Over a year ago I receive email all book bloggers dread. I was banned from Amazon. My reviews had been removed and there was nothing I could do. I ran right to chat and inquired why. A day later I received this email:
Well, that was that. I didn't think I could fight, so I didn't. I created a new account under my husband's name and ensured it wasn't linked to my other accounts, social media, or anything. I followed the rules to a T and here we are a year later and I was banned. Again.
Thankfully, at this point in my blogging journey I know a lot more bloggers and it happened to a bunch of them at the same time. When I found out it WAS possible to fight it, GAME ON. I wanted my original account back and I wasn't taking no for an answer. I took the advice everyone was giving online, (Thanks Melissa, Serena, and Heather) and I started my battle.
I chatted with Amazon DAILY just to vent my frustrations and to try to get a "Request To Review" form submitted. Here you can see my chats over the past few weeks. Ignore my TERRIBLE grammar and typing. As all this started I was also undergoing treatment for my MS in the form of EPIC steroids and couldn't really see to type on my phone. Autocorrect was NOT my friend. Lol.
I also emailed Review-Appeals@amazon.com every 3-4 days asking WHY I was banned and continued to be adamant that I DID NOT violate their guidelines. I continued to receive the "This is not arguable" emails but it didn't stop me.
All of my responses to these emails were identical.
Eventually I not only was chatting almost daily and harassing them by email, but I emailed the following three emails yesterday, all the same email.
| Jeff@amazon.com,
cis@amazon.com, Review-appeals@amazon.com |
This morning I woke up to these emails:
So I am not sure what worked. The fact that I just dropped $600 on Christmas presents and new house items this month and kept listing those order numbers, the fact I was a pain in their ass, or the fact that I did indeed abide by the rules. But it IS POSSIBLE. So keep trying. The only responses I EVER received were the initial ban, the email stating I violated the guidelines, and the final email giving me back my account. I never heard back from any of the chat conversations. Not that it stopped me.
Make sure you review the guidelines and that you have spent the required $50 on your account.
Good Luck Everyone!
