THE MINDLESS BOTS AT AMAZON

            Amazon is the 400lb gorilla in the room. So much of what we do as writers depends on Amazon. The company is huge but from many…many anecdotal experiences from friends, they are an uncommunicative monolith.

            Case in point. I recently got a warning that one of my reviews didn’t meet up to Amazon standards, which if you research, is a lengthy tome of rules and regulations that almost nobody reads. So, I had no idea what I did wrong because they didn’t provide an example of my offending review.

            Was it a curse word? A political stance? A racist comment?

            Well, I don’t do any of those except maybe infer a colorful metaphor without saying it. Political? I’ll criticize an author who goes blatantly political but don’t specify which side I’m on. I don’t like any of it!

            Racist? Never going to happen.

CONTACTING AMAZON

            To inquire what I did wrong, I get a bot that tells me to read the rules.

            Oh…kay.

            Been there, done that but still don’t have any idea what I did wrong.

            E-mail Amazon and get back the same old same old. “Refer to the rules.”

            I have over a thousand reviews. Which one was it?

            I’m not the only one with issues. One friend had her books banned because she supposedly had two separate accounts. One was an obsolete identity she used decades ago. She went through hoops trying to get it resolved and I guess after several years, she finally either talked to a human or it resolved itself.

            Small publishers have to deal with this bullshit every day when dealing with Amazon. Apparently there’s no live help…at all.

            With the thousands of employees they have, you’d think they’d at least have customer service of some kind?

NOT ALONE

            Apparently Amazon is not alone with this issue. Microsoft is notoriously bad for customer service. Everything is “refer to the guidance” or get on chat rooms that may or may not help. Same for Facebook, Twitter and who knows who else?

            Are these titans too big for their britches?

SUMMARY

            So far, my complaint is relatively minor compared to many others.

            I still have no idea what I did wrong.

            Instead, I just keep on writing and hope for the best.

            Happy writing!