Amazon.com Reviews

After three emails, SpeedShipper alias Peter ** refuses to act because it is now past their 30-day rule. After a couple more ignored emails, I turn to Amazon complaints and they tell me to wait 10 days for a response with no phone number offered for complaints. I give SpeedShipper a bad review and Amazon has the nerve to remove it and close my ability to comment further. SpeedShipper is the perpetrator of the fraud but Amazon protect their image and only allows email contact of this vendor. It is a poor business practice. I spend $69.64 for the wrong item to be shipped and it arrived broken. It resulted to a complete waste of time and money and loss of faith in amazon.com.

I even have confirmation to The Dame Comic Shop (this is the so-called third party) who receive the return item on January 8, 2010 at 10:25 a.m. in Houston, Texas. I was even willing to fax all this information over to Amazon but no they want me to fill out all the paperwork again. This third party "The Dame Comic Shop" isn't even a real business--it is a residence. Please, I know that the money isn't much, but this is wrong. This third party charged over $50.00 for a child's item that you can usually get at the store for under $10.00. I didn't know this. If I did, there is no way that I would have bought this item. This "The Dame Comic Shop" said it was a collector’s item, which I found out to be a lie. Please, you must help me to stop this thief! I was conned into buying this item that they charged over $40.00 more than what it is really worth.

I had been selling for years and had never had to confirm a shipment to get paid. There were no emails sent to me besides the cancellation notification telling me to confirm the shipment and I never signed or agreed to anything saying I would ship my merchandise before getting paid. I have always been paid before shipping the merchandise which once was standard practice on Amazon. The customer service rep said that I should email the customer and ask them to resubmit their payment to Amazon as if someone will really do that after receiving the merchandise already. So I am out the DVD box set and the money I was to be paid for it.

It shocked me when I realized that Amazon never security verify your credit card authenticity while opening the a/c or ordering stuffs. This means anyone who knows your credit card number can use your card. So, be vigilant while entering the credit card details online as Amazon follows an outdated card privacy protection system. And once the money is taken out of your card illegally, you know how difficult is to get it refunded.

Something needs to be done about these sellers trying to over-price us for shipping rates. If you see shipping rates above the standard Amazon shipping rate, do not buy from this seller. Make sure you report those sellers. We, buyers, need to work together to stop this over-priced shipping scandal. These crooked shipping sellers makes me hate to even shop online.

After the order was completed I went back in to attempt to apply a $25 credit I had forgotten about. Amazon allowed me to apply this credit against my $16.99 item, but then applied an additional $7.38 shipping charge to the item. According to Amazon, it was too late to cancel the item. This is typical of Amazon practices where multiple searches will display different vendors each time and will even change the prices and shipping costs for the same vendors. To check this, I went to two different computers and was able to pull up different pricing for the same items from the same vendors depending upon whether I was logged in.

This is clearly their mistake, and they are too cheap to admit it.You might say $4 is a small amount, and you are right. I consider this a small fee paid to learn that amazon.com can't be trusted. Dealing with an online seller and providing one's credit card information, requires absolute trust. Amazon.com, the company that claims to be building "the most consumer centric online business," has proven to be untrustworthy.

They can keep their dishonestly taken $4. I gave the Kindle away, and will never use amazon.com or any of their websites because they have shown to be untrustworthy. Everything they sell can be bought from other sellers, often for less.

Before midnight, and before I could do anything about it, I am now liable for $35 x 9 overdraft items, or $315 in yesterday's business alone. Another Chase account reduced my credit limit but at least notified me by letter and told me I would have a month to pay back any overage. United Missouri Bank has a practice of not accepting a customer's deposit if after 3:00 p.m., but will accept debits to accounts up to midnight. The consumer has no knowledge of anything amiss until the next day's business when overdrafts are posted.

I am now faced with undue hardship caused by both my United Missouri Bank and Chase of coming up with overdraft fees; this $315 and another for $210 in overdraft fees just this week because they did not accept a deposit in the day’s business even though it was 3:41 p.m. UMB accepted all the debits to the account. However, overdrafting me five times of $35, or $210. Please help me. I have borrowed money from my husband now to cover the $192 overdraft of this morning, but I've somehow got to cover the $315 that will be assessed to me unless UMB relents.

I immediately responded to the Chargeback claim with the information. I tried to call Amazon.com about this for assistance, but no one could help me and there is no information about how to resolve a claim. I just received an email from Amazon, and they sided with the buyer! So now, the buyer has my textbook and the refund. And when I called back for recourse, I was told I could not speak to anyone about this claim and it was closed. This is completely crazy, especially when a third party (the USPS) showed that the package was delivered to the buyer's address. I will never do business with Amazon again, and have advised my co-workers to do the same. I would also like to complain about the buyer, but was told only that I could leave negative feedback for him.

So in the meantime, other buyers want to return products after using them will get their money and I will have $0 by the end of the 90 days. If you want to sell your product, use Craigslist since there is no charge to sell your product and you don't need to give any commission for your work or sell your products in flea market. At least, you will have your money in your hand in the same day. I am so upset. I am way behind in my bills. They owe me around $5k. I purchased items on my credit card which I am making payments on by borrowing money from relatives. I am under so much mental stress and to wait another 90 days before I get my money, I don't know how I will survive in the meantime. $5k is a lot of money especially when I don't have any other source of income.

On the 28th I spoke with "Robin **" and went through all the details again including the new fraudulent charges. I pressed Robin for a direct phone number to Amazon's billing department so that I could contact them directly. She stated that neither she nor her supervisor had that info available and that she would send another request on my behalf to billing and she assured me that someone would get back to me later on the 28th or on the 29th. Nobody got back to me.

