I’m an excellent Amazon customer, purchasing a multitude of things every week. I thought leaving reviews was a good thing, but I was wrong. I discovered this one day when signing on and seeing I went from being a top 10,000 reviewer to nothing, and they had removed four years’ worth of legitimate reviews for no reason! Talk about being frustrated. Now when I click the review button, I get a warning about “unusual reviewing activity” and am blocked from going further.
Your Review Goes Against Community Guidelines
I got my first warning after reviewing a children’s fishing pole. The e-mail said the review had been removed because it went against community standards. I had no idea what they meant, so I thought maybe it was because I included photos of my son in the review and maybe they didn’t want pictures of kids. So I resubmitted the review without the photos and it was rejected as well. I brushed it off as just a weird thing, but it seems that put me on their radar.
I enjoy leaving reviews so I would often just hop on and go through my purchases and review everything one by one. I thought that was what the review option was for- to leave reviews. I saw my reviewer rating going up, and it fired me up to start leaving MORE reviews and adding photos and videos. And that’s when Amazon started deleting my reviews without even telling me.
Amazon’s Community Help is Useless
The message I got said to review the community guidelines, which I did. I’d followed all the rules, so I then messaged the e-mail included with the notice- community-help@amazon.com. I waited a few days and got no reply, so I messaged again. I suspect there’s just some e-mail black hole where all those messages go, because it’s been over a year and I’ve sent at least ten e-mails (or more) and none have EVER gotten a response.
So I tried their instant messaging system where I get to chat with a live person. I’ve done this three times now, each time spending way too long explaining what is going on, and each time it ending with them promising me they have fixed the problem and I will get my reviews back. They also tell me I’ll get an e-mail about with within a day or two. The e-mail never comes and the review block remains. So now I suspect Amazon customer service is just lying to me to get off the call.
Why Don’t You Start a New Account
I could of course just start a whole new account, but I don’t want to do that. I have Amazon Prime on my account and have years’ worth of stored orders that make it easy to look up and re-order things. Plus I have tons of movies I’ve purchased that I would lose. I don’t want to start a new account, I just want my own account to fully function as it should. I feel like that’s not too much to ask from a company that gets a ton of my business.
I know it’s not a big deal to not be able to leave reviews, but it just bugs me when I get something particularly good, or particularly bad, and want to share. I write, it’s what I do. So cutting me off from writing and sharing my review bugs me until it builds up and I send another useless e-mail. I actually sent another one today.
As a side note, I did actually start another totally separate account for the Amazon Influencer program. That is the only thing I use that account for. I don’t buy anything with it, because it doesn’t have Prime, and I don’t leave any reviews of anything at all because I’m afraid of it getting blocked or removed. I only use it for the influencer and affiliate program.
How to Avoid this Happening to You
I’m pretty sure the reason I was blocked was because I reviewed everything I ordered, several items at a time. So don’t do that! Save your reviews for things you really have something to say about. I know some people get blocked for leaving reviews of things they got for free, but I left reviews on things I personally purchased, with many of the items coming directly from Amazon and no way I could be getting them for free.
And if this has happened to you, sorry to say I’ve had no luck getting the reviews back! If anyone has had luck and would like to share how they did it, please leave a comment.
Geek Mamas 
🤨 It is probably a new algorithm that thought you were a bot. Amazon has had a problem with fake reviews in the past.
I genuinely hope you get an email from Amazon alerting you that it was all an error.
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That’s probably it, because I tried researching and ran across a few other stories like mine- where they left several reviews at a time and then got blocked. It sucks to get punished for doing something you thought was a good thing, lol.
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That’s Big Tech for you. Fake reviews on the platform are condoned, while actual human customers who buy and leave reviews get the banhammer.
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Yep! It’s so annoying.
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Hi, I had the exact same thing happen to me yesterday. I appealed to no avail. I have been a loyal Amazon customer since 1998. I have never been paid for any of my reviews. They were all honest, legit reviews on products that I have purchased. Now, they tell me all of my reviews over the years have been deleted, and I am banned from posting any future reviews on products that I purchase, and I can’t ask questions about products I am thinking about buying. I am furious over this because I have done absolutely nothing wrong. They will not even tell you what it is that they think you have done wrong. Some stupid computer algorithm I suspect red flags you for god knows what and then some overbearing, overzealous human moderator enforces an unfair ban. Thanks for posting this Candy. Have you had any luck yet getting things restored, or have you simply given up?
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I have currently given up after copy and pasting the same e-mail every day for a few weeks with absolutely no response. It’s ridiculous, frustrating and honestly infuriating to be treated this way after being a good customer for so many years! And I still purchase stuff every week, sticking with my account because of all the movies saved up on it. If you ever get a response or get this resolved, please let me know how you did it! I am tired of wasting my time with more e-mails and customer service messaging.
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Yup. Been with AMZN since it started back in the 90s. Did hundreds of reviews. This is my review. Or part of it anyway.
Thanks Dr. Sarcasm,
Your latest customer review is live on Amazon. We and millions of shoppers on Amazon appreciate the time you took to share your experience with this item.
Burned Out 5-*
from Dr. Sarcasm on February 25, 2023
Yes it’s true I worked there once…….sine scientia ars nihil est!!!!
Well. Worked at this Children’s Hospital and its not in Biloxi. Close. I left right when the author came on board(after working years there). My synopsis.
Those two CT Surgeons he worked with in the beginning? Here’s a clue. When I went on transports to pick…
See your full review
And then this: 3/15/2023, 8:09:48 AM
Hello,
You have repeatedly posted content that violates our Community Guidelines (available at http://www.amazon.com/review-guidelines) or Conditions of Use ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=508088).
An initial warning has been sent to you. Because of your repeated violation of our Community Guidelines we’ve removed your ability to participate in Community features.
If you would like to contact us about this decision, please email community-help@amazon.com.
Thanks for your understanding in this matter.
NONE of that is true!!!!!! I was furious and continue to send them Emails(every week) asking why. I have never had a review pulled by AMZN. I even have AMZN stock!!!! MacKenzie Scott(bezos) used to send me gifts at the beginning of AMZN. I’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars with AMZN. Bought thousands of books. And this is how I’m treated?????
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I still sometimes send an e-mail just to see if someone will answer. It’s been years and still no reply at all.
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Wow. How depressing. Guess I will never get my reviews back. Thank You!!!!!!
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I keep hoping to reach someone. If you do happen to figure it out, I’d love it if you let me know! BTW, going through customer service chat is a waste of time. I did that twice, both times taking at least 30 min. with them “checking with their superiors” and reassuring me everything would be fixed in 24 hours…and still nothing!
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After the thousands of dollars I’ve spent on Amazon, this is how they treat me? I don’t get mad, usually I just get even. Hey Amazon, are you sure you want to lose my business because of some stupid, woke reviewer decided I violated some stupid policy or another????
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It’s been a couple years and I’m still blocked! But honestly, I don’t think Amazon cares about losing anyone’s business.
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