OT - Amazon refuses to do a telephone order

[49er]

Unfortunately, I totally messed up an online Amazon order I had placed due to not entering an expiration date correctly for a new debit card I wanted to use. Because this was a birthday present and I was concerned about making more mistakes, I wanted to place the order over the phone. The rep said they couldn't do that due to security reasons.

Are you bleeping kidding me? If I needed something from cpap.com, I could call them right now and place a telephone order without any hassle. Or from many other companies.

I can't believe this. I am wondering if it is because I was dealing with overseas reps that this happened.

Anyway, I emailed Jeff Bezos, the head of Amazon to complain and it will be interesting to see what the response will be from one of the assistants who responds on his behalf.

Needless to say, this experience makes me realize how lucky we are to be dealing with cpap.com.

49er

[TalonNYC]

It had nothing to do with the location of the telephone rep, at least not in this case.

Amazon and a couple of other companies are reeling from a security breach caused by someone attempting to reverse-engineer account access via false credit/debit card information. They've temporarily suspended phone ordering in cases where the payment info appears incorrect, as that was part of the attack pattern.

I agree that it is a total over-reaction, though. There are a lot of other ways they could have fixed the security issue.

[greatunclebill]

it's not just phone orders. they do not do phone, fax or e-mail orders. no problem for me.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/ ... eId=524700

[49er]

It had nothing to do with the location of the telephone rep, at least not in this case.

Amazon and a couple of other companies are reeling from a security breach caused by someone attempting to reverse-engineer account access via false credit/debit card information. They've temporarily suspended phone ordering in cases where the payment info appears incorrect, as that was part of the attack pattern.

I agree that it is a total over-reaction, though. There are a lot of other ways they could have fixed the security issue.

Thanks for letting me know.

Why couldn't they have simply said due to security issues, we have temporarily suspended telephone ordering instead of just blowing me off in the manner that they did.

Grr!

49er

[49er]

it's not just phone orders. they do not do phone, fax or e-mail orders. no problem for me.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/ ... eId=524700

Bill,

I respect your opinion but it is definitely a problem for me when most other companies, including Barnes and Noble (who I reordered everything from) do it without a hassle.

Seriously, would you feel comfortable operating a business and telling a customer who wanted to place an order that they had to go online to do it? Particularly, if that person was responsible for alot of your revenues?

Of course, losing my business means nothing to Amazon obviously but I am just trying to point out absurd the policy is unless they are doing it for security reasons as Tallon pointed out.

49er

[greatunclebill]

i don't see anything on their web page that says it's a temporary thing. if it was temporary ya'd think they would mention it.

[BlackSpinner]

My daughter was trying to buy some clothes on line last month and the seller wanted all sorts of personal info to go with the credit card so she cancelled the order feeling it was a ID scam and sent a complaint to the credit card company.

Actually you will get more leverage complaining to the credit card companies then the sellers.

[chunkyfrog]

I have not yet bought anything on Amazon.
Not in any hurry, either.

[Guest]

I have not yet bought anything on Amazon.
Not in any hurry, either.

much better than ebay and they have everything even food you never have to leave the house or you can buy swimsuits or sandles off season plus you know what the cost is and dont have to wait for an auction to end only to find out someone is willing to pay twice what something is worth. ebay feeds off of people who like to compete when they feel like they won something they are actually paying extra for. its the thrill of the hunt i guess

[chunkyfrog]

I buy most stuff locally.
--and they all take CASH!

[archangle]

Amazon was set up as a low-cost internet only operation. That's the niche they chose to serve.

Telephone orders probably cost them more to process.

I suspect some of the no-telephone bias is also about giving the appearance that they're doing things to save you money. It's sort of like the discount stores that don't provide bags for your purchase. Bags cost less than a penny each, so it's really just marketing fluff to make you're really saving money.

[49er]

Black Spinner, I have a vague recollection of experiencing something similar to what your daughter experienced. You really do have to be careful online.

Not sure how complaining to credit card company will help. This has been a long established policy of Amazon which Bill was right about.

Archangle, interestingly, when I reordered everything from Barnes and Noble by telephone, it only cost a few more dollars. And I suspect it is going to arrive faster as they don't have conditions on free shipping other than you have to buy a minimum purchase of $25.00. My order was shipped yesterday.

To refresh folk's memory, if you invoke the free shipping option that you qualify for on Amazon with also a minimum of $25, it will take 5 to 8 business days vs. 3 to 5.

49er

[Uncle_Bob]

There was once a time when they didn't even put a phone number on their web site.
First point of contact had to be by form (email).

[ems]

Anyway, I emailed Jeff Bezos, the head of Amazon to complain and it will be interesting to see what the response will be from one of the assistants who responds on his behalf.49er

Curious to know if you ever heard from him or an assistant. In the past if I had a problem, I would ask for a supervisor and things would get straightened out pretty quickly. Amazon is well known for, "customer pleasing"... at least that's been my experience.

[NateS]

Funny, but I have a completely different take on this complaint than the original poster.

I refuse to do business with companies that require me to order by phone. It is too easy for employees on the phone to make mistakes and screw up your order and then insist that the mistake was yours, not theirs. I think it is foolish to order items verbally. You have no written proof to document what you said and what you ordered, etc.

I much prefer Amazon's method. In most cases I am probably dealing directly with their computer, not with some kid who likely is distracted by a bunch of other things vying for his or her attention. I can see all the details of my order and double-check them before hitting the button to submit the order, and I get an immediate written confirmation with a "bing" in my email box, with even an option to immediately correct my order if after all that I did make a mistake anyway.

And with Amazon we don't have to take the manufacturer's or Amazon's word for the quality and functionality of the products. We read and study the detailed pros and cons written by customer reviews before making purchase decisions.

That's why we not only make most of our purchases on Amazon, we even have many household supplies and some food items on automatic subscription delivery.

I really like their business model. I think it is very pro-consumer.

Regards, Nate