Amazon cancels Louis Rossmann's account after Rossmann calls out Amazon on the so called "Racist [Ring] Doorbell"

[AlTech]

Summary

 

Amazon has cancelled Louis Rossmann's account (Rossmann is a right to repair advocate/educator/fundraiser and Independant Mac Repair Store Owner) from Amazon's Affiliates programme after he called out Amazon for locking a customer out of their Amazon account after being wrongly accused of making racist remarks. The owner of the account got in touch with Louis and provided evidence proving his innocence and that the Amazon Delivery driver involved heard wrong.

 

Louis made a video calling this out and within days Amazon was forced to comment on the situation to the News explaining that the customer would have their account restrictions removed.

 

Amazon has retaliated against Louis by cancelling his Amazon Affiliates account for reasons that ostensibly do not make any sense and/or don't apply to Louis (his Affiliates account has existed for 7 years and has never had issues raised about it prior to this conflict with Amazon wrongly accusing a customer of racism because of his doorbell). It's obviously a stitch up job to get back at him.

 

Quotes

Quote

Two weeks ago I went over the fact that Amazon accused a customer of racism because the delivery driver claimed he heard something racist from a robotic doorbell that was saying "Excuse me, How can I help you?". I saw all the proof of this and saw it was a real story.

 

Quote

Within days of doing this video, Amazon appeared on a major mainstream news outlet and said this was the case and they were working with the customer. This is sadly a real story. It's very interesting what I just got in my email inbox today because after 7 and a half years or so in the Amazon Affiliate programme cancelling myself.

 

"[Subject]: Your application does not qualify for the Amazon Associates programme."

 

": Hello, and Ross whatever. We finished reviewing your application to the Amazon Associates Program. Unfortunately your application did not meet our program requirements. As a result we have rejected your temporarily approved account. Please note, if you had configured this store ID to earn globally we have closed your store ID in all those countries as well. Why? The violation/s including the following:

Whilst reviewing your account  we noticed traffic coming to Amazon from one or more site/social media handle/mobile application, that are currently not included in your Amazon Account. Please do refer to the Operating Agreement for more details [Link To Operating Agreement]."

 

Louis: But the one I thought was more interesting was the second one

"We have found that the purchases resulting from Special Links on your site are in violation of the Operating Agreement, as they have been for personal use or have been made by your friends, relatives, employees, contractors, or business relations. Please do refer to our Operating Agreement for more details [Link to Operating Agreement]"

 

So the first thing to go over here is I've had this account since approximately 2016, the way this works is if people click the links in my video descriptions and they actually buy something, I earn a kickback for it.

 

Quote

This acccount has been open since 2016 and since 2016 I have never heard a peep from Amazon about doing anything improper. To be clear the reason I was using Amazon Affiliate links instead of trying to sell these things myself is that I did try to have a supply business back in the day from 2010 to 2014 and that failed. I tried to compete with Amazon and eBay on Price and completely and utterly crashed and burned. I learned my lesson don't try to compete with Amazon when selling these things; they will literally destroy you.

 

Quote

I just find it really strange that I've had the same links in the same videos in the same manner for almost 7 years - about 7 years now cos I set that thing up in 2016 and a week after I do this video they're telling me I'm having my employees and my friends and my family members using my account against their terms of service? They have provided no evidence for these claims and I wouldn't expect them to provide evidence to provide that evidence because I believe they have none because I am using the same links on the same YouTube channel on the same videos for the same equipment in the same format for 7 years. It's only now that they appear to have an issue with the manner of which I am using their programme. Imagine that.

 

My thoughts

It is unfortunate that we live in a world where corporations are able to retaliate against people who speak out against them for doing bad things. Amazon cancelling  Louis Rossmann from the associates for exposing Amazon over wrongly locking out a customer from their account is dystopian nightmare fuel expect it's not nightmare fuel anymore; it is reality. Hopefully if Amazon face enough of a backlash for this they will re-instant Louis.

 

Sources

 

[filpo]

POV: You say one thing in 2023 and immediately get banned 

[Mojo-Jojo]

1 minute ago, filpo said:

POV: You say one thing in 2023 and immediately get cancelled (looking at you too twitter)

This is hardly related to "woke" and cancel culture. This is a multinational conglomerate abusing its partners and customers.

[filpo]

1 minute ago, Mojo-Jojo said:

This is hardly related to "woke" and cancel culture. This is a multinational conglomerate abusing its partners and customers.

