Amazon won't let me have my purchased digital content?

[BankFodder]

Okay so the issue is that they've close your account but they have confirmed that you have access to your digital content and yet you are not able to get that access.

Have you contacted them about this and what have they said?

[craigten]

My email to him is this:

 

Hi xxxxxx

 

Regarding the breach of contract, please refer to the email we sent dated 6 February 2021. As advised previously, we are unable to provide any further insight into this matter.

Said email of 6th February states 'Any digital content that you purchased with this account is still available to you. To access the content, click the “Manage Your Content and Devices” link on the Your Orders menu on Amazon.co.uk.'

You also sent an email on 24th Feb stating 'Regarding your digital content, I'm afraid we won't be able to assist in accessing that. Instead, I will process a full refund for any digital content purchased. I will follow up within 3 - 5 business days to confirm this has been done.'

 

This content is not available to me. This is my point. What is your / Amazon's comment on this, please?

Is that appropriate?

Edited March 24, 2021 by craigten

[BankFodder]

Well as usual, the only thing you can do is to threaten them and then to bring a legal action.

Of course they will point to the reimbursement that they have given you for the price of the digital content. Your position will have to be that this is not sufficient that you want the promised access to the digital content

[craigten]

(edited above)

 

Excellent. So don't ask for an amount, just that I want access to the digital content! Got it!

Thank you.

[craigten]

Hi xxxxxx

 

Regarding the breach of contract, please refer to the email we sent dated 6 February 2021. As advised previously, we are unable to provide any further insight into this matter.

Said email of 6th February states 'Any digital content that you purchased with this account is still available to you. To access the content, click the “Manage Your Content and Devices” link on the Your Orders menu on Amazon.co.uk.'

You also sent an email on 24th Feb stating 'Regarding your digital content, I'm afraid we won't be able to assist in accessing that. Instead, I will process a full refund for any digital content purchased. I will follow up within 3 - 5 business days to confirm this has been done.'

 

This content is not available to me. This is my point. Simply a refund is not enough. I will start legal action unless you make the digital content available to me.

[BankFodder]

Note you will have to ask for an amount. You will not be able to sue for an order that they give you your digital content.

You will have to find the cost of buying the digital content so that you have it permanently. Deduct the figure they gave you in reimbursement – and then sue for that.

[craigten]

I think I understand. They refunded me the amounts I paid for them.....so that figure again?

 

Edited March 24, 2021 by craigten

[BankFodder]

No. You have to make a list of the digital content – whether it was books or films et cetera and then find the cost of buying them on the Internet.

Finally the aim would be to get them to look at their system and to find out why you have been blocked. Hopefully the system has simply been incorrectly configured

[craigten]

That was brilliant. Thank you so much.

[craigten]

An interesting question would be this: Whilst using Audible, you make a monthly payment that enables you to purchase a number of audiobooks so you are not 'buying' them as cost price. If you 'use up' your allocation then you can also purchase audiobooks at their stated price (I did this also). I assume that I should look to cover the cost of those audiobooks that were included in the monthly payment whilst deducting the monthly payment?

[BankFodder]

I suppose so

[Andyorch]

Interesting......

 

Quote

A California Amazon subscriber has filed a lawsuit against Amazon for misleading customers on whether they own movies that they “purchase” on Prime Video. The lawsuit alleges that the service doesn’t inform users that the company cut off access to the content they’ve purchased through the platform at its discretion.

 

It all comes down to the small print. Amazon Prime Video bills any content you “buy” — which is a seemingly more permanent option than the temporary rental — through the service as “Your Video Purchases.” But Prime Video’s terms of service outlines that all purchases are actually just long-term rentals that can disappear from your library at any time due to licensing restrictions or other changes.

 

“Purchased Digital Content will generally continue to be available to you for download or streaming from the Service, as applicable, but may become unavailable due to potential content provider licensing restrictions or for other reasons, and Amazon will not be liable to you if Purchased Digital Content becomes unavailable for further download or streaming,” the terms of service read.

 

https://www.slashfilm.com/amazon-sued-purchased-movies/

[BankFodder]

None of this is surprising. It's up to you if you want to take it on

[craigten]

6 hours ago, Andyorch said:

Interesting......

 

 

https://www.slashfilm.com/amazon-sued-purchased-movies/

Very interesting....but seems to state that licensing issues would be the only reason why

 

may not be 'available'. Also, my issue includes Audible audiobooks so perhaps an interesting tangent.

 

6 hours ago, BankFodder said:

None of this is surprising. It's up to you if you want to take it on

Oh I do / am.

