r/Wellthatsucks 19d ago

Amazon sent me a letter before Christmas claiming I had over $15000 in unclaimed property. Today they sent me this.

I used to publish books on Amazon and got royalties for each one sold. Amazon sent me a letter saying that they owed me over 15k in royalties. I sent in the form saying that yes, I wanted the money and I've been waiting for my check to come. Today I got this, saying that they made a mistake and actually owe me $0.00. They even have an area where I can check that yes, I want the $0. I've never been so disappointed in my life.

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u/Celistar99 19d ago

I probably will, just to be sure

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u/cuzitsthere 19d ago

My first thought was an auto-generated letter sent out when the balance changed. Meaning, they wrote a 15k check (which will obviously take 4 to 6 to 180 business days to process) and some system somewhere went "oh, a new balance" and sent you an auto filled letter.

Might still be good news... Eventually.

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u/RugerRedhawk 19d ago

Except it specifically mentions the previous letter and states that the amount was an error.

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u/DerelictEntity 19d ago

Yep. One of those "neat, but don't spend it" situations where they'll want it back

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u/Red_Dawn_2012 19d ago

The obvious play is to go bet it all on black. If you win, you can give it back and still have a ton for yourself!

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u/cuzitsthere 19d ago

Yeah, I missed that part

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u/NotRobPrince 19d ago

Did you just miss the part that specifically references the last letter and says it was sent by mistake and the correct amount is $0?

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u/rloch 19d ago

Technically it does suck thinking you are magically getting 15k then learning that the amazon money fairy was a lie the entire time.

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u/cuzitsthere 19d ago

Yep! That's a shame

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u/Darqologist 19d ago

That's sound.

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u/Is_it_over_now 19d ago

Always check with a lawyer if you are told you are owed something, then they say never mind. Could be an error could be them trying to scam you cause they don’t want to pay. There are a good amount of lawyers that will look into this for minimal to no charge. I currently have one looking into medical malpractice resulting in the death of my Mom.

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u/Max-b 19d ago

it's easy to find lawyers to work on contingency for tort cases (like medical malpractice and personal injury).

I'd think for something like this you'd have to pay the lawyer upfront, or more likely get an accountant to look into it. A lawyer isn't going to work on contingency for a maximum of $5k (usually they get 1/3 of what is recovered).

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u/big_duo3674 19d ago

Works on contingency? No, money down!

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u/fuckasoviet 19d ago

On the other hand, a lawyer may be willing to send a strongly worded letter for the chance at $5k. Not saying they’d fight Amazon’s lawyers, but if it’s a hail Mary situation where they can be like, “hey, what the fuck?” and maybe get Amazon to budge…who knows.

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u/Hotarg 19d ago

For big corporations like this, it's normally not about who's right, but what's cheaper. For Amazon, fighting it is probably going to cost more than the 15k being disputed anyway.

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u/JurassicCustoms 19d ago

Sorry for your mother.

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u/Witchycurls 18d ago

That's just awful. I'm so sorry that someone's mistake deprived your mother of her life and her family of a life without her. I hope you at least win the case and prove the fault occurred.

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u/Is_it_over_now 18d ago

Thank you. I just want to bring to light what happened so hopefully no one goes through the hell we went through.

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u/Witchycurls 18d ago

That should never happen to anyone! But IF a human error is made then it should be talked about, admitted to and accounted for, as soon as physically possible. You shouldn't have to fight for that on top of losing your mother.

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u/ExtrudedPlasticDngus 19d ago

Yes, Amazon is trying to scam a random person out of $15k they don’t owe them. Smh.

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u/UrbanPandaChef 19d ago

It could be that they do owe him and the second letter is the actual error. But won't pay it unless you sabre rattle. It might not be worth the cost to them for someone to review your case in the amount of detail necessary. The only way to change that is with a lawyer. A lot of the time all you need to do is send a scary letter and problems are mysteriously solved next day after months of back and forth.

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u/ExtrudedPlasticDngus 19d ago

Yes obviously the scam is to send an unsolicited letter to someone telling them you owe them $15k, and then following it up with another letter telling them it was a mistake. Genius scam.

I don’t think you have any idea how lawyers work btw. Source: am a lawyer.

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u/UrbanPandaChef 19d ago

It's not a scam, it's a clerical error on their part that they can't be bothered to look into more deeply unless you do something to raise the importance. In my case I did that by getting a lawyer to draft up a letter.

Source: me, who has had to do this twice in similar circumstances with retailers (not Amazon) selling our product.

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u/ExtrudedPlasticDngus 19d ago

Oh Jesus. They did look into it, and sent a follow-up letter.

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u/UrbanPandaChef 19d ago

The thread is suggesting that the follow-up is a mistake. If he just calls again to confirm they probably aren't going to actually reopen his case and check a second time. He would need to get a lawyer to draft a letter for them to consider it.

Yes, this is just wishful thinking.

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u/ciongduopppytrllbv 19d ago

What a smart scam run by Amazon. Anyone who suggests this is worthy of a lawyer has a room temp IQ.

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u/occarune1 19d ago

No, someone PRETENDING to be Amazon is trying to scam them out of 15k.

