My dealings with amazon go from bad to worse.

So near to paying some of my debts off,
yet still so very far.

After the whole cyberstalking incident, comes them withholding 11,000 dollars of my money. This is the email I have sent to Amazon's CEO, as their KDP customer services department don't even seem to be able to use common sense.

The images in this post weren't sent with the email below, although I was tempted.


Dear Mr Bezos,

I apologise for contacting you in this way but I hope that you can help me, as KDP customer services seem incapable of applying logic to my situation.

At the end of March I changed my payment details for royalties from EFT into a US account, to EFT into a UK account. 

When payments for April started going into my old account, I contacted Amazon to ask why, and was informed that the old method of payment would continue to be used for another 60 days. That was no problem, I just hadn't realised it took 60 days for changed to take effect.

In total, Amazon made 5 payments into my old bank account but notably, the payment for royalties accrued in the USA was missing. On the 1st of May I emailed customer services to ask where they payment was, as it hadn't gone into my account, nor had a received a remittance email for my USA royalties. The payment should have been for over $11,000 dollars, so I hope that you can understand my worry when this payment didn't come.

Denisse A. replied and stated...

"After checking your account, I noticed that you have changed your payment method and currency from Check USD to EFT GBP in Amazon.com.  

When you change your payment details, this will only effect royalties collected after the change has been made. Unfortunately, it isn't possible to change the payment option for royalties accrued prior to any modifications." 

I replied, stating that cheque has never been my payment method, and asking that they please cancel that cheque and pay me by EFT into my old bank account. I also asked if someone could phone me, or give me their phone number, as each time I email, someone new answers who is not familiar with the case. 

This morning I received a reply from Palani kumar, to say that you do not allow telephone calls. They went onto say

"I checked and found that you have changed your payment method from EFT in USD to EFT in GBP in the mid of March 2013, in US marketplace. Due to this, your February 2013, US royalties were processed via check in USD. We apologize for the incorrect information provided in the previous correspondence. 

Please note, when you change your payment details, this will only effect royalties collected the change has been made. Unfortunately, it isn't possible to change the payment option for royalties accrued prior to any modifications. I'm very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. 

Those outstanding payments will be paid according to the currency and payment method present on your account at the time the royalties were earned. 

Therefore, your US royalties accrued in USD will be paid only via check in USD as we no longer have your US bank account details in our database."

Logic: you either have it, or you work at Amazon.

You have even conformed that cheque was not my previous payment method, but are insisting that you must pay me by cheque because I changed by bank account details! It's completely illogical and make no sense at all that I can see. 

All I want is what every email states is your standard policy, for you to cancel the cheque and pay me by my original payment method, namely by EFT into my American bank account. 

Right now you have $11,000 dollars of my money, which will take 2-4 weeks to reach me by post. It will then take a UK bank 10 working days (or 2 weeks) to process that payment and as an added bonus, they will charge me £40 for cashing a foreign currency cheque. These are the reasons why I went to great lengths when I began publishing with KDP, to secure an American bank account rather than being posted cheques. For the record, cheque has never been my payment method and I'm sure if you check my account, you will see that I have always been paid by EFT, ever since I opened this account, in March 2010.

I cannot afford to wait up to six weeks for this money and I am appealing to you to please intervein on my behalf in this situation. Surely cancelling a cheque that was issued in error, and paying that money by EFT (as it was supposed to be paid), is not impossible for a company such as Amazon? 

I look forward to your reply.

Kind regards,

Catherine Winchester

Have Amazon finally reached a critical mass, whereby their customers begin to suffer and they will call themselves "victims of their own success"? 

ETA: I received a very nice phone call from Jill at Amazon this afternoon, asking me to give her a few days to look into this, which I happily did. She asked what I wanted, and I explained that I simply wanted the cheque cancelled and to be paid by bank transfer, as I have always have been. She gave me her email address and assured me that she would phone again tomorrow to update me. Here's hoping that speaking to an actual person will pay off. 

ETA2: Jill succeeded in cancelling the cheque and issuing a transfer, and she called back when she said she would. Thank you so much for your help, Jill!