Amazon Gift Voucher Complaint

MattMattMattUK

bazza2000_2 said:

It’s interesting reading through the replies here — the general sentiment seems to have shifted over the years. It now feels as though when something like this happens, the assumption is that the customer must somehow be at fault for simply doing what millions of people do every day: buying or receiving a gift card in good faith.

Maybe people are just more aware of things now. The reality is that you tried to redeem an Amazon gift card sold by Tesco that had already been redeemed. No one rational is going to think that Amazon should be held liable for that. The consumer rights of the purchaser sit with the original purchaser and they are against Tesco not Amazon. 

bazza2000_2 said:
I completely understand healthy scepticism and the need for companies to investigate potential fraud, but it’s disappointing to see how normalised it’s become to place the blame back on the consumer, even when there’s clear evidence that this kind of tampering and misuse is widespread.

It is not widespread, but it does unfortunately happen. No one is putting the blame on the consumer, but pointing out that it is not down to Amazon, nor are there any consumer rights against them as they did not sell the gift card is the correct position. 

bazza2000_2 said:
I’m not asking anyone to take my word for it — just look at the tone of the responses. It’s as if expecting a large company like Amazon to take some responsibility for a known issue is now seen as unreasonable. That in itself says a lot about how things have changed.

Why do you think Amazon, a company who did not sell the gift card, should have to pay out money twice? Consumer rights would sit against Tesco, if they had sold a product that had been tampered with then the purchaser would be covered under consumer rights, if they sold it without that, but it has been redeemed by someone else then that would be theft by the person who has redeemed it. 

visidigi

Doesn't have the be the same family as you, it said relative/acquaintance, it could be they can see it was redeemed on the same IP as yours for example by being on the same Wifi. Be appreciative they even said that, they didn't have to.

bazza2000_2

powerful_Rogue said:

bazza2000_2 said:

Boohoo said:

How was the card bought and from where?

There has been a lot of stories in the media about physical gift cards being tampered with and then put back onto the shelves and the people doing the tampering using the codes to buy stuff.

Your sister should go to the store( if it was bought from one) and see if anything can be done.

As for Amazon taking this stance they must get thousands of customers complaining about this and why should they pay out with out investigating things 1st.

Also as you may be aware if you get a refund Amazon may close your account.

As for Amazon’s “investigation,” their email states they’ve looked into it but refuse to provide any details — instead, they claim the card was redeemed by someone in my family. I find that impossible to believe, as I’m the only person left in my family with my surname.

I don't think Amazon would just make that up. There clearly is a link on the Amazon systems between yourself and someone else that used the card. Quite rightly they can't disclose the actual information to yourself due to GDPR.

There is no ombudsman that covers Amazon. Consumer rights will be against Tesco, however they will contact Amazon who will defend it using that someone associated to your account has redeemed the voucher.

That leaves taking Tesco to small claims court. Potentially then Amazon might divulge to the court who redeemed it. Regardless, this would all have to be done by your sister as she is the consumer.

With respect, that’s quite a leap to make. Amazon have provided absolutely no evidence to support their claim — they’ve simply stated that “someone in my family” redeemed the card, without showing any proof, and are now hiding behind GDPR as a convenient shield. GDPR protects personal data, not unsubstantiated accusations.

The card in question was a physical gift card purchased from a Tesco store — nothing more. It has no link to me beyond the fact that I was the one attempting to redeem it. The claim that Amazon somehow knows it was used by a “family member” is, frankly, ridiculous and completely unprovable without any transparency on their part.

It’s not unreasonable to expect that a company the size of Amazon could properly investigate this type of fraud instead of throwing out boilerplate responses that effectively shift the blame onto innocent customers. The notion that “Amazon wouldn’t make it up” is naïve — they’re simply avoiding responsibility for an issue that’s been publicly reported multiple times: tampered gift cards being sold through legitimate retail channels.

I appreciate differing opinions, but let’s not confuse corporate silence with integrity.

Largs

This was on BBC Radio Scotland recently, I found this from their website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c059r71jmrno

MattMattMattUK

bazza2000_2 said:

powerful_Rogue said:

bazza2000_2 said:

Boohoo said:

How was the card bought and from where?

There has been a lot of stories in the media about physical gift cards being tampered with and then put back onto the shelves and the people doing the tampering using the codes to buy stuff.

Your sister should go to the store( if it was bought from one) and see if anything can be done.

As for Amazon taking this stance they must get thousands of customers complaining about this and why should they pay out with out investigating things 1st.

Also as you may be aware if you get a refund Amazon may close your account.

As for Amazon’s “investigation,” their email states they’ve looked into it but refuse to provide any details — instead, they claim the card was redeemed by someone in my family. I find that impossible to believe, as I’m the only person left in my family with my surname.

I don't think Amazon would just make that up. There clearly is a link on the Amazon systems between yourself and someone else that used the card. Quite rightly they can't disclose the actual information to yourself due to GDPR.

There is no ombudsman that covers Amazon. Consumer rights will be against Tesco, however they will contact Amazon who will defend it using that someone associated to your account has redeemed the voucher.