Meant to say 'banned'

[Murasaki]

Ah watched this earlier today. Big corporations are such babies.

[Sauron]

It seems really weird that amazon would go out of their way to retaliate in such a petty way over something that isn't even that big of an issue...

[RejZoR]

The fact that critics get canceled this way tells me companies are utterly delusional if they think this will be a good PR. And it was done by some really high up being butthurt or done by some low level nobody that got butthurt and did something that shouldn't have been done. Like, if someone criticizes company where I work, I just don't care. That's not my job to react to it. At least it's usually that someone in the middle fucks it up that shouldn't even react to the thing. Which is probably the case here.

 

The fact that Ring door bells are a utopian nightmare product is just baffling why people still buy this shit. Similar to Eufy's nonsense, but everything is even more documented and proven how they misuse recordings and yet everyone still has them and keeps on buying them. WHY?! This is why if iRobot deal goes through with Amazon, this will be my last iRobot that I bought. I don't want ANYTHING in my home from Amazon. I only go to them as very last resort if I can't get anything anywhere else. Especially since their delivery fees are stupid and entire Amazon is flooded by Chinese merchants to a point it seems like Aliexpress now. Just with worse prices.

[Beerzerker]

21 minutes ago, Sauron said:

It seems really weird that amazon would go out of their way to retaliate in such a petty way over something that isn't even that big of an issue...

It's all due to the fact they got burned and they know it.

Rossman has a following and Amazon wanted to demonstrate if you dare call them out on the carpet they'll rub you out and be done with it, because it hurts profits for this kind of person with this kind of following to challenge them openly - Whether you're right or wrong be damned about it.

[SorryBella]

1 hour ago, AluminiumTech said:

Amazon has cancelled Louis Rossmann

[LAwLz]

12 hours ago, Sauron said:

It seems really weird that amazon would go out of their way to retaliate in such a petty way over something that isn't even that big of an issue...

Thats assuming we know the whole situation. Its not uncommon that people who are involved in these kinds of things rush out and tell their side of the story, and leave out a lot of important information that could make themselves look less favorable. 

 

I am not saying that's what happened here, but i usually think it's a bad idea to instantly believe you know the full story as soon as a single party speaks out and paints the other side as the baddy. Remember the Bayonetta VA controversy? People are not above misleading, lying and leaving out important details to get an angry mob on their side. It's almost always a good idea to hear both sides out before deciding which side you stand on, if you even need to pick a side at all. 

[johnno23]

Louis has over the years done some great work and continues to work hard for the consumer. 

Amazon does not care one way or the other. Amazon exists to make revenue from consumers but consumers are not people but digital assets with access to funds that Amazon wants a piece of. 

It would not surprise me if later down the road as the issue with Louis and Amazon gathers steam he will be reinstated and Amazon will state that the error was made due to an Algorithm that picked up on a keyword and made a mistake,

[Ydfhlx]

4 hours ago, Sauron said:

It seems really weird that amazon would go out of their way to retaliate in such a petty way over something that isn't even that big of an issue...

It's corporations' modus operandi, cut off anyone who gives them bad press. Remember nvidia trying to ban Hardware Unboxed?

 

Except in this case, LR really does not depend on Amazon. He said he only eat ns a few hundred bucks per month, which really isn't much for a business with several employees. It's just bad press to Amazon.

[Sauron]

37 minutes ago, Ydfhlx said:

It's corporations' modus operandi, cut off anyone who gives them bad press. Remember nvidia trying to ban Hardware Unboxed?

ehhh sure but this is barely even bad press, if the situation was as presented then it would have been easy to pass it off as a simple error by the people who decided to ban the user.

[jagdtigger]

4 hours ago, Blqckqut said:

i do not care if someone says offensive jokes about me, if they do, ill do it right back, wich is litteraly th point, being able to roast eachother and having fun with it, both parties

Pretty much this, we do it constantly at work because working on a production line is boring AF. If someone doesnt know how the handle it and end up in our team, well they probably going to die in stroke......
This whole woke and cancel culture BS pisses me off to no end. If someone thinks that they can dictate what i can think/do/say/believe/read/write/etc i guess its fair if in turn i can dictate how long they are going to be in the ICU....... (the ICU part is just exaggeration, but i have barely any tolerance toward these sort of things)

 

4 hours ago, Beerzerker said:

Rossman has a following and Amazon wanted to demonstrate if you dare call them out on the carpet they'll rub you out and be done with it

Except in this case it wont do a thing, as he stated himself he got very little money out of amazon anyway......

