It is fair to say, a lot of us rely quite heavily on Amazon. They sell pretty much anything and everything and can have it with you the next day or sometimes the same day, if you’re lucky enough to have the right postcode! Often shoppers will see things they like and then straight away whip out their smartphones to check out how much Amazon are selling the item for which is likely cheaper! So having to live without it and actually being banned from using it, would make a lot of people feel slightly lost and unsure where to start buying their everyday essentials, seasonal presents and little treats!
This is exactly what had happened to computer programmer, Greg Nelson. He was a former self-confessed Amazon fan and made it his go-to place online to buy all of his electronic goods to household bits and even his food shop. Having been a customer since 2002, he had racked up a 343 item long list of purchases with Amazon, suggesting he was a very loyal customer. From that list he had made 37 returns in the 14 years of custom, for reasons he said were within the consumer rights policy as they were either not as described, faulty or did not last as long as they should have. Amazon allows customers to return their goods for 30 days which is longer than the guideline 14, which is seemingly generous but if you take advantage of this, at what cost will it end up.
Amazon banned Greg Nelson from accessing his account and even wiped his gift card allowance that he had on his account from Christmas. Greg Nelson stated that the company gave no explanation and only responsded to his emails with generic information saying they would not reopen his account. To rub salt in the wound, Greg also had thousands of kindle books and amazon instant video which he also lost with the ban on his account.
This is not the first case of a customer being banned because of the amount of product returns they have made, with cases starting back in 2008 and tons of gift card money being wiped. This seems unfair that whilst the customer is entitled to make returns, they are also at risk of losing their account over night.
