Stonepounder
Stonepounder's JournalFinal Update: Getting Screwed by Amazon
Just got an email this morning from Amazon reinstating my account and closing out the disputed charges. It took 6 weeks of me doing my best to politely rip Amazon a new one. I complained to Amazon, the Better Business Bureau, and the Fair Trade Commission.
On one of my earlier posts a DUer suggested that I write to the top. So I wrote a letter (USPS not email) and sent it off to Jeff Bezos and a couple of VP's. That was the one that did the trick. Not sure which VP rattled a cage, but the dispute has been resolved in my favor, Amazon is no longer demanding that I pay $500 in fraudulent gift cards that I didn't order.
For those of you coming to this story late you can check out my previous posts about this:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181317652
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181318225
Just wanted to send a BIG Thank You to all of the folks who a) allowed me to vent and b) gave helpful suggestions on how to keep at it until I got my account back. DU is a wonderful place full of wonderful folks!
Getting screwed by Amazon, continued.
The continuing saga of Amazon trying in every way they know to screw me over. I just got another email from amazon saying that they will not unlock my account until I pay them $500 for more of the fraudulent orders that were paid electronically that they never bothered to cancel even though I confirmed the same evening that ALL orders placed on 12/28 were fraudulent and they confirmed that they had cancelled all of the orders.
I'm sorry, but whether overtly or in a 'wink, wink, nod, nod' they are trying to defraud ME! Now I have one Amazon department telling me they are 'still investigating and working with my credit card company' and another department telling me I will never get my account back unless I pay them $500 for orders I never placed, never saw, and it looks like they were for extended warranties on Apple Smart Phones that we ordered and that WERE cancelled. So God knows how much I would be expected to pay Amazon before my account is restored. And I guess that I will never see all my Kindle books that I have bought over the years that I no longer have access to.
I have so far filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Protection Agency, written actual letters to three top executives at Amazon, and am raising a stink on Facebook and Twitter. I probably will never get my account back or gain access to all the Kindle books I have bought over the years, but I will keep harassing them and spreading the news far and wide for as long as I draw breath!
Getting screwed by Amazon
Not sure this is the right place. If not let me know and I'll pull this post.
On 12/28/2019 we were at a Christmas get together for a good part of the evening. When we got home, being the computer nut that I am I checked my email and saw a note from Amazon, then another, then another about things that I had just bought. Huh? Then I got an email from Amazon that they had detected suspicious activity and had locked down my account and cancelled the orders. The email specifically stated that I would be reimbursed for any money spent off the 'Gift Cards'. The 'orders' totalled over $5000 worth of Apple Smartphones (at about $1000 apiece and 'Gift Cards' totalling about $1400. I called Amazon and confirmed that I had not ordered all that stuff, I called my credit card company and told them the same thing, and then I called the cops.
The dummy who thought ripping me off was a good idea had used his own personal email account as the 'ship to' for the gift cards and my address for the delivery address for the Smartphones. While waiting for the cops to arrive I printed off all of the orders for them. When the cops arrived they had to laugh at how easy this one was going to be, since they had his email address. Amazon helped me reset my password and unlocked my account.
I thought all was OK and went back to normal. Even placed a couple of orders with Amazon over the next couple of weeks. Then on 1/12/2020 I got another email from Amazon saying that my account had been locked due to a billing dispute. Turns out that my credit card company wouldn't pay Amazon for the 'Gift Cards'. Seems that if you order a gift card from Amazon, they send it out via email within a couple of minutes of receiving the order, yet have no way of cancelling the gift card once it has been sent. So, even though Amazon knew the orders were fraudulent within 1-2 hours on the evening of 12/28, they couldn't cancel the gift cards and wanted either my credit card company or me to pay for them. Say What?
I tried to call the folks who had locked my account, but customers can't call them and the Customer Service can't communicate with the 'Dispute Resolution Team' via phone either, only by email and they were not allowed to give out that email to customers.
That was a month ago. So, I lost my last month of Prime (which we pay for annually), we can no longer watch Prime TV since the account is locked, I can't play any of the games I used to play on Amazon, and even more importantly I cannot access any of the Kindle books that we have bought and paid for. I would guess we have a couple of hundred dollars invested in Kindle books. And I discovered that I could no longer check Kindle books out of the library since my account was locked.
I have written to the 'Dispute Resolution Team' several times and have received nothing but the same form letter that basically suggests that I pay for the Gift Cards, never anything from a real person. I've filed complaints with the FTC and the BBB, neither of which seems to have done any good.
