Not to start a conspiracy theory, but I hold crapAzon in such low regard that I would not be surprised if removing product reviews that express a negative opinion of a product was their intent behind this. After all, if they have product inventory and the negative reviews are keeping that product from selling, it is in their interest to remove negative reviews so that the product will sell.
Well that and......First we have "Prime", for a hundred bucks a year, it gives you back the free shipping, which was actually free before Prime happened. While granted, it includes other benefits and services, at its core, it's little more than, "a police action / honey trap, to enforce customer loyalty".
That said, for me, this is too little, too late for them to convince me that they are actually a company worth doing business with. I will buy from sellers, but not from crapAzon itself.
Most of the business I do with Amazon is limited to CD/DVD purchases.. Greater than 95% of those purchases come from the sellers in the "Amazon Marketplace" not Amazon itself.
And - Consumer Reports just rated online retailers, and B&H came out on top. I've bought things from them many times over the last year, and they frequently give free two-day shipping on items I buy, and even when they don't give free two-day shipping, they often give free shipping that takes only marginally longer than two days.
I use Adorama for camera purchases instead of B & H. Adorama has had more "refurbished" deals on Nikon equipment than B & H. Being cheap, I go that route. Adorama and B & H are in direct competition, and both companies are run by orthodox Jews. Both are superior outlets, with impeccable business ethics, neither offering better service than the other. This is good to know, with all the fly by night possibilities in the camera trade. Both stores are the most reliable in their fields.
Buying from Amazon makes almost no sense for me, especially when dealing with high end merchandise. For musical instruments and such, you're way better off heading to "Musician's Friend", or, "Sweetwater". M'sF has a customer loyalty points discount program, so in most instances, at the time of the purchase, and later on down the road, their prices are the best online.
I used to be a Prime subscriber at crapAzon, and from conversations with at least one other here at TechSpot that was never a Prime subscriber, I am convinced that when I do order something from crapAzon, they play all kinds of games that are intended to coerce me into renewing my sub-Prime subscription. Their games included asking FIVE TIMES during one checkout process whether I wanted to renew my sub-Prime subscription. No thanks, crapAzon. I'll buy from someplace else.
I ordered a car stereo from Amazon, as it was 80 cents cheaper than another seller whose identical product would be, "fulfilled by Amazon". Since I don't have Prime, they let it sit in the warehouse for about 4 days, until I called up and b!tched about it. I had a bad feeling about not springing the 80 cents when I placed the order, and sure enough, they tried to screw me by delaying the shipment. Since they have warehouses on the east coast, had they shipped the day of the order, I would have gotten "two day free shipping", without joining Prime". Had I have opted for the seller's item, it likely could have been the identical item, and Amazon would have had to ship it the day of the order, to maintain good relations with its partner!
By my biggest complaint with Amazon, is they are getting very close to being as aggressive a Google, with their tracking and sales tactics. Certainly taking only the constant spam into consideration, they are much worse. In fact, the other day I tried to follow a spam "just for you" ad email, and the sons of b!tches expected me to log in to see the rest of it!
Once upon a time, you could simply buy an Mp.3s from them outright. Now, you're forced to install software,(just like iTunes), and go through a bunch of "cloud BS" before you can have the download.
The same is true of buying videos from them, only much worse. You're again forced to install software, (for DRM purposes), and somehow they feel obligated to make it run as a startup program. Add the constant spam from "your weekend video guide", and you feel like you're lost in the desert with vultures wheeling overhead.
When companies, and especially their owners/CEO get to Amazon''s level of sales volume, "success leads to excess", and all you're dealing with are a bunch of sociopaths, hell bent on "world domination". Really, they're people you wouldn't want anything to do with in day to day living. They're "war mongers", not with weapons, but every bit as ruthless.
