The question is: How do you enforce that or even complain about it? Say your Amazon account gets locked for whatever reason due to an automated decision (probably all of these decisions are automated). There is no way to contact Amazon without an account. It's not like they have a link on their website that says "Request human appeal under GDPR" (I haven't checkt tbh, but I'm 99.9% sure they haven't).

I wonder what happens if you file e.g. in small claims court against a company like Amazon? They'd probably never get the message, and even if you win due to them not showing up and making their case, good luck enforcing the judgement.

Short of hiring a major law firm whose letterhead might get someone's attention and/or making major waves, I don't see how Joe Sixpack can force a human appeal without major monetary outlay.

I think their strategy of burying their head in the sand and just ghosting you works probably pretty well for the large majority of cases where people simply won't bother (or be able to bother). The cost for the one or two cases that have the energy and commitment to fight is comparably minor and quickly resolved once it hits the front pages somewhere.