That's weird, an account that old shouldn't be have this issue. Try emailing jeff@amazon.com (yes, this is a legit email) about your situation. You will get a response from someone higher up who may be able to help you.
thanks, s0rr0wskill, that's definitely not something I've thought of, but gave it a try.
I'll keep this thread updated with how it goes, maybe it will be helpful for someone else in the future. for reference, this is what I sent them:
--------
hi Jeff/team,
tl;dr:
My Amazon Prime account has been put "on hold" over 10 days ago, and I haven't been able to get it reopened. I've had this account for over 10 years, I'm a Prime subscriber, I have substantial value "locked" in the account, both monetary (audible books, Visa card rewards, gift card balance) and time investment (order history, lists, etc.). I tried resolving this through every possible channel I could think of, spent hours with different customer service reps, writing here is my last resort, I hope you'll be able to help resolve this issue.
course of events:
The account was originally put on hold on January 4, because your automated fraud detection system (incorrectly) thought a gift card balance reload transaction I made was suspicious. I followed instructions in the email that I received and called customer service where I was reassured that the account will be reopened, validity of the transaction recorded, and I should make the transaction again after waiting 24 hours.
I followed those instructions, changed my password as instructed, and the account was indeed reopened, but locked again when I repeatedly made the gift card transaction after 24+ hours. I called customer service again, they apologized and said that they'll record the information about my transaction (card I used, sum I uploaded) in a form and reassured me that the account won't be locked again, because now the team will have this on record. They also advised to wait 48 hours and try a smaller sum to upload. Which I did follow, but despite all that, my account was put on hold again (January 7).
I called again to get this resolved, at this point already giving up on making the transaction itself, just wanting my account to be reopened, and I was reassured that the account should be reopened/unlocked in 1-2 days. But it wasn't, but instead I received an email on January 9 saying that my account has been closed and there's no way to reopen.
Since then, I called customer service about 10 times, and also had multiple chat conversations through my wife's amazon account (we're in the same Prime family). Every time I was told that the customer rep can't resolve the issue directly, but the account is not closed, "just" put on hold and they will file a ticket with the "account specialist" team, who should be able to resolve this within 1-2 days. I repeatedly waited and called again after no progress/update after 1-2 days, escalating this to supervisors multiple times. Occasionally I received new emails about the account being closed, but following discussions with customer reps reassured me that it's not, and will be resolved/reopened in 1-2 days. It seems like we've been going in circles for the past 10 days with no apparent progress and no way for me to communicate with someone who actually understands what's going on.
details and value of the account:
The account is associated with g**@gmail.com. My wife's account (where you can find transcripts of the discussions we had with the customer service reps) is m**@gmail.com. My phone number associated with the account is **.
I have a strong password and 2-step verification enabled, my account has not been compromised.
I've had this account for over 10 years, spent many 10s of thousands of dollars on Amazon, I'm a Prime subscriber, and use a lot of extra services regularly (Subscribe & Save, Prime Video, Audible, Whole foods, etc.)
I have $100s of monetary value locked in the account in the form of audible purchases and credits, prime video purchases, Amazon Visa card reward points, gift card balance, not to mention the huge time investment I have in lists, order history, etc. that would be very hard to reproduce/recover.
Note: I continue to be able to access my account on my android device for now (assuming login credentials are cached), but can't login anywhere else.
I would greatly appreciate any kind of help in resolving this issue and happy to provide any further details as needed.
I'll keep this thread updated with how it goes, maybe it will be helpful for someone else in the future. for reference, this is what I sent them:
-------- hi Jeff/team,
tl;dr: My Amazon Prime account has been put "on hold" over 10 days ago, and I haven't been able to get it reopened. I've had this account for over 10 years, I'm a Prime subscriber, I have substantial value "locked" in the account, both monetary (audible books, Visa card rewards, gift card balance) and time investment (order history, lists, etc.). I tried resolving this through every possible channel I could think of, spent hours with different customer service reps, writing here is my last resort, I hope you'll be able to help resolve this issue.
course of events: The account was originally put on hold on January 4, because your automated fraud detection system (incorrectly) thought a gift card balance reload transaction I made was suspicious. I followed instructions in the email that I received and called customer service where I was reassured that the account will be reopened, validity of the transaction recorded, and I should make the transaction again after waiting 24 hours. I followed those instructions, changed my password as instructed, and the account was indeed reopened, but locked again when I repeatedly made the gift card transaction after 24+ hours. I called customer service again, they apologized and said that they'll record the information about my transaction (card I used, sum I uploaded) in a form and reassured me that the account won't be locked again, because now the team will have this on record. They also advised to wait 48 hours and try a smaller sum to upload. Which I did follow, but despite all that, my account was put on hold again (January 7). I called again to get this resolved, at this point already giving up on making the transaction itself, just wanting my account to be reopened, and I was reassured that the account should be reopened/unlocked in 1-2 days. But it wasn't, but instead I received an email on January 9 saying that my account has been closed and there's no way to reopen.
Since then, I called customer service about 10 times, and also had multiple chat conversations through my wife's amazon account (we're in the same Prime family). Every time I was told that the customer rep can't resolve the issue directly, but the account is not closed, "just" put on hold and they will file a ticket with the "account specialist" team, who should be able to resolve this within 1-2 days. I repeatedly waited and called again after no progress/update after 1-2 days, escalating this to supervisors multiple times. Occasionally I received new emails about the account being closed, but following discussions with customer reps reassured me that it's not, and will be resolved/reopened in 1-2 days. It seems like we've been going in circles for the past 10 days with no apparent progress and no way for me to communicate with someone who actually understands what's going on.
details and value of the account: The account is associated with g**@gmail.com. My wife's account (where you can find transcripts of the discussions we had with the customer service reps) is m**@gmail.com. My phone number associated with the account is **. I have a strong password and 2-step verification enabled, my account has not been compromised. I've had this account for over 10 years, spent many 10s of thousands of dollars on Amazon, I'm a Prime subscriber, and use a lot of extra services regularly (Subscribe & Save, Prime Video, Audible, Whole foods, etc.) I have $100s of monetary value locked in the account in the form of audible purchases and credits, prime video purchases, Amazon Visa card reward points, gift card balance, not to mention the huge time investment I have in lists, order history, etc. that would be very hard to reproduce/recover. Note: I continue to be able to access my account on my android device for now (assuming login credentials are cached), but can't login anywhere else.
I would greatly appreciate any kind of help in resolving this issue and happy to provide any further details as needed.
best regards, --------