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They do care about the quality of their own products. I posted a negative review on an Amazon product, and they called me(!) so that I could further elaborate.

They do care about the quality of their own products. I posted a negative review on an Amazon product, and they called me(!) so that I could further elaborate. It was very odd because they called within an hour of the review. At some point I must have given them my phone number. This was a review for their TV Cube. I was trying to buy something with good voice control to allow a paralyzed person to browse YouTube, and TV Cube could not do it (maybe it will be better in the future..). I suspect the only reason I got the call is that TV Cube is in active development.

opportune 7y ago
I posted a negative review on a FBA product (~$100) that arrived super late and damaged. I got called to offer me $20 to take the review down. Didn’t respond, they somehow got my review taken down anyway. That was the first time I realized how bad Amazon was getting. Kind of surprised this is something Amazon does too though; I figured only crappy dropshippers would engage in that
- bobsoap 7y ago
  I once posted a negative review on their Basics HDMI cable, which had absymal shielding. It went "under review" immediately, and a few days later the review just silently vanished without a trace.
- chatmasta 7y ago
  What is wrong with Amazon (or any vendor) following up on a bad review? If they’re offering incentives to take it down, of course that’s a problem. But engaging with the customer and identifying faults in detail seems like a plainly good, consumer-friendly and win/win behavior that every brand should practice. That said, I’m not sure a third party seller can get my contact info as easily as Amazon can, so that part seems a bit unfair.
  - okmokmz 7y ago
    The problem is not "following up on a bad review" the problem is "I got called to offer me $20 to take the review down. Didn’t respond, they somehow got my review taken down anyway"
mikob 7y ago
If you're still looking for a good way to browse YouTube - I've made a Chrome extension that let's you browse the web using voice control - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lipsurf-voice-control-for/lnnmjmalakahagblkkcnjkoaihlfglon https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lipsurf-voice-cont... Hope this helps.
- jhallenworld 7y ago
  I was hoping from something like Roku- basically an appliance, not a computer. It should be always listening (not tap to listen), and screen should be far away for casual viewing, not in front of your face like a laptop which causes eye strain. The TV Cube is almost there, the problem was that the voice commands are not built into its OS, instead each app has to implement them and the YouTube app didn't. It means the voice commands only work well with the Amazon native apps. Voice is really in an abysmal state on all platforms. Pretend you can't touch anything, then read this for the fun: https://www.techhive.com/article/3373853/how-to-use-roku-voice-controls.html https://www.techhive.com/article/3373853/how-to-use-roku-voi... For appliances, you have the usual problem of not being able to accept terms to use institutional WiFi (lack of a good web browser). Also for computers with a screen in front of your face, there already is a better solution: eye tracking. But there is an annoying secondary problem with YouTube on a laptop: I can't lend my YouTube Red account (for an ad-free experience) to someone without also being fully logged into Google (they would have access to my email). With something like YouTube on Roku, this does not matter since you are only logged into only a single app. Google does have a family plan, but it's not cheap.
  - mikob 7y ago
    The extension can always listen- it has a wake-word just like Alexa, Siri et al. "hey LipSurf" in the premium version. It can be used on a media PC/TV, you would just need to setup your microphone to listen from wherever you sit or wear a wireless headset.
papln 7y ago
That's a great example of how Amazon abuses their monopoly power as a marketplace provider to boost their vendor business. "Calling you" is something that they do for their benefit, but go to great lengths to prevent 3rd party vendors from doing, by blocking vendors from getting access to your phone number and not providing a formal opt-in if you want to share it.

opportune 7y ago

I posted a negative review on a FBA product (~$100) that arrived super late and damaged. I got called to offer me $20 to take the review down. Didn’t respond, they somehow got my review taken down anyway. That was the first time I realized how bad Amazon was getting. Kind of surprised this is something Amazon does too though; I figured only crappy dropshippers would engage in that

bobsoap 7y ago
I once posted a negative review on their Basics HDMI cable, which had absymal shielding. It went "under review" immediately, and a few days later the review just silently vanished without a trace.
chatmasta 7y ago
What is wrong with Amazon (or any vendor) following up on a bad review? If they’re offering incentives to take it down, of course that’s a problem. But engaging with the customer and identifying faults in detail seems like a plainly good, consumer-friendly and win/win behavior that every brand should practice. That said, I’m not sure a third party seller can get my contact info as easily as Amazon can, so that part seems a bit unfair.
- okmokmz 7y ago
  The problem is not "following up on a bad review" the problem is "I got called to offer me $20 to take the review down. Didn’t respond, they somehow got my review taken down anyway"

mikob 7y ago

If you're still looking for a good way to browse YouTube - I've made a Chrome extension that let's you browse the web using voice control - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lipsurf-voice-control-for/lnnmjmalakahagblkkcnjkoaihlfglon https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lipsurf-voice-cont... Hope this helps.

jhallenworld 7y ago
I was hoping from something like Roku- basically an appliance, not a computer. It should be always listening (not tap to listen), and screen should be far away for casual viewing, not in front of your face like a laptop which causes eye strain. The TV Cube is almost there, the problem was that the voice commands are not built into its OS, instead each app has to implement them and the YouTube app didn't. It means the voice commands only work well with the Amazon native apps. Voice is really in an abysmal state on all platforms. Pretend you can't touch anything, then read this for the fun: https://www.techhive.com/article/3373853/how-to-use-roku-voice-controls.html https://www.techhive.com/article/3373853/how-to-use-roku-voi... For appliances, you have the usual problem of not being able to accept terms to use institutional WiFi (lack of a good web browser). Also for computers with a screen in front of your face, there already is a better solution: eye tracking. But there is an annoying secondary problem with YouTube on a laptop: I can't lend my YouTube Red account (for an ad-free experience) to someone without also being fully logged into Google (they would have access to my email). With something like YouTube on Roku, this does not matter since you are only logged into only a single app. Google does have a family plan, but it's not cheap.
- mikob 7y ago
  The extension can always listen- it has a wake-word just like Alexa, Siri et al. "hey LipSurf" in the premium version. It can be used on a media PC/TV, you would just need to setup your microphone to listen from wherever you sit or wear a wireless headset.

papln 7y ago

That's a great example of how Amazon abuses their monopoly power as a marketplace provider to boost their vendor business. "Calling you" is something that they do for their benefit, but go to great lengths to prevent 3rd party vendors from doing, by blocking vendors from getting access to your phone number and not providing a formal opt-in if you want to share it.