The Aggressive idiocy of Amazon ie

migrant

A few weeks ago I bought Amazon gift card credit on amazon.ie and deposited it to my account.

Today, after many trouble-free purchases ,they cancelled an order a few minutes after I placed it, and sent this bizarre and threatening email.

Hello,

We have canceled your order and voided the Amazon gift card balance used in the purchase.

We took these actions because you tried to use Amazon.ie gift cards that are in violation of our terms and conditions. We cannot reissue the Amazon.ie gift cards or reimburse you for these funds. Please note that if you purchased your Amazon gift card from a retailer, or obtained it from a third party, they won't be able to reissue the gift cards or reimburse you for these funds.

If this activity continues, we may take a permanent action on your account.

If you believe we took this action in error, please reply with an attachment of the gift card purchase receipts or other documentation of gift card ownership such as an email or sms from the sender of the gift card, or and image of the physical gift card. When sharing the document, be sure that the name, address, payment type, and relevant transaction information are clearly visible.

You can find more information on the Amazon.ie Gift Card Terms and Conditions help page:

www.amazon.ie/gc-legal

Account Specialist
Amazon.ie

Bear in mind, the gift card was bought directly from them on their own site, by me and credited to the very same account. I am still awaiting an explanation from them

BEWARE the shitshow that is amazon.ie

eastie17

why would they do that?

migrant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123976833#Comment_123976833

I'm still awaiting their response that very question.

JVince

Why not simply respond with the order details of when you bought the card?

They do state this fairly clearly in their email that it could be an error and a very very simple process to correct it

If you believe we took this action in error, please reply with an attachment of the gift card purchase receipts or other documentation of gift card ownership 

or you can make it a big issue, waste hours of time on it, spend more time mouthing off on social media and still get the exact same response as you'll get if you very simply attached the order details of the gift card purchase.

A really simple process

whomitconcerns

I've used gift cards in this manner on us Japan UK etc websites and never had this issue. So maybe it's not a **** show but since specific problem to you?

I agree it's a problem but it's a bit of an over reaction

daheff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123976888#Comment_123976888

it seems to be a very ott reaction from Amazon unless there is more to the story.

The problem with these large companies these days is that its nigh on impossible to get in contact with a normal person who can give reasonable answers to issues. the wall of "computer says no" is extremely frustrating for the end customer.

Buffman

Thread title disappoints! Thought they'd rammed you with one of their vans or something!

Seriously though, sounds like some sort of BS automated response was triggered for some reason.

Presumably you've followed the steps outlined in their instructions.

If for some reason you don't get sorted, there's always the small claim court option but at this early stage you'll have to await their response.

StupidLikeAFox

I know it doesnt help much, but friend of mine had their facebook account hacked and details changed, then banned by facebook and completely nuked, all with automated processes in the space of about 45 mins. There was no way to appeal or restore the account and no way to talk to a human. They just had to give up on it.

Its very likely Amazon are doing the same here, employing AI to carry out these actions

Rocket_GD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123976926#Comment_123976926

I found sorting an issue with Amazon surprisingly easy. I scheduled them to call me over an issue, called within 10 mins and the customer service agent sorted the issue extremely quickly.

Xterminator

have to say i find customer service great.

OP did you just try a live chat? you would have issue sorted in minutes, or lt least a better understanding of whats going on.

you have a right to be annoyed but they are one of the better retailers to deal with.

Cabaal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123977133#Comment_123977133

Live chat won't be able to help the op.

They should reply to the email, if they purchased the Gift Card on amazon.ie they should explain this and provide the order.

There'd more to this though,

steve-o

That smells like a scam email attempting to steal gift card balances. The phraseology seems off. OP, have you checked your Amazon account to see if anything has really been cancelled?

MacDanger

Any chance you're on a VPN and it's detecting that you're in a different country?

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123976926#Comment_123976926

I had a few issues with Amazon recently and yes the chat bot is a load of crap, but say you want to talk to a human and they put you through straight away. Getting to the chat was harder then getting in contact with a person.

JVince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123977399#Comment_123977399

It even easier for the OP - all they need to do is click "reply" and provide the info asked for as it states in the email they got.

Unbelievably simple for the op to sort out.

But I suspect there's another side to this that is handily being left out

Penn

Bit strange/suspicious to buy Amazon gift cards through Amazon, and then attempt to use those gift cards on the same account to buy things from Amazon.

Why not just buy the items directly from Amazon without the gift card?

Not saying you were up to anything nefarious, OP, but that could very well be what flagged it as a potential issue. Normally gift cards are… y'know… gifted to other people…

As others have said, actually just emailing and discussing it with Amazon to resolve the issue should be relatively straightforward and a lot easier than complaining here when you don't even know what issue caused this.

Hoop66

Perhaps a silly question, but why buy an Amazon gift card for yourself and load it on to your account? Why not just buy something and pay for it directly?

goodlad

I’ve only seen this happen if they suspect its a stolen gift card, that’s why they are asking for evidence of the purchase.

archfi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123977661#Comment_123977661

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123977663#Comment_123977663

This is very normal practice if someone wants to save up for an expensive item or items.

It's like topping up your Apple account, or Google account or Microsoft account.

Nothing dodgy or suspicious about buying gift cards for your own account at all.

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123978632#Comment_123978632

I have a few family members who put a few quid in their gift cards every month so they can buy Christmas stuff in the black Friday sales so I don't see why people think it's iffy.

Ozymandius2011

I've also had problems with them. Last summer I ordered a graphics card and then cancelled when I realised it was worse than my old card. Since then I cant access my account. They have no "contact us" form on the website.

Around that time I was also ordering a motherboard and a CPU for a PC I was building. I was able to order the before this happened, but there was repeated account locking in between. At one point they did phone me and I was able to get it unlocked. But since April I have been locked out.

I had ordered a graphics card and cancelled after I had purchased it. I think things like that trigger their account locking, because they probably assume someone other than the account holder is trying to buy things. But that was not so.

Hoop66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123978632#Comment_123978632

That makes sense I suppose. I didn't suggest there was anything dodgy about it.

Tippbhoy1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123977349#Comment_123977349

I agree. OP needs to double check the email address this came from and what the reply email address looks like. And also check the account as per your commentary. Under no circumstances would I supply a copy of a gift card

JVince

seems to be a scam going around on gift cards (not saying op is doing this, but a reason why Amazon are more vigilant)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8xz6q60nno

extra-ordinary_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058428138/the-aggressive-idiocy-of-amazon-ie

"or and image of the physical gift card."

AI? 🙄

agfasfos

Definitely something off about that e-mail, "canceled" is wrong & I would not reply to this email, they are looking for the gift card details, do not give them this. Go directly to the Amazon website & log in there & check your account.

LambshankRedemption

I commented in the other Amazon.ie thread, that from my interactions with Amazon.ie over the past few weeks I get the feeling they copied the template from Amazon.de, and did some search and replaces. Ive gotten emails and text messages from Amazon.ie in German. Here is one of them.

So it's safe to say they are still having 'teething issues'.

New Scottman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123977663#Comment_123977663

I have had to buy gift cards to pay for items because my debit card kept getting rejected for pre-orders.