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AIBU?

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Original poster

To expect Amazon to not butcher reviews I write?

32 replies

CupidStuntSurvivor · 24/04/2015 12:31

Went to order nappies and baby wipes this morning. I normally buy nappies at £18 for 140 with free postage. They've been hiked up to £25.39 in the last month with £3.40 postage added. Anything better value is now Prime exclusive.

The wipes I buy have also been made Prime exclusive and all similarly priced wipes have had a price increase.

It's obvious that they're trying to price customers into a Prime subscription but Amazon Prime is £79. I will of course start buying these things elsewhere where I can get better value for money.

Anyway, I both wrote to Amazon and left a review on each of the items. The reviews have now been posted but have been completely butchered. The first one only has the first sentence I wrote stating that the product is fine and the second one doesn't resemble the review I wrote in the slightest!

AIBU to expect Amazon to only publish edited reviews if they're an accurate representation of what the customer has said?!

OP posts:
WizardofSnoz · 24/04/2015 12:37

Because it's not a review of the product? It's a review of the company and that's not the purpose of the review function?

Are you really that dim? Do you honestly think that a company is going to allow customers to post all over their website criticizing them as company telling them to go elsewhere?

Anybody with any sense would have realised it wouldn't be published. If you had wanted to make a point you should have kept it relevant to the product rather than criticizing Amazon and they probably would have posted it. e.g. bought these but am not convinced this item offers value for money.

306235388 · 24/04/2015 12:39

Jeez no need to be so rude wizard

RubbishRobotFromTheDawnOfTime · 24/04/2015 12:40

You're supposed to be reviewing the product. It's up to others how much they want to pay. So YABU. It's annoying when you read a one-star review to find the product was fine and the reviewer is complaining about the delivery or some other detail.

Original poster
CupidStuntSurvivor · 24/04/2015 12:42

There was a product review in there too.

Looks like someone's chips got pissed on today though. Hmm

OP posts:
Chocolatefudgebrownieicecream · 24/04/2015 12:43

YANBU. Yes the review should review the product. but ... since there is no where else to write (where customers can see) about the service you received on that product then I think it is perfectly reasonable to write it in your review. It is very unreasonable of Amazon to alter your review and then post it as your review.

WaywardOn3 · 24/04/2015 12:48

Why not have put something like

This product, though still great, is disappointingly far more expensive than it used to be. I'd still recommend people buy it but I'll be buying it cheaper elsewhere in future

Though I'm no good at review writing :-)

FreudiansSlipper · 24/04/2015 12:50

amazon are sneaky fuckers

try cancelling their amaxon prime and writing a review on their site of their product

many reviews will also comment on fast arrival, damages on arrival and so on

WaywardOn3 · 24/04/2015 12:50

Or does that still class as a dig at the company?

Original poster
CupidStuntSurvivor · 24/04/2015 12:52

wayward that is similar to the reviews I wrote, though in both, Prime was mentioned.

For example, for the wipes I said they're good wipes, represent good value and last me ages so very convenient but that I was disappointed that they're now Prime exclusive.

What they've published is: Not Worth Paying Much EXPENSIVE!

OP posts:
TedAndLola · 24/04/2015 12:58

You're supposed to be reviewing the product. It's up to others how much they want to pay. So YABU. It's annoying when you read a one-star review to find the product was fine and the reviewer is complaining about the delivery or some other detail.

Agree. I wish Amazon was better at refusing to approve reviews that aren't about the product itself.

At the same time I think they should either publish or not, NOT edit and publish.

WaywardOn3 · 24/04/2015 13:00

Amazon have gone quite weird lately to be fair but that still doesn't give them the excuse to turn that review into the garbage you've said they did. Granted you shouldn't have brought prime into it.

GraysAnalogy · 24/04/2015 13:01

YABY, as already stated you review the product not the service of amazon. The two should be separate and that's what's created the errors.

