Watchdog talks about Amazon closing accounts

[JSWolf]

The UK program Watchdog is doing a segment on Amazon closing accounts for one too many returns. This will be run on October 29, 2015 at 8:00pm (UK time) in the UK on BBC One. Should be interesting to find out what Amazon has to say.

[susan_cassidy]

Why should Amazon say anything? Too many returns (the case I know of was not for ebook returns) is a perfectly valid reason for an online company to close an account, IMO.

[Apache]

Most companies will close your account if you return things constantly. Jewelry stores get people who will buy jewelry on credit to wear to a party and then return it the next day. The same goes for the clothing business. I know one woman who bought a Tanzanite colored dress to wear the 24K club gala one year. The dress cost over $20,000.00 and she attempted to return it the next day. She had been doing this for years. That time the company finally said no.
If I get someone who constantly returns merchandise I will let tell them that obviously they are unable to find anything that pleases them in my store and I suggest that from now on they shop else where.
Apache

[Thasaidon]

Watchdog is a long running UK consumer rights tv program which has a good track record for publicizing abuses by commercial companies, although on occasions it has got things wrong.

Yes abusing a company's returns policy is wrong but so is a company wrongly accusing individuals of abusing the returns policy.

I do not know the rights and wrongs of the situation so suggest that people watch the program first before defending Amazon by castigating by implication the people who have had their accounts closed.

[Kolja]

In my opinion it would be counterproductive for a company to wrongly accuse individuals of abusing their returns policy unless it is done in error.

[Dopedangel]

Personally I think Amazon has the right to stop selling to a person. But they should not have the right to close an account as that means denying a person valid access to their purchases specially in the case of ebooks. They should just block the account from being able to purchase anything else.

[disconnected]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

Personally I think Amazon has the right to stop selling to a person. But they should not have the right to close an account as that means denying a person valid access to their purchases specially in the case of ebooks. They should just block the account from being able to purchase anything else.

Yes, exactly that. I hope the show didn't get sidetracked onto abuses of the returns policy or whether or not Amazon should suspend anyone's buying privileges.

What I'd like to know is --

How long will people with closed accounts have access to their digital media, including apps, audiobooks, and instant videos (with streaming ability), as well as ebooks?

What are the restrictions on registering new devices and apps (because current devices can wear out)?

Why aren't the answers to these questions posted on the Amazon webisites, along with their completely one-sided TOS?

[Josieb1]

Deleted as I am getting angry again

[Josieb1]

Deleted as I am getting angry again

[Xanthe]

This response isn't directed at you, Josieb1, because I haven't been around here for a while so I don't know what your situation is .

I've been reading in other forums comments about this same topic, and I am amazed at the amount of returns some people make. It seems like many of them have done no due diligence before they make a purchase online.

Returning an item because it doesn't fit or because it is defective is one thing, but returning a book for example because you didn't like the story? It seems like those folks who are getting the letters are running a 40-60% return rate, so they aren't the "average" customer, and Amazon probably has a right to eye them askance.

I know someone who orders all her kid's clothes online; she never takes the kid into a store to try on clothes because she is a germophobe. So consequently she orders multiple sizes of the same item and retuns the ones that don't fit. She does this with everything to do with clothing. Even though she's buying stuff, she's still costing the companies for processing multiple returns on each purchase. She's already gotten notifications from some companies that either won't allow returns anymore or that have drastically shortened her return window.

[Josieb1]

Deleted as I am getting angry again

[Josieb1]

Deleted as I am getting angry again

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

Personally I think Amazon has the right to stop selling to a person. But they should not have the right to close an account as that means denying a person valid access to their purchases specially in the case of ebooks. They should just block the account from being able to purchase anything else.

Spot on. Its not like they close accounts of people without reason, and they send out warning letters beforehand too. But they should be able to suspend accounts so people can't buy anything but still retain access to their digital content, and not close them.

Watchdog is a long running programme, but as well as getting things wrong occasionally, I've watched with interest when they have focused on certain issues, and been very disappointed with how they just seemed to have skimmed over the surface and haven't unearthed anything of note.

[DiapDealer]

I only hope they (Watchdog) lend as much credence to the anecdotal evidence from the people who say they've retained access to their digital content (after being blocked by Amazon from buying new physical items), as they do to the anecdotal evidence to the contrary.

[Josieb1]

Deleted as I am getting angry again