Amazon refuse to reinstate hacked account

D3bs_R

I wonder if someone can help as I'm having no luck myself and going round in circles and this is an appalling way for Amazon to treat a customer.

It appears Amazon Photos, Kindle and Audible accounts are not recoverable if you're hacked.This has happened to me........ on 18/01/22 I was recovering from an operation and couldn't sleep, looked at my emails and one from Amazon said thank you for you gift card purchase. A purchase I had not made, it was for a £10 gift voucher sent to a mobile number. I informed them on their chat immediately and changed my password. A few more purchases happened, each got cancelled and I was told my account was temporarily locked and to call them on 0800 092 7693 and ask for Account Change Team when I do I'm told that team doesn't have a telephone department. The person answering can't help and says someone will call back or email in 24 hrs they never do, i have rung so many times and they all say they'll help and I never hear a thing. Now I've  had an email saying my account is closed. I can't email them as you need to be logged in, no one will give me an answer on how to restore my accounts, I have tried Kindle and Audible, they can't help I can't email as I can't login to my accounts. Also I had an Audible subscription with 3 credits they won't refund, I can't use my Alexa I think this is just robbery. All I want is my Kindle and Audible restored, I have years of books, luckily I have copies of photo's but they don't know that and all because they allow their accounts to be hacked, I absolutely fuming this can happen and no one at Amazon, Audible or Kindld with help, surely I'm not the only one this has happened too.

Has anyone an idea what to do?
Thank you

[Deleted User]

You're unlikely to get the account reinstated now.

But I would urgently look at your own security on your devices and in the home. You're very likely to have a significant weakness somewhere.

Undervalued

D3bs_R said:

I wonder if someone can help as I'm having no luck myself and going round in circles and this is an appalling way for Amazon to treat a customer.

It appears Amazon Photos, Kindle and Audible accounts are not recoverable if you're hacked.This has happened to me........ on 18/01/22 I was recovering from an operation and couldn't sleep, looked at my emails and one from Amazon said thank you for you gift card purchase. A purchase I had not made, it was for a £10 gift voucher sent to a mobile number. I informed them on their chat immediately and changed my password. A few more purchases happened, each got cancelled and I was told my account was temporarily locked and to call them on 0800 092 7693 and ask for Account Change Team when I do I'm told that team doesn't have a telephone department. The person answering can't help and says someone will call back or email in 24 hrs they never do, i have rung so many times and they all say they'll help and I never hear a thing. Now I've  had an email saying my account is closed. I can't email them as you need to be logged in, no one will give me an answer on how to restore my accounts, I have tried Kindle and Audible, they can't help I can't email as I can't login to my accounts. Also I had an Audible subscription with 3 credits they won't refund, I can't use my Alexa I think this is just robbery. All I want is my Kindle and Audible restored, I have years of books, luckily I have copies of photo's but they don't know that and all because they allow their accounts to be hacked, I absolutely fuming this can happen and no one at Amazon, Audible or Kindld with help, surely I'm not the only one this has happened too.

Has anyone an idea what to do?
Thank you

So, another way of looking at this is that both you and Amazon have been the victim of a crime.

Amazon may take the view (rightly or wrongly) that you failed to keep you account adequately secure and that failure has cost them money.

You take the view that Amazon are at fault because "they allow their accounts to be hacked".

Any company can decline to do further business with a particular customer, they don't need a reason. I agree this does raise an interesting point about devices or downloads you have "purchased" and can no longer use. This is not a unique situation and I imagine their terms and conditions are very carefully worded to allow for this. Whether this has every been tested in a high enough court in the UK to set a precedent I don't know. If not, then unless you are prepared to bring a test case I suspect there is littlie you can do.

I do share you frustration with their "customer service". However, If you can no longer contact them because your online account is closed then your only option is the post.

