Closure of Account - Access to digital content

[Josieb1]

Thank you pdurrant for persevering with this.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

OK, comments, please, on this draft email:

Subject: Fate of Kindle ebooks on forced account closure

Dear Mr Bezos,

Back in 2012 there was the widely reported case of a Norwegian woman whose account was closed by Amazon, and who said she lost access to her previously purchased Kindle ebooks. See, for example, this report in The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/money/201...eletes-account

I was very pleased at the time when Amazon quickly moved to make things right, and released a statement (added as an update to the above article) "We would like to clarify our policy on this topic. Account status should not affect any customer's ability to access their library. If any customer has trouble accessing their content, he or she should contact customer service for help.”



A friend recently received a warning email about the number of returns they had made on their Amazon account, and was deeply worried about what would happen to their Kindle library (& their other digital content) if their Amazon account did get closed. As they weren’t reassured when I pointed out Amazon’s 2012 statement, I thought I would ask customer service to confirm that even if their account was closed by Amazon, they would still retain access to their Kindle library and other digital content.

I was rather surprised to be told that "At this time, I'd like to confirm that if your account is closed for any reason, it is true that you will lose access to your purchased Digital content.”

I asked for clarification, since the reply didn’t address the conflict between this statement and Amazon’s 2012 statement. After a couple more attempts to clarify that I was asking about forced account closure, and about the 2012 statement, I was told "Once your account is closed […] the following will no longer be available to you: […] * your Kindle library” and "We won't be able to provide further assistance for your request.”

I am distressed to find this disparity between Amazon’s public statement when there was a fuss in the media, and the response from customer service.

I would be most grateful to be told explicitly whether or not Amazon’s 2012 statement is still true.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Durrant
(Amazon customer since 1999)

Email now sent. I had a busy week...


(OK, I forgot I'd only saved as a draft and not sent already!)

[Barbara1955]

I have done that

[pdurrant]

An interesting letter/article in the Guardian has been pointed to me.

I note that access to Kindle ebooks has apparently been maintained, and there are even hints that new devices might get registered.

This is, of course, not what CS have been telling me about forced account closure.

But apparently Amazon hasn't completely thought account closure yet, and access to Audible audiobooks is not possible.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

An interesting letter/article in the Guardian has been pointed to me.

I note that access to Kindle ebooks has apparently been maintained, and there are even hints that new devices might get registered.

That's also what the reports from people who've had their account closed that were linked to earlier in this thread said.

[Josieb1]

When I separated my Audible and Amazon accounts I was told by Audible that Amazon could not affect access to the Username account. I have no idea how true that actually is but I always download my audiobooks immediately upon purchase and iTunes is authorised for all three of my Audible accounts.

I have a program that backs up iTunes and all data, settings etc, so when I replace my laptop and restore iTunes from the back up I should not have to re authorise again, obviously not an issue if all accounts are open, but would be if they were closed, which is what the lady in the article is unable to do.

[rowanmoor]

This was mentioned on Watchdog (a UK consumer affairs program) a few days ago. Sorry - I can't remember when or where in the program as I was just starting a recorded program and caught it on the live channel as I turned the TV on. It may still be on iPlayer for anyone in the UK.

The gist of the item was 'this is unfair and here are a couple of people that have had accounts closed and they don't understand why', so it wasn't focussed on the digital content angle but the cause of closure. Unfortunately on that angle, they gave no facts/figures about returns rates for the cases either, and I didn't give much credence to the journalistic investigation when the customer said 'it happened after I returned a camera and Nikon had admitted there was a problem with them' without mention that the camera in question was something like £2000 or more and Nikon were giving free repairs to affected customers. The more interesting point was that someone who had their account closed lived with a brother or similar and Amazon also closed the brothers account as it was 'related'.

Watchdog said that purchased digital content would be lost when the account is closed, but the way they said it didn't give me any confidence that it wasn't just quoting the amazon 'if you close your account' FAQ.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by rowanmoor

This was mentioned on Watchdog (a UK consumer affairs program) a few days ago. Sorry - I can't remember when or where in the program as I was just starting a recorded program and caught it on the live channel as I turned the TV on. It may still be on iPlayer for anyone in the UK.

Already discussed at length (very, very great length) in this thread.

[issybird]

There were two especially interesting bits in the Guardian article to me. The first was that Amazon said that it warned the customer with the closed account several times before taking action.

it confirmed that it took numerous steps to warn you and tried to communicate with you, but you did not take advantage of this opportunity.

Nothing we have heard suggests this is not true, which is why this all seems like a big fat non-issue to me.

The second was from the comments section, where someone said that Amazon's customer service page says in so many words that accounts are allowed 100 returns in their lifetime and a maximum of 25 per year. This clearly seems specious to me. No one else has been able to find any info about trigger points; moreover, I think Amazon's algorithms are far more sophisticated than to go by such crude measures.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by issybird

The second was from the comments section, where someone said that Amazon's customer service page says in so many words that accounts are allowed 100 returns in their lifetime and a maximum of 25 per year. This clearly seems specious to me. No one else has been able to find any info about trigger points; moreover, I think Amazon's algorithms are far more sophisticated than to go by such crude measures.

I asked for a reference. I could find no such thing.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by issybird

There were two especially interesting bits in the Guardian article to me. The first was that Amazon said that it warned the customer with the closed account several times before taking action. Nothing we have heard suggests this is not true, which is why this all seems like a big fat non-issue to me.

Amazon won't communicate any details after they warn you, so the customer was out of luck anyway. My husband just had to return a $500+ tablet to Amazon because it wasn't the exact model the seller said it was, so it wouldn't work with US LTE. If he gets a warning there's nothing he can do. He doesn't buy much so I'm concerned that he may get a warning since it was such an expensive item. The comment to the article from a seller Alexandria complains about people returning "item not as described". So you can't return an item that wasn't what it was supposed to be?

I'm also concerned about the info in article about closing accounts because they're at the same address. I rely heavily on Amazon because I'm disabled, so I can't just go shop elsewhere like some say people should do if you don't like their policies.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Amazon won't communicate any details after they warn you, so the customer was out of luck anyway. My husband just had to return a $500+ tablet to Amazon because it wasn't the exact model the seller said it was, so it wouldn't work with US LTE. If he gets a warning there's nothing he can do. He doesn't buy much so I'm concerned that he may get a warning since it was such an expensive item. The comment to the article from a seller Alexandria complains about people returning "item not as described". So you can't return an item that wasn't what it was supposed to be?

I'm also concerned about the info in article about closing accounts because they're at the same address. I rely heavily on Amazon because I'm disabled, so I can't just go shop elsewhere like some say people should do if you don't like their policies.

I do believe HarryT said he has returned $1000 items and has never got a letter.
Quit worrying.
They sent these people at least one warning saying to watch your returns.
I am guessing if your husband returned every other thing he bought over the course of a year then you would get a letter.
If one gets a letter, then just don't return anything else.
Oh and one person got a warning letter last year and a warning letter this year. They have not closed her account.

[Cinisajoy]

Oh and member here said that Jeff Bezos did resolve the issue after she got a letter.
So don't buy into the fear mongering.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I do believe HarryT said he has returned $1000 items and has never got a letter.

That's a hell of a lot more than we've ever returned in the 14 years we've had an account

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Oh and member here said that Jeff Bezos did resolve the issue after she got a letter.
So don't buy into the fear mongering.

If your referring to me that was a No. He never even replied to our email.