"I don't like Amazon (for a variety of reasons) but at least they are a reputable business. I have my beefs with other companies, but they aren't criminals."
I have a similar story with Amazon. I was doing business with them for a couple of years. I passed all of their tests (in the beginning, your account is put on hold for 30 days).
2 months ago, I had my first complaint (I have nearly 100% feedback, no complaints, and if there are any problems, I always pay return shipping and give a full refund).
The customer was nasty, spiteful, and didn't want to send me back my goods (it was worth $100+). This was after I immediately apologized for any issues (which to this day, I'm still not sure the exact problem. The message I received was a babbling mess of terrible English) and gave them a return label. I think they scammed me.
Amazon takes the customer's side and gives them a full refund and they got to keep the item. When you email them for support, you get automated responses signed with a name. In the automated response, they told me that I most likely just didn't make the customer happy enough. I should have answered their messages faster (I answered within 5 minutes on a Friday night at 10pm), or I should have made it easier for them to return my product (they just needed to print out the pre-paid label and mail it back).
2 days after this, my account was permanently suspended without warning (they are also keeping $5K of my cash for 3 months). I called them many times and was told that I can only get support through email (this was from a call center in India).
Email support gets you absolutely nowhere. I don't even know if there's a person on the other end. Just automated cookie-cutter responses signed with a name. They most likely do this because they pay people peanuts to answer emails and don't want the backlash of having broken English in the responses. Amazon is also the biggest marketplace for sellers besides Ebay, and they know they can get away with it.
As a marketplace seller, I was giving them thousands of dollars per-month in fees+$50/month for a pro account.
They don't respect sellers at all and I advise anyone wanting to business with them to steer clear.
Perhaps the issue here is that these companies have become too dominate in their markets. Google Adsense, eBay, Amazon, PayPal: they essentially control their niches and there is very little competition to keep them honest.
You should have gone to small claims court, I think it is up to 10000$. You're within your rights to demand money and if your documents are in order then you might even claim punitive damages. IANAL, but I won't sit around when someone steals from me.
If you are not in US and Amazon has no representation then you might be SOL.
What gets me is why these people don't go to court. It would be the best to win in a court of law and plaster that everywhere that that corporation is a crook not publish stories of butthurt and how life's is unfair.
Court sucks, period. Even if you are the plaintiff.
I live in Indiana, where I believe the limit for small claims is 5000$. It costs 135$ to file with the court. Then you are given a date 1-4 months out on a random non-Friday weekday. And you are at the mercy purely of the judge. The last case I was in (medical bills owed), the judge read a spy novel.
The court systems aren't made for any sort of speed or cost. And there's that possibility that you'll lose. Maybe that judge didn't get to smoke his favorite cigar...
I have a similar story with Amazon. I was doing business with them for a couple of years. I passed all of their tests (in the beginning, your account is put on hold for 30 days).
2 months ago, I had my first complaint (I have nearly 100% feedback, no complaints, and if there are any problems, I always pay return shipping and give a full refund).
The customer was nasty, spiteful, and didn't want to send me back my goods (it was worth $100+). This was after I immediately apologized for any issues (which to this day, I'm still not sure the exact problem. The message I received was a babbling mess of terrible English) and gave them a return label. I think they scammed me.
Amazon takes the customer's side and gives them a full refund and they got to keep the item. When you email them for support, you get automated responses signed with a name. In the automated response, they told me that I most likely just didn't make the customer happy enough. I should have answered their messages faster (I answered within 5 minutes on a Friday night at 10pm), or I should have made it easier for them to return my product (they just needed to print out the pre-paid label and mail it back).
2 days after this, my account was permanently suspended without warning (they are also keeping $5K of my cash for 3 months). I called them many times and was told that I can only get support through email (this was from a call center in India).
Email support gets you absolutely nowhere. I don't even know if there's a person on the other end. Just automated cookie-cutter responses signed with a name. They most likely do this because they pay people peanuts to answer emails and don't want the backlash of having broken English in the responses. Amazon is also the biggest marketplace for sellers besides Ebay, and they know they can get away with it.
As a marketplace seller, I was giving them thousands of dollars per-month in fees+$50/month for a pro account.
They don't respect sellers at all and I advise anyone wanting to business with them to steer clear.