WaywardOn3 · 24/04/2015 13:02

I did review a cheap american manga a few years ago. Absolutely slated it as it was a very naff butchered plagarism of an awesome Japanese manga I'd already read. Amazon published my review in full though refused to pull the book from their sales

Original poster
CupidStuntSurvivor · 24/04/2015 13:03

That's sort of what I'm getting at Ted...if they didn't like that I mentioned Prime in the reviews, they should have declined to publish it and tell me why, not rewrite it and publish it as a review I've written.

I didn't even say the wipes were expensive, I said they were good value!

OP posts:
TedAndLola · 24/04/2015 13:06

You're not being unreasonable about the editing, definitely. Smile

Original poster
CupidStuntSurvivor · 24/04/2015 13:06

I would say apologies for the drip feed, but nowhere in my OP did I say my reviews didn't say anything about the products.

I'd also disagree that you can't comment on pricing in reviews...if you can't comment on pricing, you can't talk about value for money.

OP posts:
annielouise · 24/04/2015 13:06

I won't use Amazon as they deleted a review I wrote about a company where I mentioned something about the customer having to "suck it up" as there was no comeback for something. By all accounts the person that deleted it thought "suck" was a rude word. Refused to reinstate it.

londonrach · 24/04/2015 13:11

I dint understand amazon the moment. The price of one item i wanted seems to go up daily. Its amusing as ive now bought in cheer by £10 in the local shop. Still getting emails sayings its available but each email makes it £1-2 dearer. However i wouldnt write that in a review as the review would be on the product. Also amazon other sellers postage is now very expensive!

WizardofSnoz · 24/04/2015 13:13

Yes there was a product review in there too. And they published that. They just didn't publish a rant against their company. They do have an 'excuse' to edit the review however they wish as before you submit you are warned that it becomes their intellectual property and they may edit it or reject it any way they choose.

The only grounds for issue would be if you had reviewed an item and the review had been edited to change your view on the product in question. So for example if you said 'These nappies aren't very good, I don't think you should buy them they leak'. And they edit this down to 'These nappies don't leak' you have grounds for complaint.

You don't have any grounds for complaint if they remove completely irrelevant stuff relating to the company rather than the product in question.

Personally I'm glad they did it, I find it really frustrating when people don't use the Amazon review function for what it's for. So you get one star reviews because the postman put a card through instead of leaving it with a neighbour. People use the reviews to judge a product and it's quality, not to judge the company overall. And it's irritating to have to wade through reviews which are totally irrelevant to the product you're trying to assess and nobody cares about apart from you.

And I'm sorry if I sounded terse but sometimes you read something and think 'Are you for real'?

If the OP thinks they were bad value she has every right to say so and they do publish reviews which say things like that. But complaining about the company and their practices is obviously going to be edited out. Amazon have behaved totally reasonably and also acted within very clearly set out terms that the OP agreed to when she posted.

Original poster
CupidStuntSurvivor · 24/04/2015 13:18

No wizard they didn't publish my product review of the wipes at all (completely altered my view on value for money actually) and only published one line of my product review of the nappies. They did not just remove any mention of Prime, they removed information about the products.

OP posts:
Original poster
CupidStuntSurvivor · 24/04/2015 13:20

You say it annoys you if you see reviews with 'irrelevant' information in them...

I'd be more annoyed knowing I'm reading reviews that are severely edited by the seller. What's the point in reading the reviews if they're not from the customer?

OP posts:
GraysAnalogy · 24/04/2015 13:49

I'd rather read a review that's been edited to make it relevant.

Original poster
CupidStuntSurvivor · 24/04/2015 13:58

Can it be relevant at all if it's been edited so much that it's no longer accurate?

OP posts:
steff13 · 24/04/2015 15:46

Can it be relevant at all if it's been edited so much that it's no longer accurate?

As long as the information about the review of the actual product wasn't changed, I'd call it accurate.

ShakesBootyFlabWobbles · 24/04/2015 15:52

Takes some review tips from Veet on Amazon:

www.amazon.co.uk/review/R231U4ZG0YDNHD/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B000KKNQBK&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=65801031&store=drugstore

Seems like they didn't mind rude words when this was posted.

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