Locked out of Amazon

[eighthobstruction]

....Another Refurbished Fire Stick sent to me very promptly.....Which immediately proved to be defective in minor way....Another Chatbot exchange gave me the joy of taking back to factory settings, and having to painstakingly re-enter all channels app passwords etc (a very slow look up look down process of an hour or so)....

I'm waiting for tomorrow (after weekenders rush)....to tackle them again, because it occurred to me that 11months ago I paid for a NEW device, and here they are sending me REFURBISHED replacements.....Incidentally Refurbished were available to me for half the price of NEW, and I chose to buy NEW.....

[Beresford]

........Incidentally Refurbished were available to me for half the price of NEW, and I chose to buy NEW.....

Makes you think that Refurbished items are more likely to have been tested than New ones, especially if they are cheaper ones of Chinese manufacture.

[Dave2002]

I am currently having the same problem here - waiting for a call back from Amazon !!

Amazon is not the only problem organisation. This so-called 2nd factor authorisation, and changes of procedures are a ***** nuisance. I have recently encountered the old phone problem with Amazon, as I wanted to buy one of the suggested bargains from one of the European Amazons - always worked in the past. Now I have to prove who I am, so they send me a link to my phone. Duh ... what part of "my phone which you know about doesn't do links in the way you expect" don't the amazon people understand?

A bank changed its procedures so I can't now access my accounts on line. It used to work perfectly OK with an elaborate sequence of codes which only I knew. The intention was to make my banking more secure, not totally useless and impossible to manage. Shall we say its the one based in Spain, with a reddish logo. Codes sent to my mobile phone don't work, as we're in a poor reception area. I complained, but "I cannot uphold your complaint ....blah blah...... You can write to the banking obudsman" - Yeah - I will get round to doing that, and if I ever get back into the account I'm going to shift most of the money to another bank - though which one I don't know.

I tried to open another bank account (UK based, and very "helpful") partly for that purpose - and after a while I received a debit card with an account number and sort code. I waited, and waited, and waited ... in case I would receive some sort of welcome pack, but no - nothing. I did expect to be able to or indeed be "required" to operate the account via my computer, but I did at least expect a snail mail set of instructions showing how to set up the online banking. I did verify that the account was operating, as I thought I'd risk seeing if an account balance would appear if I transferred the enormous amount of £2 into it. Last week I phoned the bank to verify that it was OK (it was) and to enquire about the online banking, and was told that I can download the app, and "it's easy to do - just follow the instructions ...." included.

Absolute ********s. I downloaded the app (there seemed to be a choice of 3, but two turned out to be for different banks, probably not based in the UK) to my iPad.

Then I tried to run it - doesn't seem to work on an up to date iPad Pro. Next I tried downloading on Android, and this was a real joke. One of the requested items in these shenanigans was to input codes, but the device only displayed a keyboard with a very restricted set of characters - not including the ones in the code I'd been sent. I did almost get through some checks put in the app by Experian. One question was totally stupid - asked me which of a sequence of dates in 2019 I had opened accounts with banks. There wasn't an option for "none of above", or "how the h*** would I know..." then the thing told me I'd answered one of the questions "incorrectly". Finally got through that hurdle, but before I finished, there was a "Have you read the security/privacy details?" question or some such. Clicking on that to check the details basically aborted the whole process, at which point I gave up for the day.

Who on earth designs these scripts? Clearly not properly tested with real people.

I'm not sure whether to stick with that bank and try to get it working, or look for yet another one.

This technology stuff is complete ****. Fill in your own asterisks.

[eighthobstruction]

.....There used to be that statistic which ascertained number of hours lost through industrial dispute/or health issues/or French blockading Calais....how many hours lost due to ^*!] like you experienc D02....??...I have given 7 hours so far to my dispute....

I even for the first time used Alexa....and she did find the Apps page I wanted....

[Dave2002]

.....There used to be that statistic which ascertained number of hours lost through industrial dispute/or health issues/or French blockading Calais....how many hours lost due to ^*!] like you experienc D02....??...I have given 7 hours so far to my dispute....

I even for the first time used Alexa....and she did find the Apps page I wanted....

You want to watch out for that Alexa woman. She spies on you all the time.

Re number of hours ... that can be viewed in many different ways.

