Getting nowhere with Account Health after 5 months. Please help.
I have been trying to resolve an Account Health problem since December 2023. It is now June 7th and I’ve made no headway at all. Can someone at Amazon please help? I’ve spoken with eight different people at the Account Health call center so far. Each person I speak with leaves me with the impression that they are going to take care of this problem—that I’m in good hands with them--and then, nothing is resolved.
I’ll begin by stating that I have done absolutely nothing wrong. An authenticity claim was made by a client in December, and it is completely baseless, if not downright silly.
This problem began on 19 December with a return request. A client had ordered a new instructional DVD on automobile repair. The DVD (Scratch Building a Fender) is made by Ron Covell, a world renowned expert on custom auto and motorcycle body construction. We've been selling Ron Covell's DVDs here for 14 years.
Here is the client’s return request: “Buyer Comment: Normally amazon has download version of dvd. This does not. Useless, no one has dvd players anymore. Unable to play dvd.”
Nowhere is it written or hinted at in the product description that this was downloadable. But somehow the client got it into his head that he was going to receive a download code or something similar from us. He apparently became upset when he received a real DVD and contacted Amazon saying it was not authentic.
After receiving the complaint Account Health emailed asking us to provide two recent invoices from our supplier for this DVD. Fortunately, we purchase these DVDs directly from Covell Creative Metalworking, owned by Ron Covell. Ron is the manufacturer and copyright holder (brand owner) for this and all his other DVDs.
I contacted Ron to tell him about this problem and he explained that this same client had just contacted him to see if he could obtain a download directly from him because a seller on Amazon (i.e. my company) did not provide one and had sent him a DVD. Ron explained to our client that the DVD we had sent him was authentic, that we’ve been selling his DVDs for years, and that no downloads are available or ever have been. After speaking with Mr. Covell, the client sent us an email, through Amazon messaging, explaining that the whole thing about our having sold him a non-authentic DVD was a mistake, that the DVD was authentic. But this got us nowhere.
The last person we spoke with at Account Health (a week ago) said that he looked at the documentation we had sent in (notarized invoices from Ron Covell, notarized letter from Ron Covell to Amazon, certificate of copyright from the U.S. Copyright Office) and saw that Account Health had at a certain point phoned Mr. Ron Covell to straighten this out but that Mr. Covell did not answer the phone. I explained to this person. at Account Health that I’d contact Mr. Covell immediately and ask him if he would answer all phone calls until this is resolved. The Account Health rep assured me Account Health would phone Mr. Covell again. I emailed Ron Covell about this, and he replied:
“Hi Jim, I am so sorry I missed the call from Amazon. I get so many spam phone calls that I sometimes don't answer the phone if the caller ID looks suspicious. Now that I know that Amazon may be calling, I will answer ALL calls!”
Account Health has not phoned him yet as of today. It’s been over a week.
Can a moderator or someone from the Captive Team please ask Account Health to phone our supplier so we can get this blemish removed from our Account Health file? This has been weighing on us for months. The DVDs we sell are all 100% authentic and we purchase all of them directly from their manufacturers.
My apologies if Account Health was still planning on doing this but has not had the time yet to phone our supplier.
Thanks!!!!
Getting nowhere with Account Health after 5 months. Please help.
I have been trying to resolve an Account Health problem since December 2023. It is now June 7th and I’ve made no headway at all. Can someone at Amazon please help? I’ve spoken with eight different people at the Account Health call center so far. Each person I speak with leaves me with the impression that they are going to take care of this problem—that I’m in good hands with them--and then, nothing is resolved.
I’ll begin by stating that I have done absolutely nothing wrong. An authenticity claim was made by a client in December, and it is completely baseless, if not downright silly.
This problem began on 19 December with a return request. A client had ordered a new instructional DVD on automobile repair. The DVD (Scratch Building a Fender) is made by Ron Covell, a world renowned expert on custom auto and motorcycle body construction. We've been selling Ron Covell's DVDs here for 14 years.
Here is the client’s return request: “Buyer Comment: Normally amazon has download version of dvd. This does not. Useless, no one has dvd players anymore. Unable to play dvd.”
Nowhere is it written or hinted at in the product description that this was downloadable. But somehow the client got it into his head that he was going to receive a download code or something similar from us. He apparently became upset when he received a real DVD and contacted Amazon saying it was not authentic.
After receiving the complaint Account Health emailed asking us to provide two recent invoices from our supplier for this DVD. Fortunately, we purchase these DVDs directly from Covell Creative Metalworking, owned by Ron Covell. Ron is the manufacturer and copyright holder (brand owner) for this and all his other DVDs.
I contacted Ron to tell him about this problem and he explained that this same client had just contacted him to see if he could obtain a download directly from him because a seller on Amazon (i.e. my company) did not provide one and had sent him a DVD. Ron explained to our client that the DVD we had sent him was authentic, that we’ve been selling his DVDs for years, and that no downloads are available or ever have been. After speaking with Mr. Covell, the client sent us an email, through Amazon messaging, explaining that the whole thing about our having sold him a non-authentic DVD was a mistake, that the DVD was authentic. But this got us nowhere.
