I haven't read this whole thread, but to the OP I'd suggest sharing your story with http://consumerist.com/
This type of thing is right up their alley.
This type of thing is right up their alley.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Resolved I'm outraged! Amazon banned me forever because of too many returns
- Thread starter PDE
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
and there you have it. You RETURNED THE ITEM. That cost them a fair amount of money each time. you have had exchanged it they could of recovered the cost form apple in some way. instead they have to eat the cost.
Cannt say I blame them. What they received in profit from you clearly did not justify how much you where costing them.
your only hope is to contact customer service and see if they will help you but they have little motivation to do so.
actually it was amazon that told me I could either return and reorder or exchange. They didn't seem to care either way...
Why would it make any difference in terms of apple? The computers were still defective.
No, that is not what I said, implied or indicated, and if you had read what I wrote that would have been completely clear. Also, since there is no stated limit on how many defective items a customer can return, saying that I returned 'too many' is not fair. I returned defective items that I paid a lot for and I maintain that is reasonable. Would you have kept a $2000 item dollar that was defective? Would you have sent your brand new computer in for repair, rather than use the return policy the shop uses to attract customers? Even the Apple geniuses recommended that I return rather than repair since the machines were new.
One of the benefits of my VISA card is that I get free double warranty so that IF my equipment fails after the manufacturer's warranty runs out, I am covered. In addition, after that free second year, I purchased extended warranty through VISA. Both the VISA benefits require receipts, which I can't access anymore.
I wonder how the above will be misinterpreted?
Apple's so-called quality issues are Apple's problem. Not Amazon's.
I don't blame Amazon at all. Seriously, how many returns have you had? You keep using vague terms like 'quite a few,' so I get the feeling it is excessive and you don't want to own up to that.
As for receipts, you should have them in your email. I'm going to guess those were deleted too?
Just curious, when you return an item, do you lose the Amazon points/credits that were earned as part of the original purchase?
I don't blame Amazon at all. Seriously, how many returns have you had? You keep using vague terms like 'quite a few,' so I get the feeling it is excessive and you don't want to own up to that.
As for receipts, you should have them in your email. I'm going to guess those were deleted too?
Just curious, when you return an item, do you lose the Amazon points/credits that were earned as part of the original purchase?
I don't get any points if I return items. I'm not hiding anything, but I sadly can't keep track of all the Apple computers I've bought over the years. the return rate sure was excessive and a really ****ing nuisance for ME. But that's not my fault and I'm not going to feel that I'm responsible for Apple's poor quality control, or Amazon's decision to sell Apple products. Yes, it's apple's quality issue, but amazon has chosen to carry apple products and I'm buying from Amazon, not Apple. They're responsible for what they sell and my purchased is with them.
When I get a defective macbook pro, I go to Apple first and they usually ask me when I got it. When I reply that it's just a few days old, they ask if I can return it to the seller because it's not nice to have to send it in for repair when it's brand new. Since I buy from amazon, I usually can return it. I've actually finally given up on returning and just keep fixing through Apple instead, especially if it's a defective display and the rest of the computer is working fine. But it did take me a long time to lower my basic standard that a computer shouldn't have defects out of the box.
I've kept some receipts, but because I've been happy archiving all my receipts with amazon since they make it so easy to search and print out. I assumed that I would remain a customer and that I could print out my receipt whenever i wanted to.
For your amusement, I'll try to figure out how many laptops I've bought, kept and returned. I'll have to get back to you though. If I had access to the receipts, it would be much easier.
I just can't get how many people are willing to defend Amazon's position here. You don't have to believe me, but that doesn't mean you have to agree with how Amazon i going about things. I'm amazed at comments everywhere assuming that the customer is wrong. Really amazed.
I believe your story.
I just think you fail to realize (or accept) the cost you have forced Amazon to incur through your continuous returns. Do they pay return shipping or did you? Amazon's prices are based on a pretty low margin and excessive returns cost them a little chunk of change. They still have to pay someone to handle the warranty with Apple and they can't resell that computer, even if it is fixed, as new. Would you feel better if they charged 15% restocking? Probably not. Would you feel better if they just said, "Hey, just pay us for all the shipping fees we incurred, and we'll welcome you back?" Probably not.
I'd suggest shopping somewhere else and give Chase a call to see if they can convert the rewards to another vendor. Luckily for you, you have plenty of choice for getting your Apple computers.
OK, I will confess up front I haven't waded through ALL of the stuff in this thread... but I am just curious as to what you do with all of these laptops and equipment you are buying? You are saying you buy LOTS of lappies and more... but it can't be for personal use... I mean how many MBP's does one need? You say you have kept a lot of them. Are you reselling and using Amazon as your source and quality control on Apple? Just asking... I can't imagine the need to buy all of the equipment you say you have bought on your personal account.
Revealing...
Woof, Woof Dawg
![pawprint.gif]()
Revealing...
