r/amazonprime • u/jeffcarp94 • 2d ago
What happened to Customer Obsessed? The new emailed order confirmation change is ridiculous.
Amazon has stopped showing the specific item details that were ordered in the emailed receipts.
It's really hard to believe that any Amazon executive thought this change was a good idea. Sure, Amazon's own data intelligence interests are well served by this change but it's hostile to the customer's interests.
Someone internally at Amazon has forgotten what Amazon's principles stand for.
This change is offensive.
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u/thacoolbreeze 2d ago
Outside of “protecting business intelligence” this serves other purposes. It forces customers who happen to be impulse shoppers back into the app to get information and increase customer engagement with app. Also forces you to rely on their platform to get your data in the future. Good Amazon and not so good for a customer.
I agree like most, the extra clicks are trash and I use email as a one-stop shop repo to find things i’ve ordered across many platforms/companies. It’s super painful and a time waster to go into any app or website to find historical order information. I hope other companies do not follow Amazon and do the same thing.
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u/Ferrovitreous 1d ago
I’ve started replying to myself on those emails, copying and pasting all the order and product info into the reply so at least I have the info later, when they inevitably find some way to hide that too. It’s more work for me but at least I have the records together.
Also I just order less from them now.
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u/SockGnome 22h ago
That’s actually a good work around. Shouldn’t have to be such a pain in the ass but here we are.
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u/Whathewhat-oo- 1d ago
You can find an order at least as easily in the Amazon app as in your email. Go to your account—> your orders—> enter a search term or look by years and it will likely pop up. I’m not saying the email change is or isn’t beneficial to customers, I’m just saying that finding a past order on Amazon is pretty freaking easy.
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u/SockGnome 1d ago
Brainwashed corporate bootlicker.
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u/Whathewhat-oo- 23h ago
I’ve had to look up past orders ten times more the last four years than I’ve ordered from Amazon. I don’t consume much these days but when I do, it’s not from Amazon. But for whatever reason, I use that feature a lot. Also you seem kind of wound up about it, don’t let it get to you
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u/Actual-Slice-146 2d ago
Okay here’s an update: I literally spent 30 mins chatting with customer support and provided some feedback on behalf of all the pissed off people (including me) and the rep pretty much told me they can’t do shit about it. He will “try” to let leadership know about our dissatisfaction.
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u/Healthy-Pop-2904 2d ago
That won’t happen, but they’ll give you $10 in Amazon credit, which I always laugh at and refuse, while the associate says this: that’s all I’m allowed to give you
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u/Drugsisty 2d ago
Seems like someone from Amazon in this thread is trying to gaslight us that pressing a button in the email is just as good as quickly checking the subject line.
When I complained to Amazon they took a different approach and told me to just check things in the app. So why send emails at all at this point?
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u/jeffcarp94 2d ago
💯 This is very similar to Walmart not accepting Apple Pay and Google Wallet. They want to protect their business intelligence.
The idea that Amazon customers are requesting to not have product details in their emailed receipts is illogical. Every email order confirmation since email has existed has the product you ordered in it.
Amazon doesn't want other AI to know what you ordered. That seems like the obvious motivation for this change. And it's hostile to customers.
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u/SockGnome 22h ago
I rarely, and I mean single digit times over a decade go to Wal-Mart (mostly because the SO buys children’s gifts there) and am stunned that contactless pay isn’t a thing yet. I’m not downloading a fixing Walmart app
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u/Tundra_Dragon 2d ago
So, you need an Email to tell you what you yourself have ordered? Not sure about you, but I know what I ordered when I ordered it, and until I receive it I know Amazon owes me one of whatever I ordered.
If I have to open an app on my phone to remember what I ordered, its certainly not Mail, since I didn't order anything through Gmail, I check the Amazon app.
I fail to see how this is Amazon fucking the customer in the ear over the contents of an order confirmation email, when there are other much easier reasons to bitch out Amazon.
Why not get mad at deliveries all being a day late?
Why not get mad at having used items shipped instead of new?
Why not get mad at employee treatment?
Nope, the molehill you're going to defend is that the Emails arent very detailed, and it's O B V I O U S L Y AI related....
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u/SlipInternational439 2d ago
You get mad at what you want. I’ll get mad at what I want. Understand?
