I need to vent. I'm usually a pretty happy, patient person but I just got so frustrated today. I guess my rant might seem trivial compared to other things that are happening in the world but I need to let this out somehow.
Recently, I got a gift certificate from one of my friends for Amazon. I thought it was really nice of him to do so since he didn't have to do that-I just appreciate him for our friendship. So I try to end up using it and I keep running into problems on that site. I'm currently out of the US because my work requires a lot of travel so I'm only in the US for a little part of the year. Anyway, I tried to buy a couple of digital downloads on Amazon using my gift certificate since I wanted to avoid all those international shipping fees and such. I run into one obstacle after another.
First, Amazon asks me for my credit card info, which was awfully strange because the amount I wanted to order didn't exceed the gift certificate. So I email them about this matter and they say that it's standard procedure even if I'm not planning on exceeding the amount. Then I ask them to make sure that any purchases I make will first be used by the certificate and then any additional charges to my credit card.
So once I got that straightened out, I run into the billing problem. Now because I am out of the US for most of the year, I have to use an out of country billing address. But the order form doesn't allow for international addresses, which I don't understand why. So then I decide to enter the address in the US where I have some relatives whom I stay with when I am back in the country. I'd figure that if Amazon sent them anything, I'd explain the matter to them.
So then I think everything is going to be settled but then here comes to top it all off and make me want to scream. I tried to place my order and almost did so when I suddenly got an error message that my order couldn't be processed because of "geographical restrictions." Now I have no idea why I got this error and just find it beyond annoying. I mean, I wanted to order a digital download which I could download to my laptop right away. There's no restrictions about that.
So yes, I am frustrated beyond anything and I'm still getting this situation worked out. At least I'm grateful I have a place to vent about this.
P.S. If anyone has dealt with Amazon and specifically had an issue similar to this, I'd like to know. At least I can find out if these problems do get resolved.
I can't offer you any consolation because I have never had any problems with Amazon. I buy from there all the time and am even an affiliate. But, I am in the US.
Like you, I don't see what in the world that has to do with your location. They are not delivering anything at all.
I do know that your credit card address and the billing address has to match. Could you put it in as if your sending a gift to someone in the US? I realize you are not sending anything, but it would give the appearance that the recipient is in the US.
If there is anything I can do to help, let me know.
A couple of my friends suggested this as well but that isn't possible. I just wish I had known about all of this before even redeeming my gift certificate credit.
Well, the thing is, I'm not as upset about the fact that I can't use my GC on the digital downloads as much as the fact that the Amazon customer service representative whom I first talked to when I inquired about the matter wasn't upfront with me. If he had told me that I couldn't use my GC to buy a certain type of item, then as much disappointment as I would have felt, I wouldn't have been so upset and I would have understood the situation. As it is, I kind of feel deceived because this info was conveniently left out until I had to be told this.
And to top it off, I wanted to email a supervisor at Amazon to complain about this matter, about how all of this was handled. But then, I got an email from another customer service representative saying that they regret not being able to help me but that they couldn't do anything about the matter. Basically, they just brushed off my request to get an email address to a supervisor which annoyed me even more.
I've never dealt with such rude customer service like this. Honestly, if Amazon treats international customers this way, they're bound to lose business. I'm not sure how anyone can help, unless they happen to have an email address of a supervisor or manager at Amazon whom I could document the situation to. That's the only thing I can think of.
Thank you for the help. I'd really appreciate any.
Ahh and I'm in Korea. I work in one of the English academies there so I'm out of the US most of the year. But I do go back to the states for a month to visit family and friends.