On 1/4/10 I sent another email to amazon.com and on 1/6/10 I received a reply form "Jenn **" stating that an Amazon employee named Mark had looked into my situation and had emailed me about how to proceed, but she went on to write that she was "sorry" if I "didn't receive the email" (which I hadn't). She went on to write that while Amazon acknowledged the charges were unauthorized, they would not be reimbursing me and I would have to seek recourse through the card issuer.

$528.27 in fraudulent charges to my Visa. Bank of America was able to promptly refund my money. They were incredulous that Amazon would not give me a refund. I guess they are sorting things out with Amazon. I ended up fine financially speaking. I suppose my frustration is really with Amazon's lack of transparency, willingness to responsibly resolve the situation, and overall lack of appropriate communication. I have had to cancel my Visa and get another one issued. And while I haven't been an Amazon customer in the past, that company has not just given me a reason to not ever be a customer, I will go out of my way to badmouth Amazon to anyone who will listen. I can't believe that they have no recourse for people who have been scammed by their website.

The latest request sent to Amazon on 31st of December 2009. I am writing to bring your attention to my recent disappointing service I received from Amazon.

"I have been an Amazon customer for quite some time. While I am not currently living in the States, I have been very impressed by the user-friendly and superb online service Amazon by far provides till my recent order. On September 10, I have written an email message to both customer service and packaging departments of Amazon, respectively. I even attached the photos of the broken DVD cases to the email I sent to the packaging department.

"I received a rapid response from the customer service department, but I have never heard from the packaging department. Since the CS staff told me that two new blank DVD cases would be sent to me, I didn't follow this up with the packaging department anymore. Indeed, I was so satisfied with the CS service of Amazon and placed another new order soon after the incident, believing that this was an unfortunate incident that had been quickly solved.

"The two blank DVD cases which CS staff promised to send me have never arrived till now (more than 3 months after the first email I sent to Amazon). As shown in the attached email messages, I subsequently wrote two more emails to the CS department on November 5 and November 25 respectively in regard to the said issue. I could not help thinking the two blank DVD cases had never be sent by the staff who was supposed to handle the case. With all due respect, I have a problem of believing the blank DVD cases would be lost in the delivery process twice in a row or that some would be so interested in stealing blank DVD cases.

"I believe that writing to the CS and packaging departments again would be to no avail. I therefore send you this email, hoping you could help me find the broken link here. This incident makes me feel that I will have no one to turn to, if there is any problem arising from the package I receive from Amazon in the future, though the CS and packaging feedback systems are clearly in place.

"I personally believe that this is an important issue-- a peace of mind not only for me, but also for other online customers, in particular, the ones who live outside the States. I sincerely hope you could help me address the issue so that I could continuously enjoy shopping at Amazon in the future."

After posting the above message, I have received countless and non-stop cyber-bullying posts from the forum. I believe they were made by Amazon employees. Why I'm so sure that these people are Amazon employees? This is because Amazon contacted me by private email, after I posted the said message. An Amazon staff said they would not send me the replacement part as their CS staff previously promised twice. They decided to make a goodwill refund of $30 instead.

Although I didn't disclose this in the forum, one of these multi-role playing accounts said it loud and clear. This is one of the proof. Further, they deliberately wrote my name in the forum with slightly wrong spelling, after I pointed them out as Amazon staff. My surname has never been posted in the forum. It is impossible for a customer who could guess a name so close. The cyber-bullying is non-stop.

They contacted me and denied the claim because they said that the package was signed for! I contacted them and explained that there was no evidence, no I.D., just a signature, and the UPS told me that the driver signed for it but they didn't bother to contact them! I don't was to lose my money! I want to know if I can sue them and if I have a chance to win. Please, if an attorney reads this, I hope that he/she will contact me! I lost the money, I made a lots of international calls, and send lots of email, not to mention the stress!

Meanwhile, one of the ink vendors had shipped. I cancelled the printer order and ultimately received a credit. I tried to cancel the second ink order, but could not and it had not been shipped. Now I have plenty of Canon ink, but no printer. Amazon customer service responded right away, but the fact remains that they chose to split the order and never checked inventory. Over a week later, this is not fully resolved, but I am the one who has to do all the work even though the error was theirs. The first thing I did was file a complaint with the credit card company.

About 2 months ago, I placed an order with Amazon for 2 different size kitchen knives from the same manufacturer. These are expensive knives. It was well stated this was not shipped by Amazon and there was no free shipping. With their Spread The Wealth policy, they gave the order to two different vendors, which means I paid double shipping. Checking after the fact, each of the vendors had both sizes in stock. In all the years I have bought from Amazon, I have never run into this type of behavior.

My wife was left without a gift this Christmas because I believed Amazon's guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve and ordered the Kindle. The Kindle did not arrive, as promised, and the best your customer service could offer was the opportunity to return the item. The offer of a return is an insult to me - how does that correct the fact that I was left without a gift on Christmas Day because I put my trust in your brand?

I'd selected the Kindle after carefully researching available eReaders. Returning the item only restates the failure in trusting Amazon. I would think your customer service department would have at least offered a few free eBooks in order to make some reparation for your failure to deliver the product, as promised. Instead, they actually had the nerve to SMS me that they'd attempted delivery on Christmas Eve (even though the package was sent without the need for a signature and the tracking record clearly conflicts with the time noted for an attempted delivery).

I believe they falsely advertised the item, then had to do away with the sale so as to not lose money. I'm not being paranoid because, in the meantime, I've purchased other items via the internet using the same credit card and appropriate information. I've already received those items, which in total value, far exceed the Bally Bag purchase price. I still want the Bally Bag at the sale price; they have it in stock. Again, I believe they have falsely advertised this item.

