Anyone else banned from leaving Amazon Reviews?

[eurocrank]

I appreciate your suggestions, Phil77354,

but I think you're way too trusting of Amazon's appeal process and general sense of justice. Here's my experience.

I've been a reviewer for over 20 years and a prime member for even longer. I never had any trouble until this spring. Then I realized that there's been a sea change in Amazon's customer service standards.

I first noticed a possible change several years ago when the price of an item I was looking at would visibly change before my eyes. The change was always up. So I would access Amazon without logging in, put the item in my cart, and then log in. Problem solved. That process of variable pricing was discontinued shortly thereafter, but it left me with a sense of distrust.

Then Amazon got rid of the Comments section that was connected to each review. The ostensible reason was that this section was not much used. That is simply not true. One of my reviews, for example, had over 150 comments. What Amazon did not say is that it stopped notifying customers of comments posted on their reviews. Amazon used to email customers whenever a comment was posted. When it stopped this practice, of course comments dwindled. Who goes and looks for comments posted on their reviews?

Very recently I've been noticing that there is no longer a list of products "recently viewed by customers." Now, the list is always "sponsored." I trusted and used the customer list extensively, but hesitate to do so when the list is sponsored.

My experience being banned this spring is as follows:

• I submitted a review.
• It was posted, but with a grammatical error (repetition of the word "have," as I remember).
• I edited and re-submitted the review.
• It was rejected, and I was "warned" that the review did not meet guidelines. The email warning me was not addressed to me (just "hello") and had no signature, not even an amazon.com signature.
• I responded, called customer service (was told the review team was a "different department"), but received no clarifying email or phone call.
• I wrote another review a month or two later. The review was not only not posted, but I was banned from further reviews and feedback because of not meeting guidelines. All my reviews were deleted. The claim that my review didn't meet guidelines was completely wrong because there was nothing objectionable whatsoever about the review. The review was positive and positively expressed. Nothing negative whatsoever.
• Again, I wrote, called, etc., and eventually received a response from Nicole M. saying that the review did not meet guidelines, but she did not bother to explain how.
• I read this thread and came across your suggestion, Phil. So I wrote to Jeff. I got a response within 48 hours. The response came from Llse V.
• Her response was to ignore the review that got me banned and focus on the review (initially posted) that got me a warning. That warning thus became a ban. What was posted became a warning became a ban, without any explanation.

So, I've lost all faith and trust in Amazon reviews, and my faith and trust in customer service has been severely damaged. I too will begin purchasing items elsewhere. But it saddens me greatly that a company I've enjoyed for over 20 years, a company I've defended to its (many) detractors, has become tainted in my eyes, tainted with unethical behavior.

 

[okiebirdnerd]

Regarding the question as to who you may contact at Amazon to appeal your situation, I can offer a couple of suggestions.

First is to address your e-mail to Jeff at Amazon dot com. This will be received by Amazon's customer relations team and they should direct it to the appropriate group for response.

In writing the e-mail I recommend putting a clear statement into the subject line of the e-mail, something along the lines of "Your Attention is Requested Please - A Mistake Has Been Made Regarding my Reviewing".

And be very polite and straightforward in your e-mail, give them the benefit of the doubt in making an honest mistake and you are requesting that they correct it.

Another e-mail address that may be useful is community-help at amazon dot com, to make the same request.

I tried both ways of emailing and never got a reply back from Amazon. If they will just let me ask questions about a product I am interested in, I will never rate a product again. I just want to be able to ask other buyers if for example it worked with a android s20 phone or whatever...I thought Amazon would at least acknowledge my email. But no luck. It has been over two months.

 

[Macky-Mac]

.... I just want to be able to ask other buyers if for example it worked with a android s20 phone or whatever...

I can understand that it would be nice to ask that kind of question, but you'd probably get all of the following replies;

#1; Sorry but I haven't tried it so I don't know
#2; I have an iPhone but I don't see why not
#3; Yes!! I haven't tried it but my brother-in-law says he knows somebody who says it's fantastic
#4; No, it's a piece of junk that bricked my phone after 2 days

 

[usagora]

So, I've lost all faith and trust in Amazon reviews, and my faith and trust in customer service has been severely damaged. I too will begin purchasing items elsewhere. But it saddens me greatly that a company I've enjoyed for over 20 years, a company I've defended to its (many) detractors, has become tainted in my eyes, tainted with unethical behavior.