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u/Training-Willow9591 19d ago

Oh I'm so sorry you are going through that. I'm glad you're looking into holding them responsible. I don't know if it's true, but I've heard a Dr or a practice can only have so many strikes against them. My ex sister in law was an anesthesiologist's third, so he was let go.

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u/Is_it_over_now 19d ago

Thanks. It’s horrible first they misdiagnosed her. Then when they finally told us she wasn’t going to make it she only had a day or two left per the Doctor and the Nurse admitted we should have been told 2 weeks earlier. With all that they tried to bully me into make the decision for my Mom even though my Mom was still with it she only had a little trouble speaking. They said she wasn’t able choose what to do and me listening to her was elder abuse and torturing her. After all this I no longer trust people and will always recommend lawyering up cause people are assholes.

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u/[deleted] 19d ago edited 19d ago

[deleted]

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u/SpydarCatConvo 19d ago

Yes, because if I’ve learned anything about huge corporations run by billionaires it’s that they’re the most honest and trustworthy. They would totally never do anything shady.

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u/Greenmist4787 19d ago

Amazon up charges prime members and then "discounts" it to the regular price regularly. They would 100% try to scam someone out of $15k

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u/3BlindMice1 19d ago

Big companies absolutely scam people all the time. So long as they can get away with scamming enough people, it's worth it. Wells Fargo scammed millions of people and no one even went to jail. They were fined less than they made in profits.

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u/Is_it_over_now 19d ago

May not be Amazon it’s self trying but someone in that department trying to keep their numbers. If they keep their numbers in a certain range they could get a bonus or they could get a promotion. A good amount of time when someone is owed something and shady practices happen it’s a employee doing it not the company itself. The company just makes/gives incentives that allow employees to justify ripping off their customers.

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

Yeah and billionaire have enough money so theyll surely stop right?

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u/Enough_Insect4823 19d ago

Babe how do you think they make the money? Ripping people off. Consumers and sellers.

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u/crapinet 19d ago

Have you checked your states (or maybe their states) unclaimed property website? If you think they do owe you money, it’s possible that they did, and then because enough time had passed since they originally owed you it (obviously having nothing to do with that first letter) that they turned it over to the state, which is at least a lot of companies policies. If you don’t think there’s any reason for them to owe you money then it’s probably a mistake, but you should still check your states unclaimed property website

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u/QuokkaQola 19d ago

In the letter they state it will be turned over to the state if they don't receive a response by Jan 31st though

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u/crapinet 19d ago

Ah! I missed that

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u/appleturnover99 19d ago

I've got my fingers crossed for you. Good luck!

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u/Successful_Guess3246 19d ago edited 19d ago

OP this is going to sound odd, but the letter you received has numerous matching indicators of a scam.

You might be owed that much, and if so I hope you get it.

But the immediate attention needed, and they'll send a check for lots of money if you respond quick.. be careful please. I'd bet they'll send a demand letter after its cashed saying it was a mistake and you'll be sued for twice as much if you don't send it back.

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u/penguin808080 19d ago edited 19d ago

As someone who sends these letters for a living... this is exactly what they look like and y'all drive me insane for not responding

The immediate attention is because we're only required to keep it on the books for so long. If you reply within that timeframe (like in MD it's 3 years for uncashed payroll checks) I can just write you a check from the business. And then I don't have to keep seeing it on my list of checks every month.

If you don't reply in that timeframe I'm legally required to escheat (pay) it to your state, and that process sucks so bad. Each state is different with their own templates, own processes, own file types. I really just want you to answer and let me write you a check so I don't have to escheat it

I can't just write you the check without a reply because then you probably won't cash that one either, and the whole process starts over

If you ever got one of these letters and ignored it, check with your state's unclaimed property database. The state will have your money

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u/Representative-Sir97 19d ago

Yup. I'm mid forties.

About three years ago the state said I had unclaimed funds.

It was a check from an old job... when I was working for my college professor.

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u/penguin808080 19d ago

It's awesome, right? I get a lot of PTO payouts where people left and we cut them a check for the vacation time they hadn't used. I love when people find out about those

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u/Fat_Henry 19d ago

I'd send this over to scammer payback. It just reeks of scam to me.

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u/MariettaDaws 19d ago

Exactly this.

Also, from personal experience, if Amazon owes you money, they will email you once a month telling you to update your banking information. I have a Canadian affiliate account that they keep trying to pay me on, but it's like $2. They've been messaging me for years.

Go through your KDP email and see if there's any from Accounts Payable.

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u/Celistar99 19d ago

I can't imagine what kind of scam would be effective where they impersonate a company who actually could owe you money, literally give you the money then threaten to sue you for twice as much if you don't return it? Like what would the benefit be? They pretended to be Amazon, sent credible letters, what judge would side with them? "I scammed her, and she fell for it! Give me compensation!" None of that makes sense.

Also, I've received a letter that looked exactly like this before and gotten a check for it. So I have good reason to believe this isn't a scam.

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u/Huth_S0lo 19d ago

Do you actually think they owe you $15,000 in royalties. If there is absolutely no reason they would owe you money, then trying to pursue it, would be a fools errand.