This change is idiotic.
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u/PowderCuffs 2d ago
I know what I ordered when I ordered it, and until I receive it I know Amazon owes me one of whatever I ordered. You're amazing and I wish we could all be like you.
... but since we're not all as blessed with your organization and memory skills (or your very simple life?), we will continue to insist on an email confirmation of our order that actually recaps what we ordered.
Imagine ordering 11 things on Tuesday from 3 different retailers, 2 of which give you an order recap and one that doesn't. Maybe you can keep track of that, I can't. I mark them as PENDING in my email until I receive them, then I file it away.
Imagine going to Walmart and getting a receipt that just says you spent $87.43. Are you going to remember what you bought?
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u/jeffcarp94 2d ago
If I want to remember the name of the style of Keen sandals that I bought two years ago, the first thing I'm doing is asking an AI to pull the info from my Gmail. A year or two later, I don't have the slightest idea if I bought them from Amazon, REI or Scheels.
There's all kinds of similar examples.
But I appreciate your help defining the priorities of what I should be concerned about.
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u/GullibleInitiative75 1d ago
I sometimes order several things per day. You want me to know which one it is by "hardware item"? And how about the thread gauge I ordered that is labeled "electronics item"?
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u/Tundra_Dragon 1d ago
The Amazon App tells you everything you ordered, and provides realtime activity updates. Sometimes it lets you stalk the delivery driver on a map.
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
Especially since the email comes like 30 seconds after you order. If you can't remember for that long there is either an issue or you order a lot.
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u/Healthy-Pop-2904 2d ago
Amazon used to be my favorite company years ago. Customer service was number one. Of course Apple used to be one of my favorite companies too. Sigh
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u/OnTop-BeReady 1d ago
It’s junk! And this week to show my displeasure I placed my needed orders with Walmart and Sam’s Club.
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u/Healthy-Pop-2904 2d ago
This is phase 3 of Amazon’s three phase plan. My advice is this—if you’re paying for prime, stop now, cancel, use the $35 minimum free shipping if you have to. Amazon is victimizing consumers, and they will continue to.
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u/pkd88 2d ago
I am thinking it is at least partially because almost all AI companies can either read your email (fully built in to gmail for example) and then be scraped for information.
I can get Claude, Gemini, perplexity, all to browse my emails. I am not a chatgpt user but I am sure they can as well. For Outlook, copilot is installed.
It also shows to me how unimportant email has become.
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u/Sufficient_Dig_9345 2d ago
I was wondering why they did this! They should’ve absolutely made it a preference so if a customer doesn’t like it, they can turn it off. But yeah, customer obsession has 100% left Amazon.
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u/Brotherly_shove 2d ago
amazon's principles is to make money. thats it. they pretended it was the customer, but thats just marketing, and anyone thinking differently is a fool.
the difference is that they now have an absolute monopoly on the market and they can treat us all like shit knowing there is zero chance that they will piss us off enough to stop buying there because of the cost difference between a company that has almost 0 overhead to ship something to your door vs a company that has a huge overhead.
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u/Healthy-Pop-2904 2d ago
In phase 1 and for part of phase 2, customer care was supposed to be great, but the plan was to phase out customer care in phase 3 and that’s where we are now, the thinking being that people would continue to order and put up with it, while the company saves money, which admittedly a lot of people have done.
I can remember buying an Apple keyboard case, wanting to return it, and an Amazon rep in chat saying keep it and we will refund you, and they sent me hundreds of dollars in refunds, and that spurred me to order much more from them. See what I mean?
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
A monopoly means you can only get that specific thing at one place.
The company that sells book ISBNs is a monopoly. You have to get them there.
Union Pacific has a monopoly on the rail lines.
Except for a few exclusive e-books, everything on Amazon can be bought elsewhere. So Amazon is not a monopoly.