[Manxman in exile]

That Californian case is a red herring, isn't it?  Apart from being an irrelevant jurisdiction the T&Cs posted in #16 make it pretty clear that the OP does not "own" the content and that Amazon reserve the right to remove access to the content for various reasons - including termination of the OP's account.

 

The OP's best bet is to write a polite letter to amazon referring to the email where they told him his account was terminated but that he still had access to his digital content.  He needs to ask them why they told him that and then subsequently reneged on it telling him that he could no longer access it.  I would suggest doing this as non-confrontationally as possible and asking as nicely as possible for access to be reinstated.  (Although I suspect that Amazon will say the statement that he could still access the digital content was an error and that now his account has been closed, access is no longer technically possible).

 

Although the OP has nothing to lose by suing Amazon (now they've closed his account I suspect they'll never do business with him again anyway) I wouldn't do that until I've tried the above and got nowhere.

 

Amazon might be happy to settle any claim or they might not.  The OP has already annoyed them enough for them to close his account.  This could work two ways: either they may decide he's such a nuisance that they'll be happy to settle any claim and make him go away, or they might decide that the full refund they've already made was adequate and defend any claim.

 

Bearing in mind the issue in the other thread about the returned digital camera (or whatever it was) and the reasons given by Amazon for closing the account (multiple returns) I'm not certain that any argument about the closing of the account would necessarily be to the OP's benefit.

 

Also - although the OP has highlighted the T&Cs relating to account closure and access to digital content, they've still not said whether their purchase of the digital content was "permanent" or restricted in any way (eg limited in time or by number of viewings etc).  I'd suggest that if the T&Cs reserve the right to remove access in the event of account closure, then the original purchase was restricted and not "permanent".

 

(Question:  Isn't that a pretty much standard requirement of all purchases of this type?  It seems to me to be a given that if you no longer have an account with the provider you can't access the content they are providing?).

 

PS - It's just occurred to me: can't the OP ask (nicely) if Amazon could alternatively supply the digital content in a permanent form?  I don't know what the digital content consists of, but perhaps it could be supplied on a DVD or CD?  Or some sort of download file? If I'm correct in assuming that the reason the OP has lost access is a technical one because his account has been closed, this may be a possible solution acceptable to both parties?  Presumably the OP would have to repay the refund they've already received...

Edited March 25, 2021 by Manxman in exile

[craigten]

And here we are, just in by email:

 

As per our Conditions of Use & Sale (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201909000) we have found that you have acted in breach of our policies, and have taken the decision to close your account as detailed in the email dated 6 February 2020.

You were incorrectly advised that access to your digital content would remain, and for this reason we have made an exception to our standard policies and issued a refund of your digital purchases.

Your Audible membership fees are non-refundable in the event of termination of your account as per Audible.co.uk's Conditions of Use (https://www.audible.co.uk/legal/conditions-of-use)

We regret that we have not been able to address your concerns to your satisfaction.

Unfortunately, we have provided all of the information that we are able to and will not be entering into any further correspondence regarding this matter.

[Manxman in exile]

That sounds pretty final.  Looks as if you'll have to think about suing them if you want to get anything back in addition to the full refund they've already returned to you...

[craigten]

Indeed.

[craigten]

An idea;

Instead of the monumental task of going back over 7 years of Audible records, could I ‘split’ this case in to segments - perhaps do one year’s worth as some sort of test case?

[craigten]

Hi all, is this idea feasible?

[Manxman in exile]

Why do you need to detail seven years worth of purchases?

 

Assuming the T&Cs of your purchases give you permanent and unrestricted access to the digital content (even if your Amazon account is closed - and I am not certain that it does) you only want to do it once, don't you, and not have to come back to it again?

 

You just want Amazon to reinstate your access to the digital content that was removed from you when they closed your account - which is what they told you that you would still be able to do when they told you they were closing your account.

 

If they can't do that (and if they can't provide the content to you by alternative means), there are two possibilities:

 

First, Amazon have already refunded to you what you spent on the original purchases.  I suspect that they are of the opinion that that is all they are legally obliged to do - and I tend to agree with them.  They'll say we've given you a full refund - that's the end of the matter.

 

Second, Bankfodder alternatively believes that in addition to the full refund of the purchase price you are also entitled to claim an amount of money sufficient to allow you to replace the access you have lost by purchasing from another supplier.

 

I don't see the benefit of a test-case.  You are just asking for access to the same content you had before your account was closed.  Why make it more complicated?