People! Just because Amazon emailed you

[conuly]

and asked you to answer a question about a product or to review another product, that doesn't mean you have to do it. If you can't answer the question, or can't review the item, then you shouldn't say anything at all.

Amazon isn't going to hold all future purchases hostage until you comply! You can just nope out of all of that and go do something else with your time.

Relatedly, Amazon, get your shit together and pay somebody to read over answers and reviews, and delete any that say "Sorry, I can't answer this, I haven't used the product yet". You are pretty much minting your own money. You can afford this. (Amazon, you can afford to do a lot of shit, actually, but let's not start on that.)

Comments

[alexcat]

Amen!!

[mathemagicalschema]

isn't that phenomenon just infuriating? The Q&As would be so much more useful if not for the fact that half of them are "sorry, I have no idea!!" WHY ARE PEOPLE. and WHY IS AMAZON.

[conuly]

I KNOW OMG.

[konsectatrix]

All of this right here. Agree.

[silverusagi]

I hate all those emails. I already bought the thing and paid you money for it, my part of the transaction is done.

[conuly]

I actually don't mind if I can answer the question. But I wish it was an opt-in thing, so some of the people who can't answer would never know.

[darkoshi]

I've bought plenty of stuff from Amazon, but don't recall ever being asked to answer a product question on the site. I figure that when Amazon does ask, it must be worded in such a way to make people think someone is personally asking them.

I did get a request like that once from a different online store, and my first impulse was to write a reply, even though I didn't have a good answer. It wouldn't have been an "I don't know" reply, but still.

[conuly]

I've been asked a few times. It's painfully obvious that it's a form email. These people who answer to say "Sorry, idk!" are just... I don't even know.

[conuly]

Plus, they start out with "Can you answer this?" and if the answer is NO then you obviously have no further obligation.

[siderea]

Here's one:

From: Amazon Answers <answers@amazon.com>
To: Siderea
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2019 09:52:32 +0000
Subject: Siderea: Can you answer this question about AmazonBasics Shower Curtain...?

As a reviewer of AmazonBasics Shower Curtain..., can you help this fellow customer?
=====================================================
AlyB asked

"Are the nickel "ball" hooks shiny like chrome or matte like brushed nickel?"

Respond to question [LINK ELIDED]
I don't know the answer [LINK ELIDED]
=====================================================
We do not reveal your email address to other Amazon customers when you receive and respond to customer questions.

We will send you customer questions no more than once every two weeks, and probably much less often. If this is too frequent, you can opt out here: [LINK ELIDED]

When Amazon customers have questions about a product, we help them quickly get trusted answers from other customers. Learn more. "https://www.amazon.com/gp/forum/content/qa-guidelines.html?ref_=gl"

[antisoppist]

I get asked all the time and have never answered. The latest one begins "Your opinion matters!" in big bold letters and then says "[Name] Do you have a moment? We'd love to know how everything worked out with you. Please take a moment to review [item]"

I can see how conscientious people might feel they needed to do this to make those nice Amazon people happy when they are so polite and everything and it's so important to them.

I do sometimes feel guilty for not answering because I do read the reviews when I'm buying something and find them useful but it's a sweatshirt my son bought. What am I supposed to say? Yes it worked out. It arrived. It has arms and a neck and stuff?

[conuly]

"Sizing was as expected, stitching isn't bad, fabric isn't itchy."

[siderea]

Well, those are reviews, which are slightly different. The complaint above is that Amazon has taken to sending customer questions on to other customers. I just posted an example above.

Sorry, miss-flowed the conversation, visually, though you were replying to something else!

[author_by_night]

I saw a book review that was a one star because the reviewer didn't even want to read the book. How nice for the author. Luckily it was a popular enough book that it was making sales - what if it had been a struggling author? And even making sales doesn't mean good reviews aren't still needed.

[conuly]

Was the reviewer a bigot and that's why they didn't want to read it?

[author_by_night]

No... I think they just didn't get how reviews work.

[pwcorgigirl]

I don't get those on my home account, but the church I worked for ordered a fair bit of stuff from Amszon and would be bombarded with demands for reviews. I took to answering them with, "STOP BOTHERING US." It worked nicely to get it stopped.