
Ask HN: Amazon stonewalling me after they closed my account – how to resolve? - ShinyCyril
Morning all,<p>I decided to cash-out $3k-worth of Rocketrip points (a workplace scheme which rewards reduced-cost business travel) on Amazon gift-cards to purchase some things to furnish my new home in the US (just moved here – from UK originally). As a result, Amazon have closed my account, given a very vague justification of &quot;address verification&quot; and voided my entire balance.<p>I have called several times and have been led in circles on each occasion. When I was finally able to get through to a supervisor, he refused to give me the actual reason for my account closure and hung up after I repeatedly asked him to pass me to someone who could actually help resolve this situation.<p>I have filed a complaint with BBB, and emailed the second-line jeff@amazon.com address, but I&#x27;m not really holding out much hope for a reply &#x2F; resolution.<p>Fundamentally I am rather upset that I am being made to feel like a criminal, when in fact my order was perfectly legitimate. Most frustratingly I would happily provide proof that I reside at this address, if only I were afforded the opportunity to do so! Furthermore, my Kindle is now absolutely useless, as is my personal AWS account (although I&#x27;m grateful I don&#x27;t have anything important stored in the cloud – that could have been a lot worse!). Having been a customer of theirs for ~10 years, I&#x27;m astounded that they are not at all bothered about trying to sort out a resolution.<p>Does anyone have any further suggestions as to how I can resolve this situation?<p>Much appreciated.
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paulcole
> I have filed a complaint with BBB

This doesn’t do much for you, but anyone reading this should know:

BBB is private and little more than your parents’ Yelp. Pay for play and
without any actual power. Despite the tricky name it’s not governmental in any
way.

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jlgaddis
Head down to your county courthouse and file a cause in small claims court.

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anonymousiam
Amazon may be in violation of federal law here. Ask a lawyer.
[http://www.ncsl.org/research/financial-services-and-
commerce...](http://www.ncsl.org/research/financial-services-and-
commerce/gift-cards-and-certificates-statutes-and-legis.aspx)

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brudgers
Since the cards are not honored, it might be worth contacting the organization
that provided them to you instead of Amazon. Amazon is a third party to the
"cashing out" transaction.

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ShinyCyril
Yep I'm in contact with someone at the company – hopefully they might be able
to help.

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rchaudhary
Email jeff@amazon.com and there are good chances that someone from his team
will get back to you.

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ShinyCyril
I did try, but have yet to hear anything from them.

