Buyer beware of Amazon Reviews

When purchasing, I have often had my suspicions about online reviews of items. Now, I have a front-row seat for the scams associated. Opening my email this morning, Amazon sent me 20 "Thank you" emails for products that I have never purchased nor reviewed. All the reviews were written for relatively new products on the Amazon website. All the reviews were written between 2:14 a.m. and 2:46 a.m. (Central Time) when I was fast asleep.

I have notified Amazon. The customer service agent said that the information was relayed "to the team trained to handle this scenario." The agent indicated that I should hear back in one to two business days. If a customer cannot trust the reviews (likely instigated by unscrupulous vendors), how can a customer trust a product?

I will continue to update this post based on the actions taken by Amazon.

Update #1: So far, Amazon's customer service is not living up to my previous experiences of them. A process was undertaken that required me to change my password after a wait for a specified period of time. I think their concern was if their was some unwarranted purchase. My issue, from the start, has been about the integrity of product reviews. I examined the reviews and found that several reviews on the products that have my name attached were also attributed to a similar universe of names for other products. I suspect that someone, for a fee, was loading in a bunch of 5 Star product reviews to "game the system." (3:15 p.m., Jan 31, 2018)

Update #2: Amazon's customer service responded with the exact same email as previously sent. The fake product reviews remain on the items. Underwhelming. (8:03 p.m., Jan. 31, 2018)

Update #3: I am with Amazon's customer service again this morning as nothing has changed. The fraudulent reviews remain in place. (6:17 a.m., Feb. 1, 2018)

Update #4: Still no apparent progress from Amazon on fake product reviews. The 22 false ones placed in my name still remain. (8:02 a.m., Feb. 2, 2018)

I should add that I have not made purchases from Amazon since prior to April of 2016. I am participating in the boycott of Amazon for its support of hate speech via advertising. At the time, I sent this email to customer service when I ended my Amazon Prime membership:

To whom it may concern:

Over the last sixty (60) days, I have sent three emails, spaced apart by thirty (30) days, to Mr. Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, indicating my displeasure with Amazon's on-going advertising on Breitbart.com. My email earlier this week reads:

Today marks thirty (30) days since my last email. While I expected no response from you personally, I have scoured the web searching for some corporate response, as I am not alone in making this demand. I am disappointed that the corporate response is silence. Last week, I removed two Amazon apps (music and shopping) from my cell phone. Today, I will remove the final Amazon app. I will not purchase from Amazon while you continue to advertise on Breitbart, and, frankly, I now doubt that you will lure me back as a customer under any circumstance.

More than 1,000 companies have ceased to advertise on Breitbart. I try to direct purchases to businesses that reflect my values. Amazon's failure to make any public progress on this issue makes me unwilling to continue doing business with your organization.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Christopher W. Cox