The fact that I can speak to a human to refund a $2 item on Amazon proves how wrong you are.
A month later, no refund. I contacted them again, they said unless the book is sent back, no refund. I told them about the previous conversation and they said that the CSR had lied to inflate his scores, and if I've thrown the book away I'm out of luck, he generated a return label. I complained and they threatened to close my account unless I send verification documents. I didn't, I just sent the book back and the refund processed automatically.
About a year before that I had a Samsung Fold and it cracked down the middle. I told Amazon that it was only 6 months old and it was broken, and Samsung said I need to send it to Cyprus for some reason. Amazon said to send it back for a refund, I did, and I got a warning that I'd returned something "not in original condition" and next time I'll be banned.
Last week a package didn't arrive. I queried it and there was no longer the option to talk to anyone, just a link to phone numbers for the external courier.
So I would say that Amazon having stellar support 15 years ago, building a brand on it, and then choosing to stop doing that mostly proves how wrong you are. Sure, you can still sometimes speak to someone, but it's getting worse.
Both you and the other commenter about his grandma's smoking habit are making nonsensical comparisons about things that are extremely rare, to support something that is supposedly extremely common, if you were to believe the parent's comment (or other stories you read online).
I wonder if there's a way the law could make it so companies can't retaliate against people who seeking redress for problems they caused.
Surely, they have a mandatory arbitration clause in their customer agreement..?
And which state’s court?
Meanwhile Amazon has to pay someone to attend the hearing.
Note that Amazon would probably ban your account regardless. Most retail businesses don't want customers who might sue them, even if they deserve it.
At one point I was looking through editions of the Arabian Nights and I noticed that, while the "kindle version" linked from the page for the paperback of one edition was an unrelated book, an actual kindle version of the edition I was looking at did exist elsewhere on the site.
I was annoyed enough that I opened a chat with customer support and asked them which of the two ebooks (one linked as "the kindle version of edition X", but with a different translator, title, cover art, etc; one not linked to the paperback at all, except for the identical translator, cover art, etc...) was the kindle version of the paperback.
A few days later, the links had been fixed, and the "kindle version" link on the paperback's page went to the kindle version of the same book!