I placed an order on Sept. 24, 2008 for 2 DVDs and 2 books. I received a confirmation for 4 orders but I didn't check the body of each e-mail, only the subject line. Today I received in the mail 2 of the same DVDs from the same company. In speaking with an Amazon.com representative, they said I clicked the "One click" order button twice. Now, I kow it might be possible to do it once, but not twice! And it would have been by accident, anyway. So, I have 2 sets of DVDs ordered - one already here and one enroute. I may be able to cancel one if it hasn't been sent yet but the one I received, I have to absorb the shipping/handling fee if I return it.

My advice for anyone using the Amazon.com "One Click" order button, check the status of the order within 90 minutes and make sure there isn't a duplicate - if there is, you can cancel it. Also, check the body of your e-mail for confirmation of each order and specific titles. Especially when you are ordering more than one.

I placed an order with Amazon.com for the tv and selected the electronic check method of payment on August 27, 2008. Amazon received an authorization from Telecheck, but cancelled the transaction. After contacting customer service I replaced the order on the 28th and the same thing happened again. Their reason was that my bank would not validate my billing address. I contacted my bank (small local bank) and they had received no inquiry from Amazon. I went on working with customer service at Amazon until yesterday- we added notes that provided the proper phone number for my banks, the manager's names, and after almost 3 weeks of cancelled orders Amazon finally told me they weren't actually doing anything because they were a global company and didn't have time to mess with these things. I feel that if they aren't going to honor a payment method for purchases of a certain amount, then don't offer it or at least be honest with the consumer and tell them to take their business elsewhere.

I have been an Amazon customer for more than 7 years, with purchases of more than USD$8000 yearly (all purchases are recorded either via email or print-out Amazon account summary). The reason I am writing this review is to expose what Amazon does to her faithful customer.

I make purchases of at least 20 to 30 books in each order several times a year, so I do consider myself a “big” customer of Amazon’s (let the reader be the judge). The reason I make such regular purchases is this - I am doing research and require books for my papers. Besides, I am a bibliophile and an avid book collector.

The quality of Amazon packing has progressively deteriorated over the years. In the early 2000 (i.e. from 1999 to 2003), Amazon shrink wraps my books for delivery. In the last few years, the packing has decline to such an extent that, several books were simply thrown into a box – sometimes with nothing and sometimes with a plastic bubble on top – and the books were shipped all the way to Asia with such flimsy packing. Imagine 10 books in one box (the orders of say 30 books were often split into a few shipments). What do you expect to see when the books arrive?

Needless to say, there are badly damaged books in every shipment.

I never requested for replacement of books with minor damages i.e. slight dog-ears, little dents, or even a mark here and there. Thus far, I have only requested for replacements when the damage is substantial i.e. numerous dog-ears, dents to corners of books, torn covers (even torn hardcover jackets), or crushed pages.

Apparently, Amazon dislike customers asking for replacement, even when customers were to send back those damaged items. Recently, I asked for a replacement of a damaged book which was an expensive item. The damaged book was sent back to Amazon, but Amazon sent me another damaged book as a replacement! I do not know if the damage was due to transport or originally there, but the book had dents, crushed pages throughout, and markings.

I therefore requested for a second replacement for the damaged book. But this is what I received from Amazon in my email the next couple of days:



Email from Amazon Management:

Date: Wednesday, 27 August, 2008 11:03 PM

Hello from Amazon.com.

A careful review of your account indicates you've experienced an extraordinary number of incidents with your orders and corresponding shipments.

In the normal course of business, the occasional problem is inevitable. The rate at which such problems have occurred on your account is extraordinary, however, and cannot continue. Effective immediately, your Amazon.com account is closed and you are no longer able to shop in our store. I am very sorry for any disappointment this may cause.

Please know that any accounts related to yours have also been closed. If you were to open a new account, the same will result and it will also be closed. In the event that you attempt to do so, we will not accept the return of any additional orders, nor will we issue further refunds in connection with any future orders. We appreciate your cooperation in refraining from using our web site.

If you require additional assistance, or have any concerns, feel free to contact us directly at mailto:[email protected].

Please do not contact regular Customer Service again, as they will no longer be able to assist you.