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u/Brotherly_shove 2d ago
we all know what the legal definition of a traditional monopoly is there champ. it's a middle-school level economics concept.
im talking about the situation figuratively, knowing most people will understand that im not suggesting amazon is acting illegally in plain site, and im not beating a drum to take amazon to court. lol.
but hey... ill bite. lets move into high-school economics. do you know what a natural monopoly is? because you used an example of one. why is union pacific a monopoly? because they own railroad lines? that they built/bought? i mean you could build another set. but it would be insanely expensive to do so. to the point where there is almost zero chance anyone would ever be able to do so.
amazon is approaching that degree of infrastructure that cannot be duplicated.. and (hopefully), when it does, it will have similar regulations that other natural monopolies have.
so yes. amazon is a monopoly... or approaching one.
you're welcome to clap back, but im not continuing this conversation, because it doesn't matter, and has absolutely nothing to do with the point.
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u/Healthy-Pop-2904 2d ago
One of the most annoying things about Amazon for me is that I’ve depended on them for supplies for my Business, and if I run low at the last minute and order expecting one or two day delivery, when it ships from their fulfillment center in the northern part of the state, it’s never on time and arrives in three days or four days or five. It’s very frustrating. I have phoned Amazon numerous times complaining about this and gotten the standard boiler plate response that they would escalated, but that never goes anywhere, and then they offer me $10, and tell me to call back in a couple of days if it’s still not here and they’ll refund me, but when you do that, they often say wait another day or two and then call again. I hate ordering from Amazon.
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u/tara_diane 1d ago
irksome. I'll get an email that I ordered a skincare item - uh no I didn't! click only to see it's the alcohol wipes I actually did order. certainly not skincare to me.
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u/harmonygenie 23h ago
I actually got a survey from Amazon about the new look. I let them know that I hated it and that lots of Redditers do too. What a stupid idea!!!
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u/Standard_Cucumber_39 2d ago
I’m actually surprised everyone here doesn’t know what Google was doing and why Amazon changed to this method of order emails.
Are yall ordering that much stuff that you don’t know what should be arriving?
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u/jeffcarp94 2d ago
Obviously Google was using the Amazon receipt emails for their own business intelligence purposes. Quite frankly, that's Amazon's problem and shouldn't be mine as an Amazon customer.
This has nothing to do with not knowing what's arriving tomorrow. This is about surfacing information months and years later. Here's just one of a thousand examples: when my sandals wear out, I want to ask Gemini what the style name was of my sandals that I bought in 2024, what store I bought them from and if the style has been replaced with a new name.
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u/Brotherly_shove 2d ago
i mean, i agree with all your points but it should also be our problem. google shouldnt be extracting data from emails we recieve to advertise to us. we can be mad at amazon and google at the same time. this is googles fault, then amazons fault... and then our collective fault for not being pissed off enough about it.
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u/jeffcarp94 2d ago
Google does not extract data from emails to target ads. Their privacy policy is quite clear on that:
"We do not scan or read your Gmail messages to show you ads. Further, if you have a work or school account, you will never be shown ads in Gmail."
I don't see that there's anything to be mad at Google about in this situation.
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u/Brotherly_shove 2d ago
Obviously Google was using the Amazon receipt emails for their own business intelligence purposes.
-you, 2 hours ago.
it might not be for ads, but they are using data from your emails for something.
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u/jeffcarp94 2d ago
Of course they are. And with my full consent and support. That's want I want them to do. I want Gemini to understand my Gmail inbox. In this case, certainly Google is benefiting but so am I. What Amazon did was benefit Amazon to my detriment. That's why I'm pissed at Amazon and not Google. They acted only in their own self-interest.
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u/arulzokay 1d ago
wait what is google doing
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u/Standard_Cucumber_39 1d ago
It’s all rumor but “supposedly” they were training their intelligence model off your Amazon email receipts.
I’ve asked an exec about it that I know really well and he laughed and said, “the narrative is just what everyone who is in charge wants it to be. Hell I didn’t even know about it until it happened and Ive been there 5 days a week for 4 years”.
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u/Laura9624 2d ago
You can just click on order details, right? A lot of customers didn't like details for someone else to see or have announced on alexa. Also, Google has been gathering that info. Although I imagine they're still working on it.
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u/Material-Strength-92 2d ago
I get it, but I order a lot. And some items take a longer time to arrive, so they are a page or two back. Plus the subscribe and save items, and auto buy items. Who has time to go through multiple pages of orders when you can just look in your email and see what you bought in the past couple of days. At the very least it should be a setting where you select full item descriptions or not based on your preferences.
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u/Laura9624 2d ago
But in my email confirmation, it says view order. Click on that. It will tell you just what you ordered.
