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12vElectronics

macrumors 68040
Jul 19, 2013
3,947
1,246
California
I got banned from Amazon recently too. I'd like to be back, I've tried to be back. The best things you can do (what I did):
Contact your bank regarding the product, usually there's purchase protection
File a complaint with the BBB (Amazon hates these and tries to get them resolved
Contact Amazon's executive consumer relations @ jeff@amazon.com (Amazon CEO)
Contact cis@amazon.com (the only other reps that can still access your account aka Account Specialists).

You're banned from Amazon?
 

yg17

macrumors Pentium
Aug 1, 2004
15,027
3,002
St. Louis, MO
I got banned from Amazon recently too. I'd like to be back, I've tried to be back. The best things you can do (what I did):
Contact your bank regarding the product, usually there's purchase protection
File a complaint with the BBB (Amazon hates these and tries to get them resolved
Contact Amazon's executive consumer relations @ jeff@amazon.com (Amazon CEO)
Contact cis@amazon.com (the only other reps that can still access your account aka Account Specialists).

What did you do to get banned, if you don't mind me asking?
 

GermanyChris

macrumors 601
Jul 3, 2011
4,185
5
Here
I got banned from Amazon recently too. I'd like to be back, I've tried to be back. The best things you can do (what I did):
Contact your bank regarding the product, usually there's purchase protection
File a complaint with the BBB (Amazon hates these and tries to get them resolved
Contact Amazon's executive consumer relations @ jeff@amazon.com (Amazon CEO)
Contact cis@amazon.com (the only other reps that can still access your account aka Account Specialists).

You should probably reevaluate your business idea's. Amazon and ebay that's pretty tough.
 

PracticalMac

macrumors 68030
Jan 22, 2009
2,857
5,242
Houston, TX
Too many returns.

How many?

Amazon does not seem to give a firm # on how many returns you can make.


One time I ordered 4 books, received them in large box with no packing.
Needless to say the books where damaged, I returned, but was charged a 15% restocking fee.

Yeah, Amazon is cheap, expect cheap service delivering cheap products in cheap packaging.
Do better going to Wal-Mart.
 

Joe HS

macrumors 6502
Jun 22, 2011
273
3
United Kingdom
if you meant "credit" as some sort of rewards type incentive, then i'm sorry because you'll never get those back. those cease to exist once you're no longer a customer. they are not considered a legally tangible form of currency so arguing for it is a moot point...kind of how people can't make AT&T give back their accrued rollover minutes if they lose it.

I'm not actually sure that this is true, else you couldn't be charged tax/VAT on purchases made through non-currencies.
 

alent1234

macrumors 603
Jun 19, 2009
5,688
170
How many?

Amazon does not seem to give a firm # on how many returns you can make.


One time I ordered 4 books, received them in large box with no packing.
Needless to say the books where damaged, I returned, but was charged a 15% restocking fee.

Yeah, Amazon is cheap, expect cheap service delivering cheap products in cheap packaging.
Do better going to Wal-Mart.

you have to "buy" a lot of stuff and return half the things you buy. some people are crazy like that.

this started with women's stores blocking returns because a lot of women would buy lots off crap and then return most of it
 

Jessica Lares

macrumors G3
Oct 31, 2009
9,612
1,056
Near Dallas, Texas, USA
Standard shipping - $7.99

Two-Day shipping - $10.99

One-Day Shipping - $17.99

Amazon exists to make them money. If you're just getting things shipped out and returning them over and over, of course they're going to tell you to take your business elsewhere. They cannot afford to be screwed out of $50 to ship you things just so you can send them back and have the shipment, again, be paid by them. That's another $50 wasted. So in total, they've wasted $100 on one customer.
 

DrNeroCF

macrumors 6502
Sep 2, 2004
276
0
Standard shipping - $7.99

Two-Day shipping - $10.99

One-Day Shipping - $17.99

Amazon exists to make them money. If you're just getting things shipped out and returning them over and over, of course they're going to tell you to take your business elsewhere. They cannot afford to be screwed out of $50 to ship you things just so you can send them back and have the shipment, again, be paid by them. That's another $50 wasted. So in total, they've wasted $100 on one customer.

Actually, isn't Amazon notorious for not really turning much of a profit in exchange for domination of the online marketplace space?

Which puts things in an interesting light, actually. The OP isn't any more of a valuable customer for spending thousands, he's still worth one marketshare.

Amazon has no reason to treat 'good customers' better than any of their other customers. Kind of a terrible way to do business, if you ask me.
 

thekingofnerds

macrumors regular
Jun 26, 2013
153
0
Two lessons for anyone reading this thread.

Lesson 1: Always save a copy of your receipt locally. It's not difficult to do, takes 3 seconds, and prevents warranty/tax-time issues if you do get banned. Even better: save locally & print.