That leaves taking Tesco to small claims court. Potentially then Amazon might divulge to the court who redeemed it. Regardless, this would all have to be done by your sister as she is the consumer.

With respect, that’s quite a leap to make. Amazon have provided absolutely no evidence to support their claim — they’ve simply stated that “someone in my family” redeemed the card, without showing any proof, and are now hiding behind GDPR as a convenient shield. GDPR protects personal data, not unsubstantiated accusations.

Supplying evidence to substantiate their claim would breach GDPR, hence they cannot supply it to anyone other than the police or courts. 

bazza2000_2 said:
The card in question was a physical gift card purchased from a Tesco store — nothing more. It has no link to me beyond the fact that I was the one attempting to redeem it. The claim that Amazon somehow knows it was used by a “family member” is, frankly, ridiculous and completely unprovable without any transparency on their part.

There will likely be a link, name, address, previous cross redemption between gift cards on account etc. Amazon have vast amounts of data on nearly every adult in the country. 

bazza2000_2 said:
It’s not unreasonable to expect that a company the size of Amazon could properly investigate this type of fraud instead of throwing out boilerplate responses that effectively shift the blame onto innocent customers. The notion that “Amazon wouldn’t make it up” is naïve — they’re simply avoiding responsibility for an issue that’s been publicly reported multiple times: tampered gift cards being sold through legitimate retail channels.

There is not really anything to investigate. A third party (Tesco) sold a gift card, say it was a £50 gift card, Amazon would have got £42.50-45.00 from Tesco for that. Person A then redeemed that voucher to their Amazon account. After a period of time Person B attempted to redeem the same voucher, which was denied as it had already been used. Person B then complained to Amazon. Person B has no consumer rights as they did not purchase the voucher, however Amazon's data show a connection between Person A and Person B.

As above, the original purchaser has consumer rights against Tesco, not Amazon, and unfortunately you have no consumer rights. Amazon would hand over the details of Person A to either the police or courts as directed by proper legal authority, but the police are unlikely to investigate these days. So as a previous poster has said, the original purchaser needs to send an LBA to Tesco, then court proceedings if that is ignored. 

bazza2000_2

Largs said:

This was on BBC Radio Scotland recently, I found this from their website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c059r71jmrno

Thank you — this is very helpful. I took a look at the article and it clearly highlights that the issue of gift-card tampering is real and recognised. The fact that Tesco is mentioned as providing refunds and taking note of the problem shows there is precedent for resolution.
Thanks again for digging this up — it adds credible weight to the argument that this is not just a one-off, and it supports the case for appropriate action.

sheramber

Perhaps supermarkets should not put the cards out on display for anybody to access but sell them from behind the counter  where cigarettes etc  are sold. 

bazza2000_2

sheramber said:

Perhaps supermarkets should not put the cards out on display for anybody to access but sell them from behind the counter  where cigarettes etc  are sold. 

That was mentioned in the BBC article linked above:

"He added one simple solution would be for supermarkets to keep the cards behind the counter, but supermarkets do not do this, because they want it to be an impulse purchase."

born_again

bazza2000_2 said:

Boohoo said:

How was the card bought and from where?

There has been a lot of stories in the media about physical gift cards being tampered with and then put back onto the shelves and the people doing the tampering using the codes to buy stuff.

Your sister should go to the store( if it was bought from one) and see if anything can be done.

As for Amazon taking this stance they must get thousands of customers complaining about this and why should they pay out with out investigating things 1st.

Also as you may be aware if you get a refund Amazon may close your account.

The card was purchased from a Tesco store, which uses the standard process where the card isn’t activated until it’s scanned and paid for at the checkout. My best guess is that someone had previously taken the card off the shelf, opened it, noted down the redemption code, then resealed it and put it back. Once that tampered card is legitimately purchased and activated, the fraudster likely checks periodically until they can redeem the balance — usually before the card is even gifted, which could be within a few hours or days.

I’ve already spoken to Tesco, and they’ve said this is an issue for Amazon to resolve.

As for Amazon’s “investigation,” their email states they’ve looked into it but refuse to provide any details — instead, they claim the card was redeemed by someone in my family. I find that impossible to believe, as I’m the only person left in my family with my surname.

Regarding your comment about Amazon potentially closing my account — I’m not sure why that would happen. This isn’t related to anything on my Amazon account. It’s a physical gift card purchased from a store; the only connection to my account is that I was the one attempting to redeem it. Could you clarify why Amazon would close an account in this situation?

Why does surname come into it?

If the card is traceable to who has redeemed it, it is possible that there is that link to family?

As to closing account. If someone is claiming fraud & it is not. Do you think that will want to keep them as a customer?

born_again

bazza2000_2 said:

With respect, that’s quite a leap to make. Amazon have provided absolutely no evidence to support their claim — they’ve simply stated that “someone in my family” redeemed the card, without showing any proof, and are now hiding behind GDPR as a convenient shield. GDPR protects personal data, not unsubstantiated accusations.

This is where people lose sight of PERSONAL data under GDPR. You are only entitled to your own data. Not anyone else data. That's a breach.

One thing I like about contacting US companies. They are quite happy to provide data, that a UK based company can not do or they face fines for breaches.