This same, exact thing happened to me on 12/1/09 with Amazon. At that time, the item was advertised at about $440! They cancelled that order on me too. Once is an anomaly, twice is a pattern! I think they are baiting the price and then cannot deliver! This is wrong and something needs to be done to them to hold them accountable.

I contacted Amazon & spoke to a customer service representative, who does not speak the English language very well. I was told that I would have to wait until the expected delivery date has passed before a request for a refund could be submitted. Not happy with this. I continued to be transferred to 8 different people before somebody was able to submit the refund request that same day. I was advised that the refund request was submitted to the billing department. When I asked for the phone number to the billing department, because I wanted to track my money manually, I was told that they do not deal with phone calls from customers and they had no phone number that could be given to me.

I have no faith in the Amazon system or the people that are employed with that company. I know that somebody somewhere with that company has a list of phone numbers for every department. Why is it so hard to reach the person dealing with your specific problem? I then requested that a internal letter be sent to the billing department requesting that somebody with the billing department contact me regarding my issue. I was informed that the request was sent, but they could not assure me that the billing department would return my phone call. I asked if that meant that I was dealing with an inefficient company. In turn, I was told the same comment over & over again. "We cannot guarantee the billing department will call you back."

I then asked for the phone number and address for the main office of Amazon. I was given the address only. I looked up the address on the internet & received a phone number for Amazon main offices. I contacted the Senior Vice President and had to leave a message. Hopefully, he will return my call. I doubt that it will happen though.

Again, not much faith in the Amazon company at this point in time. This is the second time I have had to deal with Amazon regarding an issue like this. The first time was two years ago. The result of that issue was me threatening Amazon with fraud charges in order to get my money back. For some reason, I continued to use Amazon thinking that it was only a one-time problem. I was so wrong. I will never again use Amazon.com for anything. I will not continue to let my money be handled by a company that causes so many issues with my money. Very unhappy & sorely disappointed with a company that is supposed to legit.

Now this is an absolute scheme, because they're suggesting that I requested these copies. How could I if I haven't gotten any billing statement and it never even cross my mind nor was it indicated when I applied for the card that I should go online to view my statement.

Finally after hours of trying, one of them realized she could give me my new card number. I updated the info, just to get a 2nd email that the order couldn't be completed. The last rep gave me the card number but didn't activate it, by now it was the 6th call after which the card was ready to use! Happy ending, not so far. Amazon system couldn't upgrade the card number. So I called again and they couldn't help me any more at that number that was only for cards. And the card issue was solved and gave me a second number.

24 hours later and 10 more calls to Amazon.com (new number), I am still waiting for them to ship my order (which I paid to be received next day by the way). The last representative even said they needed 24 hours to "pack it" right but had no answer when I made him note that 24 hours had already past and the order is not yet completed. Oh! I can forget that they charged my account 24 hours ago. Customer service personnel are extremely inept and only 2 of them were able to "kind of" help. Most of them had the attitude of being speaking with a complete idiot, which is offensive.

I have a photography company and have an event to cover next Saturday, Dec. 19th, for which these items are required. If I don't get the merchandise on time, I will lose a costumer. I could be facing a lawsuit, or incurring extremely high expenses hiring last minute professional photographers to cover the event.

In late November, I had to call them again regarding power problems and small dirt particles inside the LED screen. The agent told me there was nothing they could do because they refunded my money already to me. I was shocked! The girl put a supervisor on the line named Aubi. Aubi told me not to worry about it, and he set up a UPS pickup for the defective computer. The girl had told me that amazon had refunded my debit card the amount of approx. $340.00. I paid $429.00 for the computer, so it didn't make sense at first, until she said they charged me a restocking fee of around $89.00.

Back to my conversation with Aubi, he told me over and over not to worry and to forget what she said. Aubi said that they had made a mistake and he would fix it. And he that if there were any problems, to ask for Aubi and they would find him and that there was only one Aubi. The next day, I was e-mailed a correction and that they were refunding me the restocking fee in the amount of around $89.00. I was furious.

I spent the day talking to Amazon customer service people. I called my bank, and they said that Amazon did put approx. $340.00 into my acct. So I'm looking like the winner with a 2nd defective computer and $27.00 in my acct. They made a mistake, without me knowing. And suddenly, I'm a student without a computer. There is a lot more to this, and I just want justice. I still have the Samsung defective computer, and I had to buy a different brand computer from Amazon. I'm not paying for the new computer. They can have their defective one. I'm an honest man, and I certainly don't want any trouble. I've bought over 90 items from Amazon, and I have been cheated. I'm going to a public lawyer to see what I can do. I'm done with Amazon.

I'm just an individual seller who is buying it web space as a vehicle to perform my business. I can guarantee what I sell for 30 days not forever like the big companies, and I have my credit card info in my account as a guaranteed. My question is, "Why are they still holding my money hostage?" Are they keeping these funds from sellers so they can meet their bottom line when it comes to their financial reports? The last stock quote I got for Amazon.com is about $84. Are they trying to play this tactic to boost their stock price? It treats first time seller like a criminal and it's unprofessional! My available fund is locked away at the convenience of Amazon.com and I have to find another source of fund to pay my bills.

After 2 small disbursements (20 days approximately), the suspension banner reappeared on my account. I thought that was a mistake so I called them again and they said again that my performance is not falling into Amazon.com policy. Now at this point, I requested from them an explanation on how they calculated this because we can't force our customers to leave a feedback, we can only suggest to our customer to do so. The customer representative was very hostile with me because I was asking questions. They won't give any logical answer and they just repeat what they are trained to say to you in response. They reopened my account after 15 days, but no disbursement was allowed until another 7 more days. Obviously the inventory increased, the sales increased and then when I reached like $5,700, the nightmare banner reappeared and they suspended my account again.

