When Customer Security Isn’t the Priority: A Story from Amazon India

Amazon is a giant in the e-commerce space, leaving little room for doubt when it comes to its efficiency and customer-centric focus. Over the years, I’ve devoured countless books and articles about Amazon’s product management strategies and their relentless commitment to customers. On paper, it’s the gold standard. However, as they say, reality often tells a different story.

Today, I want to share my personal experience with Amazon India—one that highlights how its famed customer service can falter, leaving customers stranded and frustrated.

The Day It All Began

One morning, my father received an alarming email from his bank. A payment for an Amazon purchase had been declined. The catch? He hadn’t made any such purchase. It quickly became evident that his Amazon account had been compromised. The hacker had changed the account name and phone number but, strangely enough, left the email address untouched. This meant we were receiving updates about purchases made using his account.

Acting swiftly, we contacted Amazon’s customer care. They assured us that the issue would be escalated to the accounts department and that the account would be temporarily locked within 24 hours. Yet, as those hours ticked by, the hacker continued placing orders using Amazon Pay, and we were left repeatedly canceling them.

The Customer Service Saga

When we called customer care again, things started to unravel. One representative advised us to get a new phone number so they could update the account. Another nonchalantly mentioned he was off for two days and would follow up afterward. This nonchalance was baffling, given the ongoing breach of our account and the sensitive nature of the situation.

The next day, we tried again. By this point, some orders had been canceled on Amazon’s end, but we still had no clarity. We were eventually connected to an “investigative department,” where a representative hinted at issues with the phone number linked to the account. Just as we thought we were getting somewhere, the call was disconnected.

Every time we dialed in after that, it was like starting from scratch. There was no record of our previous conversations, no continuity in support, and no sense of urgency. Explaining the entire ordeal repeatedly to different representatives only added to our frustration.

The Harassment Escalates

Meanwhile, the hacker began harassing us, using my father’s compromised phone number to make intimidating calls. Despite this alarming development, all we received from Amazon were generic emails acknowledging our grievance but offering no concrete solutions.

Locked out of the account due to two-factor authentication—where the phone number had been changed—we were helpless. When we reached out to customer care yet again, they provided two email IDs, claiming these would prioritize our issue. But after 120 hours (far beyond the promised 72), there was still no response.

It became a maddening loop. Customer care directed us to email, and email responses advised us to call customer care.

Caught in the Amazon Labyrinth

We found ourselves trapped in an Amazon loop—one with no exit. Our choices boiled down to either giving up and accepting that Amazon would do nothing to resolve the issue or escalating the matter to the Consumer Court or cybercrime authorities. We opted for the latter.

But this isn’t just about one unresolved case.

Why I’m Writing This

As someone who writes about product management, I’ve always regarded Amazon as a beacon of innovation and customer-first strategies. However, this experience exposed cracks in the foundation—especially in its customer service practices.

Here are some glaring gaps I observed:

• No Record of Grievance Calls: Each interaction with customer service began as if it were the first. Past conversations were neither documented nor referenced.
• Disconnected Calls Go Unfollowed: If a call got disconnected, there was no callback. The onus was always on us to restart the process.
• No Urgency in Critical Situations: For severe issues like account security breaches, Amazon’s responses were sluggish and procedural, leaving no room for nuanced handling.
• Reliance on Bots Over Humans: While bots can handle basic queries, situations like ours demand human intervention. The lack of direct human response was frustrating and disheartening.

A Call for Reflection

This isn’t a rant against Amazon as a whole. The company has built an empire based on principles of efficiency, innovation, and customer focus. Yet, this experience served as a stark reminder that even giants can falter. Customer service should never be reduced to scripts and protocols—it’s about genuinely helping people in their moments of need.

As of now, our issue remains unresolved. We are left with no choice but to escalate it through legal channels. But I hope this account serves as a wake-up call for Amazon India to revisit its customer service framework and bridge the gaps in its processes.

Because in the end, it’s not just about being a market leader—it’s about standing by the customers who made you one.

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