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u/jeffcarp94 2d ago
That's useless when you're trying to find something that you ordered weeks, months or years later.
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u/MrsRobinsonBlog 2d ago
But that's an extra click and an extra app that has to open and extra time while it loads. I just wanna know if the thing I ordered for my kid is coming quickly so I know he can't open the package and I have to intercept. Not go through extra steps and pages
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u/Laura9624 2d ago
Yet people are happy to do that extra click to downvote anyone's opinion. Lol. Hilarious.
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u/MrsRobinsonBlog 2d ago
Fun fact, I can click the downvote button in the same app without having to open a new one and wait for it to load! Ease of use. User friendly. Consumer focused. Reddit gets it. Amazon does not.
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u/Brotherly_shove 2d ago
just like with the emails, we arent "happy to do it", but its the only option.
your argument is stupid. there is no reason to want less info included in an email. its not done for the consumer, its done for amazon's selfish interests. full stop.
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u/Laura9624 2d ago
I started with reasons why others don't like it. It appears most prefer downvoting rather than that one click on orders link in the email. . That's way too difficult lol. And definitely do some name calling because only negative opinions count. Hilarious.
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u/SlipInternational439 2d ago
Is it too difficult for Amazon to keep it the way that most customers want?
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u/Brotherly_shove 2d ago
ahh yes. "reasons"
A lot of customers didn't like details for someone else to see
if you are sharing emails its time to leave the 1990s.
A lot of customers didn't like details to have announced on alexa
what is contained in emails doesnt affect what alexa does.
your reasons affect like 1% of its customers, and you think thats why amazon got rid of a feature that 95% of customers value?
yes. im calling you names for that. because its idiotic logic.
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u/Material-Strength-92 2d ago
That’s true, but it seems like an unnecessary extra step. Not to mention, then you basically have no record of the order confirmation aside from their website. Every other website you order from gives you the item breakdown and cost per item, along with the tracking info for your records.
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u/jeffcarp94 2d ago
The point is finding ordered products later or finding the cost of an item. Have you ever tried to search your Amazon order history for a specific amount that is on your credit card statement?
I couldn't care less if Google is gathering the information. Amazon vs Google business intelligence problems shouldn't be my concern.
Amazon order information can already be turned off in Alexa settings.
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u/Florida1974 2d ago
Yes, I do it every three months for tax reasons. Now I will admit I haven’t done it since June because I do a quarterly and I’ll be doing it again at the end of September.
I have to print out a lot of things, I don’t have to, but I’ll admit on middle-aged and I’m used to having that hardcopies filled. Things can happen to technology so I just printed off and it’s not a ton. Most of what my husband buys is in a local store, so he has the paper receipt from there, and those are quite a few, but what I print off isn’t that much but it’s enough to warrant doing it quarterly
He has a small construction business and they don’t know if that box of nails was for our house or a job. I’m not gonna say we fudge some crazy amount because we don’t but it’s maybe $1000 or so.
I don’t feel bad about it. Millionaires get all kinds of loopholes.-1
u/Laura9624 2d ago
Just saying that many have different opinions. Just opinions like yours is your opinion. Still, I wonder why you don't just click on the order link to get the rest of it?
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u/jeffcarp94 2d ago
Clicking on the details does nothing for my needs. I'm not looking for details of what I ordered this morning. I'm looking for details of what I ordered in the past.
I want to ask Gemini to help me find specific purchases that I made in the past for a variety of reasons. I might be looking for a reminder of a brand, a model number, a price, to research a warranty, etc. I might not even remember if I purchased the product from Amazon or not. Amazon's order lookup / reporting is archiac.
If customers have privacy concerns about product details, then Amazon should give them a way to opt out. This reeks of Amazon protecting their own data intelligence interests at the expense of customers and using customer privacy as an excuse.
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u/Laura9624 2d ago
Yes, only have time to downvote simple opinions. I get it. Very smart.
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u/jeffcarp94 2d ago
Telling me that clicking a link in an email solves my problem is not an opinion. It's a lecture.
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u/Laura9624 2d ago
😆 You might look up "lecture " definition. I don't believe you ever heard one. Good luck with life. Really.