I understand your frustration with your review being removed (btw, what was the objectionable part of the review you got a warning for?), but I don't understand how ethics has anything to do with it nor what your reviews being removed have to do with not trusting them to order products from their website. Seems like two totally separate issues to me. Never once has Amazon's customer service failed me when there's been a problem with an order. Been ordering from them for over 20 years as well and will continue to do so. If I limited my purchases to companies I agreed 100% with on everything, I wouldn't be purchasing anything 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[HDFan]

So, I've lost all faith and trust in Amazon reviews,

Isn't just Amazon, any review posted online is suspect. Just look at all the articles about review factories who are paid to write favorable reviews of specific products.

Luckily there are websites that review reviews (!) and rate them, such as:

ReviewMeta.com: TORRAS Shockproof Compatible for iPhone 14 Pro Max Case, [Military Grade Drop Protection] [Sleek Premium Touch] Translucent Matte Protective Phone Case Compatible for iPhone 14 Pro Max Case, Black Amazon Review Analysis

reviewmeta.com

 

[eurocrank]

I understand your frustration with your review being removed (btw, what was the objectionable part of the review you got a warning for?), but I don't understand how ethics has anything to do with it nor what your reviews being removed have to do with not trusting them to order products from their website. Seems like two totally separate issues to me. Never once has Amazon's customer service failed me when there's been a problem with an order. Been ordering from them for over 20 years as well and will continue to do so. If I limited my purchases to companies I agreed 100% with on everything, I wouldn't be purchasing anything 🤷🏼‍♂️

Customer service supported the ban and the deletions. It did so by ignoring the review that got me banned and, instead, focused on the review that got me a warning. Customer service changed my status as a reviewer by changing a decision about one review well after the fact. In other words, there was no warning. That to me is unethical.

For me, Amazon reviews have been a big deal. I used them constantly when deciding whether or not to buy something. Sure, lots of reviews are inherently worthless: "My husband really likes it," "You won't be dissapointed," etc. But some are both informative and interesting to read. Now that I know reviews are getting banned, sometimes because a sponsor isn't happy with a review (see this thread), I've lost trust in how products are being represented.

I didn't say anything about "not trusting them to order products from their website." I'm sure they're capable of ordering products from their website.

 

[John2022]

I appreciate your suggestions, Phil77354,

but I think you're way too trusting of Amazon's appeal process and general sense of justice. Here's my experience.

I've been a reviewer for over 20 years and a prime member for even longer. I never had any trouble until this spring. Then I realized that there's been a sea change in Amazon's customer service standards.

I first noticed a possible change several years ago when the price of an item I was looking at would visibly change before my eyes. The change was always up. So I would access Amazon without logging in, put the item in my cart, and then log in. Problem solved. That process of variable pricing was discontinued shortly thereafter, but it left me with a sense of distrust.

Then Amazon got rid of the Comments section that was connected to each review. The ostensible reason was that this section was not much used. That is simply not true. One of my reviews, for example, had over 150 comments. What Amazon did not say is that it stopped notifying customers of comments posted on their reviews. Amazon used to email customers whenever a comment was posted. When it stopped this practice, of course comments dwindled. Who goes and looks for comments posted on their reviews?

Very recently I've been noticing that there is no longer a list of products "recently viewed by customers." Now, the list is always "sponsored." I trusted and used the customer list extensively, but hesitate to do so when the list is sponsored.

My experience being banned this spring is as follows:

• I submitted a review.
• It was posted, but with a grammatical error (repetition of the word "have," as I remember).
• I edited and re-submitted the review.
• It was rejected, and I was "warned" that the review did not meet guidelines. The email warning me was not addressed to me (just "hello") and had no signature, not even an amazon.com signature.
• I responded, called customer service (was told the review team was a "different department"), but received no clarifying email or phone call.
• I wrote another review a month or two later. The review was not only not posted, but I was banned from further reviews and feedback because of not meeting guidelines. All my reviews were deleted. The claim that my review didn't meet guidelines was completely wrong because there was nothing objectionable whatsoever about the review. The review was positive and positively expressed. Nothing negative whatsoever.
• Again, I wrote, called, etc., and eventually received a response from Nicole M. saying that the review did not meet guidelines, but she did not bother to explain how.
• I read this thread and came across your suggestion, Phil. So I wrote to Jeff. I got a response within 48 hours. The response came from Llse V.
• Her response was to ignore the review that got me banned and focus on the review (initially posted) that got me a warning. That warning thus became a ban. What was posted became a warning became a ban, without any explanation.

