If you don't mind sharing details, what did you do to deserve getting banned? Returns? How many?
Did you get your account reinstated after sending those emails?
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Resolved I'm outraged! Amazon banned me forever because of too many returns
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If you don't mind sharing details, what did you do to deserve getting banned? Returns? How many?
Did you get your account reinstated after sending those emails?
Sorry to say, but Amazon nor other customers care. People use Amazon to shop and most aren't educated on Amazon's bad side, just their fantastic prices compared to competition. They care about their BBB rating, but they won't unban a customer over it (I've tried). Harsh truth
I'm a long time and frequent Amazon customer and was hoping others could offer some insight into my situation...
Other than groceries, gas etc I make the vast majority of my purchases through Amazon. This is both because they typically have the best prices and because I live in a very remote area without any stores nearby offering most of the items I need. I've been an Amazon customer since September 2007, have paid for a yearly Amazon Prime account since December 2009, and have been an Amazon Rewards Visa Cardmember since March 2011. I use my Amazon credit card for almost all of my purchases, both online and off, to collect rewards points to use toward further Amazon purchases. Since I signed up in Sept. '07 I've made a total of 233 purchases on Amazon.
That being said, I've also made a total of 19 returns over the past 6 and a half years. So far I've had no problems with any returns and have never gotten a warning or anything saying I'm returning too many things. However, since I have a lot of stock in keeping my Amazon account active as well as my Prime subscription and Amazon credit card (and the accrued points on it) I really don't want to return one too many things and then wake up one morning to find my Amazon account permanently banned so I can never use the site again.
So, how much danger is there of that happening? Exactly how many things need to be returned before they decide to ban you?
I'm asking right now because this week I purchased three separate items on Amazon all in one day and each one is inadequate or defective. One of them has a different design from the product advertised on the site, one of them is unable to be recognized by any computer I plug it into, and the third is just junk that does not perform anywhere near well enough to justify the high cost. I feel like I may be testing my limits by returning all three orders at once and could possibly face a ban as a result, so I'm hoping others here could offer some advice.
Am I safe in returning these things without being banned or should I just eat the cost and keep three items that are either defective or that I am unhappy with?
Does being a Prime member or holding an Amazon Visa Rewards card lessen my chances at being banned at all?
And is there a known number of items that you can return before they decide to ban you or a certain percentage of your total purchases that have been returned that causes the ban (for example, if I return these 3 most recent purchases that will put me at 22 returns out of 233 orders, for a return rate of 9.4%)?
Any info would really help. Thanks!
Other than groceries, gas etc I make the vast majority of my purchases through Amazon. This is both because they typically have the best prices and because I live in a very remote area without any stores nearby offering most of the items I need. I've been an Amazon customer since September 2007, have paid for a yearly Amazon Prime account since December 2009, and have been an Amazon Rewards Visa Cardmember since March 2011. I use my Amazon credit card for almost all of my purchases, both online and off, to collect rewards points to use toward further Amazon purchases. Since I signed up in Sept. '07 I've made a total of 233 purchases on Amazon.
That being said, I've also made a total of 19 returns over the past 6 and a half years. So far I've had no problems with any returns and have never gotten a warning or anything saying I'm returning too many things. However, since I have a lot of stock in keeping my Amazon account active as well as my Prime subscription and Amazon credit card (and the accrued points on it) I really don't want to return one too many things and then wake up one morning to find my Amazon account permanently banned so I can never use the site again.
So, how much danger is there of that happening? Exactly how many things need to be returned before they decide to ban you?
I'm asking right now because this week I purchased three separate items on Amazon all in one day and each one is inadequate or defective. One of them has a different design from the product advertised on the site, one of them is unable to be recognized by any computer I plug it into, and the third is just junk that does not perform anywhere near well enough to justify the high cost. I feel like I may be testing my limits by returning all three orders at once and could possibly face a ban as a result, so I'm hoping others here could offer some advice.
