Amazon email for too many returns

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I know I like my cases but I honestly haven't returned that many. I buy more on eBay than Amazon as the same cases are often cheaper.

I was just going on what you'd said previously "I don't think we return too much, and it's usually cases (I.e tablet/ereader) that don't fit properly", and considering the number of cases you buy, I figured there might be a few returns there!

Originally Posted by Katsunami

AFAIK, it is even required that stores pay for return shipping, although many don't. Some do. If you combine this with the free shipping they often offer, every return costs them money. It would theoretically, be possible to bankrupt a small seller by buying and returning items.

No, stores only have to pay for the return postage costs if the item is faulty, if you are just returning it because for some reason you don't like it or you changed your mind, you have to pay the postage costs.

For example, I bought two PW2's and returned one of them because the light had a distinct blue tinge, I had to pay to return the one I didn't want to keep. Incidentally, they only charged me for one of them and then refunded me for the one I returned.... but I did let them know of their error.

Originally Posted by Rizla

Amazon have removed users' access to their purchased books in the past. Hopefully their policy has changed, but ultimately they can do what they want because users do not own the e-books they purchase.

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/yo...omer-1C6626211

"Amazon turned off her Kindle account, blocking her from her own books. And they wouldn't tell her why."

No that's not strictly true as she would only have lost access to her books if she didn't have them downloaded. When her account was suspended, she obviously couldn't log into Amazon to download them, but if her books were on her Kindle or downloaded onto a computer (and there was nothing to stop her copying them from her Kindle onto a computer) she would still have been able to read them.

Slight distorting of the facts to make more of a story.

[DiapDealer]

I believe in that case (the one that always get trotted out every year or so along with the "1984" incident), "being denied access" to her ebooks boiled down basically to her Kindle being broken. We'll obviously never know for sure if she would've retained access to her books had her account been suspended while she had a functioning Kindle, but I suspect yes. That's about the time that Amazon announced their policy on access to digital content for those whose accounts were suspended. They never gave any indication that it was a new policy.

[Cinisajoy]

Josie,
Thanks for answering me on the numbers.
Now please go have a cup of tea.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Amazon have removed users' access to their purchased books in the past. Hopefully their policy has changed, but ultimately they can do what they want because users do not own the e-books they purchase.

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/yo...omer-1C6626211

Old news. Resolved.

"After taking her story public, Amazon saw the error of their ways and restored her Kindle library. She's still waiting on her replacement Kindle, but in the meantime has access to her library through the Kindle iOS app on her iPad.

But Amazon doesn't get off the hook so easily. When we reached out to the company Monday, their PR representative would only send us a canned response they'd dropped into their customer forum: "We would like to clarify our policy on this topic. Account status should not affect any customer's ability to access their library.""

(bold added).
See this post at Amazon.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

All my books are Alf'd and I would hope I can still play my audiobooks in an iPod but the devices would be almost useless and would need to be sold. Even the ereaders can't do collections without being registered to an Account. (Yes I know this is worst case scenario)

This time hubby got a lady in Ireland. She was very apologetic but said that Customer Services are unable to talk about these letters. She kept us on hold for over 20 mins trying to find someone to talk to us from the account specialist team, in the end she gave up and said she would pass our details over and hopefully someone would contact us (probably by email) within 48 hours.

And before anyone starts on about how it's all our fault just try and remember I'm very upset and very stressed and pretty much in tears with worry. I hardly think someone who is gaming the system would feel like I do.

At this point I think contacting Jeff is your best bet. I do know that no one has had success talking about their account over the phone when they got a email from the account specialists it's always been just email. You need to bring the attention to him personally. Usually one of his office people will respond back after looking into the matter.

[Wearever]

So sorry for the stress you & your husband are having over this Josieb1. I agree sometimes you just need to go to the Top of the ladder. Contacting Jeff Bezos is the best way to get the answers to the questions you have.

[Katsunami]

To be honest, being stressed out so much over receiving an e-mail from a store, mainly because of vendorlocked content and services, proves that this store is way too powerful.

With most stores, receiving such an e-mail would only provoke a 'So, what? There are more than enough other stores' reaction. The fact that this is not happening, shows Amazon to be too big and too influential.

[peterwardgd]

Hi Josie,

I remember you also having a lot of probs with an Aura around the time i got mine as well. Just a tad unlucky methinks although the bullying tactics don't help do they.

Hey ho as long as you can take a little time out from this to relax and read from you'll be ok. Blooming Amazon, honestly.

On a lighter note you'll probably be better off with you new glo hd How are you finding it compared to the aura? I i remember you gave up on the aura though didn't you from memory.

do you want a 45% off coupon i'm not going to use?

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by peterwardgd

Hi Josie,

I remember you also having a lot of probs with an Aura around the time i got mine as well. Just a tad unlucky methinks although the bullying tactics don't help do they.

Hey ho as long as you can take a little time out from this to relax and read from you'll be ok. Blooming Amazon, honestly.

On a lighter note you'll probably be better off with you new glo hd How are you finding it compared to the aura? I i remember you gave up on the aura though didn't you from memory.

do you want a 45% off coupon i'm not going to use?

