We were given this screenshot today of an Amazon customer who gets offended when authors write series. So instead of waiting until a series is written and finished before starting it, guess what this person does? Buys the book, reads it, and returns it for a refund. Oh, and after a year, when Amazon has disabled the account’s refund option, this person just opens a new account. This is typical bully mentality. Their solution when they become unhappy is to steal books from authors. We urge our readers that whenever they see something like this, to report it to Amazon asap.
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6 years ago, Hall-of-Fame bully Ridley was already complaining that authors don’t seem to like it when people steal books and that readers have the right to do whatever they want:
I found the link and reported the comment. Hopefully Amazon will block this customer and perhaps consider altering this return system. It encourages theft.
I reported the comment myself. Unfortunately it seems like people are numb to this sort of thing. Though thankfully some of the other commenters had a wit of sense.
Thank you for this significant report. I checked out the post on Amazon and I saw the many comments that were critical of this poster in response. —– Amazon is likely the greatest bookstore in the world; it’s done more for book lovers perhaps than any other single entity in the last twenty years. But any system, no matter how wonderful, can be abused. I thank you for exposing this. As an Amazon customer, I’m glad that Amazon invites us to report abuse when we see it. And I urge other Amazon customers to accept their invitation to report abuse as well. — I think you do an excellent job at STGRB.
Thank you, and you’re welcome!
This why it downright unnerves me there is even a refund option. I can see if your a legitamate customer whose books isn’t delivered. But refunding for sake of refunding? Let me guess, are they using the term BBA?
Oh right, let’s steal their books. And call them BBA if they complain. Fools Gold is a more legitimate precious metal than their BBA libel garbage.
Amazon can tell how far you’ve read a book on your kindle. All they need to do is disallow returns for books that have been read to the end. Done deal.
Or disable refunds in general. I mean how much is 99 cents really going to hurt someone’s pocket book? Even I could afford this, and I’m unemployed.
Oh, and this person’s “grammer” is atrocious. I’m turning her in for a refund.
I did a refund once. And that was because I somehow managed to buy the same book twice. Some authors have more than one Kindle version of their book, and I guess I like the blurb both times I read it. I bought the book twice about a year apart and took it as a hint to finally get around to read it. The refund system is good for instances like this, where you have more than one copy of a book – but other than that I don’t like how easy it is to return books, even hard copies in traditional bookstores. And gaming a system like this? I want those people to burn. Books should be cherished, not mocked like this.
Seen this? Amazon are starting to clear up fake reviews on books which is a good thing:
http://www.geekwire.com/2015/amazon-files-first-ever-suit-over-fake-reviews-alleging-calif-man-sold-fraudulent-praise-for-products/
Also, Rick Carufel left his little comment on it.
I’m not getting his rationale behind allowing reviews of things customers haven’t bought or read. That would be like me reviewing a fast food joint, having never eaten a burger at the place.
I read. A lot. I would go broke quickly if I had to pay for every book I read, which is why I consistently have 20+ books checked out to my Kindle through my library with a wish list that has 750 books on it. I wish there was a way to show how I got the book I’m reviewing. I have received a couple of ARCs, and I disclose that. And when I buy it through Amazon, the verified purchase info shows. But when I get it through the library, even though the process directs me through Amazon to check out and return them, there is no indication on the review that I actually had it in my possession. I would love to see this change.
I am curious how it would be done, I’d like to see it implemented as well. That was very astute.
I also wonder if Amazon will try to get a handle on the fake one star reviews. Reviews done by something like a fast food joint against another fast food joint.
The bullies can’t reasonably argue it’s about the readers, if they are engaging in author against author warfare that would in any other business would get them in jail for unfair business practices.
Though the bullies aren’t reasonable people.
Wow. I have never, nor will I ever, returned a book I have read. I paid for it to read it. I read it. The author deserves the money. If I didn’t like it, I won’t buy anything else from that author, or I week be now cautious, but I’m not returning it.
I have made a refund request only once on Amazon, when the Kindle book formatting was so bad the book was unreadable. But I also sent a note to the author and let her know all the errors I found, and she was so thankful she sent me a copy of the book to review for further formatting issues. I ended up giving her a 5 star review and re-bought the book for her prompt attention to all the issues.
I’m with the anon that says Amazon should prevent refunds if you’ve read the book to the end. That seems like the logical way to prevent gaming the system like this.
I’d almost prefer going buy a percentage. Like blocking the refund option if you’ve read more than 60%. Because otherwise by that point you’ve already read most of the book for free–a book the author explicitly did not intend to be free–as suppose to a free book they made permanently free.
Oh and block refunding if they haven’t read it at all. All that means it just opening up the page and reading the first couple of lines. Honestly considering the fact that most of the review bullies don’t even read the book they review, I think this would be a good start.