What is the purpose of reviews on sellers websites.

[Fidel Fernandez]

I won't mention any names, the problem is between them and I, but I want to understand what is the point.

My question is why the website ask you to post a review, but the moment you post a bad review they retaliate and say you are banned from their site.

Isn't the point to have a review to fix the mistakes? Granted the review needs to be factual and not blast the product just for fun.

It just happen to me again, I posted my review, but the owner didn't like it and I am banned as a customer. So the reviews are pointless. Most of the reviews are managed by the owner so they are not real, the bad ones are not present in their websites.

I will give the following name were the review worked and the company stayed behind the product.

I bought a HooToo Tripmate Elite Wiress Router and the description said that the router can be use to broadcast "any" hotel wifi. I always travel with a ROKU to watch movies. I hooked the hootoo and the Marriot wifi prevented the router to work.
I posted a review in Amazon that the product didn't work as per the description. They contacted me and asked me to explain what happen and they will try to fix it. Based in my observations they created a new firmware to fix the problem and send it to me.
It worked as described after the firmware and it helped new customers as well.
Kudos to HooToo.

The other ones they sent me nasty emails and banned me from their website.

What is the point to have a small company if they don't want to grow, it is a shame.

I know everyone is different, but I used those reviews to learn what to expect when I am buying a new product. I guess that doesn't work anymore with companies managing the reviews by themselves.

Well, Cest la vie.

[Dan Hintz]

If I see a supposedly "fair" review group for a product, I thumb through the reviews. If I do not see at least one unhappy person (or at least mildly miffed about something), I consider it a bunch of fake and/or cherry-picked reviews not worthy of my time.

[Fidel Fernandez]

I kept thinking and I blame social media. It most forums you cannot complaint against a vendor or a person. (I am not saying with lies and harassing).

I am talking about a real complaint. Everything has to be blue sky all the time, and everybody is used to have good reviews.

When a bad review a real one come their doors, they don't know how to handle it and they act as a kid and throw a tantrum.

It is a shame the internet and social media has created this problem instead of making more transparent.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Fidel,

How would you review something or see a review if it wasn't for the internet? Write a letter to the company? How many people would see it? How would it help other consumers?

The problems with online reviews are many. As Dan said, they can be "cherry picked" and at the same time, they can be frivolous, from a sadistic troll or from someone who has a hot head and goes ballistic making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Even here, you can read reviews where it's obvious the person writing the review doesn't know much about the product, doesn't have a lot of experience using the product, tool or something similar. Those reviews are useless.

When I read manufacturers website reviews, I read some of all of them......the good, the bad, the ugly. Then, if I am still interested in the product, I try to find a user website where I can read more reviews.

Often, it's not so much what you say in a bad review as much as it is how you say it that determines if the review is allowed to remain posted. If you launch into an emotional tirade, making misinformed accusations, don't be surprised if it gets removed. Profane, emotional, unintelligent, wild accusations don't do anybody any good. BTW..I am not even hinting that is what you did, I am merely saying these types of "reviews" are of no value to anyone....the reviewer, the company or a prospective buyer.

[Fidel Fernandez]

And I agree. those reviews don't have any value.

The problem is when you provide a factual review and the seller cannot accept it.
I was looking just now on Ebay and one of the sellers says that he provides only feedback if he gets 5 star review.
Those sellers are as bad as the reviews that not provide any value.
I know internet provide the access to in other way not accessible to the common people, my problem is with the blue sky promoted for most forums, facebook, etc.

Not everything is blue and not everything is bad. I am a IT consultant that I have to follow what my client desires, my job is to provide a strongly advise and nothing more. I have to accept the criticism and accept it. That is what some sellers are not willing to do.

The seller that I am talking about, he just removed all reviews so mine it won't be available. Believe me I didn't wrote nothing that was not factual, he couldn't accept the criticism. If you read my reviews in Amazon, you won't see any inflammatory review, only to the point. good or bad.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I am pretty sure all these reviews are real:
http://www.amazon.com/Avoid-Huge-Ships-John-Trimmer/product-reviews/0870334336/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

[Frederick Skelly]

Fidel,
As long as you wrote politely and factually, then any problem lies with the website owner, not you. I wouldnt let it bother you further. You tried to share info and provide feedback, but the site owner "reacted" to it. But if you didnt like the product you probably werent going back there anyway, right? :) Hang in there man!
Fred

[Frederick Skelly]

I am pretty sure all these I waareviews are real:
http://www.amazon.com/Avoid-Huge-Ships-John-Trimmer/product-reviews/0870334336/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Oh man, you made me spew coffee all over the monitor! The reviews for that book would make Winton Applegate's sense of humor proud.

[Tom Giles]

Interesting. I was banned for life from posting reviews on Amazon because I posted a negative book review critical of our dear leader. I was told I was racist even though I never mentioned race nor was I crude or rude.

