Amazon has banned my account - my Kindle is now a (partial) brick.

[Pablo]

I thought things like these only happened in 3rd world countries like mine. But now we live in a GLOBAL world....

[Ian]

Hi all-

I just now received this email from Amazon in response to my inquiries:

------------

Hello again from Amazon.com. We have reinstated your Amazon.com account, and it’s now available for your use. Please note that if a higher than acceptable number of concession incidents occur in the future, your account will be closed. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding. Best regards, Account Specialist

Amazon.com

-----------

Wow... I feel so relieved, and I truly hope that this will put to rest any fears that I was trying to "put one over" on Amazon.

While the events of the past day were quite honestly concerning, I always did hold out some hope that they would take a second look at my record and realize that I am, indeed, just a regular guy who got caught up in a (very appropriate) sweep of people trying to commit fraud.

Thanks everyone for all the support you've given me and all the advice. All I can say is, I did follow Amazon's procedure in addition to posting here and in other places, and at ALL time, remained calm, professional and friendly.

As Amazon.com has always been for me.

Have a great day - I've got to grab some lunch and go read a book

[HarryT]

Good news, Ian. Just goes to show that "polite" really does work. Happy to hear that you've got the matter resolved to your satisfaction.

[pagansoul]

1) Aways back up your purchases on your own computer. This goes for all the sites that offer shelves or bookcases or whatever to keep your purchases. This means your ebooks, MP3s, videos, audio books, whatever.....
2) Don't let anyone else use your account. It is yours and anything that happens to it is your fault.
3) Everything you do is on a file somewhere, live with it.

I'm happy things worked out for you Ian. Now, back up your purchases and don't use your card for anything other than e-books from amazon.

[Lemurion]

I'm glad it was resolved, but I'm still concerned.

Amazon definitely has the right to ban people from further purchases if they have a demonstrated history of abusing their return policy. However, I am concerned about the lack of transparency in the process and the way it essentially has the effect of holding your ability to use the Kindle hostage.

[snape]

Originally Posted by curtw

Check your "Settings"..."About" page on the Reader, and look at the firmware info at the top of the page. The latest firmware is 1.1.00.18040. It adds support for ePub and Adobe Digital Editions, as well as a much-improved PDF reading capability (but still no reflow): http://ebookstore.sony.com/download-firmware/

Thanks for the info. I thought I'd seen some other version # floating around, but now realize that was probably for the UK device.

I've recently returned 1 Kindle book - purchased by accident (my mistake, it was the right title but the wrong book) - and 1 Kindle. Hee hee, maybe they'll ban me for that!

[grooks]

To the OP:

I would be wary of purchasing big-ticket items from Amazon in the future. If you suspect some items will not meet your specifications and would therefore need to be returned, you may find yourself in the same situation. It may only take one or two returns before they blacklist your account again.

[KarlB]

Originally Posted by sfernald

I don't really feel that bad for people that get their account closed. I know for a fact there is a certain type of customer who is trigger-happy about returning stuff. They feel it is their God-given right to return anything and everything they buy.
...

You either haven't been reading this thread, or (more likely) you are a troll.

[Good Old Neon]

I guess the issue comes down to believability, which is to say, though it’s not uncommon to run into problems with consumer electronics, running into a string of such problems, with multiple products from varying manufactures strikes me as a little suspicious.

Running into the same problem repeatedly, after receiving a replacement or replacements, more than once, sounds more suspicious still.

Is all I’m saying…

With that said, congrats. In the future, you may want to purchase big ticket items locally, after you've had a chance to demo them in-store.

[lilac_jive]

I'm glad to hear they fixed it for you

[Alisa]

I'm glad it was resolved. I'm surprised they ban people altogether. I know many stores will ban your return privileges if you return things too often. That seems a more reasonable mode of action. Maybe they should also ban people from the electronics store and other big-ticket purchases. Blocking people from their previously purchased downloads is a horrible idea. I'm wondering if their system design was a bit short-sighted so they can't handle these kinds of cases with any flexibility. Hopefully they will learn from this and make some adjustments.

[Sporadic]

Originally Posted by Amazon

A careful review of your account indicates that you have required refunds on a large majority of your orders for a variety of reasons.

The rate at which such problems have occurred on your account is extraordinary, however, and cannot continue.

Originally Posted by Ian

For each case, and mind you it was a small proportion of the many orders I've placed with Amazon, I first asked for a replacement, and if that one exhibited the same problem (a couple did) or a different one, I only then asked for a refund.

Somebody is lying here and I have to say, I'm having trouble believing you Ian.

Mainly because Amazon can only replace an order once before they automatically refund you and the fact you would have had to been returning items at a crazy rate for them to have flag your account.

I'd love to give you the benefit of the doubt but...

- edit Should have read page 6 before posting, oh well.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by pwjone1

2. Wireless Connectivity

...Amazon reserves the right to discontinue wireless connectivity at any time or to otherwise change the terms for wireless connectivity at any time,...

5. General

Changes to Service. Amazon reserves the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue the Service at any time, and Amazon will not be liable to you should it exercise such right.

Those terms aren't legally enforceable. A contract can't say "party 1 may change the entire contents of the contract at any time."

Certainly, they couldn't get away with "Amazon will be subscribing all Kindle readers to SuperPorn Magazine, and charging them $49.99/month for this service."

[zerospinboson]

Originally Posted by Sporadic

Mainly because Amazon can only replace an order once before they automatically refund you and the fact you would have had to been returning items at a crazy rate for them to have flag your account.

You're fairly quick to condemn, I see.
May I ask what "fact" you are referring to? Are you perhaps an amazon CS rep? Someone who writes amazon "flagging policy"? I'm curious what your claim to being an authority on amazon return/refund policies is based on, seeing how this is information that is purposely not put on the internet.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Ian

Hi all-

I just now received this email from Amazon in response to my inquiries:

------------

Hello again from Amazon.com. We have reinstated your Amazon.com account, and it’s now available for your use. Please note that if a higher than acceptable number of concession incidents occur in the future, your account will be closed. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding. Best regards, Account Specialist

Amazon.com

You might go back & edit the first post to include a link to this, or at least mention that the issue's been (more-or-less) resolved.