Paul and Rachelle Baron’s small business, Beau & Belle Littles, quickly reached $1 million in sales after the couple invented a reusable, easy-to-remove, washable swim diaper based on their experience with their own baby during her first swim class. They were featured in Forbes Magazine and on Rachael Ray’s show and had planned to double annual sales to $3 million by 2020. Then came the one-star review that “ruined” everything, according to Bloomberg , which covered the Barons story in depth. The problem? A customer left a bad review after ordering one of the diapers and receiving a used one back—still crusted with feces. But that happened at Amazon, not Barons; Amazon employees are supposed to inspect every returned item before allowing it to be resold.
But sources told Bloomberg that Amazon often restocks returned items without thoroughly inspecting them. The Barons asked that the review be removed because they were innocent, but it remained up for years (until Bloomberg published its story) and, because of the photo of the stained diaper it contained, it was widely viewed. As a result, the Barons say, they are $600,000 in debt and can barely make ends meet from their once-thriving business; Paul has a second job and Rachelle is looking for a second job. Meanwhile, the person who left the negative review says that after the Barons contacted her, changed the diaper, and explained what happened, she intended to revise her review—but “life got busy and I never got around to it.” Read the full article at Bloomberg. (More Amazon stories.)
