Negative Review Removal and Customer Product Complaints

This card covers the full process of escalating negative reviews.

Tools Needed:

• SellerCentral access

• MDS Tools access or other Append Software

• Review Tracker

• Brand Registry Access

• Password Management Software

Before You Start - Does the review violate Amazon’s terms or community guidelines?

The first thing we need to decide is if the review violates Amazon’s TOS.  If it is a serious violation then do not comment.  However still go through all the other steps if appropriate.  Go immediately to step 3 - contacting Amazon about a TOS non-compliant review. 

A “serious” violation includes:

• Is there any racism or swearing in the review?  For example do they make a negative comment about China or the fact the product is made in China?  Is there any other kind of hate-speech such as sexism or homophobia?

• Is the review for a different product?  If the reviewer has made a mistake it should be possible to have Amazon remove the review.

• Is the review not about the product?  If the review is complaining about the company generally or about the listing (/)or reviews it might be possible to have Amazon review it.

• Has the reviewer asked others to mark his reviewer as helpful?

• Does the review point customers towards a non-Amazon website?

• Is the review non-verified and probably from a competitor?

• If there is only a minor violation will still try and appeal to Amazon later but it’s OK to remove the review later. 

• Is there a link to a non-Amazon URL

• Is the review about something that is Amazon’s fault like the product being late or a problem with receiving the delivery?  Was the product damaged in transit by Amazon?

• Is there a phone number in the review

Step 1: When You Get A Negative Review

1. You will either have an alert in your daily summary from the tracking software or you will be working on a backlog of 1, 2, 3, and 4 star reviews on a Google Sheet depending on the project

2. Go to the review via the link

3. Try to link the review with an order and append using software and regular online research:

   1. The first line of search is their name if it is displayed and then plugging that into MDS customer search to see if it comes up. If you can find their order you can try and append it in MDS and get an email.

   2. Search for the name or a combination of names in MDS, Seller Legend, Xsellco (or customer service management software) as well to see if they emailed us. Use common sense to try and track down all reviews. If the reviewer left their name, first or last, or both, you will need to research into the orders using Seller Central, MDS Tools, and Seller Legend. Also use the price of the item and date to help you narrow down which order it might be.

   3. If you were able to find the email address, complete Steps 2 and 3, while at the same time doing Step 4: Emailing the customer

4. Add all the details to the TRACKER (Check the link)

5. Read and understand the review if it’s violating Amazon’s Policy or Not

6. Start to work on the removal process below

Step 2: Leaving Review Comments

1. Leave a comment on the review to acknowledge the customer’s concern, edit the template below as needed:

“Hi (NAME).

I’m so sorry our product didn’t meet your expectations. We do offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee and we want to make things right. However, we cannot find your records on our system. Can you kindly email us with your order number or contact us through Amazon?

Hope you can respond at your most convenient time.

Warmly,

(NAME)

Co-owner of (BRAND)”

2. If the review is a 1 star, a 2 star, 3 star or a violation of Amazon’s TOS, proceed to Step 3

Step 3: For all 1, 2, and 3 STAR REVIEW - Contact Amazon’s Brand Registry AND Try and Find The Customer:

1. Go to https://brandregistry.amazon.com/

2. Click Brand Registry Support

3. Click ‘Report a marketplace violation’ and then,

4. Click ‘Product review Violation’ and then

5. Fill out the blanks

To fill out the blanks you will use THIS GUIDELINE which will give you a template depending on the type of review removal. IMPORTANT: Whenever you have a negative review to submit a BR escalation for, make sure you check the list of existing removals to see if a previous review was removed for the same reason. If there are more than 1 review removed for the previous reason, include all of those in the escalation with a line like this in the “Please describe your issue”:

“Please reference the following review(s) which were removed by Amazon for the same violation: (Enter Review ID, Reviewer Name, Link)

Quote the community guidelines and include the link

UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201929730

USA https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201929730

See also section 8 of terms of use https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=1040616

For USA (not numbered but its there)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=508088

6. Click Send and copy the case ID in the tracker for reference.

7. Fill out all the information needed in the tracker as well:

1. SKU - you can get this in sellercentral’s Inventory page by searching the ASIN

2. ASIN - will be provided in the review link or simply click the item that is shown on the review. Here’s a sample ASIN: B076DJHYK4

3. COUNTRY - which country is the order/review from

4. CUSTOMER - Name of customer who left the review

5. EMAIL - if you found the email add it on this column, if not leave it blank

6. PHONE NUMBER - if you found the phone no. add it on this column, if not leave it blank

7. SOURCE - where did you find the email?

8. ORDER NUMBER - if you found the order number, add it here. It usually shows on Xsellco and MDS. You can also find it on SellerCentral under Orders Tab.

9. LINK TO REVIEW

10. REVIEW TITLE

11. REVIEW TEXT

12. RATING - the star rating of the review

13. REVIEW DATE

14. LEFT REVIEW COMMENT? - Yes or NO(add noted if needed)

15. VIOLATES AMAZON’s TOS? - Yes or NO(add noted if needed)

16. REASON FOR VIOLATION - just add a descriptive line EX. wrong product

17. DATE CASE SENT - date when the case was submitted

18. CASE ID - this will be provided once the case has been created and successfully submitted

8. After 2 days, if the review is still existing, file an Escalation through Brand Registry

9. Click ‘Escalate Previously Submitted Issue’

10. And the, click ‘Escalate Other Issue’

11 and fill out the info needed with the previous case ID

12. Add the new escalation on the tracker:

a. Fill out column S, “DATE Of Escalation 1”

b. And the ESCALATION ID

c. Do the same for the next escalations to come on the next columns

13. After 2 escalations, and the review is still not removed, you can proceed by emailing the follow:

• [e-mail]*

• [e-mail]*

• [e-mail]*

• [e-mail]*

• [e-mail]*

*need to confirm that these are all still good. Need to discuss the frequency of emails and if they would trigger a block from Amazon if too many are sent.

14. Once the review is removed, go to the tracker and add a comment on the Notes column that it’s been removed. You will need to catalogue those reviews that are removed (link to review, review ID), as well as the reason for their removal. You will use these removed reviews in your Brand Registry Escalations for similar/same reasons to help strengthen future cases. Here is how you will do it:

15. Cut the entire row of the review on the tracker and paste it on the “resolved” Tab of the same tracker. Do not delete because we need these for future reference.

 

Step 4: Create Weekly Report

At the end of the week the CS Team Member will submit a Reviews Report which will detail the reviews received in the previous week, the number of negative reviews removed over the week, the incidences of 1-stars being added (or if you notice any black-hat behavior), and observations about trends or feedback from customers. This will be reviewed with the Manager on a weekly call to discuss learnings and focus for the upcoming week.