Watchdog- Amazon account blocking report

jondc

jondc

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I have been considering their prime service but the watchdog report aired last night is making me consider is this the best option.

I have been using them for years and not had a problem but if something is faulty I return it, if something does not turn up I ask for a refund. How can accounts be blocked if your not getting what you paid for?

I was thinking of using the prime service to add to my current music and movies maybe best to stick to buying the actual item.

Has anyone on here been blocked?
Seems quite arrogant that you cannot defend your position or find out the reasons
 
Ive recently returned a lot of stuff for various reasons, and not been blocked yet, but not knowing what the secret limit is, Im very wary or returning anything else which in turn leaves me wary of ordering anything further from amazon especially with Xmas coming up.

I suppose their view is they don't have to let you buy from them, so they are well within their rights to ban you, same thing could happen in Tescos if they thought you were up to something.
 
I've had duff goods delivered, not show up and other issues where items had to be returned and never had any difficulty but 99.999% of stuff arrives on time in good nick. I can see why they would put a limit on folk who cause them too much grief, Amazon is a business and they're not going to throw money away.
 
I agree, people should be blocked if people are getting items just to try out and then returning them but the report suggested this was not the case.

On the other hand people should not be blocked if the returns are genuine, regardless of the quantities or percentages of returns.

By genuine I mean; faulty, not as described, damaged, delivered after contractually agreed date.
 
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There are certain people on this very forum who've admitted ordering camera gear from Amazon for a trial. People like that should be blocked. The likes of Argos and M&S have clamped down on their return policies also.
 
Boldonian said:
There are certain people on this very forum who've admitted ordering camera gear from Amazon for a trial. People like that should be blocked. The likes of Argos and M&S have clamped down on their return policies also.
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Agree with those terms. They should be considered or logged, as long as they do not count genuine returns against what ever count they use to block people.
 
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I would suspect we have only heard one side of the story. Who knows what percentage of items these people were actually returning. Unfortunately the world is full of chance takers and are the first to complain when they've been rumbled.
 
I can see it being fair to block some certain people,who are just taking the p***,and some people do :(
 
ecoleman said:
I would suspect we have only heard one side of the story. Who knows what percentage of items these people were actually returning. Unfortunately the world is full of chance takers and are the first to complain when they've been rumbled.
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True. I wanted to try and see if anyone had first hand experience, hence the post.
 
jondc said:
True. I wanted to try and see if anyone had first hand experience, hence the post.
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I buy a lot from Amazon and have returned quite a few items for various reasons (mostly 3rd party purchases that were fulfilled by Amazon and are not as described). I've never had any problems or quibbles but my returns percentage is probably tiny.

Whilst they have a right to chose who can shop with them, if you have paid for an annual subscription of prime, or have vouchers that you have purchased, I would suspect they would have to refund you for those. I'm sure any judge would think so anyway.
 
ecoleman said:
Whilst they have a right to chose who can shop with them, if you have paid for an annual subscription of prime, or have vouchers that you have purchased, I would suspect they would have to refund you for those. I'm sure any judge would think so anyway.
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The program last night suggested otherwise. I have no issue with Amazon but neither do I want to have digital media paid for but stored out of my control.
 
We use Amazon not a lot but enough and have returned the odd item, allways found them to be brilliant.

I even returned a small compact digital camera after a month long holiday as it just wasn't that great and it was fine no issues.
 
jondc said:
The program last night suggested otherwise. I have no issue with Amazon but neither do I want to have digital media paid for but stored out of my control.
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This is why I said a judge would think so. Amazon may have a right to and may have block access to their account, but they also have a legal obligation to provide services paid for.

I guess it would all boil down to whether or not the customer has received the value of the prime subscription. As the music and videos are a streaming service, you have no legal right there, you simply loose access to it. So really it boils down to deliveries. If Amazon have already provided £90 (or whatever prime costs) worth of deliveries, they could claim you have already received the service paid for.
 
It was on BBC watchdog saw it last night, apparently Amazon are not too happy with some people who have a high return rate. Is it the individual sellers complaining to Amazon, or is it just the policy of Amazon? The missus has an account with them and has complained a few times about missing items, goods replaced and postage refunded as a goodwill gesture.
 
right I have just looked at my Amazon orders for this year, weeded out the apps and digital downloads and I am left with 264 physical items delivered and I reckon 40 of those have gone back so that is a fair percentage.. no sign of being blocked just yet.
 
The report suggested that no warning of being blocked was given and that the quantity of returns made by the individuals was not overly excessive.

From comments on here perhaps what I class as over excessive differs from those complaining.

As I say I have not had any problems personally and wanted to get other people experience before committing to a paid for service.

Cheers for the info all.
 
Just looked at my numbers - over 550 orders, most for multiple items - my wife will have a similar number too, so say 1000 orders between us - in all that time, I have returned no more than a handful of items, most due to 'fulfilled by amazon items' being the wrong item (I got sent a wind speed monitor instead of a flash gun!), and once simply because I changed my mind on a Peli case.I only had one faulty item - a cheapo tablet and pen which died some 6 months after purchase, and Amazon refunded immediately.

I'd say if you use the service just to buy stuff as normal, you've no chance of being accidentally 'blocked'.
 
I'm on a mobile phone forum and quite a few members use Amazon as a "lending library" to always have the latest greatest smartphone. They actually buy lots of cheap goods to keep their returns ratio below the magic number !
 
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