[NEW BLOG POST] Amazon... is it really worth the time to interact on and leave reviews?

MY THOUGHTS AND RAMBLINGS...

I spend a lot of time on amazon as i am sure a lot of people do. You have to find just the right book, check your budget and either look for a new cheaper book or buy that perfect book. Then you read the book and gather your thoughts on that perfect book and leave a review. You hope that others see your review and also want to buy and read said perfect book. Usually this would be the end of this reviewers worry about said book.  

But really this is just the beginning of this story. I have been reviewing and running a blog for years now. Thousands of reviews written, which means lots of time searching for books and leaving reviews.  


But what happens when you start posting reviews only to have them posted then secretly removed days later by amazon. When you write a ton sometimes you don't notice right away but after it happens multiple times you get mad and wonder why.... 


So of course you want answers so customer service is who you contact. You get a person we will call them Angelica. So Angelica listens and tells you she is sorry that she can't do anything for you but she will submit a "form" to the group that can help. Great right? You will get some answers as to why your review was removed from your purchased book. She states to give her a few days and you will get a call back. You are thinking perfect my review will be posted and my issue fixed... haha so funny. You get an email but no call back at all.

 
Not understanding how you can fix the profile issues you get mad and decide you need more information on how to fix the issue. You contact customer service again (I contacted via the chat, email, and phone) all with no luck just got the same exact email. 


So you submit feedback: 
 
I think your policy is wrong and misleading. You want customers to post reviews but then you take them down based on the below. If elements in my account match another account that is NOT mine how would I be able to help that? If I am a blogger I would expect my account and purchases to match other readers. This policy is misleading and should be modified for bloggers. I typically read over 900 books a year so my account purchases will match other readers. You should base this policy and actions on the people that review and spam the books about items that do not match the book in the first place. Maybe a change in policy that allows Bloggers who read and review a huge amount of items through the year to have a special program where there reviews are listed and not taken down when they are not bias. To me this is allowing amazon the chance to be bias on the policy and the reviews that are posted. If you allowed the bloggers that read more then the average person to post reviews more products would have reviews. I send people to amazon to shop by posting a review and highlighting not only the review but also the amazon links on my blog. 


The removing of reviews in my option is bias on amazon's side not the readers side. If it's such a problem let the author choose to request a removal of the review. In no way should amazon be able to remove a review that is supposed to be a rating of a product. I would think that the seller of said product would be able to request a removal of a review that is in no way about the product. All other reviews should stay and be listed. A review is someone's opinion of a product. You are taking away people's right to voice that opinion


We are unable to post your Customer Review to the Amazon website because our data shows elements of your Amazon account match elements of other Amazon accounts reviewing the same product. In these cases, we remove the reviews to maintain trust in our customer reviews and avoid any perception of bias.

Customer Reviews are meant to give customers unbiased product feedback from fellow shoppers. It is our goal to provide Customer Reviews that help customers make informed purchase decisions. Therefore, any reviews that could be viewed as advertising, promotional, or biased will not be posted. This includes reviews by more than one customer in the same household.  


So nothing is done and your review will not be posted. So disappointed but you figure this is a one time thing right.... at this point I updated my profile on amazon to the below

Oh how wrong you are. See weeks later you go on posting reviews and 3 out of 10 just might post.... you wonder what in the fucking hell.  

This goes on for weeks until I get another email that I am banned for changing my reviews and all my reviews will be suppressed and removed. Not only that my fellow blogger Brianna got the exact same email at the same time......... 

Now shit is pissing me off.   

I call customer service to understand the issue and ask for examples. I HAVE NEVER TOUCHED A REVIEW AFTER POSTING IT. You get passed around and around. They can't call the group that oversees the reviews as they don't have a direct number. They can only submit a "form".   

What the fuck kind of customer service is that.   

Fine submit the form but I want examples of changed or modified reviews as I post the exact review in multiple places. They tell me they will get back me but they never call.   

So pain in the ass that I am I call back.  

I get a supervisor and he states that I am banned forever and NO examples are given. He said that they would not respond about this issue in the future and I am banned from reviewing on amazon. I told him that amazon sucks ass and the so called community that overseas the review which by the way I think is non-existent as you get the same email for every form they submit (so I think they send a few same worded blanket emails as a group) is fucking crap.  

Amazon wants people to submit reviews but they weed through them and post the ones they want not all of them. So who is bias? Also why ban people for leaving a review as its an opinion of your own personal thoughts.  

Is the review process even helping authors anymore. When you can post a review to say an author sucks and there books are crap and that review stays out there but a review about the actual book and it's contents gets removed......... 

So in ending both me and Brianna lost hours of times as they removed all our reviews....... Is it even worth leaving a review on amazon anymore? Do we need to create a new account to post reviews or is goodreads enough? You tell us.......