Resolved I'm outraged! Amazon banned me forever because of too many returns

[marbles]

I haven't read the entire thread , but I hear what your saying from reading your first few posts

If they have denied you access to your credit card ( amazon or no) then that is surely illegal , as for denying access to credit you already have on your account , I'm fairly certain that is illegal to( unless it is written into terms of service that such a loss would occur) , if your in the UK go to trading standards .before you do anything get yourself a copy of TOS and go through it with a clear head and a fine tooth comb .

I would also find out any addresses of higher management and put forward to them ( calmly !)exactly what you have bought and kept and what has been returned , then if what your saying is just ,it should work out , one would hope .

 

[Apple Ink]

The OP's issue is that he has racked up some Amazon rewards and can't use them now because of his account closing. Sure he can use a different/email/address but he won't be able to get those rewards, which I think is the whole point of his gripe (well, that, and no formal warning)...

6 Posts before yours:

File a complaint at your state's/country's Consumer Affairs Office! At least get the credit back and use it!

Or sell them off at ebay!

 

[Unspeaked]

You seem to like to comment on things you know little about. In fact, I cannot use my rewards because they are in my account at amazon. There is no way to access them or use them, or gift them to anybody. When I get my certificates, I always put them into my amazon account so that they will be readily available when I make purchases. Once I've done that, the paper certificates are used so I just throw them away.

Secondly, we live in a digital age. Amazon offers a wonderful purchase history/archive service where it is easy to search and locate by date/year, print out and otherwise find old records. Keeping paper receipts for tons of books, electronics and what not doesn't make any sense. I've never ever been banned from a store before and naturally couldn't have predicted that I would banned WITHOUT THE OPPORTUNITY TO USE MY CREDIT AND ACCESS MY RECORDS. I don't think that is short-sighted at all. I do have some emails and old receipts, but only some of them. .

Wait, so not only did you not have the good judgement to save some purchase history outside of Amazon's system (like I said, if you didn't save the paper receipts, you should have at least saved a digital PDF of the checkout page or something - anything - that isn't tied to Amazon's servers, which you have zero control over), but you also blindly inputting each gift certificate you got into Amazon before it was even needed, for the sake of not needing the paper copies laying around?

You have to admit, no matter how badly Amazon may have handled this situation, you brought much of this on yourself; it was your own judgement that prevented you from backing up your receipts, saving the paper copies or not blindly entering your gift certificates online before you needed to use them.

Don't get me wrong - I don't side with Amazon 100% on this - but surely you can see how you could have done things a little differently? Don't you?

 

[notjustjay]

You have to admit, no matter how badly Amazon may have handled this situation, you brought much of this on yourself; it was your own judgement that prevented you from backing up your receipts, saving the paper copies or not blindly entering your gift certificates online before you needed to use them.

Yes, it's always how it goes -- it is awfully convenient that every single little thing is going exactly against the poor victim.

Not knowing the full story (does one ever get the full story from the victim?) I can't comment, and can only wish the OP luck, (what else can any of us do?) but I know lots of stores are cracking down. Classic example, Costco now only allows returns within 90 days on electronics, to prevent abuse.

Some interesting discussion over in SlickDeals, including:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showpost.php?p=12769504&postcount=253

 

[Macrimonious]

I sympathize with the OP here to a certain extent, and while I believe you when you say that you're not some "sketchy" re-seller, it doesn't bode well when you cant remember how many freaking laptops you've returned. A dozen? Two dozen? More? Did you return other stuff besides laptops?

The thing that doesn't make sense to me, and, obviously, didn't make business sense to Amazon, is that you would continue your purchasing behavior even despite the numerous returns.

You even said so yourself that it was a big inconvenience to you, so why keep buying from them? If I bought one big ticket item on Amazon, found I had to return it, I would be hesitant to do it again, let alone more times than I can remember.

You seem like the kind of guy who can throw some money around, why waste your valuable time returning MBP's over and over and over when you can go to an Apple Store, have a great shopping experience, and deal with a human face to face in case you're not satisfied...?

It just doesn't add up for me.

 

[aristobrat]

You seem like the kind of guy who can throw some money around, why waste your valuable time returning MBP's over and over and over when you can go to an Apple Store, have a great shopping experience, and deal with a human face to face in case you're not satisfied...?

I think PDE mentioned the cost factor in another post, but I'm guessing that another factor involved is that when you're returning a notebook based on a subjective issue (i.e. a defect in the screen that you consider a fault isn't guaranteed to be considered a fault by everyone else), Amazon's return process is way more likely to guarantee you a full-refund than a retail store.

 

[CrackedButter]

Why buy from Amazon in the first place? Why not just purchase directly from Apple. Seems you have cash to burn.

I haven't read anywhere where it states how many laptops you bought and returned btw.

 

[alphaod]

Why buy from Amazon in the first place? Why not just purchase directly from Apple. Seems you have cash to burn.

Because you can't buy books and other stuff from Apple.

 

[Peace]

One would think. With all your returns to amazon you would have the receipts in your email.

I always print out receipts I get via email from companies I do business with.

 

[donga]

One would think. With all your returns to amazon you would have the receipts in your email.

I always print out receipts I get via email from companies I do business with.

if you're green or don't want to print it out, you can always print > save as pdf, then you'll have the receipt anytime you want

 

[Chappers]

You still havent said how many returns you have made.

I dont know how old you are, but you seem to have come a long way without knowing the golden rule of life that is -

Trust nobody but yourself.

 

[Chappers]

Looks like Mr.Outraged had so many returns to count that he isn't coming back.

 

[brad.c]

You seem to like to comment on things you know little about.