So, I've lost all faith and trust in Amazon reviews, and my faith and trust in customer service has been severely damaged. I too will begin purchasing items elsewhere. But it saddens me greatly that a company I've enjoyed for over 20 years, a company I've defended to its (many) detractors, has become tainted in my eyes, tainted with unethical behavior.

After posting hundreds of reviews I got banned and all my reviews were deleted. The past couple of years Amazon products have been poor quality. Negative reviews are not well received. It probably hurts the vendor and the commission Amazon makes. So they muffle the reviews by blocking the user. If amazon is not interested in reviews, best to do away with them. No way will I spend money buying poor quality products and send them back for a refund. There are other outlets that provide better service and higher quality products. Its a myth that Amazon is best place to shop in this universe. BTW I did not get a reply to my emails. Not a surprise.

 

[John2022]

Never happened to me but I must admit I'm glad to see they are monitoring this. Some of the reviews are ridiculous and wondered if anyone ever paid attention to it!!!

You mention ridiculous. Does that mean "over rated" or "Poorly rated"

 

[usagora]

Customer service supported the ban and the deletions. It did so by ignoring the review that got me banned and, instead, focused on the review that got me a warning. Customer service changed my status as a reviewer by changing a decision about one review well after the fact. In other words, there was no warning. That to me is unethical.

For me, Amazon reviews have been a big deal. I used them constantly when deciding whether or not to buy something. Sure, lots of reviews are inherently worthless: "My husband really likes it," "You won't be dissapointed," etc. But some are both informative and interesting to read. Now that I know reviews are getting banned, sometimes because a sponsor isn't happy with a review (see this thread), I've lost trust in how products are being represented.

I had asked you what was the objectionable part of your review that got you a warning. Are you not wiling to share that? Your last bullet point seemed to indicate the rep explained it to you ("Her response was to ignore the review that got me banned and focus on the review (initially posted) that got me a warning"). And you also mentioned the review was positive, so "a sponsor isn't happy" couldn't be the reason. Are you suggesting that Amazon reps are just randomly warning and banning reviewers for absolutely no reason just for giggles? I certainly find that hard to believe.

I didn't say anything about "not trusting them to order products from their website." I'm sure they're capable of ordering products from their website.

Not sure if you're purposely misreading my sentence as a joke of if you thought that's what I actually meant 🤨 In case it's the latter: no, obviously I'm referring to you not trusting them in order for YOU to order products from their website. The "you" is understood in context.

Anyway, obviously you can do whatever you want, but it seems like you're cutting off your nose to spite your face.

 

[eurocrank]

I had asked you what was the objectionable part of your review that got you a warning. Are you not wiling to share that? Your last bullet point seemed to indicate the rep explained it to you ("Her response was to ignore the review that got me banned and focus on the review (initially posted) that got me a warning"). And you also mentioned the review was positive, so "a sponsor isn't happy" couldn't be the reason. Are you suggesting that Amazon reps are just randomly warning and banning reviewers for absolutely no reason just for giggles? I certainly find that hard to believe.



Not sure if you're purposely misreading my sentence as a joke of if you thought that's what I actually meant 🤨 In case it's the latter: no, obviously I'm referring to you not trusting them in order for YOU to order products from their website. The "you" is understood in context.

Anyway, obviously you can do whatever you want, but it seems like your cutting off your nose to spite your face.

To summarize: there were a total of two reviews, out of many, that were seen to not meet guidelines. The first was supposed to be a "warning"; the second got me banned and deleted. With a lot of time and effort, I heard from two customer service representatives. Neither representative said a word about either of the two reviews except that I had not met guidelines.

I had thought that the review which got me banned and deleted was actually the second-to-last review (the warning one) because the second customer service rep quoted it. But, looking back, I see that her email confirmed that it was the last review which prompted the ban. Here is that review:

title: Lather Up and Go
"If Van Morrison has two iconic albums ('Astral Weeks' 1968, 'Moondance' 1970), then Tom Waits has three: 'Closing Time' 1973, 'nighthawks at the diner' 1975, 'Swordfishtrombones' 1983. 'Orphans' (2006) resembles all three.

