Amazon Bars Me From Reviewing Their Product

I've been a good customer of Amazon for many years. I subscribe to Amazon Prime and have spent thousands of dollars on their website. I have a Firestick at home that my family and I use all the time, primarily to watch YouTube videos. Now comes word that the Youtube app will no longer function after January 1st because Google and Amazon are quarreling. Amazon refused to let Google sell some of their products (e.g.. Chromecast to name one) on it's site so Google pulled the plug on Amazon using Youtube. When I used my Firestick today it alerted me that "Youtube will no longer function after January 1st."

I went to the the Amazon Firestick page and answered one of the questions that asked "Does the Firestick have the Youtube app? " by saying "Not after January 1st." I explained the situation and ended by saying "Not good Amazon." No profanity or hyperbole. When I tried to post my reply, Amazon would not let me, stating I could not because "You must be a member of the community in good standing in order to post."
WTF?
So I decided to post a review of the Firestick itself but Amazon barred me from doing even this, stating,

"Sorry, we are unable to accept your review of this product for either one or both of the following reasons:
Your previous review of this product did not comply with our Customer Reviews Guidelines. Amazon does not permit reviews from customers whose relationship to the product or seller may be perceived as biased."

There was no prior review of this product.
I purchased it in good faith and was not happy to lose a major function, one of the main reasons I bought it.
Amazon won't even let me comment on this. They've now ticked off a long time customer who has spent a lot of money on their site.
They are starting to behave like the monopoly they are.
Not good Amazon, not good.

Welcome to this new world

I got that message tonight too. It might be possible to load a youtube app from elsewhere, as I’ve done with Vudu.
If not, I’ll get a Roku, or just use the app in the tv.
Sounds crappy about the review, certainly suspicious.

I could imagine that they are blocking a whole lot of people right now for this specific item.

Yep, what a great new world we live in when a few big corporations decide so much of our daily lifes.

I would call amazon and talk to them about this.

I have had problems with Amazon before but when I called their customer service and talked to an actual person the response has always been excellent.

Their AI sometimes does stupid things but the people you talk to are usually very professional, courteous and helpful. Give it a try before getting too upset. If they brush you off even after calling them, rip 'em a new one.

The Online Review was such a great idea! People can gush about services or products! Wait...companies just have people give good reviews as a business model? That's not honest! Let us give bad reviews too!

But too many people left negative reviews that were not truthful. Oh no. What should be done?

We'll just not allow bad reviews!


Happened to me with a local vendor. Three jobs for me. Each acceptable- not great. One was simply done incorrectly and I had them correct it. Told the owner I do not yell and scream but this isn't right. Take it back and do it right. I expect it in 48 hours as I am now your #1 priority.

I put on their website a review that said when they didn't meet reasonable expectations they corrected their errors no problem. Also mentioned they were good people.

Next time I tried to use them, the owner told me he wasn't comfortable doing business with me. I thanked him for identifying his business as one that was prepared to let bad work out the door in the hopes the customer wouldn't notice. My review of their work was removed, too. They obviously have somebody review their customer reviews and ID "problems". It was better for them to lose a repeat, local customer than to start doing quality work as their baseline. Very bad ethics.

That's online reviews. A bunch of crap is what they are, for the most part. I don't believe they serve any merchant well.

Odd. I just looked up a Firestick product on Amazon, searched for only 1 star reviews and found many, even very recent ones complaining about the YouTube issue. Strange that they would block some from complaining but allow others.

Lets see the review you posted. Maybe there was a word or something that tripped the system?

Kinda cool, just found out my Apple 4k TV box will also play all my Amazon Prime shows to.

Not that it has anything to do with Amazons reviewing policies.

That sounds terrible. That is why I don't want Amazon to get too big. In any case, the last dozen or so computer components I bought I tried to use Amazon but simply couldn't due to cost. That plus their longer than average shipping time compared to their competitors. Just bought a portable HDD and was trying to use Amazon for a change, but why pay $10-20 more and wait an extra 3-5 days when I can get it elsewhere?

Last things I bought on Amazon were:
SSD deal last year, amazing price! Was lucky to get that but it was limited in supply and I just stumbled upon it. A 3DS game last year, however prices on those are pretty much the same every where. This year another 3DS game, again, same price as elsewhere.

If Amazon has another crazy SSD deal this year I will get it as well, but I'm mostly done with my computer related shopping for a while.

I never even got to write my product review. When I clicked on the rating stars it immediately barred me from going any further. There was no way to write a review. It really bugs me that they treat a long time customer this way and can suppress any dissent. That's the sign of a company that is becoming too big and too powerful.

Well, I try to make it a habit to - in the absence of clear evidence to the contrary - explain bad things by incompetence rather than malice. So I think it actually is a good idea to call customer support. At least you will find out if there's reason to believe in a conspiracy, or maybe they simply sort out a glitch. ...and let us know what happened next.

Docjonel it's not enough to support Amazon through your purchases you must tow the company line at all times.



I've been a Chase customer for over 20 years. Recently i complained on 3 different occasions (and to Chase HQ in NY as well) about the broken Chase ATM machine at the airport. Two weeks later Chase removed all their ATM machines from the airport.

Here in Australia we call it "conspiracy versus cock-up". Always go for cock-up.