Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@softwaredoug
Last active August 23, 2017 08:09
Show Gist options
  • Save softwaredoug/6f74748822bf52728545 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save softwaredoug/6f74748822bf52728545 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.

Update

Huzzah! Apparently Amazon Payments have some magic power. They have reinstated everything. They won't disclose anything about what was "suspicious". Is it fair to assume if they just decided to reinstate everything they saw what triggered and decided it wasn't truly suspicious. Or should I keep my tin foil hat on?

Also 2FA PLEASE NOW AMAZON!!!

TL;DR;

Amazon can just delete you like they did me and you can get lost in a confusing morass of customer service that can't figure out what's going on. I'm buying real paper books from now on. You lose $1000s in DRM'd content, Amazon.com shrugs and fails to give 2 fucks.

The story

Monday I got an email saying something suspicious happened on my Amazon Payments account, and that the Payments account was cancelled. My paranoia was multiplied when I couldn't log in to my Amazon account. So I called customer service. They couldn't figure out my account. Apparently the account was "suspended" (why I couldn't log on). I overheard the poor lady ask what she should do to someone else. She then told me that an "account specialist" would be in touch within 24 hours.

This morning I wake up to an unnerving email from an "account specialist" that

Hello from Amazon.

We are writing to inform you that we have closed your Amazon account and cancelled all open orders placed .

We took these actions because our records indicate that an unauthorized person has logged into your account. For your security, the credit card information stored on your account cannot be accessed via our website and your full credit card number is not displayed in your account.

Due to this unauthorized access, your account cannot be reopened. In order to continue shopping with Amazon Payments, we ask that you open a new Amazon account. Your order history and additional features such as Wishlists cannot be transferred to your new account.

...

Sincerely,

Account Specialist

It appears from this email my Amazon account has been cancelled. The mention of "Amazon Payments" in the text gives me hope that this is limitted. However, this does appear to be the response to my phone call earlier about the suspended account, as as at the bottom I'm asked:

Did I solve your problem?

with underneath the mention of how I contacted them

Original Message This is a Phone contact, please refer to annotations > for details.

So of course I hit and was immediately routed to an amazon helper. The Amazon person was thoroughly confused, as he couldn't access my account, any order history or anything. On the one hand, he thinks the email should refer just to Amazon payments, on the other hand it appears to be the "resolution" to my account being suspended so grrr

No option given to transfer $1000+ worth of DRM to another account.

Gone Full Paranoia

Also of course I'm in full paranoia mode. I use Lastpass with 2FA. I can't imagine me or LastPass biting on a phishing attempt and can't remember anything particular. I'm thoroughly paranoid that I have some kind of keylogger and my LastPass account is compromised. Of course I'm also thinking about the "unauthorized access" at LastPass a while back.

Then again, this all could be because my son binge watched dinosaur train when he was sick and that appeared "suspicious."

See my twitter feed if you care to see this drama unfold.

@Streamweaver
Copy link

That's pretty crazy. I have a hard time believing that there's no way to restore your account or access to the Ebooks and such. Can you escalate this further up the chain? Either way sorry to hear it's happening.

@softwaredoug
Copy link
Author

I am trying to escalate anyway I can. The person I talked to on the phone after hitting "No" did say he'd investigate and call me back this afternoon. I wonder if that will happen.

I'm really scared of getting lost in the cracks. I'm starting to realize how much of our lives are tied to our Prime account

@gubby
Copy link

gubby commented Aug 5, 2015

--> court action. Ask for a refund for the $1000 on the grounds of their nonperformance of the contract.

@skotekar
Copy link

skotekar commented Aug 5, 2015

OMG, I keep buying a ton of kindle books referred by bookbub service. I hardly have time to read, but my plan was to build collection of books for long vacations or during my retirement!

Very disturbed by this. Wrote a lengthy letter to Amazon regarding this. Lets see what they have to say!

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment