It's solved, they just don't care about you. Amazon is the most consumer hostile company (other than possibly uber) in recent memory. I've given up on them too for their nonstop attempts to screw me with dark patterns. They actually have an awesome distribution system, but instead of using it to their advantage, they'd rather spend their time scamming people. Just buy your stuff elsewhere and move on.
That's probably true, and it is a deeply unpleasant feeling. It seems like a binary customer experience: everything goes swimmingly, and that's great and you happily ingratiate yourself to the company, and then it doesn't, and it's very bad, but the company now has all the leverage and they can do whatever they want. The customer has no recourse, on an individual basis, with no collective power. Who is going to help, the regulator? Probably not in any impactful or timely fashion. At least with financial entities, the CFPB actually has teeth.
I agree. This is a side effect of automation. You are either part of the 80% the process is optimized for, or you're an edge case that nobody cares about because you're outside the cost/benefit calculation. I hate it too, but I think the only recourse is not to buy from places that behave this way.
I'm pretty sure there is a Black Mirror episode where someone ends up becoming an "edge case" and it all goes downhill from there. I haven't actually watched it but have read about it referenced in many similar contexts so maybe someone knows the actual episode.
I'm a human and I find that unusual enough to close down your account. Especially if those gift cards came from all over the world. That's a common MO for scammers. You probably should just submit the paperwork and move on with life.