One of the only thrills of modernity is ordering stuff online. Until Alexa leads the robot rebellion, which is definitely what’s going to happen, we can make our lives a touch more convenient by shopping on Amazon and taking advantage of its ostensibly straightforward return policy. But nothing good lasts forever. Droves of Amazon users have recently taken to social media to share their stories of being banned from the online retailer for making too many returns.
Amazon’s return policy, which allows users to return items within 30 days without needing to provide a reason, does not stipulate a specific limit for the amount of times you can return or request a refund for items in a given period. However, the company does take action when it “feels a shopper is abusing the policy,” BuzzFeed News said.
@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
The issue isn’t exactly new. In 2015, Paul Fidalgo, who described himself as a “happy Amazon customer since…the 1990s,” had his account closed for making too many returns. He detailed how Amazon's customer servicer refused to help him or review the case, stressing only that the decision was final. The dude even e-mailed Jeff Bezos himself, in a last ditch effort to get his account restored.
Back in 2016, computer programmer Greg Nelson spoke to the Guardian about how he’d been banned from Amazon after sending back 37 of 343 products he had ordered. He also lost a gift card balance he had attached to the account. “I could understand if there were evidence that I had tried to abuse the system, but I haven’t,” Nelson said at the time.
Amazon is defending its policy. "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," an Amazon representative told BuzzFeed News. "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. If a customer believes we've made an error, we encourage them to contact us directly so we can review their account and take appropriate action."
