In response to a media inquiry initiated by the LISNews Netcast Network, the following statement was provided by Director of Corporate Communications Patty Smith in response to the questions over the recent Amazon situation:
This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection.
It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles – in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica. This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally. It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing the books from Amazon’s main product search.
Many books have now been fixed and we’re in the process of fixing the remainder as quickly as possible, and we intend to implement new measures to make this kind of accident less likely to occur in the future.
Honest and pulls no punches!!
This is a very honest response from Amazon. They are admitting their error! it also shows it was much wider than originally reported. I will continue to shop at Amazon!
LOL
^ above post posted by amazon
Propaganda
Amazonfail. Replies from Amazon representatives before PR got involved: http://snipurl.com/fvlnk + http://snipurl.com/fvlmb -delistings was OFFICIAL POLICY, PR are trying to spin it as a “glitch” instead only when it proved unpopular … pure propaganda.
You believe unquestioningly what CSRs say?
Customer Service Representatives can and do make things up. Such isn’t restricted by industry. Normally in sales-focused companies, it is a policy violation to say something is official policy if you are not PR. Normally that arises because dumb remarks by staff who weren’t authorized to speak could cause stock price to plunge precipitously.
Whether they were right or not, those CSRs in any other business would either be fired or be demoted to cleaning toilets with a toothbrush as their sole job duty.
________________________
Stephen Michael Kellat, Host, LISTen
PGP KeyID: 899C131F
Glitch
Removal of sales rank may not have been a glitch but the ability to find the book by title when you run a search was almost certainly a glitch. Amazon has always sold books with sexual content. To not have them searchable by title makes no sense.
This whole Amazon thing has to be a dream come true for some authors. Having you book not show up in the search allows you to blog and Twitter and cry big alligator tears and you get sales of your book from the publicity. Many of the authors that names have popped up in articles in the last couple days would have had zero exposure without this Amazon glitch. They should buy a beer fro the tech person at Amazon that has helped them so much.
Well screw Amazon I’m never
Well screw Amazon I’m never using them again. Only reason I ever used it in the past was to get books. If they want to limit that then they have lost at least one customer.
She works for Amazon, and
She works for Amazon, and she can’t get her hands on a dictionary? “Impact” does not mean “affect.”
Affect
Affect means: Acted upon, influenced, or changed
Seems properly used in the above context. What problem do you see?
She used “impacted” where
She used “impacted” where she should have used “affected.”
Impact
Since this is one of the definitions of impact I think her usage was OK.
Impact: The effect or impression of one thing on another