It can be seen as a summary of Waits’s music much like 'Lather' (1996) is a summary of Zappa's music. Also, the three discs of 'Orphans' are available individually, just like the majority of ‘Lather’ is available as three separate albums (‘Studio Tan’ 1978, ‘Sleep Dirt’ 1979, ‘Orchestral Favorites’ 1979).

If you like 'Closing Time,' 'nighthawks at the diner,' and 'Swordfishtrombones,' you will enjoy 'orphans' a whole lot.

If you don't, then here's a comparison between those albums and 'orphans':
• 'Closing Time' resembles 'Bawlers' (disc 2).
• 'nighthawks at the diner' resembles 'Bastards' (disc 3).
• 'Swordfishtrombones' resembles 'Brawlers' (disc 1) and parts of 'Bastards.'

Me? I enjoy everything on 'orphans,' but I gotta say that the best songs on the earlier albums are better than the best songs on 'orphans.' Tracks like "Martha," "Emotional Weather Report," and "16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six" don't have their equals on 'orphans.' Overall, though, 'orphans' is a very strong Waits record, one I like more than the rest of his albums.

Frankly, Waits fans can't go wrong with 'orphans.' Newbies wanting a panoramic perspective of Waits's oeuvre could do no better than checking out 'orphans' (same goes for those wanting an overview of Zappa's stuff). People with individual preferences can pick and choose among 'orphans' individual releases."

I'm protesting Amazon's behavior by limiting my purchases. I've already canceled my credit card. I see a slippery slope in Amazon's behavior that concerns and offends me. My face is happy.

 

[usagora]

@eurocrank Thanks for posting the actual review. Something is simply not adding up, unless there's some obscure "community guideline" that your review violates. The only thing I noticed was you referred to the availability of the individual discs, and there is a guideline that says:

Community Guidelines - Amazon Customer Service

Guidelines for keeping the Amazon Community helpful, relevant, meaningful, and appropriate.

www.amazon.com

However, you don't mention a specific store, so I wouldn't think this guideline would be violated.

So I'm just trying to picture the conversation you had with the CSRs. You're saying you're repeatedly asking them what specific guideline you violated and they refuse to tell you? Again, something doesn't add up here, assuming you're telling us the whole story. I've had reviews rejected before, and Amazon literally sends me an email with the reason. Here's one I received last week:

"Thank you for submitting a customer review on Amazon. After carefully reviewing your submission, your review could not be posted to the website. It appears your review had feedback on the seller."

It was a drink mix and part of my review was sort of ranting about why retailers don't sell it in stores, so I see where they're coming from. But even if I didn't see their point, I can't imagine cancelling my Amazon Chase card and boycotting Amazon over such a thing. We're obviously wired very differently. You seem to be making it personal and this is your way of getting "revenge" on them. I have a sneaking suspicion they're not too shaken by your actions 😉 But whatever makes you happy.

It just doesn't make sense to me why Amazon would remove your review unless it actually did violate a guideline (and I'm just not understanding which one). And, again, since your review is positive, it can't be pressure from the manufacturer (or record label in this case) to remove a "negative" review. So what is your theory? What is Amazon's ulterior motive? Surely you don't think they're just acting at complete random do you?

 

[eurocrank]

Note: what follows is the complete email I got from "Nicole M" telling me why I was banned and my reviews deleted. Talk about cavalier. My name doesn't even occur in the email (there is a comma immediately after "Hello"). "Best regards," really? And this from a company that had been rightly known for spectacular customer service. It was this email that made me decide to cancel my credit card with Amazon. Whatever Amazon thinks or, more likely, doesn't think, about losing a customer, doesn't matter to me. I won't be giving them free money, and there are other cards that give me services I prefer. Amazon isn't what it used to be, and more's the pity. Tuesday, 26 July, 2022 "Hello, We took this action because your Customer Content violated our guidelines and Conditions of Use and you were previously informed of this violation. We won't reinstate your posting permissions for this account. For more information, see our Customer Review Guidelines (https://www.amazon.com/review-guidelines) and Conditions of Use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=508088 I understand you're upset, and I'm sorry we haven't been able to address your concerns to your satisfaction. However, we won't be able to offer any additional insight or action on this matter. Thanks for your understanding. Best regards, Nicole M Amazon.com"

 

[catherinetodd]

I just got banned from Amazon for writing a review and no real reason was given. Plus my Amazon Vine account was closed. I have been an Amazon customer for more than 20 years with more than 50,000 helpful / insights given, and BOOM - canceled for what reason I don't know. I write a lot of reviews especially required for the Vine program and I don't even know which review triggered the ban.

