The silence that speaks volumes

Amazon’s customer service dead-end

When Amazon’s Executive Customer Relations reached out, I thought progress was being made. Ethan R. has now written to me twice, each time with polite apologies and the promise that my case is “a priority.” Each time, he ends his emails with an invitation to reply. Each time, I do. Each time: silence.

Not a single response.

Is Ethan a bot? Is his team so siloed that no one reads the replies they solicit? Or is this simply the system Amazon has built — one that projects empathy, but cannot act on it?

Meanwhile, the evidence mounts:

Royalties are trapped. KDP’s own notices confirm payments were due on the 29th. My bank records show nothing. Charities who rely on those funds are left waiting.
Callback systems don’t work. Screenshots from Amazon’s support pages show that “Request a call” options either fail to trigger or limit me to irrelevant country codes.
Chat support can’t help. Agents admit they have no authority to fix account issues, and redirect me to the very teams whose emails never answer.
Circular dead-ends. I am told to “update bank details” — but 2FA keeps me locked out. I am told to “disable 2FA” — but no system change ever takes effect.

What is left is a hall of mirrors: processes that look real, but loop endlessly. For over a month, I have been locked out of my account, locked out of my royalties, locked into a Kafkaesque process that would be laughable if it weren’t so damaging.

The silence matters. When Amazon invites authors to reply, then ignores them, it demonstrates not just technical failure, but organisational contempt. There isn’t even a phone number I can request a callback from. I no longer have my Australian phone number, which seems to have shut down Amazon and become what the late Douglas Adams delightfully calls an SEP—Someone Else’s Problem.

Amazon’s ‘call you back’ process cannot call me in Vietnam, it would seem

I am documenting this publicly because this is not just my story. Other authors, quietly, tell me of similar nightmares. But most don’t want to “poke the bear.” I do.

Amazon has built an empire on the backs of independent authors. If it wants to keep that empire standing, it must build a system that can actually serve us.

Until then, I will keep publishing every step. Because the silence is deafening.