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Do Retailers Often Screen User Reviews?

Mechanist.tm writes "I recently purchased a NAS from a well-known online computer component shop. I have purchased several items from the website and have never had much trouble before. That was until I realized what I had bought was a terrible NAS. All the reviews on the site from users seemed very good. After a little research, it became clear that the product in question was indeed terrible. After finding the product pretty much useless for its intended purpose, I proceeded to write a review for it on the website to inform other would-be buyers. After about a week, I noticed that the review never made it up there, so I wrote another one just in case. After several attempts to leave a negative review for the product, I realized that the website was screening reviews and only posting the ones that made the products look good. All the reviews on the website are positive; I've only found one at less than 3 out of 5 stars. Is this legal? Ethically speaking, it's wrong, and it's intentionally misleading to the customer. Is there a good place to report behavior like this? How common is this among online retailers who provide user reviews?"

3 of 454 comments (clear)

  1. Are you really that thick? by John+Hasler · · Score: 0, Troll

    > All the reviews on the site from users seemed very good.

    A retailer who has only good things to say about his own product. Amazing.

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    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  2. Who by Ned+Scott · · Score: 0, Troll

    Who the hell does Mechanist.tm think they're protecting from not telling us who's screwing customers over in his example? Don't be a cunt; tell us what site it was that was filtering NAS reviews.

  3. Re:Their site... by fredjh · · Score: 1, Troll

    And really, it depends what the site says. Click here to see: "some" reviews, "selected" reviews, any number of ways to word it so as to be misleading, but nice and legal.

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    Stupid, sexy Flanders.