I'm scared, frustrated, don't know who to go to anymore

[fulltimer]

You can choose to believe whatever you wish.

Neither me nor my wife have ever had a seller account and we have never returned any product to Amazon.

Our accounts were never associated with any others and the only thing that happened at that time was our S-I-L having his account closed.

My wife only used her account when she was at work and I used mine from the home IP. hers was not and has not been effected even though both were linked to the same bank account.

I tried at the time to resolve it with Amazon but was met with a stonewall and never even got any reason other than account associated with a closed account.

No one in the family knew my login or password because I used it to buy gifts at Christmas and birthdays and like to surprise them.



.

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by jrw93

I guess In the future I will just need to make a completely new account with new credit card information. I still don't get re access to my digital content, however, which is painful.

Why would you do this? Why?!?

They have repeatedly stated to you because one of your accounts was closed (presumably by them for abuse of policy) then all related accounts will be closed. This means you have had more than one. Opening a new one will result in the same thing happening. It will be closed!! They've told you NOT to do this. Why is this not getting through to you?

If they shut you down once & told you not to open a new account, yet clearly you've done so, multiple times, maybe that's why they're saying too bad, so sad, it's over & done with. If they shut you down once then you needed to resolve that not just keep opening new accounts. Doing so is most definately a violation. It works the same way with eBay. When they ban you under ID 123, it doesn't mean you're ok to open ID 456. That is a related account & a violation in and of itself. Why you're not getting this is beyond me.

Amazon may have made mistakes & closed some peoples accounts without cause but I do not believe that is the case 100% of the time. I'm quite sure that some have been closed for very good reasons. I'm also quite sure that we're not getting the full picture here.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You mean that you're NOT backing up your Amazon books? That's rather unwise. You should never assume that any retailer will retain your books for you indefinitely. ALWAYS back up as soon as you've made a purchase.

Books, yes, but I haven't been paying much attention to apps or mp3 that I've let live in the cloud. Maybe I should start.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ApK

Books, yes, but I haven't been paying much attention to apps or mp3 that I've let live in the cloud. Maybe I should start.

If they have any value to you, then yes, you should .

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by FJames

The sheer arrogance of these responses from Amazon! This is a good example of why I will never ever buy any digital content from Amazon. If you buy physical goods by mail order with a credit card, you at least have some legal protection. With digital DRM content, you have none.

It's an example also of why I don't like to buy DRM content.

I've only ever bought physical books and CDs from amazon.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by ApK

This is one of the cases where it sounds like there was more going on than is revealed here.

Originally Posted by HarryT

There generally is in these cases. I've never heard of Amazon closing an account without a damned good reason for doing so.

The more I think about it, the more I agree. Like I said earlier, I'm not assuming the OP knowingly did something to cause this, but I'm forced to be skeptical because... have we ever had one of these threads where the person who lost the account was completely not at fault and did not get reinstated?

In one case, a poster was posting one version of the story here and a different elsewhere on the web, if I'm remembering correctly. Another "totally innocent victim" had returned many high-priced electronic items repeatedly.

Regardless, the sad but fairly well-known truth is that licenses can be revoked. Amazon content is licensed for use on the Amazon platform. Use of the Amazon platform is licensed to those with Amazon accounts. People who lose their Amazon accounts lose access to both the platform and the content as a result. I've never had a problem with Amazon (I think I've had my account since 1997) but I've also never relied on their system to protect my purchases. The same is true for B&N, Kobo, or any other DRM-participating ebook provider (and music, in Amazon's case). I like having my stuff where I can keep an eye on it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Regardless, the sad but fairly well-known truth is that licenses can be revoked. Amazon content is licensed for use on the Amazon platform. Use of the Amazon platform is licensed to those with Amazon accounts. People who lose their Amazon accounts lose access to both the platform and the content as a result. I've never had a problem with Amazon (I think I've had my account since 1997) but I've also never relied on their system to protect my purchases. The same is true for B&N, Kobo, or any other DRM-participating ebook provider (and music, in Amazon's case). I like having my stuff where I can keep an eye on it.

Which is why, when I buy a book from Amazon, the first thing I do is import it into Calibre, strip the DRM, and back it up safely. I never assume that if I buy a book today, I'll be able to re-download it tomorrow.

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by fulltimer

Our accounts were never associated with any others and the only thing that happened at that time was our S-I-L having his account closed.

I have heard of this happening on eBay. They have no way of knowing precisely who was behind the computer committing the particular violation so they shut all 'related' accounts down. Four people living in a house all have eBay accounts. #1 gets shut down for whatever reason. They then shut down the remaining three.

They don't know that all four are the same person or not. They're all the same address & phone number or name or credit card or IP address. To keep the 'eBay community' safe they shut them all down.

Is it right? No way!! Certainly not when three of the accounts did nothing wrong but how can they prove the name on account #1 won't use the other three accounts to do something else? Or that they're not all the same person in the first place? They can't, so they shut them all down. I've heard of some people fighting & getting reinstated but that's easier by phone not email that's for sure. And you have to know the right people too. If you don't well.....

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Which is why, when I buy a book from Amazon, the first thing I do is import it into Calibre, strip the DRM, and back it up safely. I never assume that if I buy a book today, I'll be able to re-download it tomorrow.

Absolutely. Backup, backup, backup. If it doesn't exist in at least three places, it doesn't exist.

My ebooks are on my computer, on my backup drive, and on Carbonite.

[Xanthe]

Contact your Congressman and perhaps the local TV watchdog reporter. Government interest and/or potential bad public relations might gain more results than fruitless emails.

[alansplace]

I just read this entire thread and nowhere did I see any mention of possible Identity Theft!

[ApK]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I just read this entire thread and nowhere did I see any mention of possible Identity Theft!

That's implicit in the idea of someone else using an account tied to you. But the issue is the same: What recourse does the legitimate user have, even if Amazon had good reason to suspend the account (like a thief using the legit person's ID)? The answer is seeming to be "Very little." AKA "Too bad, so sad, all your ebooks and albums are gone and there's nothing you can do about it."
Worse, (well, maybe worse) is that Amazon isn't telling you why. So you can't even report the thief to the authorities, or smack your pirate son-in-law or whatever.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Contact your Congressman and perhaps the local TV watchdog reporter. Government interest and/or potential bad public relations might gain more results than fruitless emails.

Indeed.

[spindlegirl]

http://gripevine.com
lately i have had fun looking through stuff that people have complained about.

[Ethan G]

Identity theft is a possibility. I'm not sure what to do about that, but I'm sure there is info online.