I closed my Amazon credit card the first month I had it as they made paying it so incredibly complicated: I was sure to get a "late fee" for not "doing it correctly as they asked for all kinds of information each time instead of just letting me pay the bill.

Now I will also look for other sources to buy from as the Amazon reviews are practically useless with so many 5 star "perfect" reviews and I noticed that when there were negative ratings given, none of the reviews seemed to be posted. After replies to reviews was instantly canceled, and then negative reviews were canceled, and now I have been canceled from reviewing and all my years worth of reviews were removed I am in literal shock. I was invited to be an Amazon Vine reviewer after being in the top 10% of helpful reviewers on Amazon, and now this? With no explanation whatsoever, except "community guidelines" being violated and no response whatsoever when I reply.

And to usagora, who wrote: "Are you suggesting that Amazon reps are just randomly warning and banning reviewers for absolutely no reason just for giggles? I certainly find that hard to believe."

Why are you defending Amazon and passing judgement on people here who are describing what actually happened to them? Are you working for Amazon in some capacity to negate other people's inexplicable experiences? I find your responses to be hurtful to others and not helpful in the least.

So I am apologizing to those to whom you have responded with your "suspicions" that there "must be more to it than that" and hope you can see the error of your ways. You may well respond to me in the same manner, but it won't matter since it's obvious what you are doing but we don't know why. Should we care?

It's obvious that Amazon does not care about it's customers or it's reviews, and it won't matter one bit to Jeff Bezos when I stop using Amazon, but we have to stand up for ourselves and not allow a behemoth to abuse us or an individual responding in a discussion forum to do the same.

Over and Out, Sincerely... Catherine Todd

 

[Phil77354]

It appears that Amazon has removed reviewer rankings from customer profiles and the top reviewers page and Hall of Fame pages also seem to have been removed. There has never been any real transparency in how Amazon handles their reviewers although stating that "Amazon does not care about it's customers" is hardly correct. They do want the reviews but at the same time they are quite aware that the reputation of reviews on their website has deteriorated over recent years to the point that many customers are skeptical regarding the legitimacy of reviews - while nevertheless paying attention to them. It is often, not always but often, possible to get value from reviews if you spend some time looking at what has been posted and how it was written.

I have seldom posted reviews in recent years and have had my own difficulties with reviewing on Amazon in the past, as I've stated earlier in this thread. I agree that the removal of comments was a real loss since it eliminated the opportunity for customers to interact with legitimate reviewers who were knowledgeable and actually interested in sharing information with others. Years ago when reviewing was not so polluted with trolls and fake reviews there was a pretty vibrant community of reviewers on Amazon who had good discussions on their forums (also removed from the site some years ago). Like many things on the Internet I think that the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater, with one result in this case being many if not most of Amazon's long time serious reviewers becoming discouraged and leaving the platform.

But it doesn't mean that reviews are not going to continue to be found on Amazon. You can be sure that Amazon values having reviews on its website and they'll keep that feature no matter how many changes they make to how reviewers are managed, ranked or not ranked, and so forth.

 

[eurocrank]

No one is suggesting that reviews will no longer be found on Amazon, Phil77374. That possibility has never been mentioned. OF COURSE reviews will continue to be found, of course Amazon values them, because they give the appearance of unsolicited, legitimate opinions. As this thread has pointed out, as even you, Phil77374 (an Amazon apologist), have pointed out, the reality is quite different. Amazon is manipulating what customers see as reviews, most likely to increase sales. Amazon is not just monitoring reviews for appropriateness of content. That is a real loss and a real pity, given what used to be "a pretty vibrant community of reviewers."

It's interesting that Catherine was a Vine reviewer who had 50,000+ views. As a matter of fact, so was I. I did not stay a Vine reviewer for long because I made no effort to seize on items that interested me, so when I did happen to look at what was offered, I didn't see anything I liked, so I canceled my account. However, I did have more than 50,000 views some time ago.

