You have to provide a copy of a valid invoice to post a comment on Product Review as I was informed after I posted a comment about Australian 4WD Hire in response to another post about them.
Both posts were removed, so I suspect that the vast majority of posts on their website are valid.
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Donāt think so, after having reviewed products there for many years. I generally do not provide them invoices although do on occassinon, and have never had a review blocked. Those who provide invoice copies have the review labeled as āverified customerā
If you do not provide an invoice the review shows as
and for a curiosity this reviewer has a single review on the site, glowing about AGL.
Could be fine, or could be a bot, but I wonder why would someone register to make a single glowing report. Not verified, either. OK, short time since 30 July, but scan reviews and you might get the point.
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No wonder there were bad reviews, and they were removed:
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This is the email I received after my post was removed.
We couldnāt publish your review for Australian 4WD Hire
P
ProductReview.com.au b.noreply@productreview.com.au
Reply|
Wed 27/06, 3:22 PM
Hi Fred123,
Thank you for submitting a review for Australian 4WD Hire.
We have examined your review and found that it did not meet our Posting Guidelinesand thus cannot be published.
Below is one of the possible causes for this to happen:
You are unable to post a review for a product or service you have not used.
Team at
ProductReview.com.au
Australiaās No.1 opinion website
This is the first email I received regarding my post.
Australia's No.1 Opinion Site
Hi Fred123,
Thank you for contributing! Your review for Australian 4WD Hire has been published on ProductReview.com.au, Australiaās largest consumer opinion website. You can see it here:
https://www.productreview.com.au/r/australian-4wd-hire/1879557.html
Write 3 more reviews to get a $20 Coles gift card
Read $20 Coles Gift Card FAQs.
Please note that any review may still be removed in the future if itās found to be in breach of our Posting Guidelines.
Team at
ProductReview.com.au
Australiaās No.1 opinion website
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Without access to your original review I cannot make a comment on how they came to that conclusion, but my previous post/advice stands as how they operate.
No, but you need to state in one way or another you have used the product or service, not just have an opinion or third party report about it.
edit - Thanks for splitting the topic @meltam
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My post on Product Review is below.
āAs Rainworth has posted, there is certainly a very great credibility issue regarding the responses by Australian 4WD Hire, and Tim Nicholls recently raised the matter in the Queensland Parliament.
You can read the article regarding it on the ABC News website simply by searching āAustralian 4WD Hireā.
Very interesting reading indeed.ā
In this case @Fred123, I can understand why productreview.com.au would delete your post.
Although not explicitly stated that I could find, their guidelines indicate that contributors should write about āYOUR experienceā (emphasis is mine).
To me it seems that your contribution was NOT a review based on YOUR direct experience, rather your opinion and support for someone elseās experience.
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I agree with meltam6554, Fred, your post is not really a review at all, so I can see why it was rejected.
I suspect Product Review is loaded with fake reviews. As part of my job I keep an eye on reviews for some companies in the solar industry, and as Iāve mentioned elsewhere in this Forum, one particular company has an ongoing surge of 4 and 5 star reviews, many of which I doubt were written by Australians (despite my opinion that English language standards in Australia have fallen somewhat in recent decades).
The large numbers of good reviews rather conveniently coincides with a big TV advertising campaign.
Take any review there that is not from a verified customer with a grain, or perhaps a tablespoon! of salt.
4 Likes
www.ProductReview.com.au has strict guidelines in relation to content which can be added to its website:
https://www.productreview.com.au/i/review-guidelines.html
These guidelines state (see Irrelevant content section):
If youāre reviewing a business listing, be detailed about your experience with the business as opposed to commenting on the purchased product. In some cases, we may not accept reviews if we believe the main feature(s) of the service or product havenāt been used.
As you have not used the Australian 4wd services, it would be in contravention of the ProductReview posting guidelines and therefore they in their right to not accept the comments from @fred123.
The website also states (see Review verification and requests for additional information):
Our content team may run checks at their discretion to confirm if a reviewer has used the product or service they are reviewing. As part of these efforts, some members will need to provide additional information to confirm that they have purchased a product or are a customer of the service they are reviewing. This information is kept confidential as per our Privacy Policy.
I expect that the additional information includes receipts, booking numbers or tax invoices proving that the services have been used, especially where their content team is unsure whether a particular comment is a genuine comment as a result of a purchased product/business service.
5 Likes
Ok. All right. Enough. You Win. I give up. I know when I am beaten.
Looks like I will just have to do some reviews on our Bosch and Weber products for Product Review to get that highly desirable $20 Coles gift card they promised me.
And best of all, I donāt even have to buy any funeral insurance.
1 Like
Have you thoroughly checked the terms and conditions to get that card? 
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There are outs in their favour to avoid issuing cards. The main out being the promotion is closed/finished.
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I have gotten a few of them over time, but I do not pay attention along the way since I review because I review when I think it is warranted, not because of the cards.
Their business model realises without reviews the site will die and reviews are essentially click bait for internet advertising income, so it makes sense to encourage reviewers. In the earlier days they issued points for reviews and points could be redeemed for gift cards; I suspect that started getting expensive in context so they moved to the present method.
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My previous post was not intended to be taken seriously, and was in part created to poke fun at the funeral insurance ads with their āfree gift cardsā.
I always use Product Review in addition to Choice when we are evaluating technology and appliance purchases, but apart from this forum, I do most of my reviewing on TripAdvisor.
1 Like
Ah, Trip Advisor. The people who tell you to trust them because none of the others are reliable?
Then helps you select one of those others Trip Advisor advises against going to for your travel needs.
This is just another form of marketing spin is it not?
We travel often enough and do look up Trip Advisor and others to realise that many of the reviewers on Trip Advisor and other sites donāt have a clue about what they should be communicating. One couples dream bed is anotherās bed of nails. Another complains there were no harbour views despite only paying $100 a night for 5 star special. Who do you believe?
Experience tells us the best deal is the one you do direct over the counter or phone to the desk. You could also try saying itās your special wedding anniversary and ask if they will accept your Titanium Amex card if you need that extra bit of special help. But donāt ruin the leverage by asking for the cheapest room or asking to pay with points. Although if you have such a card points probably are of little need anyway. There is plenty more reliable advice in the Choice travel section.
For products from Bosch and Weber we also prefer to use Choice as any individual reviews can be compared directly with Choice independent testing.
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Iām sure this is the case. I recently gave one star to a certain blind company. I noticed for every bad review for this company from a verified customer with multiple reviews under their belts, there would be about five very short glowing reviews from unverified customers who have no review history. I suspect the company does this in order to keep the star ratings high. I now take these ratings with a grain of salt and only look at the poor reviews as they are more likely to be legitimate.
3 Likes
Unless they are from competitorsā¦