Regards,

Account Specialist
Amazon.com


With the aforementioned email, I can no longer access my Amazon account. What’s more, all my standing replacement orders and credit card details were frozen and taken by Amazon (can’t I at least DELETE my credit card details? What about those well-known Amazon hackers who hack into accounts to steal credit card details?). What’s most frustrating is that – I cannot even log into my Amazon account to stop SPAM mails from Amazon from being sent to my email account.


This is what I wrote to Amazon after receiving the aforementioned email.

Date: Thursday, 28 August, 2008 12:06 AM

Dear Amazon,

Re: Closure of My Account After So Many Years As A Customer

1. I do not understand why you have closed my account without even discussing this with me. The alleged "extraordinary number of incidents" were not due to any faults of mine.

2. Take for example, the numerous paperback books I ordered. In order to prevent damage due to the packing of MANY books into one box, I have been splitting my orders recently (and PAYING MORE as a result) into lesser and lesser books. Go and check it out: it would be cheaper and more economical just to purchase all the books in one order. Instead, I choose to pay more and split the books up into several orders (like 10 orders). With each order, I have to pay a shipment surcharge. I am willing to do so because the packing is very poor, and the books often arrived damaged. The soft-covers were often placed into a box with nothing, or a simple plastic bubble. The books become damaged when the corners of the books rub/knock against the inside of the box or when the books rub/bang into other books within the box.

3. Hard-covers were more resilient to transport, but not all books come in hard-covers. Even so, I have hard-covers damaged every once in a while. Some hard covers had badly torn jackets.

4. Thus far, I have returned damaged items as instructed.

5. Furthermore, I had appealed to shipment (like writing to them) to pack my books well i.e. to wrap my books in a plastic shrink wrapper. Once in a blue moon I get books wrapped in a shrink wrap, but even so, the shrink wrap was done such that the corners of the TOPMOST book were bent inwards (due the to hasty shrink wrapping or carelessness). As a result, the book was damaged.

6. Other than the packing problems, I had no other complaints against Amazon. I never complained when my orders were delayed for months. I never complained when you say that a book was in stock, and when I ordered, you cancelled my order because there is no stock. I never complained when you cancelled an order because the price was allegedly a “mistake” (too low and couldn’t make a profit?). Why didn't you just pack my books properly? There were even times when I had to re-order the damaged book because your replacement book was damaged as well.

7. I am a book collector, and I will want my books in new or reasonable condition as I had indeed paid for NEW books, not damaged ones. I will accept the book if it has no dents, severe dog-ears, torn or bent covers.

8. Lastly, I have purchase books from you for more than 7 years, and have given you much business. You could at least DISCUSS this issue with your long time customer.

9. This is not the way to deal with a faithful customer of so many years.

Yours sincerely,
XXXXXXXXXXXX

Conclusion:

I would like the readers to be aware of how unprofessional Amazon is even with her faithful customers. Buyers beware!

Update:

Seems like the problem is widespread!

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=908910

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http://forums.highdefdigest.com/blu-ray-bargains/50451-anyone-elses-amazon-com-account-get-closed.html

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/amazoncom-c93533.html

http://www.epinions.com/content_442900319876

Some users on the site violated my privacy by somehow finding my full real name (I think via a lot of google research) and posting libelous comments about me in a comment thread under this book, disclosing my full name. My full name is NOT publicly available information on my amazon account, and I have REPEATEDLY flagged the comment as abusive (which it very clearly is). Amazon.com has never done anything about this.

Amazon.com's supposed customer service is difficult to deal with. The Web site didn't offer the kind of help I needed, so I finally unearthed their phone number (cleverly concealed) only to talk with someone whose English was difficult to understand. He created a problem which resulted in my having to reorder. But following the "help" suggestion that explained I could combine orders (and thus save the shipping costs of the added item), I found that you can only do this if you manage to complete the "combine orders" in a nanosecond or less. If a minute elapses, you cannot combine orders. The second person I talked to was totally incomprehensible, and I really am not sure what we were talking about. The final result after a couple of phone calls, cancellations, reorders, and frustrating attempts to get the right book back into the order was that I had to pay shipping for a book that should have been on the first order (and thus not charged for shipping). Does Amazon perhaps seek out people whose English is so difficult to understand that customers wind up just hanging up and resigning themselves to do business elsewhere?