I appealed their decision. I explained that the identification of the products come directly from their catalog; the description of the items was very accurate to avoid customer confusions at the moment they buy it; the shipping was very fast (some orders delivered the same day); customers were informed with tracking numbers and delivery company names; items were packed and wrapped very professionally, but they blocked my account, they said that the money will be on hold for 90 days and I will not have the privilege to sell on amazon.com anymore.

They have from me at this moment $4,622 retained for no reason at all. The total number of orders was 117 in less than 3 months. There were 5 customer’s refunds, and 3 negative feedbacks from +21. They suggest if the customers do not leave a feedback, they are not happy (can you believe this?) How can they even suggest something like this, did they talk to them? I personally think that this company uses the money of small businesses like ours to make them more money because I'm pretty sure that they can't do this to their major sellers who have the same or more power than them. But as always, the big fish eats the smallest ones to survive.

This is causing to some serious problems because I invested 100% of my money on this project, convinced my wife to invest in this and now I'm behind all of my payments. They don't care about this, that's why if you are thinking to sell on Amazon, think twice before you fall in their trap. Now I want to know if they have this money in an escrow account or in their account. This problem is devastating me & my family, I don't have other resources. Mine and my wife’s money was invested in this project. Electric service for my house got disconnected. I will lose my cars (already 2 months late). Delivery companies are calling every day about their money. I’m one month behind my warehouse rent and now even with the minimum payments for credit cards. My credit score is already ruined, payments reported late and so on.

Unfortunately, I got an email on 08/20/09 (the following day) from Amazon that my order has been cancelled. They wrote as follows: “We're writing to inform you that your order from Baker's eSale has been canceled. Your credit card was not charged for this order. If you're still interested in this item, please search for it again on Amazon.com.” So, I searched Amazon.com and found the same item is now selling for $10.00 and that is the same used item that I had ordered. I am really disappointed with the service I've got from them.

Then I thought I can, of course, fall back upon the trusty/fair people at the A-to-z Guarantee Protection. Well, what a surprise! Dear Ms. ** took a different tack and claimed that, “Since the merchandise you received was not materially different than advertised on the items detail page, your seller may withhold a reasonable restocking fee and shipping costs from your reimbursement.” This, of course, led me now into a worse position, not only having to pay costs to return the unit, but also leaving wide open the seller to deduct monies from me! My further complaints to Ms. ** at A-to-z Guarantee have not gone anywhere, even in spite of me saying her decision makes a mockery of the guarantee program. I say that this is virtually like fraud: the seller makes an offer and the buyer accepts; but the seller ships out not what was offered for sale and has missing items, and thus rendering the unit useless without the adapter tip to operate with my laptop. My last attempt to have Ms. ** review the case was on August 1, 2009 where I very clearly stated how I feel and outlined where I stood. I have heard nothing. This whole matter is also about “principles.”

Well, that was fine. The person who placed the order first should receive the DVD. The topper for me, the seller was still advertising and selling this exact product! I notified Amazon of this and they said that it should be taken off and they would deal with the issue. They suggested that I leave negative feedback. However, the seller cancelled my order and closed my purchase so that I cannot place negative feedback on his page. Now, it might just be me, but how can buyers believe this seller's feedback if he closes the purchase before you can leave feedback.

I was wary of this seller to begin with, considering he only had 83% positive feedback, but considered I would give him a chance since his DVD was $40 cheaper than anywhere else. But chances are his feedback should be far less than 83% if he actually allowed people with bad experiences, like me, to post. Beware of Pbshopus!

I refused to do as he demanded so he filed for AtoZ protection with Amazon. I thought Amazon would be fair. I was about as wrong as any person could be. The A to Z program should be called, screw the seller program. He filed the claim and lied completely about the product and I responded with the truth. It seems Amazon believes the buyer completely as does not require they prove anything. Amazon had his email where he demanded the money and clearly stated he wanted a full refund while keeping the item. I thought that they would see him for what he was. Apparently, they saw him as one of own.

Amazon was far more dishonest with me than the buyer who was merely trying to steal a CD. I had offered a full refund but required he return the CD. This seemed fair to me. After all, Amazon itself would never grant a refund without the return of the item. But Amazon did not think it was fair. When you sell an item on Amazon, each listing has a special place for additional information the seller wants to advise any buyer of, such as missing parts or any limitations on the product. This is done so the buyers know exactly what they are getting, before they purchase. This is very fair. What Amazon hides away in its small print is that once the buyer receives the item, they can then object to it, with the very limitations listed by the seller prior to the purchase. In my case the cover art was slightly different than the image on Amazon, so I indicated this. The music and tracks were identical. According to Amazon, any information included in the description is confirmation that the seller is guilty of material misrepresentation. When asked how this can be if the seller provides the information prior to the sale, Amazon's position is that it is their game and they make the rules. Those rules do not have to be fair or even understood and they need not explain.

It gets worse. According to Amazon, if a seller is guilty of their definition of misrepresentation, the buyer is entitled to keep the product and never has to return it and gets all their money back including shipping. No matter if it is a $10 item or a $1,000 item. Since everything claimed by the buyer is accepted as gospel and the seller is assumed to be guilty, any buyer can get the product free and a full refund by using the A to Z process. Thus a dishonest buyer who knows the system will have no greater ally than Amazon. Needless to say, I lost the claim and the buyer got to keep the item and all the money. It still gets even worse. If a seller loses an A to Z claim and every seller will, it is likely that the seller will then be suspended for bad performance. I lost my only A to Z claim to a dishonest buyer and after hearing the facts, I believe 100% would agree with me (except Amazon). I had a perfect feedback record. I was suspended.

