Ask HN: Anyone else quickly losing confidence in Amazon?
by d23 on Hacker News.
I feel like every time I search for something I expect the products to be either fake, filled with fake reviews, broken when I receive them, or from a no-name fake brand that popped up last week. It has become seemingly impossible to wade through the mess. What’s worse, there seems to be zero way to report these listings. I tried submitting a review warning other customers about the fake reviews for a fake product, but the review was not approved. In that particular instance, I was actively recommended a “wasp trap” by Amazon. Curious, I saw it was rated 4.8. Turns out the positive reviews were all for… a pet cemetery headstone (complete with photos, to make the issue completely unambiguous). The listing itself was posted by a seller that had almost all negative reviews that were — removed by Amazon! The reason? Amazon took responsibility, since it was fulfilled by Amazon. The problem: none of the negative reviews had anything to do with things like shipping time. They were all basically calling the product a scam. This seems like a looming disaster for Amazon. It baffles me that there is no way for customers to at least report these issues. I’ve done most of my shopping for the last 15 years on Amazon, but I’m seriously considering stopping. Is anyone else in this boat?