Lesson 2: The OP, and some others on this thread, come across as stereotypical "I am special" customers. I've worked in retail, and the "I spend a lot of money" excuse will always get you treated like garbage. My manager used to kick people out of our store who pulled that crap. Unless you are a business spending 20+ mil a year, you won't get special treatment.
 

the8thark

macrumors 601
Apr 18, 2011
4,628
1,735
Two lessons for anyone reading this thread.

Lesson 1: Always save a copy of your receipt locally. It's not difficult to do, takes 3 seconds, and prevents warranty/tax-time issues if you do get banned. Even better: save locally & print.

Lesson 2: The OP, and some others on this thread, come across as stereotypical "I am special" customers. I've worked in retail, and the "I spend a lot of money" excuse will always get you treated like garbage. My manager used to kick people out of our store who pulled that crap. Unless you are a business spending 20+ mil a year, you won't get special treatment.

I will add to this, business (Amazon especially) do not treat you as a person. They treat you as $$. And if you can't make them $$ anymore you get banned. Amazon never have and by the looks of things will never care for the customer.

The plus side is Amazon has some good prices at times. So you take the risk. The old saying here plays very true "an offer that is too good to be true". And some of Amazon's cheap prices can be too good, or in other words too risky. I will never buy any Macs or other electronic/expensive equipment from Amazon. I don't care how cheap Amazon sells them. I simply do not trust Amazon. I speak with my wallet. And it says shop somewhere better for the big ticket items. And that is what I will do.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,438
43,345
I will add to this, business (Amazon especially) do not treat you as a person. They treat you as $$. And if you can't make them $$ anymore you get banned. Amazon never have and by the looks of things will never care for the customer.
This is particularly true now a days for almost all businesses. I recall seeing an article or forum thread where a carrier (VZW/ATT) required a 1,000 deposit from someone because they kept canceling and coming back. Additionally I recall seeing a thread either here or elsewhere where sprint (I think sprint) basically showed them the door - canceling their account because of their prior history with them.

My point, if you're costing the company money rather then making money, they're more apt to let you go as a customer. There is no personal relationship anymore
 

yg17

macrumors Pentium
Aug 1, 2004
15,027
3,002
St. Louis, MO
This is particularly true now a days for almost all businesses. I recall seeing an article or forum thread where a carrier (VZW/ATT) required a 1,000 deposit from someone because they kept canceling and coming back. Additionally I recall seeing a thread either here or elsewhere where sprint (I think sprint) basically showed them the door - canceling their account because of their prior history with them.

My point, if you're costing the company money rather then making money, they're more apt to let you go as a customer. There is no personal relationship anymore


And that's fine with me, because the person constantly returning crap to Amazon or churning at a wireless provider only raises prices for the rest of us.
 

Sodner

macrumors 68020
Jan 12, 2011
2,112
78
Pittsburgh, PA
I guess I have been lucky as I haven't had to return any Apple products I have purchased due to flaws noticed upon opening the item. But I've read some pretty wild stories about people having to go through half a dozen or more (iPad's, iPhone's, iMac's, rMBP's, etc) to find a good one. I get the desire to want the best product possible as we pay a premium price for Apple products and expect a product worthy of that price. But I believe that some folks do take it to "OCD" extremes. Things like cranking up an iPad to full brightness and standing in a pitch black closet and spotting a yellow spot that would go unnoticed under normal use, is an example of what I would consider extreme. I bet that is the case with the OP, and if so I agree with the Amazon ban.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,438
43,345
And that's fine with me, because the person constantly returning crap to Amazon or churning at a wireless provider only raises prices for the rest of us.

I'm not saying they're not within their rights or it was a bad decision. Clearly while only the pluses and minuses were used to determine this, some people took advantage of the return policy to an extent that Amazon felt it had to act.
 

pmau

macrumors 68000
Nov 9, 2010
1,569
854
The difference in behaviour

I admit I had no time to read all posts, but:

There is a huge difference between returning an opened product or asking for a warranty exchange.

If you receive a product and insist on using the online return policy without letting Amazon trying to offer you a replacement or repair, I would also immediately close your account.

People are abusing the return policy for online business at a massive scale, they buy, try to sell on E-bay for a higher price and simply return everything they could not sell.

Clothing is completely perverted topic. People order fashion items, wear them and return them. Just to look great over the weekend.

I had two Amazon orders exchanged for a replacement, stating the defect and also talked to customer support.

There is no problem to get a replacement for a faulty delivery, the problem is abusing the return policy and simply wanting your money back.