The day before I was suspended, I got an email from Amazon confirming that they had transferred my two week commission of $630 to my bank account. It said they had (past tense) done this. Guess what, once suspended, Amazon stopped that transfer along with all the money made over the previous couple of days. Over $700 total and froze those funds. They are being held just in case someone else would like a piece of it. I am now waiting for the buyer of a $300 Blu-Ray player to claim he received a toaster oven instead. It is clear who Amazon would believe. Sure I had FedEx inspect the contents of the package and confirm what was included, but Amazon would consider that unimportant.

According to Amazon if no one makes any further claims I will/may get my money back in 90 days. For now, they collect interest on it. According to internet sources, at any one time Amazon has over ten million dollars of other people's money frozen making interest for them. It is clear that if you sell on Amazon, a dishonest buyer will eventually want to steal from you. Do not believe for a minute that Amazon will give any consideration to your side of things. They will not. You cannot stand on principle with a company that has none. Currently, I have lost over $700 and had merchandise stolen.

1) I ordered a $20 knife via one click buying. Amazon shipped this via a default expedited shipping which cost me $32 shipping on a $20 item. I never agreed to any expedited shipping. Amazon finally ate half of this extortion after a great deal of effort on my part.

2) I ordered a used TV with a quoted shipping rate. Well, no item arrived and again after an irrational time wasting emails, the seller stated that Amazon made a mistake on shipping rates and the seller was not going to honor the sale. After many threats by yours truly to Amazon, I finally got my money back.

3) Third strike and you're ** out. I ordered a brand new Samsung TV; item advertised as in stock, paid for it via debit card immediately debited. The seller never acknowledged the order and after waiting three business days (Amazon guarantees a two-day shipping by marketplace vendors), no notice. Two emails later (what's the status?) and: Hey, Bozo cancelled my order. I complained to Amazon. After two days, they blatantly lied to me stating the item was out of stock and therefore, the order was cancelled. As I pointed out in repeated emails to the humorously named Amazon customer support, the seller never contacted me. Well, well, Amazon said you'll get your money back. I said No ** or you'll get a lawsuit.

Now here's the good part. Amazon stated they only authorized a debit on my cash payment (debit card, remember) and that I'd have to wait up to three weeks to be reimbursed. My debit card account shows that this payment was debited so **? I do not have access to these monies which Amazon took on this bogus deal! Well, people, I'm still waiting for my money and while I'm waiting to contact a lawyer, I am spreading the word on these **.

So, I ordered the item (your Amazon.com order # **) and used next day shipping. When I asked about the estimated arrival date of July 28th, they assured me it would be shipped next day and was being prepared for shipping as of that moment. Now, I have sent several emails and asked to be phoned immediately and there was no response! I called my bank and asked if I could cancel the sale but they said it is a pending amount on my debit card. They said I must wait until it posts and then call their Claims Department. I cannot complete this construction job in a timely manner without this tool or without expending many more hours than necessary!

Being a business person, that logically makes no sense to me, so I hung up and called again. This time, I had someone that could speak English and asked her for the phone number of the vendor I had purchased from since I had already sent a cancellation email. Now, think about it. I ordered at 1:30 p.m. EST & was cancelling the following morning at 8 a.m. EST but wanted a phone number & name to contact as a follow-up measure since the company had ignored my email from the following evening. So I was cancelling the DVD less than 24 hours later, wanting to make certain the order was not processed. So I placed my order online at Amazon at 1:30 p.m. EST & Amazon sends that order on to their mysterious 3rd party (who they commented might be a college student out of a garage, so I guess, Amazon is now a quasi-eBay?) and when I asked Customer Service at Amazon for a phone number & the name of the business, they claimed to not have one?

Elizabeth in C.S. at Amazon said, "If you already sent an email to cancel the DVD order at 9 a.m., then they should have more than enough notice to cancel the order & not send it out, we have done all we can do for now.” So let's think about this, Amazon does not have phone numbers for the vendors they conduct business with? Amazon does business with companies they don't have a phone number or contact info for, aside from an email address? That's scary & disconcerting! Or better yet, far-fetched & hardly the truth. Later that same day, around 6 p.m. EST, I called Amazon again & got Michael in C.S. & he told me, "Nope, no number & you will have to pay a 20% restocking fee on the item as the vendor has that clearly spelled out in their info." I asked him why I would pay restocking for something that I cancelled less than 5 working hours in one day after ordering and why CollecTons did not just: 1) have a phone and contact number aside from email according to Amazon, and 2) why Amazon was not interested in contacting CollecTons on my behalf if they were not going to give me a phone number or even the city/state of the person/company?

The following day I received an email that my DVD has been shipped. Does anyone else get the game here? Don't cancel the order so you can get the 20% restocking fee! What a way to do business. I've been ordering from Amazon since almost day #1 - way before anyone was or believed in buying online. I have bought so much from them. Now they are like everyone else - sneaky, greedy, in cahoots with their 3rd party vendors, poorly trained & make certain that you can't post negative comments on their website unless you keep the item. I find their C.S. people to be uncaring, flippant, dishonest and passing the time.

I will not order from Amazon again. Warning - really watch placing your orders on freight and double check prices everywhere else online - Amazon has gotten too big for their britches & most importantly they do not resolve issues when you talk with Customer Service. Also cute, the way they email you but you can't respond - how convenient. They are slippery (Amazon) & I have quit doing business with them. They certainly don't have a real interest in resolving customer service issues. Oh, by the time it was too late, CollecTons had a logo & contact info at the bottom of the shipping email - they are as dishonest, if not more than Amazon. With those business practices, they won't be around long. Btw, they are in Boulder (rip off) Colorado!