1. Direct - the time spent actually on the phone, or on a computer, or in an office etc. actually trying to sort out an issue.
2. Elapsed - the time between the recognition of a problem and a resolution - which can be measured in years sometimes.
3. Additional - the extra time spent to actually get something working. For example - a software package or device doesn't work. Then you spend X hours trying to get a new or replacement version - but it still takes you a further Y hours (days) to get the replacement to work.
4. Consequential - the time wasted as a result of the initial failure which "should/could" have been spent on other activities.

Sometimes I wonder if the "customer service" departments in some organisations rely on the fact that many people will realise that the additional and consequential time will be so significant that complainants will simply give up. Not that I'm cynical, or anything.

[Anastasius]

Thirded. Now if anyone can tell me how to get the £69 that the thieving b******s at Currys have stolen from me then I'd be very grateful. I am tempted to go into their nearest store (when it re-opens) and ask 'Have you got a Panasonic Microwave XYz?" "Yes". "Can I see it please?" and then walk out of the store with it since I have already paid for it.

Sorted. Sent a "Letter before Action" detailing the timeline of events to their Head Office.

On a slight off-topic, I once received a letter from RBoS apologising and telling me that they had accidentally deposited £2368.78 in my account, that they would like it back but that I needed to return the enclosed letter duly signed.

Which I did. Less £25 admin charge.

[Anastasius]

Amazon is not the only problem organisation. This so-called 2nd factor authorisation, and changes of procedures are a ***** nuisance. I have recently encountered the old phone problem with Amazon, as I wanted to buy one of the suggested bargains from one of the European Amazons - always worked in the past. Now I have to prove who I am, so they send me a link to my phone. Duh ... what part of "my phone which you know about doesn't do links in the way you expect" don't the amazon people understand?

A bank changed its procedures so I can't now access my accounts on line. It used to work perfectly OK with an elaborate sequence of codes which only I knew. The intention was to make my banking more secure, not totally useless and impossible to manage. Shall we say its the one based in Spain, with a reddish logo. Codes sent to my mobile phone don't work, as we're in a poor reception area. I complained, but "I cannot uphold your complaint ....blah blah...... You can write to the banking obudsman" - Yeah - I will get round to doing that, and if I ever get back into the account I'm going to shift most of the money to another bank - though which one I don't know.

I tried to open another bank account (UK based, and very "helpful") partly for that purpose - and after a while I received a debit card with an account number and sort code. I waited, and waited, and waited ... in case I would receive some sort of welcome pack, but no - nothing. I did expect to be able to or indeed be "required" to operate the account via my computer, but I did at least expect a snail mail set of instructions showing how to set up the online banking. I did verify that the account was operating, as I thought I'd risk seeing if an account balance would appear if I transferred the enormous amount of £2 into it. Last week I phoned the bank to verify that it was OK (it was) and to enquire about the online banking, and was told that I can download the app, and "it's easy to do - just follow the instructions ...." included.

Absolute ********s. I downloaded the app (there seemed to be a choice of 3, but two turned out to be for different banks, probably not based in the UK) to my iPad.

Then I tried to run it - doesn't seem to work on an up to date iPad Pro. Next I tried downloading on Android, and this was a real joke. One of the requested items in these shenanigans was to input codes, but the device only displayed a keyboard with a very restricted set of characters - not including the ones in the code I'd been sent. I did almost get through some checks put in the app by Experian. One question was totally stupid - asked me which of a sequence of dates in 2019 I had opened accounts with banks. There wasn't an option for "none of above", or "how the h*** would I know..." then the thing told me I'd answered one of the questions "incorrectly". Finally got through that hurdle, but before I finished, there was a "Have you read the security/privacy details?" question or some such. Clicking on that to check the details basically aborted the whole process, at which point I gave up for the day.

Who on earth designs these scripts? Clearly not properly tested with real people.

I'm not sure whether to stick with that bank and try to get it working, or look for yet another one.

This technology stuff is complete ****. Fill in your own asterisks.

It's not the technology stuff per se but the ill-thought through systems that surround them. Referring to the same data item in a letter as "This is your Customer ID" and then faced with the online form with "username"....that sort of thing. Systems are no longer 'joined up'.

Running a banking app on my mobile is something that I will never, ever do. And if a finance company does not have any alternative to sending a text as verification then I will close the account and go elsewhere.