Am I safe in returning these things without being banned or should I just eat the cost and keep three items that are either defective or that I am unhappy with?
Does being a Prime member or holding an Amazon Visa Rewards card lessen my chances at being banned at all?
And is there a known number of items that you can return before they decide to ban you or a certain percentage of your total purchases that have been returned that causes the ban (for example, if I return these 3 most recent purchases that will put me at 22 returns out of 233 orders, for a return rate of 9.4%)?
Any info would really help. Thanks!
Just return them. Who cares, they ban you, you make a new account in a fake name, with a fake address and a foreign country.
I'll give you my name and address if you want to use them..
I must have returned like 50 things last month (one with six items at once). I've never had an issue.
Electronics I tend to do my research before I buy, so I don't return those things unless it's really a piece of crap.
Decades in successful online retail taught me the customer is not always right, and you sometimes have to fire a customer. They always believe it was unreasonable of you, but it is what it is. It impacts a very small percentage of your customer base who clearly abuse your return policy, and you cut your losses and move on.
I just stumbled on this thread and honestly it is quite disturbing. I'm an avid Amazon fan as my wife and I purchase the majority of our products from Amazon - including regularly using their Subscribe & Save program where we purchase many of our household goods and even groceries every month.
I also own a business, and I understand the need to make money and to "fire" a customer when you can legitimately tell they are abusing the system and costing you money, but it seems like from these posts that the customers were never warned. I understand that people that abuse the system, steal, etc. don't need to have a warning - but I find it concerning that Amazon just sets a certain return threshold and if you pass that threshold you are automatically labeled as a bad customer and your account is closed. It would seem to me that a warning would be a win-win - it would let those customers know that they can't just continue to return items which would save Amazon money and get to keep a customer who will hopefully end up making them money while at the same time allowing the customer to continue to purchase products from them.
I take firing a customer very seriously - because it has major ramifications. 1. You are losing a person that could have generated revenue and profit for you - and this adds up over the course of many years. 2. You can bet this fired customer is going to tell others about how crappy you dealt with them - as can be evidenced by this thread. This can also have negative impact on sales and profits as well. Again, I'm not saying that firing a customer is never a good thing because the benefits of reducing profit loss by getting rid of a customer that is costing you money can be greater than the potential sales and profits you would make off of them in the future - but it has to be death with cautiously and I would think on a case by case basis - not just by a simple formula.
I've only had to fire maybe 2-3 customers over the course of my career in owning my own business, and I deal with hundreds to thousands of customers every day. Each one was handled on a case by case basis and the customers were warned before I told them we would not accept their business anymore. I've had to return two items to Amazon just this past month - once a remote control helicopter than didn't work well and then some socks for my wife that have already started to fall apart. I'd hate to see my account closed or be in jeopardy of being closed because of returning a couple of items that did not live up to our expectations - especially without any warning. I'll definitely be cautious in the future of making any other returns - so thanks to the OP for creating this thread.
I also own a business, and I understand the need to make money and to "fire" a customer when you can legitimately tell they are abusing the system and costing you money, but it seems like from these posts that the customers were never warned. I understand that people that abuse the system, steal, etc. don't need to have a warning - but I find it concerning that Amazon just sets a certain return threshold and if you pass that threshold you are automatically labeled as a bad customer and your account is closed. It would seem to me that a warning would be a win-win - it would let those customers know that they can't just continue to return items which would save Amazon money and get to keep a customer who will hopefully end up making them money while at the same time allowing the customer to continue to purchase products from them.
I take firing a customer very seriously - because it has major ramifications. 1. You are losing a person that could have generated revenue and profit for you - and this adds up over the course of many years. 2. You can bet this fired customer is going to tell others about how crappy you dealt with them - as can be evidenced by this thread. This can also have negative impact on sales and profits as well. Again, I'm not saying that firing a customer is never a good thing because the benefits of reducing profit loss by getting rid of a customer that is costing you money can be greater than the potential sales and profits you would make off of them in the future - but it has to be death with cautiously and I would think on a case by case basis - not just by a simple formula.