We phoned Amazon.com again. This time we were told we couldn't return the watch. After further consultation, they told us that we could return the watch. They sent us a return shipping label and we sent the watch back. Since it was a defective product, I would be given all the money back. Today, I received an email that gave my money back minus a 20 percent restocking fee of nearly 300 dollars. My husband called amazon.com and found out that they said this was because the battery was low and there was no problem with the watch. My husband would have kept the watch if it was as simple as a low battery. He even had the battery tested before he sent it back and couldn't find a problem (he is not stupid!), so it is questionable if it is really the battery that was the problem.

Now, we have no watch, and we are out 300 dollars. We have wasted 60 plus hours talking to various amazon.com employees as well as trying to get a hold of this elusive jewelery department they have, to actually speak to someone. We are frustrated and need help. Honestly, this felt like robbery. We would either like the restocking fee returned or the watch back. This was not part of the agreement we had.

Amazon is also loath to refund the sale, and the customer is left with nothing. Similarly, the publisher is also left with nothing but a bad reputation which is no fault but Amazon's. We, therefore, join our voices in complaint against Amazon for its strangely erratic policies, bad business decisions, and the attempt at restraint of trade toward those who know better how to run their businesses and are disenfranchised by Amazon's creation of what is, in effect, a monopoly. The intent makes no difference as long as Amazon succeeds, by creating its open "customer oriented" selling model, in creating one nevertheless. Amazon's founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has yet to reply to many of the complaints received on his desk every day from authors and publishers who are not receiving fair treatment. We also are looking into adding our voices to existing cases against Amazon, or initiating a suit ourselves. We will not be drawn into a situation which robs us of honest and well-transacted business on behalf of a badly run business like Amazon's.

I contacted Amazon.com customer service at 9AM EST to have my problem resolved. The package was coming via UPS and the solution to my problem would be to resend another computer, but mark it for Saturday delivery. Because I had checked with UPS and in my area, I am eligible for Saturday delivery. Jessie in customer service with Amazon.com told me she would research this option and call me back by the end of business today, June 26. I never received a phone call and at 10:30PM EST tonight after being on hold for almost 2 hours, I was told there was nothing they could do to resolve my problem.

Once they open your account back up, you get more money back up in it. For no apparent reasons, they send you an email stating your account has been closed for good, and they will be holding that money for 90 days! They do not have any phone numbers to contact them. The emails are all automatic templates, with no reasons! I have never seen anything like it before in my life. I lost my job, and had started selling on Amazon, to make some money to keep our roof over our head, and food in my kid’s mouth, and boom! They shut my account down! I now have no income.

They do not have any phone numbers to contact them; their emails are all automatic templates with no reasons! I have never seen anything like it before in my life. I lost my job and had started selling on Amazon to make some money to keep our roof over our head and a little food in my kids’ mouth, and boom, they shut my account down! They are running a scam business, making money off holding people’s money. That is the business they are in! If you want to sell, sell on eBay. At least they do not hold your money, give you a reason for what they do, and you can actually talk to a customer service person. They actually have a phone number posted!

When I again raised my concern, they informed that they were unable to deliver the consignment to my address without providing any reason. I regularly use the address which was given to Amazon for delivery of my consignment. I never experienced any problem in receiving any of my mail/consignment. However, Amazon washed their hands blaming my address. I never experienced any problem with any online transaction. This incident with Amazon made me discontinue dealing with online transactions.

When I did not receive the correct one, I emailed them again complaining. This time, they advised that they did not have the correct one in stock to start with and therefore cannot correct this. They offered to give me a 50% refund and I keep the wrong CD. The bottom line is I must return this item at my expense. I am out all this expense and inconvenience and still didn't get what I ordered and paid for since they admit they never had the item they advertised and was paid for. Could you pass this complaint on to Amazon that sells CD's and recordings?

I contacted customer service in order to expound upon the issue so I could correct my account to their standards. Customer service reps were polite and made me aware that this was out of their scope of expertise and I needed to speak with the business development department. However, the only way to contact that department is through a generic form that I had already filled out. In reality, they have cleverly set me up to continue to receive the same scripted response as it would lead me to continue to send the same information that was previously declined.

How does that help me situation? I asked to complain to a higher authority and was told that most phone numbers have been eliminated. The form they use does ask for a phone number to complete the form. I asked if I put a request to have a phone call made to me if they would do it. The response was, "You can put it in there, but I doubt anybody will call you; they prefer email." Obviously, Corporate America has decided they promote customer service, but in reality they're not interested in providing it. They would rather preach it on their commercials and advertisements but hide behind a computer screen to answer. Also, I was made aware that if I was a buyer, it'd be a completely different story and the approach would be different. Am I less important because I wish to be a seller than buyer?

I filed a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau and continue to call requesting assistance to get more scripted answers from supposedly well trained employees. One customer service rep claimed that they are not given any numbers to superiors or the general number to the corporate office in Seattle. I found the corporate number on the internet in 30 seconds. Is this the future of Corporate America? Are we getting pushed to email so they can avoid solving problems?

I asked for assistance to better understand how to use their product and nobody is interested in doing that? Amazon is a multi-billion dollar company; if they're doing it, should I just assume that everybody else will fall in line with this thinking? If I purchased a medical product that I planned to use and I needed more info in order to not harm myself, I would be left to figure it out for myself. I know you get many requests and stories but I find this to be very appalling and tragic. Corporations continue to decide they will not provide support to their customers unless they are put in a position where they're posed with a legal issue that can cost money. They only care about their public spin story and not about giving customers common courtesy. Thank you for your time.

The woman I spoke with had only the suggestion that I use a new password which she would activate and give me. I tried that three times with the same resulting failure. After wasting about an hour trying to reset my email and password, I desperately proceeded to create a new account with my original sign-on data, but was refused, so I employed a new password and successfully opened a new account. Oddly enough, I was then able to change my ID and password to their original values but I was still treated as a new customer, meaning I had no history (see below). I just would like to find an email or geographic address so I could write directly to Amazon and tell them how sick I am of their screw-ups.

