Amazon Customer Service has become awful

Updated: May 6, 2024

I've been an Amazon customer for more than 20 years. I've been publishing books with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for more than a decade. I've also used Audible. Apart from having spent a significant amount of money with Amazon, I was always rather impressed with their customer service. It used to be amaz-ing [sic]. Typically, you could send a single email about your issue, and you'd get a detailed, clear reply, and things would always get resolved right away. During my Amazon Fire TV setup a few years back, I had some problems with connectivity. Support phone call, an hour spent with a customer representative, and the dude was, for the lack of a better word, a true professional. Patient, funny, knowledgeable. But all that's in the past.

In the past two or three years, more or less since the pandemic, I noticed a sharp decline in the quality of the Amazon customer services. First, they removed email for most of types of queries. It's chat or phone. The chat always starts with some pseudo-AI bot that's annoying and useless. Then you get routed to human agents who are way less helpful then they used to be. But today's topic revolves around my attempt to set up a business account, and how Amazon cost me 300 Euros in garbage second-hand used routers that were supposed to be brand new devices.

Business account setup

Before you ask, for privacy, I will not share overly specific details or too many photos (evidence) of the problem. But I have sent and provided those to Amazon, just so you know. Anyway, let's begin.

I decided to open a business account, for its supposed perks. Right away, I encountered a problem. I tried to do this on Amazon.com, and only half way through the process I learned that you can only register American companies on this particular domain. And so the process fails, neither here nor there.

It also shows that software developers should never ever have a say in UI design. After all, if the country choice is the LIMITING FACTOR, then the very first step in the business account registration should be to select where your business operates, and only THEN do the whole email, address and other details. Anyway.

I gave up at this point, and opened a regular account. Let's call this point in time Day Zero (D). Henceforth, I will refer to future dates in relation to this moment, e.g.: D+3 means three days after having registered the business account.

Well, with my account set up, I purchased a couple of items on Amazon.de. Two brand new routers worth 300 Euros in total. So far so good.

On D+6, Amazon Business (the com domain) emails me: Access business-only pricing. They are goading me to register a business account. I tried again, and the wizard failed midway through. I tried a second time (third time counting the very first attempt), and Amazon told me that there's already a business account with my email address. Wut.

At this point, I contacted Amazon.com chat. Unlike in the past, they really don't want you to contact them. After all, support costs money, right? Well, I did manage to find an option to launch live chat. First, you're greeted by this automated bot thing that asks stupid, pointless questions. It then re-routes you to the beginning of its flow, but if you do the same thing twice or thrice, it will ask whether you want to talk to a human. Yes, please.

The human told me to try a different domain, like Amazon.de. OK. Fine. I went to Amazon.de and successfully converted my normal account to a business account. The entire process took about a minute. My order was merged - it wasn't immediately visible, but after about an hour, the account was showing all the right details. OK, reasonable.

But then, roughly at the same time I finished my Amazon.de account conversion, I received an email from Amazon (the US domain) titled: Join the official Amazon Business account instead. In the body of this email was the following text:

Hello,

It looks like you tried to create an Amazon Business account for [SOME BUSINESS NAME] using this email: [MY EMAIL]

To purchase from Amazon Business on behalf of your organization, you can request to join the existing Amazon Business account for [SOME BUSINESS NAME].

Request to join (Button)

If this was not you, don't worry. We did not create an account and you don't have to do anything.

Thank you,
Amazon Business

The wonders of chat support

I found this email confusing, and even alarming. It coincided with my business registration on Amazon.de, so I thought - there could be a bug in the system, a security issue, a caching issue, or unlikely, someone was actively trying to abuse/register a business account by spamming credentials. I decided to contact Amazon support again, to let them know about this, and see if they had more insight into the problem.

I contacted Amazon.de first. The customer representative was fast, polite, helpful. They redirected me to Amazon.com. They told me that these two domains are separate entities (if you think about say GDPR, it kind of makes sense), and so they couldn't see the email or help me with any specific details.

My next stop, Amazon.com. I spoke to two chat representatives. Unlike their .de counterparts, they were not helpful at all. The first person said the email was a scam, without checking any details. When I told them the email looked genuine, and that DMARC, DKIM and SFP check out, they said they could see Amazon had indeed sent me an email (they suggested a wrong subject, and I had to "correct" them). Then, without helping me with my question as to why this email was sent, or if there was a security issue, they asked me if there was anything else they could help me with. My reply was: no, because you haven't helped me with the first thing to begin with.

The agent then disconnected and reconnected, and then told me that the Business team isn't available right then, but they would contact me within 1-2 days.

