Fake reviews and other online review problems

Don’t use Facebook. The only review site I ever check is https://www.productreview.com.au/

No one can keep out liars/scammers but at least they try. Main drawback is ltd coverage as they can only publish what people submit. It’s worth making the effort to put in feedback there, be it pro or con.

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I do use online reviews. Recently I had tried to get the attention of customer service at Kogan after a poor experience with their premium service “Kogan First”. I had no luck with this, so went to Product Review, wrote a negative comment and was then offered mediation with Kogan before publication by Product Review.

This was successful and I now feel no need to proceed further with that review. So I feel that is a good result.

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Great that you have a result.

Rhetorical question.
Do Product Review approach other negative reviews the same way before publishing?
IE for certain suppliers is there a deal between the supplier and Product Review that keeps some negative reviews from being seen?

Product review need to make money to run their site. Does this come from the advertising revenue from the manufacturers and retailers whose products they collect reviews for?

Hopefully this was an exception all the better for @Phloesmum

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With review removal services, I have less faith in online reviews these days. If you have not heard of them, Google “remove bad reviews” and there are dozens of businesses offering these services.

Most recently, I have purchased bedding from Canningvale.com (Melbourne based business). I posted a mixed review. Some weeks later, I noticed that they edited my review (kept the good bits and deleted the other bits. Also changed from 3 stars to 5 stars). After several experiences like this, I decided to stick with personal referrals from someone I know.

If I have to check reviews of a business, I note the number of reviews each reviewer have posted. Is someone likely to post one 5 star review and no other reviews? Sure, the business could have asked for a review, and they don’t usually post reviews. However, it reeks of a ‘professional’ reviewing service that generates hundreds of positive reviews for a few hundred bucks.

It would be nice if we could count on the authenticity of reviews again.

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Just need to do your homework and do plenty of research.Not just one site but many other’s to give you the full picture

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Have a look at recent reviews on Product Review regarding Nick Scali. There is a very clear pattern.

The bad reviews describe the problem and the failure of Nick Scali to find a remedy. They often go into detail, some provide images. They do not mention the name of the person they are dealing with. If the contact person is mentioned it is to show their shortcomings.

The good reviews are short, mention the name of staff member who was so wonderful, tell us about their efficiency, competence, friendly and timely service. They say almost nothing about the problem itself. The writers don’t seem bothered by the furniture having a problem at all but they are ecstatic about the resolution. How can you say there will be another 29 week wait for goods to be replaced and then give 5 stars?

“So what”, you say - good reviews will say good things and bad reviews will say bad things. That is not the point, look at how they say it. Consider why the good reviews are all very similar and the bad ones are all different.

Has anybody ever seen so many 5 star reviews (14675 out of 17921)?

Well yes I have right here with Plush. The same kind of numbers and the same pattern of service complaints and rave reviews as with Nick Scali.

Nick Scali owns Plush. Which two furniture vendors get horrid reviews here?

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The product review site claims that they use sophisticated algorithms to detect and block bot generated fake reviews.
Seems this is just a claim that doesn’t pass scrutiny.

The furniture companies enjoying these reviews have seemingly deployed fake review bot software which is widely available. Just the sheer number of reviews says that there is automation going on. Many ‘chat’ bots on web sites include review functions that could generate posts to external review sites if the logon process was basic.

You can get a better view of user reviews if one filters to only include verified entries.

PS. It is laughably easy to submit a review. A good one. No userid needed. Just any email address. My gregr post went straight on in minutes. I was kind to NS.

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When using Product Review, only select for Verified Reviews. Unless you can provide a receipt or equivalent correspondence, the reviews won’t be marked as Verified on the site. The unverified reviews are not worth looking at in my opinion - equivalent to own site, facebook or google review. e.g. compare Nick Scali Furniture | ProductReview.com.au verified review report to the previous All reviews link. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture of Nick Scali.

Also, in my experience, putting up a Product Review verified review yourself is most likely to finally get a quick response from bad or slow responders. That assumes of course that they have someone monitoring the PR site.

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A step further, when applicable look at the ‘claims made’ posts. The great sales people and smiling faces are irrelevant. An easy to use website and fast delivery? Impressive if one gets a shonky product with zero response to a problem or even basic question. Being fobbed off when there is a problem is relevant. Posts about the product are relevant when the ‘reviewer’ has had it more than an hour (ie first impressions do not matter).

Also, look for trends across many of those posts and do not take any single one at face value.

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I don’t bother too much with reviews. You need to read reviews with some knowledge of the product to see what people are trying to say at times. Then have the ability to pick out the pertinent and what are hopefully the accurate points.
Sometimes the poor to bad reviews you can see people have not taken the time to read instructions, don’t have the technical expertise necessary to grasp how the equipment needs to operate or function.
The Chef LPG stove bought, the reviews were mediocre at best. Best baking oven and accurate temperature control oven owned or used.
FB is probably the last place you would want to rely on for reviews. The shills on FB who are obviously getting commissions or rewards to promote a product or service are very active. The other thing I find interesting is how so many people are highly gullible to advertising and hearsay on FB. How incorrect technical and scientific incorrect statements get embroidered on and believed I find fascinating. When you try and correct them they get confused by facts. The other thing I find interesting and see companies that play on the fact that many think paying a reassuringly high price gets them a better/superior product, which often and isn’t always the case.