The last person we spoke with at Account Health (a week ago) said that he looked at the documentation we had sent in (notarized invoices from Ron Covell, notarized letter from Ron Covell to Amazon, certificate of copyright from the U.S. Copyright Office) and saw that Account Health had at a certain point phoned Mr. Ron Covell to straighten this out but that Mr. Covell did not answer the phone. I explained to this person. at Account Health that I’d contact Mr. Covell immediately and ask him if he would answer all phone calls until this is resolved. The Account Health rep assured me Account Health would phone Mr. Covell again. I emailed Ron Covell about this, and he replied:
“Hi Jim, I am so sorry I missed the call from Amazon. I get so many spam phone calls that I sometimes don't answer the phone if the caller ID looks suspicious. Now that I know that Amazon may be calling, I will answer ALL calls!”
Account Health has not phoned him yet as of today. It’s been over a week.
Can a moderator or someone from the Captive Team please ask Account Health to phone our supplier so we can get this blemish removed from our Account Health file? This has been weighing on us for months. The DVDs we sell are all 100% authentic and we purchase all of them directly from their manufacturers.
My apologies if Account Health was still planning on doing this but has not had the time yet to phone our supplier.
Thanks!!!!
0 replies
Seller_NbYSGJ8Tehgbv
Everyone at Amazon is severely overworked. When they are able to reduce their workload, they will do things such as contact copyright owners for you to straighten things out.
Most of the time, they will tell you what you want to hear so you can call back at a later time and that account health associate will try and get you to call back at a later time. Otherwise known as "giving you the run around".
Similar to when COVID first hit. Amazon, silently, increased turnaround times for FBA orders to 30 days rather than announce that their warehouse workers are severely overworked. I had to be FBM during covid to avoid this unattractive 30 day turnaround. My sales went from 1K per day to 0 for the first couple of days COVID first hit.
I would suggest 2 things.
1. Call back at random times between the hours of 9-5PM EST. Hopefully, you will get lucky and get an employee that can actually help you rather than continue to give you the run around. If you get another employee giving you the run around, call again to follow up at another time.
2. Do not deal with phone calls and, instead, write emails. Its the same concept here with Amazon employees giving you the run around so you will have to re-open the case numerous times to tweak your explanations.
Nikki_Amazon
Greetings @Seller_RHFv8huX5pyu2,
Nikki here to help you with a product authenticity violation.
I'm sorry for the delay in responding to your post here at the Seller Forums. Our team of moderators is constantly working to address all inquiries as soon as we can.
“Can a moderator or someone from the Captive Team please ask Account Health to phone our supplier so we can get this blemish removed from our Account Health file? This has been weighing on us for months. The DVDs we sell are all 100% authentic and we purchase all of them directly from their manufacturers.”
The reason you received a product authenticity violation was a complaint that was later withdrawn by the buyer, who stated that your product is authentic.
However, for an authenticity violation to be removed from your dashboard, Amazon requires you to provide the following documents:
1. Copies of invoices, receipts or other similar documents that demonstrate where your products are produced or manufactured.
These documents:
• Should reflect the sales volume of your product across all Amazon marketplaces in the last 365 days
• Should demonstrate your product’s full supply chain
• Should include contact information for the supplier(s) and the original manufacturer. Amazon may contact suppliers or manufacturers to verify the documents
2. Your documents should be able to trace your products to the original manufacturer even if you did not purchase them directly from the original manufacturer. This may require requesting additional invoices or supply chain documentation from your supplier if you are not sourcing directly from the manufacturer.
3. You may remove pricing information, but the rest of the document must be visible to enable adequate review of the documents you provide. For ease of our review, you may highlight or circle the ASIN(s) under review.
- A retraction from the buyer who made the complaint, stating that the product is indeed authentic, will not be enough to remove the violation.
To better understand your case, is your account at risk of deactivation? Has it been deactivated yet? Do you have the necessary documents listed above to remove the violation of the authenticity of the products from your account?
Please visit the page Responsible Sourcing documentation request requirements for more information.
The forums community and I are committed to assisting you. Feel free to share how we can support you moving forward.
Wish you all the best,
Nikki
Seller_RHFv8huX5pyu2
Finally, after six months, this matter has been resolved. What a relief! We just saw that the policy violation on our Account Health page has now been removed.
As this just happened I'm not sure who to thank for their help; whether it was a moderator here on the forum who intervened on our behalf and got Account Health to phone our supplier (the manufacturer) or whether it was Account Health themselves that did this on their own. In any case, this is an immense relief. It's absolutely terrible having a policy violation for something you did not do.
If whoever helped is reading this, thanks!
Sincerely,
Jim