I waited a bit, and tried the chat again. The second representative was even worse. This person more or less repeated what the first person said, and they also disconnected at about the (same) 10-minute mark, and reconnected. My guess is, the agents are probably "measured" on how long their chats run, and if they exceed a certain time they are probably scolded or berated by some clueless manager who's all about ticket resolution time or some similar nonsense. Well, once the agent reconnected, they asked me the same corny question (anything else), and then, without even waiting for a reply, dropped the chat. Awesome service, much delight.

Furious, I let it be. But I marked it. D+6 is when the strange email happened, so D+8/9 is when I should get a reply.

By D+13, I received no reply from their business team.

D+13, I used the Amazon.de chat. Again, the representative was fast, helpful. There is a stark difference in the quality of service provided by chat agents on the two domains. This person gave me a contact address of a team who could perhaps give me answers about that strange email. I sent them a note, and asked them to check my account, as well as check if there are any bugs or potential security issues in their system.

D+16, I received a reply. The email said:

After reviewing your Amazon Business account, we did not find any unauthorized activity. As a result, we did not make any changes to your account.

That helped a little, but did not answer my question. Why did I get that email in the first place? Also, it took Amazon ten days to answer an important query related to possible account security and platform integrity. But then, something even worse happened. My two routers arrived.

Second-hand gear shipped in open boxes

I received two routers in the following condition:

On top of that, inside the boxes, on the devices themselves, there were these thin protective nylon covers - they are used to protect the plastic and also indicate you're getting new stuff. Except ... the nylons had been obviously and badly re-applied. It was evident someone had placed them after the fact, outside of the factory. On one of the devices, they didn't even use the original nylon. I've purchased these router models before, and I know what a brand new item looks like, including the interior nylon covers.

From my perspective, I've received compromised network gear. Second-hand stuff. Some scammer had shipped their garbage. Great for them.

I had to go to the Amazon.de chat again. This time, with an obvious order problem query. Bot, stupid questions, human. Time stamp: D+16. The representative was sympathetic, and they told me I would receive return labels and other instructions via email very soon.

D+16, not much after the chat, I did receive an email - with a return label for only one of the items. The instructions said I needed to take the item to the nearest DHL facility and ship it. Now, there is no DHL facility where I live. Nor do I want to waste my time sending garbage back. If they can ship it to my door, they can collect it at my door. Basic physics.

In fact, the way the system is structured, Amazon has NO incentive sending good stuff over. Some idiot somewhere sends you scammy or wrong stuff, it falls on YOUR shoulders to ship the crap back. You have to work to fix THEIR mistake. If you look at it, as a joke, Amazon could send a wrong item 100 times over, and it would be up to me to: call or chat, print labels (waste my ink or toner), get a box, apply adhesive tape, schedule a return time, walk to some return facility like a monkey, and hope that I get my refund. In this scenario, I lose everything, Amazon loses nothing. Nonsense and stupidity.

I replied to the email, and explained that I cannot do what the instructions say. And here begins a chain of pointless extra stupidity. For my query, I received three emails from Amazon:

I replied: I don't want a refund, I want brand new items as promised! I requested they meet their obligation as a seller and a marketplace. After a few minutes, I got one, two, three emails back!

Since the correct item shows as delivered, we require a photo of the wrong item that was delivered by the carrier received along with a piece of paper (handwritten or typed) containing the Amazon account holder's name and a date on or after [DATE]. The information must be visible in one photo. Your photo must be submitted before [DATE+30] to be considered for review. Once we receive your photo, we typically respond within 3 days with the appropriate action that has to be taken on the order.

I photographed the boxes, added a note, sent it. Later that day, I received three emails:

I took fresh photos and sent them to Amazon. Two generic emails come in:

D+21, I got no proper reply just yet. I emailed the support again. After an hour or so, I received, yes you guessed it right, three emails:

I replied to this email with the following:

I provided you with the photos that show the items inside the boxes (open boxes, no cover, badly applied nylon). You cannot find evidence that the items has been used? What evidence do you expect from an electronic device? It's not a cigarette that's been half smoked. The items came in open boxes. The items have badly applied nylon sheet covers. What else do you expect? Mud and blood? I want a simple answer - are you going to send brand NEW items as replacement - or am I going to be a victim of a scam and horrible customer service?

I also emphasized two other things in the email. One, that I had a feeling, based on how the entire thing was going, that I was not going to get new devices shipped by Amazon. Effectively, that would mean I'd need to flush 300 Euros down the drain. It's not a small amount of money, and it's a shame to see it wasted, but hey, that's the price you sometimes have to pay by using a bad online seller.

