I recently went to leave a review for a product I bought on Amazon and received this message, "Sorry, we are unable to accept your review. You are no longer permitted to review products on Amazon because you have violated our Community Guidelines." There are so many things about this that offend me, it is hard to know where to start.
- They don't bother to contact people and let them know this happened. I had no idea they did this to me or why.
- They deleted all reviews I've written in the past.
- They make it almost impossible to contact someone about it. When you go to write a review you get sent to a link of the community guidelines which is not helpful at all.
I've been reading up on this and apparently this is a thing. If a person leaves a negative review for a business the business might complain to Amazon and amazon bans the person who leaves the negative review. In my case, I don't see this as happening as I don't recall ever leaving a negative review. Most of my reviews have been on books I've read and are usually positive.
I've also read a report on the Wall Street Journal about Amazon employees deleting negative reviews for bribes. But I also don't think this applies to me. As it would be an individual review versus all my reviews.
On a Sunday afternoon I started the online chat process which went something like this…
Initial Question: Trying to write a review and was told this... "Sorry, we are unable to accept your review. You are no longer permitted to review products on Amazon because you have violated our Community Guidelines." Why? as all my reviews have been honest and I don't recall ever saying anything rude or offensive.
05:05 AM PST Amazon: I have checked your concern and I can understand that you were not able to provide review for the item.
please do not worry, I will definitely help you with this
05:05 AM PST Me: I see nothing in your community guidelines
05:09 AM PST Amazon: Okay, No worries and Just to confirm, Have you received any Email regarding this from our review specialist team before?
05:09 AM PST Me: no. this is the first I've been made aware of this, so what exactly did I do that violates your guidelines that caused me to be banned?
05:09 AM PST Amazon: Okay, No worries, I will definitely help you with this and Are you able to wait a few moments while I check this for you?
05:10 AM PST Me: yes
05:13 AM PST Amazon: Thank you for being on hold.
05:16 AM PST Amazon: I have checked your concern and issue from my end and the issue that you are facing is just for a temporary purpose and it may be due to some website error or technical glitch and it can be fixed but please do not worry, for this too I have forwarded your concern to our review specialist team from my end and they will also get back to you within next 24 hours Via Email and once they contact you, you will be able to provide review for the items again and also the review which you have posted before will also appear in your account again and there is no need to worry for this and your account is completely safe and fine and it is just for a temporary purpose, and I assure you, you will be able provide review for the items as soon as possible once they contact you
05:17 AM PST Amazon: and there is no need to worry for this and your account is completely safe and secure
and also as for this inconvenience caused to you, I am also going ahead and I am issuing you $10 promotional credit as a goodwill gesture from Amazon for the apology
05:18 AM PST Me: ok.
05:20 AM PST Amazon: Thank you so much and There is no need to worry for this and your review will be automatically get appear in the website page and in the account soon and Everything is fine with your account
05:20 AM PST Me: ok. I'll wait to hear back then. thanks
05:21 AM PST Amazon: You are most welcome and I really appreciate you for your co-operation with us and as for this inconvenience caused to you, I have also issued you $10 promotional credit as an exception from my end and Yes definitely you can and there is no need to worry for this and I assure you, it will be fix as soon as possible,
05:21 AM PST Me: ok
Four Days Later
It wasn't 24 hours like promised but I did receive an email.
We believe that an unauthorized party may have accessed your account. To protect your information, we have:
-- Disabled the password to your account.
-- Reversed any changes to your account made by this party.
-- Canceled any pending orders.
-- Removed any Community Content submitted by this party.
There was more in the email but you get the point. So, apparently my account was hacked and it wasn't a technical glitch like the person on the chat said. Also, when he said that all the reviews I previously wrote would be back - they are not. Any reviews I previously wrote are gone, but on the plus side, I got a 10 dollar credit :(
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