Customers claiming their accounts were closed without any notice by the e-commerce giant
It seems the consumer-friendly 30 days return policy has began to fret Amazon, hence the e-commerce giant has started working against its self-proclaimed mission i.e. “to be Earth’s most customer-centric company”!
Yes! The company has banned some of its users for abusing their return policy. As per The Wall Street Journal’s report, one of the company’s representatives confirmed it and said “We want everyone to be able to use Amazon, but there are rare occasions where someone abuses our service over an extended period of time,” he also added “We never take these decisions lightly, but with over 300 million customers around the world, we take action when appropriate to protect the experience for all our customers.”
The surprise element in the whole story is that the buyers, more specifically the ‘returners’ are directly been blocked without any prior notification. Even Amazon’s return policy doesn’t have any clause stating that how many numbers/ percentage of returns will get you banned. However, it does enunciate that the company reserves the right to terminate accounts at its discretion.
Many of the Customers have chosen social media to air their grievances about Amazon closing their accounts without warning or an explanation. Paul Fidalgo tweeted about being “exiled” from Amazon for “excessive returns.” One of the users reported that he was unable to download e-books for his kindle, as was banned from Amazon. Another customer shared a screenshot of an email from the company asking her to explain why she returned her orders, on Twitter:
@amazon – wow, great customer service, so personal and caring! Do u even read my return reasons (like 6 purchases in the last year…and that’s too many?) and a replacement for something I NEVER rec’d. #BadCustomerExperience #onlineshopping #Horrible #ShopLocal #BoycottAmazon pic.twitter.com/2DY1qHmFka
— Claire Bochner (@cmbochner) April 17, 2018
According to Amazon Ex-employee the company kick out buyers who request too many refunds, return dodgy items or often violate policies, including paid reviews. He also mentioned that all the dubious activities are being flagged by a computer algorithm and then those accounts are reviewed manually.
Undoubtedly, Amazon has built a reputation on easy return policy but with current step the company clearly signaled that it won’t withstand any fallacy from even its customers. “If your behaviour is consistently outside the norm, you’re not really the kind of customer they want,” said former Amazon senior manager James Thomson.
The account closure is causing havoc among the Amazon customers including both Prime members & occasional buyers. And it doesn’t seems that they have any plan to rethink their verdict so to all the buyers just think twice before placing your order!