Woof, Woof Dawg
they may have the right to do this, but the fact that they are doing it to so many customers means that they don't really care too much about customer satisfaction and thus, I will not be making any large purchases from them. (not to mention the fact that they now charge sales tax to new york state, that is a deal breaker)
As a private business, Amazon can do whatever they please.
They clearly did not think you were worth keeping as a customer - despite your thousands of dollars in purchases over the past few months - and did something about it.
If you were so short-sighted as to A) not save any of your paper receipts and B) not keep digital copies locally on your computer, you really have no right to complain that you can't access your transaction history on your Amazon account. What if they'd gone out of business and shut down the site? You'd be in the same boat.
As for your Amazon credit, what you're referring to is the gift certificates you earn (like rewards points) on purchases. Why don't you gift these to someone, sell them on eBay, or do something more productive than complain about being unable to use them?
Amazon is not the only place in the world that sells Apple laptops, not even the only place that sells them tax free, so I really don't see what the issue is. If you find yourself in a corner, it appears that you painted yourself there.
They clearly did not think you were worth keeping as a customer - despite your thousands of dollars in purchases over the past few months - and did something about it.
If you were so short-sighted as to A) not save any of your paper receipts and B) not keep digital copies locally on your computer, you really have no right to complain that you can't access your transaction history on your Amazon account. What if they'd gone out of business and shut down the site? You'd be in the same boat.
As for your Amazon credit, what you're referring to is the gift certificates you earn (like rewards points) on purchases. Why don't you gift these to someone, sell them on eBay, or do something more productive than complain about being unable to use them?
Amazon is not the only place in the world that sells Apple laptops, not even the only place that sells them tax free, so I really don't see what the issue is. If you find yourself in a corner, it appears that you painted yourself there.
Set up a new account?
They cant stop that.
According to the letter posted by Sun Baked on page 1 they can...
Woof, Woof Dawg
Set up a new account?
They cant stop that.
Dangerous. If he buys another item and decides to return it, and they figure out that his original account was canceled, they could make life difficult. They could say that any contract between him and Amazon is void; if they are not forced by law to accept the returned computer but only by their returns policy then they might not accept it back, but send a letter "your computer is now at our head offices and you can pick it up in person at any convenient time during business hours". Just if they decide to be nasty. I don't know whether that would be legal, but unless you _know_ it is illegal, I wouldn't take any chances.
Companies don't care about customer satisifaction per se. They usually care about customer satisfaction because it means the customer comes back, buys more stuff, and makes more profit for the company. If the company has a customer who costs them money and is judged likely to cost more money in the future, they don't really want that customer to be satisfied, they want him to go away and stay away.
Hmmm.... but probably a different family member's CC and maybe..... maybe a different address (though is it required? Probably just a small tweak)
But as posted above..... there are infinitely many more options and many of them better than Amazon!
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)...
The rewards exist independently of the Amazon account. As I said earlier, the OP can gift the rewards codes, sell them on eBay or - heck - ask someone he knows with an Amazon account to buy something for him.
The only two grips the OP has (besides the account closing, of course) is that he no longer has access to his purchase history - which is by and large his fault - and he can't use the Amazon rewards he earned - when, in fact, he can.
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.
Boy, people are cynical here. I frequently upgrade my and my girlfriend's computers (sell the old ones on craigslist) and over the past few years I've also bought computers for my parents, a few of their friends and few of my own friends - I've put it on my credit card for their convenience since I was helping them switch to macs and they gave me free hands to get a system for them. I'm an academic and photographer, not some kind of sketchy reseller that uses amazon to make money.
Anyway, all I wanted was:
1. A fair warning after years of being a loyal and very frequent customer.
2. Access to the records I stored in good faith on their site, i.e. receipts.
3. Access to the credit I EARNED through my credit card that Amazon has simply stolen from me.
4. Not being treated like a criminal.
It may be that Amazon hasn't made money off me for the past two years (which I doubt), but that's an extremely short-term perspective. If this hadn't happened, I would have ordered a $1300 lens this week and I would have continued buying things regularly from them, most of which I would not return. In the long run, they would have made tons of money off me, not to mention off all the friends I would continue to recommend amazon too. Many of my friends have started buying all their expensive electronic purchases from amazon and I would have continued to promote amazon.
Anyway, you guys believe what you want and if you think Amazon is handling this in a good way, so be it. I don't agree and could never agree with that. No matter what the outcome is, I will never purchase another item from Amazon and I will cancel my Amazon credit card too.
I feel for you, but I honestly don't think that writing a letter will help anything.
They've clearly decided that they don't wish to do business with you anymore.
Exactly how many returns have you done? (Sorry, if I missed that, but I am curious on the actual number).
They've clearly decided that they don't wish to do business with you anymore.
Exactly how many returns have you done? (Sorry, if I missed that, but I am curious on the actual number).
- Status