This article is part of our Lessons in Customer Support series. You can learn more about how companies, large and small, handled their customer service issues here.
Amazon Outlaws a Customer and Erases Her Kindle
Ownership of digital goods, in particular, the ones laced with DRM is a controversial gray area. There have been cases where the fineprint implies that even though you have paid for it, you don’t actually own the digital content. From time to time, we see some alarming examples of customers getting caught in the middle of a legal mess that they don’t understand.
It’s the turn of Amazon now. Few days ago, a customer found her Kindle ebook reader wiped clean and her account closed. After talking to Amazon about this, she learnt that the company decided to close the account as it has come to their attention that her account Amazon.co.uk account was related to a previously blocked account.
Curiously, the customer only had an account at Amazon.com and not at Amazon.co.uk. After another round of communication, she was notified that the decision was final and they wished her luck in finding a retailer who is better suited to service her!
Even if we ignore the suo motu cancellation of a customer’s account without proper explanation, the deletion of ebooks from the Kindle and the indifference when addressing a customer’s concern are downright shocking. A proper investigation before closing the account or even after receiving the customer’s complaint would’ve saved Amazon a lot of grief.
Amazon hasn’t responded after the news broke out in the media and let’s hope they do the right thing – apologizing to the customer and compensating her for the hardship.
Did you come across any interesting customer service stories last week? Do share with us!
