Paul and Rachelle Baron's small business, Beau & Belle Littles, quickly reached $1 million in sales after the couple came up with a reusable, easily removable, and washable swim diaper based on their experience with their own baby during his first swim class. They were featured in Forbes and on Rachael Ray's show and had come up with a plan to triple annual sales to $3 million in 2020. Then came a one-star review that "tanked" everything, according to Bloomberg, which takes a long look at the Barons' story. The problem? A customer left a terrible review after ordering one of the diapers and receiving a used one that had been returned—still encrusted with feces. But that was on Amazon, not the Barons; Amazon employees are supposed to check every returned item before clearing it to be resold.
But sources tell Bloomberg that it's not uncommon for Amazon to restock returned items without thoroughly examining them. The Barons asked for the review to be removed since they weren't at fault, but it remained up for years (until Bloomberg published its story, in fact) and, because of the pictures of the stained diaper that it contained, it received a lot of views. As a result, the Barons say, they are $600,000 in debt and barely making a living from their once-thriving business; Paul has a side job and Rachelle is looking for one. Meanwhile, the person who left the negative review says that after the Barons reached out to her, replaced the diaper, and explained what happened, she meant to revise her review—but "life got busy and I never did." Read the full piece at Bloomberg. (More Amazon stories.)
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