Intro:

If you’ve known me for any length of time, you know I’m a fan of reviews. HONEST reviews. Especially of books. Good reviews are what sell products and books and are the best way to tell an author you appreciate her or his work. A lot of time and money goes into writing a book, and not much comes back, unless readers leave reviews. Good reviews.

I also leave reviews for products. Usually only good reviews, the worst I normally leave is 3 stars and I explain why. Well, a while back I bought something that was, in my opinion, not good for what it was. It was frustratingly difficult to use, and didn’t work as advertised. I left a 1-star review. I also explained in my review why it was so low. It was not a rant, but an explanation. 

A few days ago, I received an email from a personal gmail account, not a company account, and not through the Amazon Messaging that buyers and sellers are supposed to use to communicate. There was no mention of the product in the email (there was a link to ‘refresh my memory’ but since I didn’t know the person, I didn’t click on the link), but I figured out it was the sous vide cooking bags I ordered when I ordered my sous vide. I gave them a 1-star review.

They didn’t like the review and offered me a $20.00 bribe/refund to remove it. I reported them to Amazon and told the lady I talked to, that I felt like leaving an addendum to my review telling the world of the attempted bribe, she laughed and said that was my right. So I did. And then they offered me a $40.00 bribe to delete my review. And apologized if they offended me, but would I please take my review down? It’s hurting their business. They have assured me they have made changes to their product, but haven’t told me what changes they made. Instead of a bribe, why not send me the new product to review? And why, since I mentioned in my addendum to my original review, they should go through Amazon Messaging, are they continuing to email me direct? Ah, is a puzzlement 😉

I know Amazon has a problem with reviews—sellers buying good reviews or attempting to, and now bribing to delete bad ones. And I honestly don’t know how they can fix the problem, but I do know they are working on it. They do, truly, want honest reviews. If you ever have a problem with a seller, please report them. By phone (use the contact usbutton instead of direct dial), not chat, if possible. 

As frustrating as leaving reviews can be, I still implore you to leave reviews. Especially good ones for a product that worked for you. And for every book you finish on whatever review site you choose. If you’re reviewing my books, I’d appreciate a review on both Amazon and Goodreads and any other sites you know about and use. Best hugs I can get for a job at which I worked hard. Reviews are easy for books. We authors don’t need the dreaded book report from fifth grade, we just need something simple like: “I really liked this book. The story was great fun, well-written, and I had a hard time putting it down. I’ll read more of this author’s work.” Of course, you could add a lot more, but that is be up to you.

And I guarantee, I will NOT try to bribe you to pull the review if it’s a bad one. 

Outro:

Remember, double up on the masks. The new variants are in the country now. Recommended is the surgical mask (paper) or N95 under a cloth mask (pretty or fun). Just don’t use one of the N95s that has the exhalation doo-hickey, as that doesn’t keep your germs/viruses away from others.

And if you really want to go safe, and only wear one mask, use a new (never before used) vacuum bag, and cut it up to put between the two layers of your cloth mask. That works, too. Whatever you do, stay safe, stay healthy. Auntie Lenora and Sammy Brave Dog want to keep their friends!

Auntie Lenora and Sammy Brave Dog.

Just came across this photo I took back in February of 2008 from the hill behind Kennewick. I was shooting into the sunset, and the mountain is Mt. Hood. I loved the colors but even more, how the cloud layers went over the mountain. Or are they smog layers? It was bitter cold, and dark where I was, and the camera was too slow for an in-focus hand-held shot, but I still think it’s interesting.