All of these systems would work and be designed properly if the children who are doing the 'designing' asked themselves the very simple question...."What if ....?"

[cmr_for3]

I recommend First Direct as a bank.

British based call centers and the telephone folks have a lot of authority so you don't get passed around.

Online is a bit ropey but they are very good at resolving any issues you do have other the phone.

[Beresford]

My brother is an accountant, and he does a lot of business transactions on his iPhone, using a NatWest account and fingerprint recognition. He thinks it's fine, although it may have changed in the last two years. I quite like telephone banking (Barclays) - quite clunky, but the landline phone is mindless and it doesn't remember anything.

[Pulcinella]

It's not the technology stuff per se but the ill-thought through systems that surround them. Referring to the same data item in a letter as "This is your Customer ID" and then faced with the online form with "username"....that sort of thing. Systems are no longer 'joined up'.

Running a banking app on my mobile is something that I will never, ever do. And if a finance company does not have any alternative to sending a text as verification then I will close the account and go elsewhere.

All of these systems would work and be designed properly if the children who are doing the 'designing' asked themselves the very simple question...."What if ....?"

I have, perhaps surprisingly, found most government sites that I have dealt with to be pretty good (car tax, passport renewal) but had an example of double speak on Monday, when renewing my driving licence online.
Both driver number and licence number were referred to; at least their help link showed a picture of a licence and where to find this particular (or should I say singular, as it was the same thing?) number, though it was identified differently on the form to be filled in and on my current licence!

[Dave2002]

I'm just starting to tear my hair out with Amazon over what I suspect is very much the same issue. This emphasis on 2nd factor identification and the assumption that everyone has a modern smartphone is a real pain. It's not helped by the fact that mobile phone coverage is so patchy that even if a company sends out a code or link to a phone, the phone may not receive it in time to do the verification it's supposed to be enabling.

I am now seriously thinking of dumping all this wretched technology, and moving to a small island somewhere where there are no people and no technology!

Who are the idiots that think this stuff up, without actually testing it with real people. OK - they do - but they're only interested in people with technology and money, and if anyone isn't in that category, or can't actually use it - well - who cares anyway.....???? It's only a small percentage commercial loss to those mega companies.

If I suddenly stop posting to this board, you'll know why!

[Frances_iom]

.... OK - they do - but they're only interested in people with technology and money, and if anyone isn't in that category, or can't actually use it - well - who cares anyway.....

welcome to the post Thatcher world with its greed-is-good ethos + its trickledown economy - has been around for years and together with its concomitant changes in how resources are allocated explains why London + the SE benefited so such at the expense of the rest of UK. Modern media companies have no social conscience merely the easiest way of making money.

[Serial_Apologist]

welcome to the post Thatcher world with its greed-is-good ethos + its trickledown economy - has been around for years and together with its concomitant changes in how resources are allocated explains why London + the SE benefited so such at the expense of the rest of UK. Modern media companies have no social conscience merely the easiest way of making money.

More and more of a problem I am finding in general with new communication technologies as I am getting older and experiencing a decline in response abilities, is timing out. We're all supposed to be appendages to the damn stuff, or maybe to transform ourselves into machines. It started with the supervisory overlording of call centre staff, with "incentives" for best performers brought to the workstation by Bunny Girls.

In the wake of robotics for the shop floor, this was (until high street mass closures) to be the "service economy" that would rescue "post-industrial" Britain, shopped out to non-unionised sweatshops in Indonesia, Sri Lanka etc. Only a class analysis gets to the bottom of all this. The dystopians have had it right.

[eighthobstruction]

More and more of a problem I am finding in general with new communication technologies as I am getting older and experiencing a decline in response abilities, is timing out. We're all supposed to be appendages to the damn stuff, or maybe to transform ourselves into machines. It started with the supervisory overlording of call centre staff, with "incentives" for best performers brought to the workstation by Bunny Girls. The dystopians have had it right.

....do you speak of a Digital Thomas Robert Malthus....??

[Serial_Apologist]

....do you speak of a Digital Thomas Robert Malthus....??

Ah - the X potential!

No, Not specifically!

There's a broader theoretical context available for examining this phenomenon of the link between private ownership, productivity and profits; and, as with the wealthy, it is one brimming with possibilities for enrichment.