[version_five]

Recently I called amazon because I had tried to return something and the shipper wasnt accepting amazon returns because amazon hadn't been picking them up. Anyway, I called to tell them that I wasn't going to waste any more time trying to return the thing, and I wanted my money back. After I explained myself, the agent told me that "because I had an excellent record with amazon" they would refund my money (it was something that was the wrong size due to amazon mis-advertising so no benefit to me for keeping it).

I guess I knew it happened, but I was uncomfortable with the idea that they were making things right because of my record and not on the merits of the situation.

To your question, I'd try calling them one some pretext and asking the agent to tell you how your customer record with them is.

[rlucas]

I got a similar response when I tried to return an electronics item a couple years back. The guy (totally over his head) walked through an algorithm and 10 minutes into it, basically said "because you're a good customer we'll overnight you a new one, don't bother sending the old one back." The implication was subtly different from when they don't bother with a return on a low-margin bulky item (for which shipping would negate any margin) -- the idea here was that I was getting some kind of extra juice for being a spender.