The Room 101 thread - for things you hate or just having a bloody good moan

[Wrathbone]

Marathons.

Marathons in the city of Edinburgh, closing down the city centre with road closures left, right and centre, causing huge backlogs of cars choking up the streets filled with people who have places to go and people to see, just to accommodate a bunch of other people who want to run around.

T'int right, t'int fair, t'int fit, t'in't proper.

Isn't Edinburgh a bit hilly for that sort of thing? They'd be better off doing a marathon in Milton Keynes.

[Lenny Solidus]

When you are playing two (or even three) different style of genre game...and at the exact same time find yourself up against a difficult boss stage in each of them.

[Stormbringer]

Marathons.

Marathons in the city of Edinburgh, closing down the city centre with road closures left, right and centre, causing huge backlogs of cars choking up the streets filled with people who have places to go and people to see, just to accommodate a bunch of other people who want to run around.

T'int right, t'int fair, t'int fit, t'in't proper.

Isn't Edinburgh a bit hilly for that sort of thing? They'd be better off doing a marathon in Milton Keynes.

It is a bit hilly but people do it anyway. Roads, built for cars, should never be closed for runners. If you want to run, there's plenty of places you can go without shutting down a city for it (I mean, I am not exactly sure where, but just get off the roads I say!)

[Mantis]

It is only typically one day a year for each city that hosts one and they raise a lot of money for charity. They tend to be very well publicised and sign-posted in the weeks running up to the event too, so people have plenty of time to consider their plans for the day and how to get around closures if they really must go out.

[Wrathbone]

If I'm honest, I've never understood marathons and other similar endeavours as a sponsorship subject, because if I've sponsored someone then I couldn't give a shit in most cases whether they do the marathon or not. Do something useful, like a sponsored filling in potholes that the council can't be arsed to, or sponsored care home visiting. Or do something entertaining that I'd pay to see, like playing a trombone badly outside Katie Hopkins' house every morning at 5am for a month.

[Mantis]

Sponsorship runs only make up a modest percentage of runners usually. There might be a couple of thousand in a cohort of 15,000 runners.

A lot of these events also donate a portion of their entry sales to charity too, which is a fair sum when you think they're charging 20-50 quid to 10,000+ people.

They're actually great for local economies too because they bring three or four times the number of runners into the area in family and friend groups who are there to support the participants and a lot of them flock to bars and restaurants around the city afterwards. Not to mention they're a great community vibe and usually brimming with positivity, with locals turning out all along the route to shout encouragement and offer sweets and drinks to the runners. Go out and watch one for a bit if the route goes anywhere near you so you can soak in the ambience of it and you'll probably quite enjoy it.

[Stormbringer]

That's all well and good but they got in my way and that's why they're in this thread!

[Mantis]

Amazon.

Bunch of absolute useless cunts.

I changed my phone number last week because I nearly fell for a scam and submitted some of my details to a fake advert. It was a slog changing the details on every account I have but wasn't too complicated, apart from Amazon of course.

I'm logged in on a few devices so I can still buy things, of course they let you do that, but if you want to change your personal details at all you have to log in a second time via the two factor authentication. Well that code goes to my old number which is inactive now. So I followed the steps to disable it on their site which requires you upload a copy of your ID and wait 24-48 hours.

Did it on Tuesday morning last week, no response. Rang them on Friday evening to find out why, they asked me to just do it again and said that they'd put a note on the account for someone on that team to actually call me this time, but I couldn't speak directly to them on the phone that evening because the customer service team aren't able to patch you through to them. So I uploaded it again.

1 week later, still nothing. Rang the customer service team who asked me to try it again but on another device, as if that's going to bloody do anything (I did it anyway because why not). Asked to escalate it as a complaint. The superviser tells me that they aren't allowed to change any details on my account unless the account is locked and that they can't ask this mysterious team that you aren't allowed to talk to to do it, so I need to trigger the account to be locked myself by asking to change the password and then somehow messing something up. I'm not sure he had a clue what he was on about but I changed the password by getting the code sent to my email, then when I tried to log in again it asked for the two-step authentication code from my phone again. Even putting in a wrong code on there multiple times doesn't lock your account. Then the guy fobbed me off and said it might take 24 hours for the lock to trigger so just try calling back again tomorrow.

I am absolutely fucking done with this company. Went into the account settings to click through to delete my account entirely. Slapped with the two-step authentication request again. It seems that I am permanently trapped having an Amazon account that I can't even edit any of the details for.

If this is ever fixed I'm still going to delete my account. I'd rather pay more from better retailers than ever have to deal with this parasitic company ever again.

[Animalmother]

Can you disable 2 step authentication on the account and go from there? Or is it going to go through a 2 step authentication just so you can disable said feature?

[Mantis]

There's a process to disable it that requires you upload a scan of your ID and it says they get back to you within 48 hours but it just does nothing it seems.

