dgfoster
Diamond
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2008
- Location
- Bellingham, WA
Over the last year or so I have noticed a few of my reviews not ever being posted on Amazon. Those missing reviews were fair, in my opinion, but not positive. The positive ones, which make up the great majority always show up. So, I concluded that Amazon was selectively holding back negative reviews and basically I decided to not be their shill and to not write any reviews.
Today I learned that it is the sellers who can suppress reviews and Amazon only learns of this and investigates if there is a complaint. That Amazon does not track reviews posted in its website on items sold through its website to be sure the reviews are posted and why the seller is allowed to suppress reviews at all without explanation to Amazon amazes me. It would be the simplest thing to for Amazon to note an exception of a review submitted but not posted and to ask for an explanation. But, according to a customer service rep I talked to at Amazon tonight, that is how it works. So, if you have a bad experience and post a negative review, you might want to check to see that it is not suppressed. And we should bear in mind that the Amazon reviews are not representative of all buyers' responses.
The back story:
I recently bought an power drill adaptor for the knee elevating screw on my BP mill. It was advertised as made of hardened steel and would fit most mills. Any number of people reported fitting problems and I was no exception. The bore was undersize. I measured my crank rod on my BP and it is .6246 or so. The last 1/3 of the bore of the adaptor was undersize. I reamed it out. No big deal, but pretty sloppy to not have some sort of QA at the factory consisting of a simple piece of .6250 rod acting as a no--go.
Secondly the item was made of steel as soft as steel gets---Rc 10. I checked it on a calibrated Wilson bench tester. I also did a simple file test. It filled on the teeth just as you would expect dead-soft steel to file. In some ways, being soft may not be the worst thing. I'd rather the adaptor wear out rather than it wear out my mill knee crank. But I do object to misrepresentation of an item as being made of better materials than it is.
So, I called Amazon customer service and to my surprise actually talked to living person who spoke English fairly well. I registered my complaints and asked about why I was not seeing some of my reviews on Amazon. that is when I got the explanation that the sellers themselves can autonomously block reviews and need not report blocks to Amazon and that Amazon does not check for suppressed reviews unless prompted by complaint. It is not hard to see how such a policy boosts sales at least in the short term. But Amazon could pay if they lose credibility.
FWIW,
Denis
Today I learned that it is the sellers who can suppress reviews and Amazon only learns of this and investigates if there is a complaint. That Amazon does not track reviews posted in its website on items sold through its website to be sure the reviews are posted and why the seller is allowed to suppress reviews at all without explanation to Amazon amazes me. It would be the simplest thing to for Amazon to note an exception of a review submitted but not posted and to ask for an explanation. But, according to a customer service rep I talked to at Amazon tonight, that is how it works. So, if you have a bad experience and post a negative review, you might want to check to see that it is not suppressed. And we should bear in mind that the Amazon reviews are not representative of all buyers' responses.
The back story:
I recently bought an power drill adaptor for the knee elevating screw on my BP mill. It was advertised as made of hardened steel and would fit most mills. Any number of people reported fitting problems and I was no exception. The bore was undersize. I measured my crank rod on my BP and it is .6246 or so. The last 1/3 of the bore of the adaptor was undersize. I reamed it out. No big deal, but pretty sloppy to not have some sort of QA at the factory consisting of a simple piece of .6250 rod acting as a no--go.
Secondly the item was made of steel as soft as steel gets---Rc 10. I checked it on a calibrated Wilson bench tester. I also did a simple file test. It filled on the teeth just as you would expect dead-soft steel to file. In some ways, being soft may not be the worst thing. I'd rather the adaptor wear out rather than it wear out my mill knee crank. But I do object to misrepresentation of an item as being made of better materials than it is.
So, I called Amazon customer service and to my surprise actually talked to living person who spoke English fairly well. I registered my complaints and asked about why I was not seeing some of my reviews on Amazon. that is when I got the explanation that the sellers themselves can autonomously block reviews and need not report blocks to Amazon and that Amazon does not check for suppressed reviews unless prompted by complaint. It is not hard to see how such a policy boosts sales at least in the short term. But Amazon could pay if they lose credibility.
FWIW,
Denis