Merge / Consolidate Your Amazon.com Accounts, I Dare You
posted at 11:24 pm
on Jan. 29, 2004
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Can anyone tell me why Amazon won’t let me consolidate two accounts together, even though they both belong to me and I can easliy prove it?
I’ve written them three times, but I get the same generic answer each time: That there are “security concerns” that prevent them from offering this to their customers.
I find it more than a little frustrating that I have two different accounts with different purchases, different wish lists, and so forth, because I mistakenly used two different addresses at different times. On top of that, that they won’t even tell me what these “security concerns” are—I can’t find any references to massive scams being perpetrated by people who maliciously merge accounts.
Also, has any one found a way to ask for this merging and actually accomplished it? Help would be appreciated.
Date: Wed Jan 28 11:00:13 PST 2004
Subject: HMD Feedback to Amazon.com
From:
COMMENTS: Hi there. I’d like to merge two accounts; I have
bought things with “amaxon@hopstudios.com” and “nep@hopstudios.com”
and I’d like to consolidate them under “nep@hopstudios.com” Thanks.
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 10:08:43 -0800
From:
Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry
Thank you for writing back to us at Amazon.com.
I understand that it is important to you to have a comprehensive
record of your order history.
Unfortunately, due to security concerns, we are unable to fulfill
your request to merge your accounts. We are not currently able to
honor any requests of this nature.
Please know that we are not questioning your integrity, nor is it our
intention to cause you any inconvenience or frustration.
I hope that, as an Amazon.com customer for some time now, you will
appreciate our efforts to protect your confidential information, even
if those efforts restrict your own access to it.
Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.
Best regards,
Anuradha Butola
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com
>---------------
>---------------
01/28/04 00:55:01
NAME: Travis
COMMENTS: I really apologize for not simply taking “no” as an answer --
I’m certain you have a good reason for your policy, and I hope you
can share with me exactly what security risk there is in not allowing
accounts to be consolidated—I can do this with credit cards, phone
bills, magazine subscriptions, health records, and lots of other
cases where I have personal information that may, through no one’s
particular fault, become covered in different accounts.
If it’s a matter of identifying me correctly, perhaps you simply
don’t have the customer service staff necessary to offer this
service, or you haven’t put in place the procedures necessary to make
sure this is possible. But I am perfectly willing to provide credit
card statements, copies of ID, written confirmation of intent, or
anything else you need.
TTFN
Travis Smith
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 01:08:49 -0800
From:
Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry
Thank you for writing back to us at Amazon.com.
I understand that it is important to you to have a comprehensive
record of your order history.
Unfortunately, due to security concerns, we are unable to fulfill
your request to merge your accounts. We are not currently able to
honor any requests of this nature.
Please know that we are not questioning your integrity, nor is it our
intention to cause you any inconvenience or frustration.
I hope that, as an Amazon.com customer for some time now, you will
appreciate our efforts to protect your confidential information, even
if those efforts restrict your own access to it.
Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.
Best regards,
Piyush Priyadarshi
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com
>---------------
>---------------
01/28/04 10:58:15
NAME: Travis
COMMENTS: You sent me the exact same form answer twice. Please do not
send me the same form answer again. I was asking for additional
information to this question:
Exactly what security risk there is in allowing accounts to be
consolidated, if both accounts can be proven to be mine?
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 13:29:30 -0800
From:
Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry
Thank you for writing back to us at Amazon.com.
I have reviewed our previous correspondence and your account.
I sympathize with your frustration in this matter. However, please
understand that the information provided in our last message
correctly represents our policy at this time.
As my colleague previously mentioned, due to security concerns, we
are unable to fulfill your request to merge your accounts. We are
not currently able to honor any requests of this nature.
Please know that we are not questioning your integrity, nor is it our
intention to cause you any inconvenience or frustration.
I hope that, as an Amazon.com customer for some time now, you will
appreciate our efforts to protect your confidential information, even
if those efforts restrict your own access to it.
However, if you would like to talk to us, for your reference our
phone numbers are:
=======================================================
Customer Service is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
-------------------------------------------------------
U.S. and Canada: 1-800-201-7575
International: 1-206-266-2992
=======================================================
Thank you for your understanding. We hope to see you again at
Amazon.com.
Best regards,
Bhawana Pant
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com
Previous entry:
A Year in Review: 2003 at Smith & Gardner
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How Cats Might Kill You, Part XIV
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