First email for marketplace account which I never used for anything to sell:

"Hello from Amazon.com. This message is to inform you that we have blocked your selling account. Your open listings have been cancelled and you are no longer able to sell on our site. We took this action because it has come to our attention that you have repeatedly attempted to bypass our seller review process by opening new accounts. Please note that per our Participation Agreement, Amazon reserves the right to close accounts as we deem appropriate. If you still have items to ship, please take appropriate steps to resolve your pending sales. Your Seller Account will remain accessible and you are encouraged to refund or ship pending orders. Your funds are being reserved in your Amazon.com account for 90 days from the date of your final sale. After 90 days, the funds will be disbursed minus any A-to-Z Guarantee claims or charge-backs. If you have further questions about your funds please write to payments-funds@amazon.com. While we appreciate your interest, the closure of your account is a permanent action. Any subsequent accounts that are opened will be closed as well. Thank you for your understanding with our decision."

Second email for my pro merchant account after 2 minutes:

"We are writing to let you know that we have blocked your selling account. Your open listings have been cancelled and you may no longer sell on our site. Any subsequent selling accounts that are opened will be closed as well. We took this action because it has come to our attention that this account is related to an account which has been previously blocked for violations of our policies. While we do not provide detailed information on how we link related accounts, we have significant evidence that this account is related to a previously blocked account. Your seller account will remain accessible to you. Please take steps to resolve your pending sales. Your funds are being reserved in your Amazon.com account for 90 days from the date of your final sale. After 90 days, the funds will be disbursed minus any A-to-z Guarantee claims or charge-backs. If you have further questions about your funds please write to payments-funds@amazon.com."

Well I send them email again and tried to explain what happened to me and they send me another email:

"Thank you for writing. We are unable to provide detailed information on how we link related accounts. However, we have thoroughly reviewed our records and confirmed that we have significant evidence that your account is related to another previously blocked account. Your seller account will remain accessible to you. Please take steps to resolve your pending sales. Any remaining funds may be reserved for up to 90 days from the date of your final sale. After 90 days, the funds will be disbursed, provided we do not receive charge-backs or A-to-z Guarantee claims against your sales. If you have further questions about your disbursement, please email payments-funds@amazon.com. While we appreciate your interest in selling on Amazon.com, please understand that the closure of an account is a permanent action. Any subsequent selling accounts that are opened will be closed as well."

They release a seller blog regarding this situation and I see that I'm not the only one who is in the same situation. They will keep my $3000 for 90 days and if they suspend 1000 accounts you will understand how Amazon.com made profit this year.

Two weeks later, still no money from Amazon. I wrote Amazon that I will start writing reports about my experiences if I don't get my money within the next four business days. This was two weeks ago. Amazon is still unable (according to the emails not unwilling) to return my money. I cannot recommend to buy from Amazon because you will have to waste your time asking for your money as soon as you want to return something.

I haven't been able to resolve this issue and every time I call, they tell me that it is going to take 24 to 48 hours to do some research and have the gift certificate department refund the money to my checking account. Due to this incident I haven't been able to fulfil my financial obligations. The money came out of my checking account and is all the money I had to pay my bills.

Even after talking to a customer service manager (born, raised, and living in another continent), I was told this was MY problem and if I wanted this product I'd have to pay the extra $100. Consequence: I had to pay the extra $100 to another company to get what I wanted.

I find this to be an violation of the Terms of Use by Amazon.com. The buyer has allowed the item to sit somewhere for 3 weeks before looking at it; that's HER fault, not mine. Because she failed to contact me within 14 days of delivery, and refused to accept a refund, I don't see how they allowed her to file a claim! It's clear she has not abided by the Terms of Use, and thus the claim should not have been allowed. Finally, the claim is still pending, despite the fact that more than 30 days have passed since delivery. ANOTHER Amazon.com rule requires the return of the item within 30 days to get a refund. This has not been done by the Buyer, her THIRD rule violation.

Given the large number of rules violations, I will not refund this woman's money, regardless of what Amazon.com decides in their Claim hearing. Because of the Claim, Amazon.com has FROZEN my Payments Account, and may keep it frozen for up to 45 days!! I thought PayPal was the only company to perform such reprehensible acts, but it now appears we have another! I have warned Amazon.com that if a Refund is awarded, I will bring legal action against them and the Buyer for the repeated violations of Amazon's rules by the Buyer, and the FAILURE of the Claims department to refuse this claim due to those rules violations.

I ordered a number of books from used book sellers on Amazon.com last December. One of the books ordered on December 21, 2008, did not arrive by its due date. Although Amazon sent me an order confirmation. The seller never contacted me and did not ship the book. I waited until the book's due date had passed then contacted the seller via an Amazon.com web form that the book had not arrived. They did not reply. Amazon refunded my money. I wrote a really bad review of the seller, largely for their failure to reply to my e-mail. They couldn't be bothered to come up with an excuse for not sending the book or even contact me.

Today, I got two e-mails from the seller, with links in them. They came to my mailbox that I used to place the order, an e-mail address at which I do not get spam. I thought the e-mails were from friends or family and clicked on the links. When I saw what the links were, websites called the smoking gun and a YouTube video, I wondered who would send them to me. I checked the e-mails and discovered it was this seller. One of the e-mails included my full name and e-mail address as part of a cc to half a dozen complete strangers.

