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%.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hello, I wished I found this forum earlier, despite being a long term Choice subscriber.
My biggest disgust when it comes to online reviews is big companies curating out all the negative reviews on their website - how is this even allowed in this day and age?
I got burnt in particular by Anaconda - reading their 4.5/5 star review for a pair of boots that ended up dangerously slippery on pavement and when I accepted their invite to review the item, the review was promptly rejected and never published. Looking through their entire online catalogue one can only find largely positive reviews and incredulously consistent high star ratings.
Surely there are consumer laws pertaining to what is essentially false advertising in this area?
I would be careful trusting Product Review results. The results for one building company are almost all 5 out of 5 (around 90%) or 1 out of 5 (around 10%). The content and wording of the glowing testimonials are often based around the “wonderful individuals” who work for the company rather than the houses produced.
From the bitterly disapointing experience we have had and the irrate customers we have witnessed interacting with staff, I doubt the authenticity of the “verified” reviews on this site.
A while back I mentioned that businesses regularly get spam emails indicating that one can pay to have positive reviews placed on various review websites. Here is one we recently received for Google reviews:
Are you struggling with your Google business page score?
Get new and authentic 5-star reviews from Google local guides. Witness a surge in score, rank, Calls, inquiries, and sales.
The best part? Our rates are unbeatable in the market.
Join the ranks of 650+ delighted clients who have triumphed over rivals.
Awaiting your response.
Thank you. Meagan Creek
Online Reputation Expert | Google Business Profile Agency Partner
Accepting the offer is fraudulent.
We also get the occasional email from ‘influencers’ promising positive reviews on their social page if we provide complimentary services to them. They usually state how many followers they have and what they are after.
Both sets of emails are reported as spam and deleted.
I dont think " Verified review" is any help what so ever. If the manufacturer, seller, builder etc is organising fake positive reviews, don’t you think they would be well placed to have their review meet the requirement to pass as “verified”.
I think looking at the other reviews written by people or the fact this is their first and only review is more telling.
Check Masterton Homes on product reviews. Check each reviewers past reviews or lack of. Look for names only being removed from negative reviews. As mentioned in a previous post look at content. Would you really just talk about people in admin and supervision and not the trades if you were happy with a house? Wouldn’t you talk about features of your house.
If you go back far enough you will see little goups, 1 or 2 negative reviews always followed by an avalanche of 5/5.
Why dont the names get removed from positive reviews?
Some of the names mentioned in glowing terms, in th 5/5 reviews, appear with scathing descriptions of their performance on less visited building blogs.