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Absolutely right PhilT. My point is that if you’re using Product Review to learn about a product, filter by Verified Reviews first. If that gets rid of a large portion of ‘reviews’ assessing claims becomes a much less time-consuming job.

I then look at the 1-3 star reviews first. The problems described, in addition to any corrective action by the seller monitoring the reviews tells me if the product/service is worth going into further. Everything is good until you have a problem with some products.

I know some people here are interested in the ‘review industry’. If that’s not you, read no further.
I tripped across this site yesterday when looking at some reviews Feefo Reviews | About Our Company so thought I’d share.

“We take the guesswork out of growing your business and building the best customer experience. Feefo connects you directly with your customers. Real feedback, means real insight, and we give you the tools to use it to build relationships, improve your brand reputation and make informed decisions for the future.”

They have some interesting ‘tips’ for companies re value of customer reviews https://www.feefo.com/en/business/search-results?term=reviews+online . Worth a look e.g. Do Shoppers still Trust Online Reviews?; Is it Worth Paying for Online Reviews? | Feefo; How to spot a fake review | Feefo; Impact of Online Product Reviews on Customers’ Buying Decision; How Much Do Online Reviews Affect Client Decisions?; Sentiment Analysis For Product Reviews | Why Should We Use It?.

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I treat FB reviews as worthless. However, where FB does provide value is on a company’s page; if you have a problem with something and the company appears disinclined to deal with it, a post on their FB page usually elicits a prompt response.

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You would think that having access to huge amounts of good information online would help people to make better decisions, instead the web provides a conduit for them to suck up whatever accords with their beliefs and prejudices.

It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.

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So many very good points you make Monica_D.

I will usually learn about the product claims from the manufacturer site first if I can. This makes it easier to understand the technical aspects of some reviews.

Agree not all verified reviews are made by people who have the experience or skills or have bothered to do their homework beyond talking to one sales rep. Also there are some people who are not into conflict resolution.

The only recommendations I source from FB are those where I’m looking for a local service. Then only from locality-based closed community Groups where people are more accountable in publishing reviews to their neighbours. You then need to verify further before engaging the service.

I think that people look for different things out of social media and reviews. You are obviously a logical person. Many are not and can be driven emotionally. Balanced personalities can be quite rare. [I don’t claim to be one]. Depends on so many things like educational opportunities, life experiences, personality e.g. may want to be an influencer, a follower, an anonymous sniper…

In terms of the “you get what you pay for” philosophy, I call that laziness and having someone to blame when things go wrong. You only have to look at the latest Choice newsletter for a good example on product quality Pedestal and tower fan reviews . Most expensive recommended was $299 at 80%; least expensive recommended was $35 at 83%.

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After searching fruitlessly for soap not made from Palm Oil at Aldi , Coles and Woolworths I decided to try Amazon and was delighted to find a reasonably priced soap that stated clearly on the description that it contained “ no palm oil “ I ordered 5 boxes but when they arrived I was less delighted to find the ingredients listed on the packing stated that it was made from sodium tallowate and sodium cocoate OR SODIUM PALMATE AND SODIUM PALM KERNALATE. ( my capitals).
I submitted a one star review to Amazon and returned the soap for a refund. Amazon rejected the review.

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Hi @peter,

I added your post to this existing one. I suspect the folks vetting reviews at Amazon could not connect the dots between palm oil and related/derivatives such as palmate and kernalate so thought it spurious, OR for some reason they interpreted your review as a comment on the vendor rather than on the product.

It is disheartening when one is referenced to a general document without being advised what the specific problem may be so the reviewer/customer may never know or figure it out on the balance of probabilities.

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Pental the makers of the soap (which is also available in some supermarkets) make the claims that it is ‘palm oil free’ on their website:

The same claims are made on retailers/supermarkets websites who also sell this particular soap.

It might be worth contacting Pental to see the basis for their claims. It could be that they use a technicality that the soap doesn’t contain palm oil per say, even though it could potentially contain an ingredient from the processing of fatty acid from palm or OR they use a synthesized form of sodium palmate/palm kernelate which is the same compound but derived from non-palm oil sources. They might respond to an enquiry in relation to the basis of their claims.

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Off the top of my head I doubt that any synthetic versions of these substances would be made in commercial quantities. The reason is that the natural version is so cheap and a synthetic version (depending on what it is made from) would be much more expensive.

That explanation, or none at all (they just lie) seems most likely to me.

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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Problems with Nick Scali Furniture 2022 onward

Bumping this topic with a recent article, citing Choice. Silly season is here as well as consumers inclination to check online reviews.

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