Hi, I have a question regarding my deactivated/blocked Amazon Flex account. The reason behind this deactivation is that I have cancelled or forfeited the block within 45 minutes.
Actually, I didn’t just do it once, I think I’ve forfeited about 4 times this month. I had to do it because there was an urgent situation when I was going to the delivery station.
I know this behaviour violates the Amazon Flex program policy but are there possibilities of recovering the account? And if possible how long does the process take?
William
Hi William,
I’m sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, you took 4 opportunities away from other drivers who likely wanted to work and you couldn’t because you took the blocks and didn’t deliver as agreed. Your forfeited blocks may also have been picked up by someone else once you drop them but it’s not the point.
If many drivers do the same as you, many packages will be delayed. This condition could affect Amazon’s reputation in the future. When things like this continue to happen without punishment from the company, it will certainly affect the success of this program as well as decrease public trust in the reliability of the Amazon platform, especially in making deliveries.
So basically you were a no show for work 4 times, they probably won’t make you active again anytime soon. But, there is an experience from a delivery partner who successfully reactivated their Flex account by re-registering using a new email address.
But I’m a little doubtful since you still need to upload your license and other personal identification when re-apply, so they will know it’s the same person. Probably your dashboard was at the limit and after this one cross the line, probably you need to wait a year to apply again.
Sometimes, when Amazon gives a termination email, they still give its delivery partners a chance to appeal the decision, although in this case, it’s unlikely that your account will be reactivated anytime soon. To appeal, drivers will need to have appropriate proof to show that they are not what the company thinks.
As a driver, you can appeal straight away by responding to the email you have received. You can put in writing the actual situation, you can also include additional evidence like pictures or screenshots that might help the appeals team to change their decision.
Account Deactivated Notification
To avoid this from happening in the future, as an Amazon Flex delivery driver make sure you always visit your driver app Dashboard and take a moment to take a look at your driver account standing. Your standing show you how you’re doing the job. It’s made up of two parts: reliability and delivery quality.
When there is no problem with your account your standing status should be Fantastic or Great. But when you see your standing is At Risk, you must immediately introspect yourself. Because this status indicates if there are several things you need to improve. If there are no changes or your performance has decreased, you may not be eligible to deliver for Amazon.
Forfeit a block, especially if it is conducted in under 45 minutes before the shift starts, is one of the factors that affect your standing status on the platform. Amazon considers this action a serious breach of contract, so it is best to avoid it whenever possible. At least if you want to cancel a shift or block, do it before 45 minutes.
Jason
I just wanted to point out the new rule on forfeiting blocks and some effects it might have on drivers going forward. It’s really not too hard to forfeit a block. All it takes is pressing the forfeit bar and then swiping to confirm. The new rules however make it so that if you forfeit within an hour of your start time then that will be counted as a missed block. The missed block would then go against your rating,
which in turn may affect your scheduled shifts as well as your ability to remain active. So definitely pay attention to your times and do your best to cancel blocks far enough in advance. Up until this point there was always a chance of picking up a shift right up to the start of the block. This was either due to the warehouse realizing they needed another driver or more likely, someone wasn’t going to make it in on time so they forfeited the block and it went back out as available. I
haven’t noticed a change in this strategy so far, but it does seem like there would be fewer opportunities to pick up shifts so close to the start time. There may be a few from the warehouse on any given day, but most likely there will be fewer from other drivers. So just trying to think outside the box on this, in my opinion there may be more chances to pick up blocks just prior to the hour before a shift’s start time. I wrote about the best times to look for shifts
here. And so far the times have done well for me. But now, with this new rule, I am really going to be focusing on the 15 minutes that comes an hour before a shift begins. In other words, if I am looking for a 2pm shift, I will definitely be placing more focus from 12:45pm to 1:00pm, when people would most likely be forfeiting blocks. I will also make this a focus time when I am out delivering and trying
to link blocks. I’m not sure if I’m over thinking the whole thing, but in my opinion, the method certainly deserves a shot. Let me know if you have more success than usual in these timelines.