So, I am looking for any suggestions about what I can do to get my account back. (Please don't just tell me to dump Amazon, we have good and valid reasons we shop Amazon and are Prime members.)
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
QUEEN OFFERS TO RESTORE BRITISH RULE OVER UNITED STATES (Borowitz)
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/queen-offers-to-restore-british-rule-over-united-statesQUEEN OFFERS TO RESTORE BRITISH RULE OVER UNITED STATES
LONDON (The Borowitz Report)—In an unexpected televised address on Saturday, Queen Elizabeth II offered to restore British rule over the United States of America.
Addressing the American people from her office in Buckingham Palace, the Queen said that she was making the offer “in recognition of the desperate situation you now find yourselves in.” "This two-hundred-and-forty-year experiment in self-rule began with the best of intentions, but I think we can all agree that it didn't end well," she said.
The Queen urged Americans to write in her name on Election Day, after which the transition to British rule could begin “with a minimum of bother.” Elizabeth acknowledged that, in the wake of Brexit, Americans might justifiably be alarmed about being governed by the British parliamentary system, but she reassured them, “Parliament would play no role in this deal. This would be an old-school monarchy. Just me, and then, assuming you’d rather not have Charles, we could go straight to William and those children of his who have mesmerized you so.”
Using the closing moments of her speech to tout her credentials, the Queen made it clear that she has never used e-mail and has only had sex with one person "very occasionally."
Dog rides bus by herself every day to play in local park - then takes bus home again
https://www.irishpost.com/news/dog-rides-bus-every-day-play-local-park-takes-bus-home-178196Dog rides bus by herself every day to play in local park - then takes bus home again
IF you've ever been too scared to let your kids take the public bus by themselves, you might change your mind when you see this.
Meet Eclipse.
She's an adorable black Lab and Mastiff mix who travels to the park every day by herself. Because she don't need no man ... or woman for that matter. Incredibly, she jumps on the bus near her home in Seattle, Washington and rides downtown, getting off at the park where she frolics with her fellow four-legged friends. After a couple of hours, she returns to the bus stop, jumps back on - using a ticket attached to her collar - and returns home, ready for supper.
The remarkable story started one day when the excitement of the park was too much, and Eclipse got tired of waiting for her owner, Jeff, to finish a cigarette as the bus was pulling up.
She jumped on without him and before he could react, the bus set off.
Fortunately, the bus driver recognised her and - not wanting to disappoint the determined traveller - dropped her off at the park, before Jeff eventually caught up.
A little more story and several pics at link. Eclipse has made friends with the regular riders and is very well behaved on the bus.
Three rockets hit US Embassy compound in Baghdad
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/26/politics/rocket-hits-us-embassy-compound-baghdad/index.htmlThree rockets hit US Embassy compound in Baghdad
(CNN)Three rockets struck the US Embassy compound in Baghdad on Sunday, leaving one person injured, a US official told CNN initial reports indicate.
The official said the injury was minor and the individual had since returned to duty.
A State Department spokesperson said Sunday evening that they "are aware of reports of rockets landing in the International Zone," but did not address the US embassy itself. The State Department did not respond to a query as to whether any embassy employees were injured. "We call on the Government of Iraq to fulfill its obligations to protect our diplomatic facilities," the spokesperson said.
The State Department did not directly blame Tehran for the rocket strikes in the Iraqi capital, but the spokesperson's statement made reference to Iranian threats in the region and past attacks by Iranian-backed militias on US interests. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. "The security situation remains tense and Iranian-backed armed groups remain a threat. So, we remain vigilant," the spokesperson said. Since September there have been more than 14 attacks by Iran and Iranian-supported militias on US personnel in Iraq, according to the State Department.
The spokesperson said the State Department would not comment further on the security situation in Baghdad.
Trump Just Called Climate Scientists 'Foolish Fortune Tellers'
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3a8dz8/trump-just-called-climate-scientists-foolish-fortune-tellersTrump Just Called Climate Scientists ‘Foolish Fortune Tellers’
Trump once again repeated the lie that the U.S. has “the cleanest air in the world” when, in fact, his administration has made the air quality in the U.S. worse. According to the Environmental Performance Index, a metric from environmental scientists at Yale and Columbia, the U.S. ranks 10th when it comes to clean air quality.
Trump also said that today’s climate scientists are simply repeating errors of the past when “foolish fortune tellers...predicted an overpopulation crisis in the 1960s, mass starvation in the 70s, and an end of oil in the 1990s.”
