Ask HN: Amazon stonewalling me after they closed my account – how to resolve?
Morning all,
I decided to cash-out $3k-worth of Rocketrip points (a workplace scheme which rewards reduced-cost business travel) on Amazon gift-cards to purchase some things to furnish my new home in the US (just moved here – from UK originally). As a result, Amazon have closed my account, given a very vague justification of "address verification" and voided my entire balance.
I have called several times and have been led in circles on each occasion. When I was finally able to get through to a supervisor, he refused to give me the actual reason for my account closure and hung up after I repeatedly asked him to pass me to someone who could actually help resolve this situation.
I have filed a complaint with BBB, and emailed the second-line jeff@amazon.com address, but I'm not really holding out much hope for a reply / resolution.
Fundamentally I am rather upset that I am being made to feel like a criminal, when in fact my order was perfectly legitimate. Most frustratingly I would happily provide proof that I reside at this address, if only I were afforded the opportunity to do so! Furthermore, my Kindle is now absolutely useless, as is my personal AWS account (although I'm grateful I don't have anything important stored in the cloud – that could have been a lot worse!). Having been a customer of theirs for ~10 years, I'm astounded that they are not at all bothered about trying to sort out a resolution.
Does anyone have any further suggestions as to how I can resolve this situation?
Much appreciated. > I have filed a complaint with BBB This doesn’t do much for you, but anyone reading this should know: BBB is private and little more than your parents’ Yelp. Pay for play and without any actual power. Despite the tricky name it’s not governmental in any way. Head down to your county courthouse and file a cause in small claims court. Amazon may be in violation of federal law here. Ask a lawyer. http://www.ncsl.org/research/financial-services-and-commerce... Since the cards are not honored, it might be worth contacting the organization that provided them to you instead of Amazon. Amazon is a third party to the "cashing out" transaction. Yep I'm in contact with someone at the company – hopefully they might be able to help. Email jeff@amazon.com and there are good chances that someone from his team will get back to you. I did try, but have yet to hear anything from them.