MattMattMattUK

D3bs_R said:

and all because they allow their accounts to be hacked,

They do not "allow" their accounts to be hacked, you have allowed your Amazon account to be compromised. The most likely route to this is re-using passwords across multiple sites, the next is phishing and after that it is a compromised device. Hacking would imply that the third party had somehow compromised Amazon's systems, which will not have happened, what has happened is lax password security, with the additional failure of you not having enabled 2FA. 

cx6

Yes to the latter point - I have had 2FA on my Amazon account for ages ie a text PIN is required to log in.

Oh, and don't get me started on the wisdom of keeping your music, audio books, photos etc 'somewhere out there' without having an identical copy on your hard drive.
 

Undervalued

cx6 said:

Yes to the latter point - I have had 2FA on my Amazon account for ages ie a text PIN is required to log in.

Oh, and don't get me started on the wisdom of keeping your music, audio books, photos etc 'somewhere out there' without having an identical copy on your hard drive.
 

I agree although, to be fair, the OP says he has copies of his photos.

I think the only possibly valid issue the OP has here is losing access to material he has "bought" but can no longer be viewed / read without a the Amazon account. I don't think films "bought" on Fire TV can be downloaded for local storage.

The legal position on that interests me but I don't know the answer. It may be that "bought" isn't the correct word and that is how they get round it?

born_again

The thing with digital content is that you do not own a copy. You just have a right to use it so long as you hold a account.

Manxman_in_exile

born_again said:

The thing with digital content is that you do not own a copy. You just have a right to use it so long as you hold a account.

I believe that is correct and that Amazon's T&Cs make it perfectly clear from the outset.

One of the reasons I prefer "hard" music, films and books over "digital content" versions.

Undervalued

born_again said:

The thing with digital content is that you do not own a copy. You just have a right to use it so long as you hold a account.

I suspect so, which is why I put the word "bought" in inverted commas.

However, in this case, it is not the OP who has chosen to give up his account but Amazon who have apparently closed it. 

Presumably they would argue that the OP has breached the conditions by not keeping the account secure? If the OP feels that is wrong then his only option would be to take legal action against them?

D3bs_R

Undervalued said:

cx6 said:

Yes to the latter point - I have had 2FA on my Amazon account for ages ie a text PIN is required to log in.

Oh, and don't get me started on the wisdom of keeping your music, audio books, photos etc 'somewhere out there' without having an identical copy on your hard drive.
 

I agree although, to be fair, the OP says he has copies of his photos.

I think the only possibly valid issue the OP has here is losing access to material he has "bought" but can no longer be viewed / read without a the Amazon account. I don't think films "bought" on Fire TV can be downloaded for local storage.

The legal position on that interests me but I don't know the answer. It may be that "bought" isn't the correct word and that is how they get round it?

I do have copies of my photos I pleased to say. My issue is the Audible and Kindle, years of books bought and just disappeared into the either. One Art book, not cheap I've not even read! 2 months of Audible subscription paid and unused. I changed my password regularly, was definitelynot phished I'm wise to that, they lost nothing as I spotted the first false purchase and informed them within an hour, I have emails saying further attempts were blocked. My real gripe is no one actually will tell you 'No you'll never get your accounts back' just promises of a call back in 24 hours, try Audible, try Kindle. And of never being able to speak to anyone who is of any help. Imagine having a business where there's no one knowledgeable to answer customers queries or issues with that business. I was just looking to see if anyone had the same and what was the outcome. After ringing twice weekly I think I'll give up, but I will never have another Amazon account. An Alexa going cheap lol!

400ixl

cx6 said:

Yes to the latter point - I have had 2FA on my Amazon account for ages ie a text PIN is required to log in.

Oh, and don't get me started on the wisdom of keeping your music, audio books, photos etc 'somewhere out there' without having an identical copy on your hard drive.
 

If by text PIN you mean a code is sent by SMS then this is a pretty weak 2FA method. Amazon offer the ability to use authenticator apps like Google or Microsoft authenticator which is a much better way of doing 2FA and is the sort of 2FA you should have switched on for any accounts that support it.