This Amazon.com seller has a notice on the Amazon sellers' web boards stating they are selling their collection of books and planning to move out of the country. They also, at one point, offer to consider trading their book collection for guns, ammo, spam or military style vehicle. A joke? Were their e-mails to me a joke also? I think the creep factor is far too huge to consider ever shopping from Amazon.com again--obviously so. Amazon.com does not carefully check their sellers nor do they take problems with sellers seriously. This seller has a couple of other complaints for not delivering books, and one complaint for a book arriving with a hair net. Their response to this last book buyer rating was rather aggressive.

I had another bad experience with a seller about a year prior where, again, a seller took the money, then simply did not ship the book or contact me. I think that Amazon ignores these problems with sellers to the disadvantage of the buyers. Eventually you wind up with something like this, a seller knows Amazon will not take consumer complaints seriously and crosses a major line by abusing the customer relationship by giving away information they only gained for selling a book. I do not think that I should have expected that a seller would abuse my personal information in such a manner. I know better, let the buyer be so aware they simply do not buy from Amazon.com.

On December 26th, a day after Christmas, I requested a refund from Cindystenger. I was told that she normally doesn't give refunds to Amazon customers, but would make an exception in this case and give me a refund less a 20% stocking fee because she couldn't sell the returned item. I cannot believe that she cannot sell the Wii, one of the hottest items during the last 2 Christmas holiday seasons. But putting my disbelief aside, I expected to get instructions of how and where to send the Wii for an 80% refund. I never got any instructions.

When my wife followed up and requested instructions for how to get the refund, Cindystenger told her that we would not get any refund because our request was beyond 30 days of the purchase. Cindystenger went on to say that this was consistent with Amazons return policy? And the email ended with what I took as a sarcastic sad face symbol. Of course, this is not Amazons return policy which clearly states that: Our standard policy is to accept most returns within 30 days from the date of delivery. However, we understand that many customers like to order holiday gifts early, so we have extended our returns period for the holidays. Items sold by Amazon.com and shipped between November 1 and December 31, 2008, may be returned until January 31, 2009 for a full refund.

I have been a loyal customer of Amazon.com for many years. When I shop with them, I expect good products and good customer service. As far as I am concerned, I placed this order with Amazon.com and I got worse than poor customer service. I was lied to, manipulated and insulted. The 20% restocking fee is ridiculous in itself considering how popular the Wii is. And the fact that I am now being refused even an 80% refund is totally unacceptable. If this issue is not resolved by Amazon.com, I cannot continue to patronize them. I hope others can avoid this kind of bad customer service experience.

I called 5 times and have talked to different people each time. The first 4 all told me that they were escalating the issue and it would be resolved. A week later, nothing has happened. I called today and talked to yet another person who basically said oops sorry, we can't do anything about that. Sorry the previous 4 people lied and said it was being taken care of but it isn't and won't be. Then I demanded to speak to a supervisor because not only did they charge me debit card against my wishes but then I was lied to! He said a supervisor will tell you the same thing. I was put on hold twice while he supposedly tried to get a supervisor on the phone. The second time I was on hold for 30 minutes... NO supervisor ever came on the line.

It went to AZ! Called today and had to fight and argue to get Jodi in leadership. She wanted me to accept a credit. I said no, as I will never deal with Amazon again. She then said she would credit my debit card in 3-5 days. I told her the card was deactivated as it was lost. her answer - I either have to credit that card or do nothing. This was my 22nd correspondence between calls and emails. I was angry and explained that my bank told me if that card was used, I would be charged a $25 fee. Before disconnecting the call, she said she was still going to refund to THAT CARD. I called again and once again, had to argue to reach someone over Leadership's head. I was lied to and said there was no one but then was transferred to the very person I was told didn't exist. His name is Joe and told me he is the highest in rank at Amazon.

I told him of Jodi wanting to credit the bad card and asked how I could be credited. He said in fairness to me, he had to research first. He has no extension, so I can't reach him, but he will call me back. He did call back and told me he credited the bad card. So, now I can also look forward to a $25 charge! I called back Amazon and was lucky enough to get someone who found Joe. Joe tried to deny that I told him anything ... then why did I call? He is now saying he will look into it. This has gone on for NINETEEN DAYS! it is costing me money that I don't have. What a dishonest company!

I feel this is not what was advertised as delivery. Amazon said they would set the TV up on assembled furniture. Then on the phone they (Deidre in customer service) said that the delivery person was "just muscle" and was not expected to set up the stand. I don't consider the stand that comes with the TV, in the same box, to be furniture, assembled or otherwise. The delivery guy certainly assumed he was to assemble the stand. He just went right to it. But then he discovered the package didn't include the right screws, they didn't fit. All I wanted from Amazon was an expedited replacement for the stand.

They said I would have to contact the manufacturer or I could send the TV back. My relationship is with Amazon. I expect them to handle things when a purchase is defective. I have no relationship with the manufacturer. This would have been my largest purchase from Amazon, and it just might be my last. I've probably spent a couple of thousand at Amazon over the years. I felt safe buying from Amazon because I have never had trouble before. I don't feel safe any more. I asked for written confirmation that they will be arranging for pick up and an assurance that my money will be refunded. No response to that as of today, Jan 12, 2009. Also I don't like that I can only communicate through their system. It is difficult to document correspondence this way.

When I asked someone in customer service with the credit card department to contact Amazon to verify the info, they told me they were not allowed to do that. So my order has been put on hold and my entire Amazon account has been frozen preventing me from placing any other orders, which is something I will never do again anyway. When I call customer service, no one can tell me anything about how I go about resolving the matter. They just say their account specialist will take care of it. Oh and by the way, you can't talk to these account specialists. Apparently they are in some top secret location! They tell me it will be resolved by Friday, I guess we'll see... But buyers should definitely beware buying anything from Amazon.com. I have made several purchases with them, but never again.