I've only had to fire maybe 2-3 customers over the course of my career in owning my own business, and I deal with hundreds to thousands of customers every day. Each one was handled on a case by case basis and the customers were warned before I told them we would not accept their business anymore. I've had to return two items to Amazon just this past month - once a remote control helicopter than didn't work well and then some socks for my wife that have already started to fall apart. I'd hate to see my account closed or be in jeopardy of being closed because of returning a couple of items that did not live up to our expectations - especially without any warning. I'll definitely be cautious in the future of making any other returns - so thanks to the OP for creating this thread.
A customer's sole responsibility is to pay for the products they receive. Neither he, nor anyone else, is responsible for Amazon's restocking fees or shipping failures.
This thread is worrying for me because I have been returning or exchanging a lot of orders over the past few weeks because of Amazon's recent boneheaded move (no doubt to further save on costs) to switch from reputable shipping vendors to ******* USPS (out of my past three packages, one arrived two weeks late, the other arrived damaged, only one arrived on time and in reasonable condition). I can't imagine they'll ban me now, but if this trend continues, I don't know...
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Same here, got banned after apparently too many returns, must have been maybe 10 in 5 years, but 5 in January as Christmas presents got misdelivered and they took it upon themselves to reship them immediately so when they came in I had to ship them back. Sucks...
Make a new account
Bans expire after a year (sort of). They purge their systems. Create a new account with new credit card info and you'll be good.
I hadn't thought of Amazon Prime. That would really hurt if you had paid for that and lost it too.
I know their system pretty well. I've created accounts after a year passed and they typically don't notice for a few months, at least. Different credit card # works well.
I too have recently had a number of returns to Amazon. They insist on using flimsy bubble envelopes for mailing, so the items end up being damaged in transit, and I, preferring my stuff to look nice and not all dented or mashed up, exchange them. I include notes about why I am returning the item, but Amazon refuses to learn.
When I posted about this on another forum, someone there warned me that Amazon could ban me if I persisted in this. Not relying on one person's answer as gospel, I asked Google if it was true, and found this thread.
I've experienced (what I feel is) more than my fair share of bad customer service from uncaring, indifferent companies over the years, so I can sympathize with the OP's frustration, even though there are definitely things he could have done differently. Keeping receipts, and not redeeming codes until they're actually going to be used. But it's disgraceful of Amazon or any business to simply drop someone as a customer without giving them a warning and a chance to explain their side of the story.
Right now I've decided to make the first move and just stop buying from Amazon, at least for a while. I've given them multiple chances to do better and am tired of beating my head against a brick wall. There is a price for all that free shipping and untaxed purchasing, and it's become more than I'm willing to pay.
(Sorry, everyone who just wants this thread to die. But until someone in charge cares enough to lock it, people will continue to post. That is the Way of Things.)
When I posted about this on another forum, someone there warned me that Amazon could ban me if I persisted in this. Not relying on one person's answer as gospel, I asked Google if it was true, and found this thread.
I've experienced (what I feel is) more than my fair share of bad customer service from uncaring, indifferent companies over the years, so I can sympathize with the OP's frustration, even though there are definitely things he could have done differently. Keeping receipts, and not redeeming codes until they're actually going to be used. But it's disgraceful of Amazon or any business to simply drop someone as a customer without giving them a warning and a chance to explain their side of the story.
Right now I've decided to make the first move and just stop buying from Amazon, at least for a while. I've given them multiple chances to do better and am tired of beating my head against a brick wall. There is a price for all that free shipping and untaxed purchasing, and it's become more than I'm willing to pay.
(Sorry, everyone who just wants this thread to die. But until someone in charge cares enough to lock it, people will continue to post. That is the Way of Things.)
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