It’s either that or the seller asked/hired somebody to write a review to counter yours. If he is already trying to manipulate the reviews by asking you to remove yours, he might do something like that as well.
Or the other review “took the bait”.
Aye, that’s what it sounds like to me.
Don’t take down the review.
Who is the seller? Would be good for us to know that here. It’s a second-hand data point.
Wait, your issue is with the product, but the seller wants your to change the review? is the seller also the manufacturer? bad reviews don’t reflect the seller’s status. Is this one of those non-marketplace sellers who just has a link through Amazon? or did you also post a review saying the seller sold you a crap product, and that’s what the seller wants you to remove? If you do remove something, make sure you remove the right thing.
A couple of times, I got totally crap products from eBay, and posted “neutral” (not negative) reviews, saying that the seller should pay more attention to what they are selling (one was a videotape that was broken, and you could see if you lifted the guard that the tape wasn’t visible; I had to open the cover with a screwdriver and Scotch-tape it back together). Apparently neutral reviews on eBay are just as bad as negative ones, because I got a profanity-laden reply (which I reported) from the seller that I should have contacted him before I posted the review and given him a chance to correct the problem (why? because it’s easier to say “sorry” later than to ask permission first?) does he think I would have sent the tape back so he could have opened it up, taped it together, and mailed it back? Besides, I had no idea that neutral and negative reviews were essentially that same-- now, if I get bad service, but it’s not just sinfully awful, I don’t leave any review at all.
He gave me a “bad buyer” review, but I had a 100% rating before that; his seller review was nowhere near 100%, which I know now (I didn’t then, and the fact that I bought a videotape should let you know when this was) is a red flag not to buy from the person.
He’s no longer a seller.
But didn’t write a review of the movie where I spent time complaining about a busted videotape.
If your review of a product is somehow affecting the seller because of something that was not the seller’s fault, then maybe you should revise the review. If not, leave it be.
The seller’s actions are a reflection of the seller and of the products s/he sells.
Just to be clear: Did you post a lukewarm review of the product, or a lukewarm review of the seller ? There’s a huge difference.
If you reviewed the seller, I would absolutely edit or delete the lukewarm review and change/post a positive one instead. If you reviewed the product, I’d quite possibly edit in a notice that your issues were with the product itself, not [seller] so readers are aware; I’d be far likelier to do this if [seller] is the only Amazon shop selling the product.
Also, if I had reviewed the product, I would go and add a positive review for the storefront itself. They basically gave me the product for free without me even asking and I think that’s good customer service. I’d also send a quick email back letting them know that.
Reviews of products and reviews of marketplace sellers are absolutely different things. I wouldn’t see anything wrong with someone rating the product a 1 and the seller a 5, or vice versa.
It may be a bit tacky that they explicitly asked you to change your review, but for sellers whose online shop is their livelihood, reviews can make or break them. I have no problem with their question/request, especially if it’s a situation like I described above.
God, that drives me insane - I’ve been trying to decide which jogging stroller to get, you know for ACTUAL RUNNING. It’s hard to parse the reviews because a lot of the negative ones are bitching about how hard strollers with fixed wheels are to turn. That’s the point. That’s because it isn’t for your goddamned trip to the zoo, it’s for actually running, and a fixed wheel keeps your baby from ending up in the lake if you hit a bump. Your review is useless to me if you don’t run with your running stroller!
But in the situation of the OP, no way. It was unethical of them to ask and would be unethical of you to do.
To clarify a bit: The only change to the product review I’d make is potentially adding the bit about the issue being with the product itself and not the seller. I would not change my star rating or delete anything I had already written.
OT, but something I hate is when someone’s review of a product is “I have been waiting 3 weeks, and it still has not arrived.” And it’s the only 1-star review of something that otherwise has only 4- & 5-star reviews.
Whenever I buy something for a non-trivial amount of money, I make a point of reading the negative reviews. Even if it’s like 95% five star to 5% one star - you never know if that 5% found something really bad about it.
Way more often it’s like you said. “They didn’t say ANYWHERE that this mailbox can’t be submerged in a lake!”
It’s actually a good confidence booster when the only complaints are idiotic or psychotic or both.
I’m dumbfounded by those kinds of reviews – things like “I received the wrong item! Please send me what I ordered NOW!” I wonder if those people are still waiting for Amazon to notice their complaint and act upon it.
Yes, I’m reassured when the few negative reviews are obvious outliers. When they insist that the good reviews are all fakes, that’s a giveaway.
My all-time favorite Amazon review was from a guy who complained that his Wizard of Oz DVD was pan-and-scan. He demanded that the film be released “in its original widescreen glory.” I’m guessing he was bombarded with derision and took the review down, because I haven’t been able to find that gem since.
This^. I check the negatives first as well, and if the bulk are dumb crap like this I ignore them and move on.
I needed something once on Amazon and found one I liked that shipped in 8-10 days so I ordered it. They charged my card immediately (I hate that practice but all the non Amazon stores that sell on Amazon now do that by listing the order as “shipped” immediately, even if the item in question isn’t even released yet, but I digress…) but the expected arrival date was suddenly almost a month away. Turned out it was shipping direct from China. I was angry because one of the reasons I picked the one I did was the quicker turn around time so I posted a negative review.
They e-mailed me asking me to remove the review because they said the shipment would be within the estimated time. I thought that was very weird for them to contact me. I have posted negative reviews before and that never happened. It ended up arriving sooner than a month but more than the 10 days originally promised (took about 16 or 17 days). Still, I didn’t remove the review.
I can’t remember what movie it was, but someone insisted that he had received the colorized version of a movie, and he wanted the original B&W. About 8 people replied, telling him the movie was originally in color, including one person who saw it in the theater when it was released-- and it was a pretty old movie. He insisted that he had seen it on TV years ago, in B&W, so it must be colorized now. Several people told him to look it up on IMDb, and one person even tried to explain the trademark restrictions that caused some color films to be shown on TV in B&W in the 60s and 70s, but he just said they must be a shill for the company. It was really hysterical.
BTW, who else hates getting requests for feedback? I get emails from people I bought stuff from saying “We hope you are satisfied. Please give us 5-star feedback.” Those people get NO feedback. Unless the item has not arrived. Then they get less than stellar (pun intended) feedback.
The hostile response was wrong, but he’s right that you are supposed to contact the seller to give them a chance to make it right before giving a review. It’s one of the questions they ask you when you try to leave a review, and it’s in the help documents.
The feedback is supposed to be the end of the transaction. And anything less than a 5 star positive review dings the seller’s reputation.
eBay is pretty much the opposite of Amazon in this situation. You aren’t reviewing the product but the seller. Problems with the product are only problems if the seller won’t make it right.