We can't have legitimate consumer reviews interfering with our profits, now can we? : aboringdystopia

[-] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com 88 points 2 years ago

I used to be part of Amazon's program where you get free items to review. It's even worse than people think.

I left negative or neutral reviews that just don't appear on the listing, or the seller will contact you directly offering you more free things to upgrade your review, or they'll just relist their crappy broken product and hope the reviewers write positive reviews (a lot of reviewers would just get free stuff and then write something positive without actually testing it).

Amazon reviews are totally unreliable, and even those sites and extensions that try to determine if a product's reviews are legitimate aren't very effective.

I just ask people directly to share their experiences now or create a post on Lemmy because it's so bad.

[-] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 45 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Also what they'll do is the product listing switcheroo, where they'll sell some commodity item that's not necessarily crap and get a ton of positive reviews generated for it, legitimate or otherwise. Then the seller will update the product listing to refer to a completely different item, but all the reviews from the old product are remain attached to it.

A lot of online retailers also filter out negative reviews for things. Sometimes this is because they're shyster bastards, but sometimes it's because the manufacturer(s) of said items bully them into doing it. Two I have personal experience with are Cyclegear/Revzilla, and Rocky Mountan ATVMC. Both of these retailers will refuse to publish negative or middling reviews for their private label "bands" in order to make themselves look better. That's Tusk for Rocky Mountain, and Bilt/Sedici for Cyclegear/Revzilla.

[-] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 19 points 2 years ago

The switcheroo is why I always start with the product name and model if I review anything. Amazon reviews are designed to be gamed this way though, so you should always check reviews elsewhere.

This can work in your favour sometimes as well. In the past I've complained that the product sent to me did not have the same brand or model name as the listing. I got a full refund ($110) and I kept the product, which has actually turned out to be pretty good. You gotta make companies pay for anti-consumer practices.

[-] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

I wasn’t even in any program, but once I left a bad review on a screen protector for my phone, and the company offered me $45 to remove it. That’s how much they care.

[-] eatham@aussie.zone 8 points 2 years ago

Take the $45 and leave the review up

[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago

That has happened to me a few times. I'd take the money and update the review to mention how they attempted to bribe me to leave a false positive review.

[-] Astronautical@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago

At this point I only trust reviews that have pictures or videos of the product.

[-] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 58 points 2 years ago

FaaS - Fraud as a service...

[-] tryagain@lemmy.ml 56 points 2 years ago

These headlines just flow right into each other

[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 49 points 2 years ago

[removed by mod]

[-] Steve@startrek.website 44 points 2 years ago

My strategy is to skim the 1-2 star reviews to see if they have any legitimate complaints or if its just personal bullshit.

[-] helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 22 points 2 years ago

Extra fun when the reviews are for some other product.

Product: A sock

Review; 4/5 this didn't come with batteries like the description said it would, but the motor works great for my model car.

[-] Steve@startrek.website 5 points 2 years ago

Oh absolutely. Fuckin scumbags.

[-] Randelung@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago

Awesome product, but delivery took too long so now I can't gift it to my kid for his birthday. 1 star.

[-] taladar@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 years ago

It depends. If it is 2 reviews it might be real, if it is 200 it is extremely unlikely.

[-] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 22 points 2 years ago

Glad fiverr fixed the problem on their platform.

Just kidding!

[-] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 19 points 2 years ago

There are also "reputation management" services that offer to manipulate your Google listings, so that bad things about your company will get pushed down and the things you want people to see will get pushed up. They're not cheap. Whether or not they work, I don't know, but I would assume that some of them are capable of doing what they say.

[-] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 23 points 2 years ago

Monsanto had a whole ass "fusion center" with ex-intelligence agents doing research and attacks on people doing research into Monsanto or their products.

It goes so far beyond reputation management now.

[-] vox@sopuli.xyz 7 points 2 years ago

probably by participating in seo spam

[-] beebarfbadger@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago

From the company that brought you "Fire Alarrm Silencer - because you don't want that annoying noise in your ear, right?"

[-] pivot_root@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

I'm homeless and my cat is gone, but the product works exactly as advertised. 4 out of 5 stars.

[-] Fallenwout@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I have known this for a long time

I got most of my negative reviews removed without reason on different platforms. Even a negative review on an online store removed by trustedpilot on request of said online store.

[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago

I had the same happen with TrustPilot. They asked me to substantiate my negative review, which I did. The vendor then claimed I wasn't even a customer so TrustPilot removed my review, despite receiving copies of my invoice and correspondence. These review websites seem to frequently be fraudulent at their core.

[-] Jumi@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

One of the reasons I order almost nothing online anymore

A Boring Dystopia