[Larry Frank]

find that you have to read through a lot of reviews on Amazon to get a feeling for a product. Some are professionally written and I ignore as well as some rants. There are some good ones. I think Amazon has a good cross section of review and includes negative ones.

The flip side is to write good reviews that contain information. If you have negative things to say be specific and not a rant.

[Art Mann]

I agree with Larry. I take my online reviews on Amazon very seriously. I have given products anywhere from 1 to 5 stars and I always carefully explain why. I have posted dozens of reviews over the years and 100% of them have gone live within a few hours - even the 1 star ones where I strongly recommend against buying the product. I often get notices from other shoppers on Amazon that say my reviews were helpful. Amazon, at least, seems to operate their customer review process with honesty. Now, if all the reviewers would apply the same standard of honesty ...

[Scott Shepherd]

Amazon, at least, seems to operate their customer review process with honesty. Now, if all the reviewers would apply the same standard of honesty ...

Oh, I'm not too sure about that. I bought something and it came directly from the manufacturer. It didn't work as described. Instead of working at 100%, it worked at about 10%. I contacted the company, they referred me to their support forum, I posted my issues (along with about 100 other people with the same issue), they said they were working on a firmware update and it would be fixed in a couple of weeks. 6 months later, it's still not fixed, still doesn't work, and they still refer you to their support forum. I did a review with one star, said it was a great concept, but it didn't work and the company had not done anything they said they would do in the timeframe they said they'd do it in.

I simply posted the facts and said nothing crude or inaccurate. Amazon contacted me and said my review was rejected because it didn't list the pro's and con's in an appropriate way. Huh?

I'm not so sure they are as fair as you think.

[Art Mann]

Were you writing a review of a product or a review of some company's customer service? There is a difference. Some companies need to be criticized for their customer service and this may be one of them. I am just trying to guess why they rejected your review. Amazon ratings are full of 1 star reviews of inferior products. Not only have I read them, I have written quite a few as well and not one of mine has been rejected.

Edit: My objection to their rating system is that it offers only 1 to 5 stars. Some products I have rated simply didn't work at all and the reason was obvious. Products like this should be given a zero rating. Limiting customer ranking to 1 - 5 implies that every product has some worth. That simply isn't true and artificially boosts the average ranking. As a result, my policy is that any product with a 3 star average rating or below is basically a bad product and should not be considered. Only 4 stars is often an indication of mediocrity.

[Dan Hintz]

Edit: My objection to their rating system is that it offers only 1 to 5 stars. Some products I have rated simply didn't work at all and the reason was obvious. Products like this should be given a zero rating. Limiting customer ranking to 1 - 5 implies that every product has some worth. That simply isn't true and artificially boosts the average ranking. As a result, my policy is that any product with a 3 star average rating or below is basically a bad product and should not be considered. Only 4 stars is often an indication of mediocrity.

Would it matter if the rating was 0-4 stars over 1-5? No. In the former case, scores approaching zero mean a lot of unhappy people and five stars is very happy... in the latter case, the bottom line is one star and the top is four. Both provide the exact same information. A scale of 0-5 continues to provide the exact same info, just with a slightly finer level of granularity.

[Scott Shepherd]

Were you writing a review of a product or a review of some company's customer service? There is a difference. Some companies need to be criticized for their customer service and this may be one of them. I am just trying to guess why they rejected your review. Amazon ratings are full of 1 star reviews of inferior products. Not only have I read them, I have written quite a few as well and not one of mine has been rejected.

Edit: My objection to their rating system is that it offers only 1 to 5 stars. Some products I have rated simply didn't work at all and the reason was obvious. Products like this should be given a zero rating. Limiting customer ranking to 1 - 5 implies that every product has some worth. That simply isn't true and artificially boosts the average ranking. As a result, my policy is that any product with a 3 star average rating or below is basically a bad product and should not be considered. Only 4 stars is often an indication of mediocrity.

I was rating the product. I said it didn't work, and then explained that the company had done nothing to fix the issue in the months and months that I tried to resolve it.

I don't know why they rejected it either, but it's just an example that it's happening more than most people are aware, I suspect.

[Jerome Stanek]

I hate it when someone posts a problem on a forum and when you ask about it you get banned.

[Art Mann]

Would it matter if the rating was 0-4 stars over 1-5? No. In the former case, scores approaching zero mean a lot of unhappy people and five stars is very happy... in the latter case, the bottom line is one star and the top is four. Both provide the exact same information. A scale of 0-5 continues to provide the exact same info, just with a slightly finer level of granularity.

Yes, there is a difference. 1 - 5 implies 20% to 100% desirability. Some products have zero redeeming value and a rating system should be able to reflect that. According to your logic, a rating system of between 313 and 317 stars, for example, would be just as appropriate as 0 - 4 stars.