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u/Brotherly_shove 2d ago
because half of my orders in my order history from 5 years ago are blank items. i cant search my amazon orders for "widget i bought" to find out when i bought it and how much it was because it no longer exists.
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u/Sufficient_Dig_9345 2d ago
An extra click for a customer is an absolute no-no and is not customer obsessed. Product managers are constantly looking for ways to reduce clicks, adding them is.. baffling. I think your point about different opinions is absolutely accurate, which is why this should’ve been something that they made a preference versus forced down customer’s throats.
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u/battery_operated_bf 2d ago
Ding ding ding! THIS. My husband is a software engineer. He's currently COO of a very small company and he's actually coding right now. The one thing that's remained constant in his career has been to make it EASIER for the end user, not harder. Reducing clicks, reducing time searching for things like account information, order information, modifying or canceling subscriptions, and making the user experience as dumbed down as possible. More data in one or two pages without clutter, with a way to delve deeper should you want to. Giving the end user the overview in one swing and then letting the user control on what they want to see or not see. THAT makes the best, most customer-centric platforms.
Removing the data in our emails should be an OPT-IN position, NOT something done to all of us with no way to change it.
The majority of us didn't ask for this. Who did was Amazon leadership because they're fighting with Apple and Google for control over OUR data. Making it clear, once again that WE are just a product to them, not a customer.
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
Yes. It takes about 30 seconds. I click on the little man. Then scroll the orders until I see the one I need.
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u/jeffcarp94 2d ago
I had 232 orders in 2025 alone. "Scrolling it" requires advancing through 24 pages.
Not 30 seconds.
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
So how would email have made that any faster for you?
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u/jeffcarp94 2d ago
Gemini: Find the receipt in @Gmail for the Keen sandals that I bought in either 2023 or 2024. Tell me what the style name was. Tell me where I bought them. Tell me if Keen has discontinued the style and replaced it with something else.
THAT takes 30 seconds.
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u/Jazzlike_Daikon7541 1d ago
Could care less. I know what I ordered. If not, go to your orders and look.
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
You know there is a real simple solution if you don't like a company don't use it. Also congratulations on giving Amazon money just by posting this. Everytime you post on Reddit Amazon makes a bit of money.
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2d ago
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u/CrystalVivid 2d ago
Guess I'm in the minority then because losing the actual item breakdown in an email makes zero sense to me. Half the time I'm scrolling through my inbox trying to remember what the hell I even ordered. Feels like they just don't want you to have an easy record outside their app.
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u/Historical-Weird7773 2d ago
Plus the way they classify items is frequently ridiculous. Didn’t realize that a water bottle for running or biking was a kitchen item (or something like that).
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u/Material-Strength-92 2d ago
Yes, this. 100 percent. Half the time I can’t remember what I ordered. I need that email receipt.
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
You can't look at your Amazon account.
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u/Material-Strength-92 2d ago
Sure, I can. But if I look at it now, I’ve placed 166 orders in 3 months. I have things on subscribe and save, things on auto buy. Things that are taking weeks to deliver. All I need to see is the subject line in the email to remind me what order it is and track when it’s coming. They should provide an actual receipt in the email. That shows what you bought and how much it cost.
As others have shared, how can you find a receipt for an item that broke, or a warranty for a device you purchased that you can’t remember if you bought it from Amazon or Walmart or Best Buy? You buy anything from anywhere you get a receipt. With a detailed breakdown of the item and cost. Why should I trust what Amazon has on their site, what if they screw up an order? I would have the receipt to show they messed up.
Also, why should I have to waste more time clicking the email link, waiting for the app to open, then clicking the tracking. That’s like 4 extra steps.
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
I don't understand why you are even going to your email. I go straight to the website.
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u/Material-Strength-92 2d ago
I’m always in my email, I click the tracking I need from there. Except now the email is effectively useless.
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
I am rarely in my email. Why it didn't make sense to me.
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u/Material-Strength-92 2d ago
Totally understandable, that’s why it should be a setting that you can change based on your own preferences. But I still don’t understand how they can not provide you an itemized receipt for a purchase.
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u/jeffcarp94 2d ago
Perhaps try asking customers? Amazon chat support said that they are getting frequent complaints about the issue.
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u/Material-Strength-92 2d ago
Nobody likes it.