Edited June 23, 2023 by jagdtigger

[Taf the Ghost]

As a kind of important note, I've seen stuff like this happen in some incredibly small niches over on the book side. Amazon actually tends to have a Rogue Employee problem a lot of the time. Because of the volume at which Amazon operates, a malicious employee can kill accounts and it can be a pain to get recovered. Odds are it's a fake report from someone that doesn't like Louis, possibly outside of the company that knows how to abuse the reporting system. Louis definitely has his haters, but the email being factually incorrect isn't surprising.

 

We're going to need much tougher Common Carrier laws and "enforced disclosure of ToS action" laws as well. 

[Lanrick]

I watched the video and I agree with Louis. If amazon was honest and said, "We don't agree with your Opinions" then it wouldn't have been as bad. Them lying about the reasoning that the banned him was idiotic.

[jagdtigger]

3 minutes ago, Lanrick said:

then it wouldn't have been as bad

Its just as bad as this, cutting a partner/customer because they have valid complaints is always the worst possible course no matter what kind of excuse you ccok up....

[TetraSky]

"As a result we have rejected your temporarily approved account."
Ah yes... Temporarily approved account for the past 7 years... That checks out. 
I've learned first hand you cannot even negotiate or speak with anyone that has a brain at amazon. Once they make up their decision, it's final and there's no reversing it no matter what. I don't expect Louis to get back in the affiliate program after this.

[wanderingfool2]

The "ring" doorbell incident is unacceptable, and honestly there needs to be more laws in place I think preventing companies from being able to ban people off platforms that are integrated like this.

 

With that said, devil's advocate for the Louis Rossmanns one.  I could totally see Amazon not really paying attention to his affiliation link, it's just when it becomes something that starts attracting their attention they reacted...not necessarily due to just the bad press, but simply because they looked at it because there was more eyeballs on it and just deemed it not qualifying (then just sending a boilerplate email).

 

I mean it wouldn't be the first time Amazon has just randomly kicked people out of their affiliate, just this time it's just the attention is what gave them the eyeballs on it needed to kick them out.

[Beerzerker]

1 hour ago, jagdtigger said:

Except in this case it wont do a thing, as he stated himself he got very little money out of amazon anyway......

It's not about what he got out of it.
Instead it's about Amazon making an example of him to demonstrate what they can do if they want to, along with sending a message to others that would do the same themselves.
You can call it retaliation , which that's what it is but it's also a thinly veiled warning that even if you have a popualr channel with a large following they don't care and will come after you if you "Dare" insult or harm their business (Bottom line).

[Brooksie359]

8 hours ago, Mojo-Jojo said:

This is hardly related to "woke" and cancel culture. This is a multinational conglomerate abusing its partners and customers.

How is it not? The whole thing started because an Amazon employee said someone said a racist remark that then got them banned from Amazon. It seems weird to me that now Amazon cares about their employees enough to ban the guy while they continously exploit their workers. Personally I don't like the idea that people are getting banned from stuff unless they break some sort of terms of service especially in the cases where people get cross banned for something they did on an entirely different platform or service. I also hate how this happens where people get fired for things they do off the clock which is so stupid. I mean there was that drunk guy who was being drunk and stupid but someone recorded him doing so and then got fired from his job. I mean why are we punishing people outside the justice system is beyond me. If you are at work and do something stupid I get that but outside of work shouldn't be held accountable by your work as its not really their place. 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

8 hours ago, Mojo-Jojo said:

This is hardly related to "woke" and cancel culture. This is a multinational conglomerate abusing its partners and customers.

I would say this is more natural progression of that.

User/BlueChinchillaEatingDorito added to ban queue

[jagdtigger]

1 hour ago, Beerzerker said:

Instead it's about Amazon making an example of him to demonstrate what they can do if they want to

All they did is prove their incompetence but whatever......

[DaedalusRunner]

I already can see Amazon blaming "their algorithm" and calling it a honest mistake !!!

 

 

 

[Beerzerker]

1 hour ago, jagdtigger said:

All they did is prove their incompetence but whatever......

They certainly proved the incompetence part of management (Short sighted), that much I will agree on.

As for "Whatever",  it's also a case of corporate vengeance too, again it's all about someone being "In line" with what they want and punishment if you're not.

However, if what's said is true about Rossman having proof it could well blow up in their face and there is a real chance it could.

Let's see what goes - Might be entertaining to watch it all unfold.