Two, I also told the customer representative (it's always a different signature in the email, if any) that I would write a story about my experience, and that they shouldn't be surprised by public outcry from this "incident", if it comes to that. But hey, it seems the only way you can get any sort of normal response from business behemoths these days is to vent your frustration online, as loudly as you can.

D+26, no reply.

D+26, I contacted Amazon.de and asked for the details of their legal department, so that I could begin a formal complaint with the relevant trade regulator in my region. The chat agents refused to give me the necessary details, even though I insisted they must do so by law.

D+26, immediately after the chat, I received two emails. One, an email that said they can only issue a refund once the items have been returned, and a second (apologetic) email asking me to elaborate more on my issue, and that they would then respond.

I replied with the summary of all of the above, and requested a response within 3 business days. I even said I would be willing to return the items if they can send a courier to my door (call it a compromise), emphasized that I was not seeking a refund, simply new items as ordered. I also told them this would be the very last time I would engage on this matter, and once the reply window elapses, this affair would become a formal complaint and, in parallel, a public story about my experience.

I received two pointless generic, probably auto-generated replies. D+31, no actual reply to my query.

In fact, just to add insult to injury, in all of the emails, the agents NEVER once addressed me by my name, even though I signed my emails. They would always contact me with Hello [BUSINESS NAME]. They would often "sign" their own pointless template with the default signature - the agents wouldn't even bother to select their own name from a drop-down menu or whatever they use in their email templates. Here's a nice screenshot of one; the right margin is truncated on purpose, so don't mind that:

Default signature

Building Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company. What a joke. Thank you, Default.

Back to local businesses

I have to say I ought to blame myself. I'm an idiot for persisting to buy from Amazon, despite obvious degradation in the quality of their service. I allowed inertia and complacency to carry me for waaaaay longer than I should have. I should have stopped buying on Amazon the first time I received a counterfeit item sometime in 2021 or so. And so, part of the fallout stems from my naivety and optimism.

I contacted a number of local businesses. One of them promptly shipped one of the router models, beautifully packaged (they even added thick padding to protect the item), delivered with a courier, Bob's your uncle. They didn't have the second model in their catalog. But then, I called and spoke to a REAL human on the phone, and they said they would check with their purchasing department.

They contacted me two days later - the same person I spoke to previously - and said they could arrange shipment, and sent me a custom purchasing order proposal. Needless to say, I went forward with it. Even though the local seller is more expensive and cannot match the prices on Amazon, I am certain I will get what I ordered, quickly, efficiently, the items will be genuine and properly packaged, and if there's a problem I can talk to real people who actually care about their business. A bit more money, but totally worth it.

Conclusion

I already canceled my Prime membership because of the whole new ads policy. I am going to cancel this Amazon business account as soon as my complaint goes through with the regulator - it's gonna stay open until then so I have access to additional information I may need as part of the complaint process. I'm supporting the local economy, and I know what I'm getting. Amazon - and whoever sent the used devices - got 300 Euros from me. May they enjoy their prize.

I decided I won't be buying from Amazon again - except books (and only if I can't find them locally). It feels like I've gone 20 years into the past. I used to buy only books on Amazon, and it seems, this is the future, too. Now, let's look at the monetary fallout from this - not for me but for Amazon.

I used to spend something like at least 1,000 dollars (or Euros for that matter) on Amazon, pretty much every year. Since I'm not going to be doing that anymore, Amazon will lose (or not get) roughly 1,000 dollars from me, every year, from now on, forever. In twenty years, that will be at least 20,000 dollars worth of stuff that I'm going to spend elsewhere. That's the actual real scale of this incident, the damage that Amazon will have. Add to that the canceled Prime membership times twenty, and so forth. A lot of my hard-earned money will go somewhere else. Remember this number, Amazon.

I am also considering perhaps deleting my KDP and Audible accounts (as an author of many many books). It would be a shame to do that as people rely on having easy access to my books, but hey, I might do that, too, out of pure spite. I won't do it right away, no knee-jerk response, I need to be calm and calculated in my actions. But if this is how Amazon wants to play it, so be it.

Online store reputation is everything. I received DOA (and a counterfeit) piece of gear once or twice in the past. The replacements have always been instant. Amazon would instantly credit me (money back first, item back later), they never argued, and they always used to be extremely helpful and professional. But in the past two or three years, it's been cutthroat economics, cheap offshore labor, crappy chatbot scriptology, and ZERO human care. And now, used gear, on top of that. No thank you.

There you go. Take whatever you want from this story. From my perspective, Amazon as a viable online marketplace, for anything but books, is dead. My sweet money will go elsewhere, and over the years, it will make this one little incident seem trivial. It's time to bring my rant to an end. Yippee Ki-Yay.

Cheers.