[Snowy]

Pop your email address in here, and a bunch of us can try to buy stuff on your account till it locks...

[Stormbringer]

How awful.

I have had no trouble in that department, but I must say I am mighty annoyed with how I am paying a subscription for Prime Video, but have to pay extra on top of that to get ads disabled and extra on top of that to watch most films and TV shows.

[Wrathbone]

Under the GDPR (and the Data Protection Act) they have the legal responsibility to correct your data if you inform them it is wrong, which would include your phone number. Obstruction or refusal is considered a GDPR breach. I'd make a point of reminding them of this.

[Mantis]

Under the GDPR (and the Data Protection Act) they have the legal responsibility to correct your data if you inform them it is wrong, which would include your phone number. Obstruction or refusal is considered a GDPR breach. I'd make a point of reminding them of this.

Under threat of what if they fail to comply? Might pull out the big guns next time I ring them but it'd be handy to know what I'm threatening them with if I go down that route.

Not that I really expect their absolutely useless customer service agents to even faintly respond to that.

[Wrathbone]

From Gemini:

Spoiler

You are correct that under the GDPR, your friend has the Right to Rectification (Article 16) and Amazon must comply with the request to correct their inaccurate personal data (the phone number) without undue delay, and within one month in most cases.

If Amazon fails to comply with the Right to Rectification or makes the process unnecessarily difficult, the potential consequences for Amazon, and the next steps for your friend, are significant and fall into three main categories: regulatory action, individual legal claims, and reputational damage.

1. Regulatory Consequences (Fines and Corrective Action)

A failure to comply with a Data Subject Right, such as the Right to Rectification, is a violation of the GDPR (specifically Articles 5 and 16). This can lead to action from the relevant national Data Protection Authority (DPA). For a major international company like Amazon, the potential fines are substantial.


Maximum Financial Penalties: Infringements of data subject rights fall under the higher tier of fines. This means Amazon could face a fine of up to €20 million (or the equivalent in local currency) or 4% of its total worldwide annual turnover from the preceding financial year, whichever amount is greater.


Other Corrective Powers: The DPA can also issue other measures, such as:

Warnings or Reprimands.

An order to comply with the rectification request (forcing Amazon to change the number).

A temporary or permanent ban on the processing of your friend's personal data.

Amazon's History: Amazon has faced some of the largest GDPR fines to date, demonstrating that DPAs are willing to enforce the law against large corporations. While these major fines were for other issues (like advertising and consent), they show the high-stakes environment in which Amazon operates.

2. Individual Legal Consequences (Compensation)

Your friend has the right to seek compensation if they suffer damage (either material, like financial loss, or non-material, like emotional distress/inconvenience) as a result of the GDPR infringement (Article 82).

Right to Compensation: Because the incorrect phone number is preventing your friend from accessing their account and is causing stress, inconvenience, or loss of service, they may have grounds for a compensation claim.

Proof of Damage: To successfully claim compensation, your friend would need to prove that Amazon's failure to rectify the data (or their difficulty in doing so) directly caused them demonstrable harm.

3. Business and Reputational Consequences

Beyond the legal and financial penalties, persistent failure to respect data subject rights can harm a company's business:

Reputational Damage: News of poor data handling and customer service related to personal data rights can spread, leading to a loss of trust among consumers, which can have a long-term commercial impact.

Increased Scrutiny: A complaint to the DPA may lead to a formal investigation or increased audits for Amazon, which is a costly and resource-intensive process for the company.

Your Friend's Next Steps

Since your friend has already informed Amazon and is receiving no help, the most effective next steps are:

Formally Escalate the Request: Your friend should send a clear, formal written request (e.g., an email with a read receipt, or a registered letter if appropriate) to Amazon's Data Protection Officer or Privacy team, explicitly referencing their Right to Rectification under Article 16 of the GDPR. They should clearly state the inaccurate data (old phone number) and the correct data (new phone number) and demand compliance within one month. Keep a copy of this correspondence.

Lodge a Complaint with the DPA: If Amazon does not correct the number or provide a formal, reasoned response within the one-month deadline (or if their response is unsatisfactory), your friend should lodge a formal complaint with the relevant Data Protection Authority (DPA).

For EU residents, this would typically be the DPA in the country of their habitual residence, the country where they work, or the country of the alleged infringement. For Amazon, the lead supervisory authority in the EU is often the Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD).


For UK residents, the authority is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

The DPA will then investigate the complaint, which can lead to the regulatory actions mentioned above.

Consider Legal Action: If your friend has suffered material or non-material damage as a result of the inaccurate data (e.g., inability to access a service they paid for, significant emotional distress), they may choose to consult a solicitor about making a legal claim for compensation. Often, the findings of a DPA investigation can strengthen a compensation claim.

TLDR, it’s genuinely something they should take seriously - it’s a black and white legal right. Even mentioning it should put the shits up them enough to take action immediately.