[Rich Riddle]

I read product reviews that deal with the product, not drama. I was about to order a Fein vacuum filter on Amazon and several reviewers indicated that the model did NOT fit my model. One reviewer actually provided the proper part number for my model of vacuum. That saved me a lot of time shipping back the wrong one and trying to find the correct one.

[Brian Elfert]

The ratings system on Amazon can be badly skewed by bogus one star ratings. Many reviewers use the ratings system to rate the seller rather than the product. They'll give a one star rating to a product because it arrived a day late even though the product does exactly what it says it does. Also a lot of one star reviews for items improperly packaged by the seller and therefore they arrived damaged.

Amazon has ways to rate the sellers separate from the products. If the item was late then give the seller a bad rating instead of the product.

[Scott Shepherd]

A guy a couple businesses down is a one man show. He makes wood products and sells them on Amazon. He relies on good reviews. He posted the exact dimensions on Amazon, someone ordered it, and then the other day, ONE YEAR after ordering it, they posted a negative review saying it was much smaller than they expected.

Who waits an entire year to leave a negative review? And they never once contacted the guy or complained about it. When he saw the review, he reached out to custom make them a larger one at no charge, and they hadn't responded last time I looked at it.

[Dan Hintz]

Yes, there is a difference. 1 - 5 implies 20% to 100% desirability. Some products have zero redeeming value and a rating system should be able to reflect that. According to your logic, a rating system of between 313 and 317 stars, for example, would be just as appropriate as 0 - 4 stars.

A rating system of 313-317 is just as appropriate... it's called "arbitrariness". It's just as arbitrary as any other scale one can come up with. If 1-5 gives you 20-100% desirability, then does 0-4 give you 0-80% desirability? Of course not... you assign the max value (4 on a 0-4 scale, and 5 on a 1-5 scale) 100% desirability, and the lowest score (0 or 1, respectively) a 0% desirability.

You don't think the current system makes, sense, but your proposed system likely makes as little sense to someone else. It's a scale of "I hate it" to "I love it", big deal.

[Art Mann]

Dan, You are an LED guru. Surely you understand the special meaning of the quantity zero. :rolleyes:

[Art Mann]

It is often important to read the 1 star ratings, even though they are mostly bogus. I was recently shopping for a table top gas grill. One particular model had a binary star distribution in which there were a lot of 5 star ratings and a much lesser number of 1 star ratings. Nearly all the 1 star ratings were for the same thing. It had something to do with a leaking connection between the burner and the pressure regulator. If I had just looked at the overall star rating, it would have been positive. My interpretation of that set of ratings was that most of the grills were fine but a significant minority leaked propane. I rejected the grill based on a trend of many people with the same problem. I agree that most 1 star ratings are not warranted.

[Brian Henderson]

The problem with a lot of these sites is that the site itself has a vested interest in keeping the reviews positive so that the company continues to sell the product, of which Amazon gets a percentage. This isn't just Amazon, of course, lots of sites have the same issue. They want people to buy so they make more money. They have a vested interest in keeping negative reviews to a minimum, although they don't want to spend the time to wipe out the low-rating troll reviews, they rely on complaints coming from the company primarily to remove ratings that the companies feel make them look bad. Most reviews are bad, I may scan through them from time to time, but unless I see a pattern (and there may very well be problems and the site simply deletes them), I make my own decisions.

[Rich Harkrader]

I ceased participating in Amazon's easily gamed review system once I started getting emails from sellers begging for reviews.

[Lee Schierer]

I posted a review on a place we stayed at in Hawaii after being nagged by the site where we booked the hotel. This hotel had a pool for guests to use that in my opinion was dangerous. The edges of the pool were curved into the water and continued the curve down under the water. If you tried to walk into the pool anywhere along the side as soon as your foot got wet you would slip and fall into the pool and it was nearly impossible to climb back up the slope to get out. It was even hard to just hang on the side without sliding down into the water. That was bad, but there were several sets of steps with a single hand rail on each where you could get into the pool. The problem was the steps were sloped about 10 degrees toward the deeper water and were painted with a slick paint. I personally slipped and watch at least 8 other guest slip and fall into the pool using these steps. When I posted this information on the website, I was immediately attacked by the property saying I didn't know what I was talking about and the site took down my review. I guess I should have taken video.

[Fidel Fernandez]

The seller didn't like my review (factual) and after not sending all the items he requested to have all his items back.
He will refund the money when he gets everything back, he said that he doesn't want me as customer.

He removed my review so you guys will never know what happen. It is so unfair that in paper it looks an amazing small company, many customer are happy. The problem is when something doesn't get as the seller wants he hides and it is bad customer service.

I see this more often and it will catch up to them eventually. Too bad!

[Bill McNiel]

Malcolm- you continue to be a constant source of intertainment. Mahalo my sick friend.