Given these two similarities, I suspect that Amazon has decided to target reviewers with a significant number of views, monitoring responses to their reviews (or even the reviews themselves), making sure they don't have a negative impact on sales. It wouldn't surprise me at all if it was a very recent negative review that Catherine posted which got her banned. The appropriateness of the content may have had absolutely nothing to do with her post being banned, only that she had a negative opinion of the item or the seller.

 

[catherinetodd]

Thank you eurocrank, as I was wondering if one of the very rare recent negative reviews I wrote got me banned. I am still in shock and can't believe it.

I was chastised twice for a review I had written "violating rules" with no mention of which review it was or what rule (since being required to write a lot of reviews being a Vine reviewer); the first was two or three years ago, and with no response to my inquiry at that time, so I thought it was some kind of error, and then this time a few days ago when it was "off with her head" for a "SECOND VIOLATION." Banned for Life!

24 years of reviews were removed with more than 50,000+ impactful reviews, and all other community privileges and groups I belonged to were also removed! I no longer exist in the Amazon community: "Gone Girl Gone." I guess kicking me out out of the Vine program wasn't enough; for what, we will never know.

But they "kindly" said I would be "allowed to continue to purchase on their website."
THAT'LL BE THE DAY.

However, there's no question that purchases from me won't be happening again. Anything I need can be purchased elsewhere and often for less money as well, and I don't need one or two day shipping. But I will miss the reviews (including my own) as that distinquished Amazon from the rest, even knowing so many were false. I only read and used the negative reviews making purchasing decisions.

Of course there was no response to the email I rec'd kicking me out, even though I was told I could discuss their decision with them, just as before. What kind of "customer service" is this?

Talk about being in shock! And just a few days before they had asked me, after being one of the rare "chosen," to help IMPROVE the Vine program... Wow.

Now that I think about it, I even got blamed a few years ago for posting "false product descriptions" when I was first opening my seller's business account, and had NOT posted ANYTHING for sale. When I responded saying I had "NO PRODUCTS FOR SALE and this WAS NOT ME," I received no response, just like with the two reviews recently. So I assumed it was a computer / algorithm error and forgot about it.

But I closed my seller account anyway after receiving those unsubstantiated threats from Amazon.

If this is how they treated their own sellers, how could I trust them to handle my products for sale?

What else would they do to me next? It all just made me sick. So when the same thing happened the first time with a review in "violation of their rules" and no response, I thought it was the same thing of mistaken identity. What more could I do with no response from them and no notice of what the actual violation was, or of what review it was?

But never did I think I would be threatened and punished for writing reviews that had been so positive for so many years, and being INVITED into their program.

Now I'm looking to see where else I can purchase items and watch movies and TV. The only thing that Amazon offers that I can't buy elsewhere is the Kindle books I read, so I will probably have to keep purchasing those from Amazon, but luckily I have hundreds and haven't finished reading them all. So I won't need to go back to their website for quite some time.

I know my quitting Amazon and canceling my Prime subscription won't make a bit of difference to Bezos or the out of control behemoth called Amazon, but I won't be further traumatized by seeing their name in my emails or their logo on boxes in the mail. At least I hope so!

If this could happen to me, eurocrank and so many others who have posted here, who is safe from this obviously uncaring monster who doesn't give a darn about it's loyal customers? 24 years of work writing reviews down the drain with NO REAL REASON GIVEN and NO RESPONSE. They are WORSE than the bad companies that get reviewed for such poor customer service.


Jeff Bezos, what have you done?

MacKenzie Scott was lucky to get out when she did!

 

[catherinetodd]

Come to think of it, one of the last reviews I wrote (out of many at the time) a few weeks ago WAS a "negative review." Could that really have been enough to ban me for life? It's apparently a mystery that will never be solved.

 

[russell_314]

I buy from Amazon frequently, but I take the reviews with a grain of salt. Many of them are obviously fake. I remember a while back one of my reviews got deleted for not following some guidelines, but they don’t say why. It’s kind of like when social media platforms say you did something wrong they don’t always tell you what that is. Sometimes they do it but a lot of times they don’t. I guess that protects them from some sort of legal problems but still it’s annoying.

