The fourth comment on the NY Times article says that Amazon was not helpful in a similar situation. But it's only one comment. Does anybody here have experience with Amazon's response to abusive merchants?

Here's the comment:

I had a similar appearance once when I bought something from an Amazon seller. After receiving a defective product and returning it, the seller threatened to kill me.

What was most shocking was the indifference of Amazon, a company that I admire and respect along with its founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. I wrote repeatedly to the company, even finding email addresses of executives. Indeed, as with the company cited in this story, there were many other complaints on the web to be found about this seller and his threats. Amazon's response was a virtual shrug.