Hi Peter, I like the Glo HD, it's the same size as the Voyage and it's nice to have more font choices tbh. It's better than the Aura. I have An Aura H20 as well. Yes I'd love the coupon thank you.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Blossom

At this point I think contacting Jeff is your best bet. I do know that no one has had success talking about their account over the phone when they got a email from the account specialists it's always been just email. You need to bring the attention to him personally. Usually one of his office people will respond back after looking into the matter.

I think hubby is planning to write an email, I'm too emotional to do it and am leaving it to him.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Wearever

So sorry for the stress you & your husband are having over this Josieb1. I agree sometimes you just need to go to the Top of the ladder. Contacting Jeff Bezos is the best way to get the answers to the questions you have.

Thank you, we plan to.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

To be honest, being stressed out so much over receiving an e-mail from a store, mainly because of vendorlocked content and services, proves that this store is way too powerful.

With most stores, receiving such an e-mail would only provoke an 'So, what? There are more than enough other stores' reaction. The fact that this is not happening, shows Amazon to be too big and too influential.

This is the problem, and thank you for putting it so eloquently into the right words. If nothing else I hope this thread brings that home to everyone.

[Philzilla]

yeah, it's Amazon's fault

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Philzilla

yeah, it's Amazon's fault

Yes, it is.

It is Amazon's fault for not explaining. Maybe they are 100% correct in sending that e-mail, but the least they could do is tell Josie something like: "We see you have returned 11 of 50 items bought in the last 12 months. 10 of those 11 items were returned for reasons other than 'defective'. This is too much above the average number of returns per customer. Therefore we would like you to be more careful in your shopping."

In that case, Josie could say: "Ah, yes, I *did* return 20% of the items I bought... maybe the average return percentage is 12%, or 15%, so Amazon is right. I must read more reviews so I can make better decisions before buying."

She could also say: "No, I didn't return so many items. Where did you get that number from?" And then, when Amazon shows her, it is discovered that some random internet person has hacked the account and has been fooling with it some way or another. Stranger things have happened on the net.

Until Amazon explains, neither we, nor Josie herself can know who is right. That is what causes all the anxiety: Amazon *might* be right, but Josie can't find out *why* (the 'why' being a statement of return:keeper ratio she is exceeding, or something), and thus she can't change her behavior, which endangers her continued existence of her account.

I am thinking of reporting every post you make to the moderators of this board, and not telling you why. At some point, you will get a warning... but I will have requested that they don't tell you why. And when you ask questions, the only response given by them will be: "You get this warning because your posts are not correct. If you continue, your account will be banned. Have a nice day." Obviously, they won't tell you what's incorrect about your posts.

Maybe that would give you a bit of understanding of how Josie is probably feeling right now.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Yes, it is.

It is Amazon's fault for not explaining. Maybe they are 100% correct in sending that e-mail, but the least they could do is tell Josie something like: "We see you have returned 11 of 50 items bought in the last 12 months. 10 of those 11 items were returned for reasons other than 'defective'. This is too much above the average number of returns per customer. Therefore we would like you to be more careful in your shopping."

In that case, Josie could say: "Ah, yes, I *did* return 20% of the items I bought... maybe the average return percentage is 12%, or 15%, so Amazon is right."

She could also say: "No, I didn't return so many items. Where did you get that number from?" And then, when Amazon shows her, it is discovered that some random internet person has hacked the account and has been fooling with it some way or another. Stranger things have happened on the net.

Until Amazon explains, neither we, nor Josie herself can know who is right. That is what causes all the anxiety: Amazon *might* be right, but Josie can't find out *why*, and thus she can't change her behavior, which endangers her continued existence of her account.

A few writers have asked about this as far as ebook returns, but I imagine the answer applies across the board to all products--Amazon will NEVER disclose how much is too much because if it were to be public information, there are people who would keep it *right* under that number. So basically, the takeaway if you receive a letter as above is that "you are close to too many" be it returns or exchanges or whatever--your account was flagged because it hit some algorithmic number or some activity cause the flag. Now whether that is based on physical items, dollar amount, some odd combination, they won't tell you--because they do not want people to figure out what causes an account to be flagged. How closely something was reviewed or what rules were used, well, they won't tell you that.

I'm not saying I agree or disagree with the way it's handled. I've been on the other end of a CS question to do with how to get my author account listed when people search on Maria Schneider rather than Maria E Schneider (Was told after two emails they would no longer respond at all to my questions or suggestions on the issue). So I recognize that stonewalling is a poor way to do CS. Maybe they had reasons for telling me they wouldn't discuss it. I don't know. I moved on. There are plenty of issues to deal with as a writer at various retailers. There is no point in losing sleep over the policies of one because they ALL come and smack me at some point or other.

Just FYI: Walmart has a policy that you cannot return more than X items without a receipt in a 12 month period. I found this out because I returned several items and didn't bother to bring the receipt (I had the receipt. I didn't know it was an issue and when I forgot the receipt, I was told, "You've returned 3 items in x. You can return only two more in y without a receipt.)
So while it may appear to be all good and great at brick and mortar, they all have policies. You just need to know what they are.