Trump labeled activists like Thunberg “alarmists” who are simply seeking “absolute power to dominate, transform and control every aspect of our lives.”
“We will never let radical socialists destroy our economy, wreck our country, or eradicate our liberty,” Trump added.
Note: Just a part of a much longer article. I just selected the relevant parts about his comments regarding climate change. Note the next to last paragraph. This is what Trump wants for himself.
St. Luke's in Mountain Brook Buys $8.1 Million In Medical Debt Across Central Alabama
https://www.otmj.com/st-lukes-medical-debt/You Are Forgiven: St. Luke’s in Mountain Brook Buys $8.1 Million In Medical Debt Across Central Alabama
January 6, 2020
Over the holidays, roughly 6,500 Alabama households received a notice in the mail that their medical debts had been purchased and forgiven by the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama.
Those letters were the culmination of a fundraising campaign undertaken by Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church in Mountain Brook, which commemorated its 70th anniversary by eliminating $8.1 million in medical debts throughout the Birmingham metro area and its surrounding counties.
More than 137 million Americans struggled with medical debt in 2019, according to a CNBC report. Those costs, usually unexpected, are reportedly the top reason people take money out of their retirement accounts or file for bankruptcy.
And you don't see Evangelicals doing this. You see real Christians (and Jews and Muslims) doing this sort of thing. There is a lot more at the link about how they actually managed to get to $8.1 million - things like buying medical debt from hospitals for pennies on the dollar like debt collection agencies and so on.
Just another feel-good story about good people doing good things.
Soldier stands in the rain to pay tribute to WWII nurse in viral photo
Just thought this was an uplifting story. Follow the link for the photo.
https://www.wbrc.com/2020/01/13/video-soldier-stands-rain-pay-tribute-wwii-nurse-viral-photo/
Soldier stands in the rain to pay tribute to WWII nurse in viral photo
By Lindsay Knowles | January 13, 2020 at 12:06 PM CST - Updated January 13 at 3:08 PM
BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - A photo of a soldier standing in the pouring rain playing TAPS at the funeral of a South Mississippi veteran is going viral.
The poignant photo shows Spc. Melvin Taylor unflinchingly standing in the rain at Biloxi National Cemetery as the sounds of military tribute float through the air. As of Monday morning, the post had over 6,000 shares on Facebook.
Yesterday, I was with family at a military funeral in Biloxi. This soldier stood at attention in the pouring rain. It was cold and windy, he was drenched, but he proudly stood there while the rest of us were under the gazebo. He stood still and tall, until it was time to approach the casket, to meticulously fold the flag to present to the family. Then he stepped back to his position in the rain again, and proceeded to play the most beautiful, soulful rendition of Taps I had ever heard. Whoever you are, thank you sir, for reminding me of a wholly different meaning to military service.
The funeral was for 100-year-old Annie Ruth McVadon, a nurse who served in World War II before settling in Biloxi.
Did Biden laud a Paul Ryan proposal to cut Social Security as Bernie Sanders' campaign said?
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2020/jan/09/bernie-sanders/did-biden-laud-paul-ryan-proposal-cut-social-secur/Did Biden laud a Paul Ryan proposal to cut Social Security as Bernie Sanders’ campaign said?
Sen. Bernie Sanders argues that former Vice President Joe Biden sided with a Republican effort to cut Social Security. "In 2018, Biden lauded Paul Ryan for proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare," wrote the Sanders campaign in a Jan. 7 newsletter. The night before on CNN, Sanders had attacked Biden’s record on Social Security and Medicare. Ryan is a former Republican House speaker who proposed sweeping changes to Social Security that were never enacted.
We found that the Sanders campaign newsletter distorts what Biden said about Ryan’s plan.
<snip>
To understand Biden’s tone, you have to actually watch and listen to his words. The snippet of written text, which the Sanders’ campaign newsletter used, doesn’t relay Biden’s full point.
The Sanders campaign omits what Biden said next (our emphasis is in bold):
"Now, I don’t know a whole lot of people in the top one-tenth of 1 percent or the top 1 percent who are relying on Social Security when they retire. I don’t know a lot of them. Maybe you guys do. So we need a pro-growth, progressive tax code that treats workers as job creators, as well, not just investors; that gets rid of unprotective loopholes like stepped-up basis; and it raises enough revenue to make sure that the Social Security and Medicare can stay, it still needs adjustments, but can stay; and pay for the things we all acknowledge will grow the country."
We rate this statement False.
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