 

[catherinetodd]

I buy from Amazon frequently, but I take the reviews with a grain of salt. Many of them are obviously fake. I remember a while back one of my reviews got deleted for not following some guidelines, but they don’t say why. It’s kind of like when social media platforms say you did something wrong they don’t always tell you what that is. Sometimes they do it but a lot of times they don’t. I guess that protects them from some sort of legal problems but still it’s annoying.

I think it protects them from spending the money to actually review the so-called "problem" with the review and not waste time correcting their algorithm errors. Just goes to show they could care less.

 

[cardfan]

Come to think of it, one of the last reviews I wrote (out of many at the time) a few weeks ago WAS a "negative review." Could that really have been enough to ban me for life? It's apparently a mystery that will never be solved.

Still a vine reviewer but very seldom now unless it’s something i really want. At one point i was so behind. My wife went nuts during Covid. It really does get old. Let’s just say I don’t review unless I have to anymore.

And yes I’m aware they cull reviewers or let them go with no warning. No follow up. Could happen anytime to me. Since vine started really. At one point I thought I was gone but checked back after a year (for 1099) and noticed it active.

 

[catherinetodd]

At one point I thought I was gone but checked back after a year (for 1099) and noticed it active.

Did they remove all of your previous reviews, as they did me, for any and all reviews (not just vine)?

 

[cardfan]

Did they remove all of your previous reviews, as they did me, for any and all reviews (not just vine)?

No everything still there.

They just reinvited me back to vine. Told my wife she’s doing the reviews this time. Guess we’ll need to do the ones we left unreviewed. Ugh.

Silver rank. Getting treated as new.

 

[catherinetodd]

No everything still there.

They just reinvited me back to vine. Told my wife she’s doing the reviews this time. Guess we’ll need to do the ones we left unreviewed. Ugh.

Silver rank. Getting treated as new.

cardfan, did you do anything to get back on there? Email anyone? Or just showed "reinvited" with no reason given? I too had so many reviews left to write, and it's so unfair to the sellers who spent good money to send the products for free.

Too bad about "treated as new," meaning lost your high status? (same here) What is "silver rank?"

 

[chrissyjoseph55]

Well, you are misunderstanding one thing, at least.

Requests from vendors to you requesting review of their products are not resulting from any Amazon action. They are a result of vendors obtaining your e-mail address either because you have posted it on your Amazon profile, or because at some point in the past you had some interaction with one or more vendors that resulted in your name getting picked up and put on a list of Amazon reviewers.

Amazon does not provide e-mail addresses of reviewers to vendors. Period.

If you were re-instated once, and you've done nothing wrong, then you can go through the same process you have already learned to follow and you will have your reviewing capabilities restored again.

It is an imperfect process but if you have posted 5000 reviews on Amazon then you should have a pretty good understanding of the history of how this has all evolved, and have learned by now how to deal with it.

And why do you say 'I can't help them' if you have never received a request from a vendor and then posted a review to their product? These days vendors offer to reimburse reviewers for the cost of purchasing a product after the review is posted. Presumably in an effort to avoid detection by Amazon. You are suggesting that you get an e-mail from a vendor and then decide to purchase their product and post a review without anything in return? Well, good for you if that is what you're doing, but you can be sure that it raises lots of red flags to Amazon.

If you want to be a reviewer in good standing on Amazon then my suggestion is that you ignore vendor requests for review and simply go about your normal life and review the things you buy for yourself, not things that are promoted to you for the purpose of soliciting reviews.

Good Grief. I have been trying to reach someone (anyone) who will explain to me why I am blocked from writing reviews. I have written to two different email addresses, without any luck. I ask what I did and all they parrot is to read the community guidelines. I said that doesn't tell me what happened. I have written several emails and haven't received a response. It's been over a year.

 

[Phil77354]

Good Grief. I have been trying to reach someone (anyone) who will explain to me why I am blocked from writing reviews. I have written to two different email addresses, without any luck. I ask what I did and all they parrot is to read the community guidelines. I said that doesn't tell me what happened. I have written several emails and haven't received a response. It's been over a year.

Time to move on. Nobody here can offer anything other than their opinions and speculation. Amazon is not going to necessarily give you anything more than what you've received already. There have been other posts in this thread giving suggestions on how to get their attention if you do have a legitimate case that you were banned without good cause, but there is no guarantee that they will agree with you or give you any better explanation. Or even respond or take any action at all. Many reviewers loose interest anyway after a few years and move on to other interests.