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

[astra]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

It is a normal (period) dress. The point is that if it's wearing a dress, then that should be a clue that it's a *she* not a *he*... although these days that's a less reliable indicator than it used to be.

So is it a normal or a normal-period dress? I thought that her remark about the dress indicated that this a dress of a particulat style/colour that she would dress during periods only. I have never heard about it and thought maybe someone can enlight me. Then her remark was true. Because if she was pointing to the fact that she has a dress, thus she is not he, then it was faaaaaaar from obvious. I didn't even consider her pic as a pic of a lady, just some sort of sexless animal/scarecrow in a some sort of dress.

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by astra

So is it a normal or a normal-period dress? I thought that her remark about the dress indicated that this a dress of a particulat style/colour that she would dress during periods only. I have never heard about it and thought maybe someone can enlight me. Then her remark was true. Because if she was pointing to the fact that she has a dress, thus she is not he, then it was faaaaaaar from obvious. I didn't even consider her pic as a pic of a lady, just some sort of sexless animal/scarecrow in a some sort of dress.

Perhaps English is not your first language?

1. A "period dress" refers to a style or fashion associated with a particular time; i.e. 19th century, not a garment worn during mensturation. (Quick side-note: the word "period" with reference to menstruation is *rarely* used during casual conversation, so unless it's obviously a direct reference in context, you can usually assume it means something else.)

2. What she meant is pretty obvious to must people. She could have just said "dress" and meant the same thing. She was simply pointing out that it was a "period" dress appropriate for the apparent age and style of the photo. But the point was her avatar was wearing a dress, so she's a she.

3. Animals aren't sexless, so if you see a dog in men's clothes you can usually assume it's a male and a dog in a dress you can assume it's female. There is an underlying issue here that one cannot assume one's avatar is meant to be a reflection of one's RL self. But that again is part of the intended joke of this whole exchange; catsittingstill had no way of knowing if krisk was male or female, and krisk is suggesting humorously she was "obviously" female since her avatar is wearing a dress (and thus female).

[astra]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

Perhaps English is not your first language?

What can I say?

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by astra

What can I say?

No need to be embarassed; these things happen. It does make your avatar even more humorous, though.

[astra]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

No need to be embarassed; these things happen. It does make your avatar even more humorous, though.

I have already told this joke to my coleagues and we had a good laugh.

[Tranquil Ape]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I'd be contacting the "Better Business Bureau" about now. And maybe even the Attorney General of your state, if this can't be resolved well.

But before doing that, they'll probably ask you to review Amazon's "terms of service" to see if the oh-so-very-fine-print gave them "permission" to pull this kind of crap!

and right after you talk to the BBB i would pick up the phone and Call ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN. with all the press surrounding the kindle lately they may jump on the story... maybe get amazon to rethink their strategy, at least as far as the kindle goes...

[Alisa]

It looks like Gizmodo is talking about this now, too.

[Tranquil Ape]

This alone has made me almost through my kindle2 out the window, and ive only had it for 3 weeks (i do love it) I'm not even involved and this email makes me angry. its like they hung up on you in mid sentence.. grrrr

and how can they not refund your gift certificates? I'd be calling a lawyer

Originally Posted by Damætas

Final email from Amazon.com: September 25, 2008

Hello again from Amazon.com.

We closely examined your account, your history, and your related
accounts to ensure that any decision regarding your account was made
in accordance with our policies.

We remain unable to serve you as a customer. I'm sorry, but we will
not reopen your closed Amazon.com accounts. This decision is final.
There will be no further compensation.

Our decision regarding this matter will not change.

Thank you for contacting us.

Regards,

Account Specialist
Executive Customer Relations
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com
==========================

[Tranquil Ape]

Higher number of incidents?? higher than what?? they can basically send you crap now and the first time you want to return something your banned again... i would stick to books and pretty simple stuff from now on

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

-----------

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

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by Tranquil Ape

This alone has made me almost through my kindle2 out the window, and ive only had it for 3 weeks (i do love it) I'm not even involved and this email makes me angry. its like they hung up on you in mid sentence.. grrrr

and how can they not refund your gift certificates? I'd be calling a lawyer

I see your point but I also notice the reference to multiple accounts in that quote. Many of the bannings were for things like selling access to your Prime account, registering multiple accounts to re-use "one per household" discounts, and speculating on popular items to resell on eBay (hold the item by paying with a check then resell and use Amazon essentially as a drop ship). When I read the original Consumerist news item, it seemed that the bulk of the bannings were for things like this. There was hardly any mention of excessive returns. It does look to me like most of the banned people really deserved it. Ian did get reinstated after one email. Sounds like he got flagged in the system and then when a person looked at the account, he was cleared. I'm not surprised he was flagged. Electronics returns are tricky and camera returns are a big flag. People frequently buy a great camera to take on vacation and then return it.

Still, they need to find something between a total ban and total access. It is completely unfair to take away things people already paid for even if they were abusing the system.

[Sonist]

Between surreptitious filtering of search results (Amazon Removed Gay Books from Rankings) and this, Amazon is shooting itself in both feet.

If I had read this before, I am not so sure I'd have purchased my K2.

[Ervserver]

the recording industry would love this sort of power

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by Tranquil Ape

This alone has made me almost through my kindle2 out the window, and ive only had it for 3 weeks (i do love it) I'm not even involved and this email makes me angry. its like they hung up on you in mid sentence.. grrrr

and how can they not refund your gift certificates? I'd be calling a lawyer

Originally Posted by Sonist

Between surreptitious filtering of search results (Amazon Removed Gay Books from Rankings) and this, Amazon is shooting itself in both feet.

If I had read this before, I am not so sure I'd have purchased my K2.

The filtering bothers me way more than this, but I'm trying to reserve judgement. A lot will depend on what the system is like when it's done. I can see how the "glitch" could truly have been a simple programming error. Right now there's so much speculation about what they were trying to do. I will wait to see what they actually do.

As for banning customers, I've worked with the public enough to know that the customer isn't always right and sometimes you have to cut some loose. What I want to see is Amazon find a way to not screw them out of purchased content and possibly let them continue to buy Kindle content. I think that would be fair: a limited access account. I hope they issue some sort of statement soon. Now that this has hit popular blogs like Gizmodo and Consumerist, I think they had better.

[slcoleman]

What features do not work? Just the network and buying from Amazon? Or can you not read anything currently on your device?

If they really bricked it I think I would go get the source code and change it, or compile something to take its place. Some apps may need to have a GPL'ed replacement created just for this purpose. In fact, the one thing Amazon probably fears most is loosing control of their 'locked in' market, and GPL'ed apps that don't require the .azw format are just the way to achieve that.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=200203720
http://danielchoi.com/software/kindle-feeds.html
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/10257
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-9838934-39.html

Besides that you can always buy books from somewhere else and/or convert them yourself as long as the reader app works.

http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/
http://blog.fsck.com/2009/04/savory.html
http://www.blogkindle.com/2009/04/epub-and-pdf-support/
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/...5&Origine=5637

[kacir]

OMG!

We have been BoingBoinged
and shortly after that Slashdotted!

EDIT:
We have also been Engadeted ;-)
Thank you for the tip WilliamG. Here is copy and paste you could not do on an iPhone.

The Internet is incredibly powerful weapon!