I heavily sympathize with the OP in this situation, but I am also curious what about the quantities in question. If they are enough to raise flags with Amazon, then you should already be adding them up to build your defense. Doesn't matter that you don't have access to your records, I can't imagine that any one private individual wouldn't keep local copies. If the quantity of purchases are truly so high, then surely you must be running a reseller or consultation business—why then don't you keep records for tax purposes?

You did start the thread. So post the specifics.

No matter what the outcome is, I will never purchase another item from Amazon and I will cancel my Amazon credit card too.

Unfortunately, it sounds like that decision was made for you.

 

[BigHungry04]

Man, that's ridiculous. I think Verizon or some other cell phone provider did this recently: "fired" a bunch of their most-complaining customers. It's their right to do so but that doesn't make it right. But don't give up hope, there's always a home for you at http://www.theybannedme.com

It was actually Sprint. I was working for Sprint at the time, and it was really funny. Sprint has been losing customers faster than they get new customers, so eventually Sprint will fail, and either be bought by another carrier or just cease to exist. I hope for the latter.

Sprint was letting go of customers who called in multiple times a day about billing issues. A lot of that was in the notes on the customers' accounts, however most of the idiot customer service reps did not know how to/or cared to put the notes in the correct category, so some customers were let go due to incorrect labeling of notes by customer service representatives.

To the OP: Sorry about your problem with Amazon.com, but maybe you shouldn't purchase laptops from them. I know you said cost is an issue, but even though most people here seem to be filthy rich, most of them don't buy a new laptop every few months. I know I wouldn't. I don't plan on buying a new MBP for at least 5 years.

 

[hexonxonx]

BestBuy and CircuitCity will do the same thing. If you have too many returns in a certain amount of time, they will ban you from their stores. It's not an unheard of rule. They lose too much money on people returning things. This is especially why many electronics now have the stocking fee on returns. It discourages people from returning things for stupid reasons other then being defective.

 

[iMacmatician]

Don't get me wrong - I don't side with Amazon 100% on this - but surely you can see how you could have done things a little differently? Don't you?

Agreed. Things are rarely, if ever, completely black or white. But sometimes it's seen that way.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

<snip>but you also blindly inputting each gift certificate you got into Amazon before it was even needed, for the sake of not needing the paper copies laying around?

You say that like it's a bad thing to do. How often do YOU get a gift card and not redeem it straight away out of fear that the company offering it might decide to lock you out?

<snip>but I know lots of stores are cracking down. Classic example, Costco now only allows returns within 90 days on electronics, to prevent abuse.

Barnes & Noble (where I work) recently changed their return policy too; from unlimited to 14 days. Talk about a huge shift in policy, but hey, that's life.

 

[nsbio]

not good

I think it would not be unreasonable for Amazon to first have provided the customer with a warning instead of proactively closing the account.

I have been shopping on Amazon since 2001 and have not returned a single item to them. However, this downright nasty behavior by Amazon (not giving a forewarning to customers) makes me less confident and much more cautious about shopping with them.

 

[Unspeaked]

You say that like it's a bad thing to do. How often do YOU get a gift card and not redeem it straight away out of fear that the company offering it might decide to lock you out?

Have you ever used an Amazon gift certificate before?

The process is not the same as a regular gift card.

You get a code, which at that point can be used by anyone. What I was saying is the OP should have just held onto the code - which is what I do with an Amazon code when I get it.

The next step is to input the code into your Amazon account, at which point you've committed it to that account. You haven't spent it yet, but it's not among your credit card and billing info as a saved form of payment.

If the OP has only gotten the code and not entered it into his Amazon account, he could now still use it by giving it to someone, selling it or whatever. Instead, he tied it to the account they suspended, and can no longer access it.

It's not a matter of redemption, in this case.

 

[Kwill]

Honestly, not counting laptops in the past two years, my return rate is exceedingly low. Probably around 2-3%...

And you are telling a group of strangers all of this because??? The only real audience for this is, as has been mentioned, customer service. In the end, it is Amazon's call and there are other vendors out there. Sorry for your troubles.

 

[kixsand]

I found this post in another thread started by the OP back in 2007. The thread was titled "I love Amazon.com".

It seems prophetic now:

I've returned so many MBPs/macbooks to amazon that I'm surprised I'm not banned from buying from them forever! And never a question- any defect is accepted and they will either send you a replacement or full refund. The only thing I've noticed is that after one replacement they will not keep replacing, but will then tell you that there is a larger problem with the model and that they recommend waiting and purchasing again at a later date. They still refund you the full amount, but they won't send out another replacement so if you want to try again you need to order again and start over...

It seems to me that there are clear signs of abuse and that Amazon had an obligation to fire this customer.

My opinion.

darren

 

[rhett7660]

I agree. It sucks for you, but Amazon.com has a right to say no thanks if it doesn't want your business.

 

[Unspeaked]

I found this post in another thread started by the OP back in 2007.

Wow, nice detective work - old MR threads come back to haunt the OP

 

[elgruga]

Wow, nice detective work - old MR threads come back to haunt the OP

Exactly.

This is a worthless thread - I can NOT understand why it wasnt simply erased.

There is a troll aspect here too - by returning so many (we were never told how many) Apple laptops, its a negative to Apple without any evidence.

 

[aristobrat]

Exactly.

This is a worthless thread - I can NOT understand why it wasnt simply erased.

There is a troll aspect here too - by returning so many (we were never told how many) Apple laptops, its a negative to Apple without any evidence.

He has screenshots of most of the screens of the notebooks that he returned, so I don't think he's trolling to hurt Apple, ... I think he's just upset at Amazon for suddenly turning off his acct.