Amazon has to pay for shipment, return and payment handling and you pay for nothing. I would not let that happen if I were Amazon.
 

irradiant

macrumors newbie
Jul 26, 2013
2
0
write to CEO

Have you thought of writing to Jeff Bezos - although he will not write back to himself he has a staff who may write back for him. Be straight to the point, you have to attract their interest; explain that it is a problem that you have had with with a particular product - apple screens - if that is the case - also explain why you felt compelled to do a simple return rather than go through the formal channels. Perhaps you might want to consider offering the following concession, that if you have problems with future purchases that you will first contact costumer services at Amazon as well as at Apple, explaining that your previous behavior was a result of a request from apple and that perhaps on their part it would be could if his office could contact their counterparts at Apple so that customers such as your self would no longer find themselves caught in between these two great corporations.
The following link offers an finding Mr. Bezos' email which amongst others are;
Jeff@Amazon.com
JBezos@Amazon.com
Jeff.Bezos@Amazon.com
http://watchdognation.com/what-is-jeff-bezos-email-address/
 

samcraig

macrumors P6
Jun 22, 2009
16,779
41,982
USA
Am I the only Amazon customer who gets email confirmations of purchases? I know the thread is old - but did the OP never save his confirmations?
 

Chris2882

macrumors newbie
Sep 9, 2013
1
0
I got my ban email from Amazon today ... and I totally deserved it.

I've been a loyal and faithful shopper on Amazon for years and years. You name it, I've bought it ... cheap and expensive. It's not an exaggeration to say I've spent tens of thousands in recent years with Amazon. But then, I started to notice small, gradual changes to the moral compass of this behemoth retailer.

The flurry came to full storm when I saw Amazon supporting the "Marketplace Fairness Act" despite its beginnings in the internet's tax-free marketplace. I would venture to say that without the inherent benefits of internet shopping, retailers like Amazon might never have existed. But, who cares? They're a multibillion dollar company now with warehouses coast-to-coast, and they will gladly accept sales taxes to stay in the good graces of those state legislatures. And if they have to sign on to federal legislation to keep their standing, at the expense of small business owners and regular shoppers, not to mention future retailer start-ups like Amazon was not even 20 years ago, then so be it.

That's not all, of course. I'll let Amazon's Wiki page tell the rest of the story:

Since its founding, the company has attracted criticism and controversy from multiple sources over its actions. These include: luring customers away from the site's brick and mortar competitors, poor warehouse conditions for workers; anti-unionization efforts; Amazon Kindle remote content removal; taking public subsidies; its "1-Click patent" claims; anti-competitive actions; price discrimination; various decisions over whether to censor or publish content such as the WikiLeaks web site; LGBT book sales rank; and works containing libel, facilitating dogfight, cockfight, or pedophile activities. In December 2011, Amazon faced backlash from small businesses for running a one-day deal to promote its new Price Check app. Shoppers who used the app to check prices in a brick-and-mortar store were offered a 5% discount to purchase the same item from Amazon.

Amazon is now the Wal-Mart of the internet.

This is not one of those whiny, "woe is me who got banned from Amazon" posts. This is not one of those self-righteous "Amazon can't keep me from buying from them" rants. I never plan to buy another thing from Amazon, and that shouldn't be too hard given how good they are at banning people!

You can say that the actions of those that get banned only pervert the "generous" policies that the "good" buyers from Amazon enjoy, but the real perverting that is going on is by Amazon itself, financed by good-natured, well-meaning people.

Buy local and support your neighborhood economy, and demand fair treatment of workers and respect for all life.

I got banned. I deserved it. So did Amazon.
 

andermatc

macrumors newbie
Sep 10, 2013
7
2
NY
If being polite doesn't work for you, make your story public and get it viralize. Just talk about how Amazon has stolen from you (blocking your card) and how bad the customer service is. Even though I doubt that will work, might be your last shot at getting your account unbanned. Good luck!
 

Solomani

macrumors 601
Sep 25, 2012
4,785
10,477
Slapfish, North Carolina
I just got an email from amazon.com telling me that I am no longer welcome to use their site and that my account has been closed with immediate effect. The reason, they say, is that I've had too many problems with shipments. I confess that over the past few years I've returned far too many apple computers than is normal, but most of the time I've first been to Apple who've told me that I can either have it fixed or return it to amazon and recommended the latter.

Needed to vent. I really can't believe that they would penalise me for using their return policy. If they can't handle that people return defective products, they shouldn't have that policy. A lot of stores don't.

Any advice? I don't want to lose my receipts because it'll be hard to get warranty service if I need it. And, of course, I don't want to lose my credit that I have accumulated through my amazon card.

Unbelievable.

They have the right to refuse service since they are a private company. But maybe they should have given you an advanced warning first.

"Dear Abusive always-returning-dozens-of-items-every-year Customer. If you continue to be a pain in the butt, we must warn you that we legally reserve the right to refuse you further service. You have been warned."
 
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