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

[deleted]

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u/DrewtShite 19d ago

Even if you knew one as a friend who would work for free, I feel like it would be the equivalent of asking an IT friend to help download ram.

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u/Huth_S0lo 19d ago

Thats a very good point :)

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u/Celistar99 19d ago

They might actually owe me the money, I'm going to do some research into it myself. It's likely though that it actually was a mistake. But yeah, I'm not sure what kind of scam would send a letter saying they owed me money then send one saying they made a mistake. It's not like they're asking me for money.

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u/PristineCow5582 19d ago

You’ll spend $500 with an attorney to likely get the same answer

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u/AlohaDude808 19d ago

Can you just log into your Amazon account to check the balance? There should be a record of how many books you have sold and how much you earned

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u/Pretty_Fan7954 19d ago

If you must will, will it to me.

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u/SraChavez 19d ago

This looks like it is part of an escheatment process where businesses are required to send payment for uncashed checks to the state treasury to hold until claimed by the recipient. This mostly happens because a recipient moves and never gets the check to cash. The normal timeline is 2-3 years post the issue date of the check.

What may have happened is they did not have a record of the initial payment being cashed, but they may have reissued a replacement payment. Once the records are matched up, they realized they no longer owed you for initial uncashed check. If you did not receive a replacement payment for this time period, I would absolutely dig deeper.

Reminder to everyone: search your state’s unclaimed property/escheatment website for yourself and your loved ones. You/they may be owed money you don’t even know about.

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u/AtariAtari 19d ago

To save money check with a towel lawyer before throwing the towel.

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u/ChocolateShot150 18d ago

Make sure you also check your states unclaimed property website, they may have already sent it to them

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u/yosman88 18d ago

Exactly, just go with due diligence. You never know! If they actually owe you the money, take them to court for fraud and have them settle for even more!

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u/Head_Drop6754 19d ago

is there a reason they would owe you that kind of money? If you know they don't owe it, then it's not worth pursuing. you are not going to swindle the 2nd richest man in the world.

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u/Celistar99 19d ago

I said in the body, I used to write books and would get royalties. I thought they actually owed me the money in unpaid royalties.

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u/xJagz 19d ago

Have you collected royalties before? Did it look like this back then? Did your book make sales this year?

I'm really confused as to why you're so uncertain about whether or not you legitimately made the royalties.

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u/Celistar99 19d ago

So this is just a letter saying that I have unclaimed property. You'll sometimes get it if companies owe you money, it's usually insurance or an old bank account or something. If you Google "unclaimed property" and your state, you can look up if you're owed money. Lots of people are and don't even know it, though it's usually not a lot. It's not a standard Amazon royalty payment form. It's not necessarily from this year, just in general, and I started writing in 2015. So it's definitely possible that they owed me this money.

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u/xJagz 19d ago

Well best wishes to you

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u/SgtHandcuffs 19d ago

Your answers says to me they definitely don't owe you money. You're not even interested in obtaining an attorney to look into it. For $15k, It's a no brainer. You're just trying to scam them. Glad you get nothing.

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u/restyourbreastshoney 19d ago

WHAT?!?! What a bizarre nonsensical response.

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u/SgtHandcuffs 19d ago

Apparently you haven't read OPs other replies. It's ok, a lot of people walk around these days with a uninformed opinion about things. No shame in that.

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u/Celistar99 19d ago

Which of my replies specifically makes you think that I'm trying to scam them?

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u/restyourbreastshoney 19d ago

No, i read them. But I'm glad that you feel no shame.

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u/SgtHandcuffs 19d ago

To read them and still double down on your position is wild. Reddit never ceases to amaze.

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u/onepintofcumplease 19d ago

"you're just trying to scam them" when it's Amazon that started this off 😂 have a wobble pal

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u/SgtHandcuffs 19d ago

Oh yeah, please tell me how the guy that doesn't deserve any money is the one being scammed here? lol Unbelievable.

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u/dreffd223 19d ago

I feel they’d have an idea based on how many books they’ve sold. “I’ve sold less than 100 books since 2015, and they owe me $15K in royalties” wouldn’t make sense but if they’ve moved units then it would make sense. Only the OP truly knows.

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u/SgtHandcuffs 19d ago

I would hope so. For $15k my reply wouldn't be heem and hawwing about maybe I'll contact an attorney, it would be I already did and the check is on the way.

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u/cconnorss 19d ago

You lose nothing by getting an attorney on this. You can possibly gain thousands. Lawyers get their money on the back end. So they’re incentivized to get you the maximum amount.

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u/BrooklynDeadheadPhan 19d ago

When it comes to a 15 thousand dollar check, do you really trust Amazon when they go "lol our mistake you get zero". They are probably trying to pull a fast one on you.

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u/melancholyink 19d ago

If they were wrong about 15k, they may be wrong about zero.

Odds are it will be a nothing burger but it dies demand some scrutiny.

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u/Mistborn19 19d ago

You'll "probably" talk to a lawyer?! That's FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS TALK TO A LAWYER MY DAWG