Looks like Amazon are now outsourcing the writing of emails to the same people in Bangalore who operate their live chat help.<p>PayPal used to send out emails with warnings about account security / phishing etc. with from addresses like <i><impossibly long sting of random characters>.service@paypal.com</i><p>ie. exactly the kind of addresses scammers use to disguise the true origins of an email, by making the address so wide the real sender's domain falls outside the bounds of the text box.
This is a genuine Amazon.co.uk cancellation email which I received today. I was going to discard it right after opening - I'd been expecting it and already knew the refund was approved.<p>Right before closing the message, my eye caught the line "will be displayed in your next bank account" (?). That got me looking at the rest. When you read it through, the whole thing is in horrific broken English and looks like a spam/scam.<p>I'm not really sure what to make of this. On the one hand, it doesn't seem too critical - it's not asking you to do anything, the meaning is obvious and a lot of people probably won't even read it. On the other hand, it's not exactly setting a good example or making it easy for customers to identify what is and isn't a scam. After spotting the issues, I actually had to verify whether it was real after all - it is, the link does indeed navigate to Amazon.co.uk and the shipment number/order number (redacted from screenshot) do indeed match the order I cancelled during shipping earlier in the week.<p>Key issues:<p>- "We are writing you in relation to the cancellation request" - Missing "to".
- "We have refunded the order and you will receive a confirmation e-mail." - Erm, isn't this the confirmation email? Not completely sure to be honest but I think it is.
- "You can see the refund within 5-7 working days, after the refund release, and will be displayed in your next bank account." - This line is awful. Weird mixing of tenses and I've no idea what "your next bank account" is meant to mean.
- "Click on 'Your Account' that you find high right corner on Amazon website" - !!!
- "Refunds and replacements are displayed on the bottom in this page." - !!!
- "We cannot read your answers reply." - Great.<p>This is a genuine Amazon email...