov/customer.htm) who has some authority regarding credits cards and financial transactions.

Do not let the folks in this thread discourage you. Your original concerns are valid.

[iphitus]

Originally Posted by Kevin R

Simply put...

Amazons policy is socio-economically discriminating.

No. Credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards (cc/dc/pc) are _available_. It's someone's personal choice and preference to not take advantage of them, and Amazon have no obligation to change their service for every individual's personal preference.

Further, the sale is not "free" - nothing is "free". It is a _sale_. At no financial cost to you, maybe, but it costs Amazon bandwidth and possibly also wireless delivery. Being an online sale, Amazon have terms of sale, and one is inherently that you require a cc/dc/pc for payment, id and identification of location. As mentioned earlier, this is pretty common throughout other industries (eg hiring stuff) and almost ubiquitous online.

Consider Amazon's side. They have a contractual obligation to enforce georestrictions. What do you think is more of a concern, breach of contract or a handwavey discrimination claim?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Kevin R

Do not let the folks in this thread discourage you. Your original concerns are valid.

I'm sorry to disagree, but they are not. There's no law requiring a company to accept methods of payment other than credit or debit cards, and a number of people have pointed out methods by which anyone in the USA can obtain such a card. Contacting "the authorities" about this matter would just be a waste of both the original poster's time, and theirs. It is the original poster's personal choice not to have such a card; Amazon are doing nothing "wrong" here.

[Morpheus Phreak]

Originally Posted by Kevin R

Restaurants also used to have signs saying 'We do not serve blacks'. Did the fact that they had a public policy make it right? The amazon policy is indeed discriminatory against folks that do not have credit cards, which by its nature discriminates against folks on the poor side of the tracks.

Comparing laziness to racism means you automatically lose any point you may have been trying to make.

Anyone with more than a few minutes of time, and the ability to perform any sort of movement could get to a local grocer such as Safeway, Fred Meyer, Kroger, etc. and purchase a cheap gift card with the visa or mastercard logo, or even heaven forbid have a bank account (almost all debit cards have a logo) and register that on the account.

That gift card could be used to buy items anywhere (not even Amazon) and it would still work.


Dear Lord...are people really so lazy that they can't even do basic research these days?

Hold on Earl...I don't see nothing on those tubes leading to that WickedPeteEhUh site.

[Ben Thornton]

Excuse me if I'm being a bit thick, but I still don't understand how you can buy a Kindle without an Amazon account that then allows you access to content.

It's true that Amazon don't make their free books available to non-Amazon customers, which is a policy which some may not like, but which seems understandable to me from a commercial point of view.

I would much rather Amazon made their free content freely available, and sold DRM-free ebooks formatted to an open standard. Just because that's what I'd like them to do doesn't mean that I have any right to force them to do it. As consumers, we should vote with our feet. At the moment, Amazon looks - to me - like the most practical option to get access to a wide range of ebooks at a reasonable price.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

Excuse me if I'm being a bit thick, but I still don't understand how you can buy a Kindle without an Amazon account that then allows you access to content.

I'm guessing it was bought second-hand. Lots of Kindles on eBay!