topic Re: Weird Reviews in Community Chat

Weird Reviews

Kachina624 — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 16:33:49 GMT

We've had a lot of discussion about inappropriate reviews but I've never seen any like those on item #K378614. There are over 30 reviews done during something called a "product sampling review" which sounds suspiciously like something arranged by the manufacturer. For a while Amazon was loaded with reviews for which people were paid or received the merchandise free; this sounds like something similar and not quite legit. These reviews are dated over 2 years ago; this is a new product at QVC.

Re: Weird Reviews

ShowMe — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 16:49:25 GMT

It's been a known fact that many reviews are not from folks that have purchased the merchandise. They all do that....to make more sales. And that's just not right.

Heck, I've written some reviews, and they never show up. So, I don't do it any more.

Edited to say: Not all reviews I have answered are from the Q.....I do purchase else where......

Re: Weird Reviews

San Antonio Gal — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 16:45:00 GMT

I write reviews - after receiving the product - to help others decide. Fortunately, all my reviews were posted. I also read reviews prior to a purchase instead of relying on the overall star rating. Since anyone can write a review these days, the star rating is no longer an accurate.

Re: Weird Reviews

itsmagic — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 16:53:51 GMT

I don’t trust the reviews that I see are part of a promotion. I hope the Q doesn’t start posting these reviews on a regular basis.

Re: Weird Reviews

sunshine45 — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 16:59:09 GMT

i have no problems seeing reviews from people who have received the item for free OR had the chance to sample the item as part of a study as long as it is clearly noted, which they are.

Re: Weird Reviews

mimomof4 — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 17:11:45 GMT

I would also be suspicious of those reviews. Its obvious they were paid to try the product so who know how truthful the review actually is.

Re: Weird Reviews

Its Me LuLuBelle2 — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 17:18:14 GMT

@Kachina624, October 2017 I bought a washable cashmere sweater for $65 at Amazon from their Amazon Essentials clothing line. I received it, was happy with it and wrote a review (as I right a ton of reviews on Amazon). I'm that gal who actually gets down to the nitty gritty. In this case I mentioned I had bought navy and said it was a true navy. Said what size I bought and what size clothing I normally wear and why I sized up in this particular sweater. I waited to write the review until I had washed it so I could give details about how well it did wash, how I washed and dried it and how nice it felt and looked after washing it. So I post my review, I'm the 14th person who had done so, and then I noticed that the previous 13 reviewers had all received the item for FREE as part of Vine Customer Reviews. And the best part is some of the reviews were short an sweet: "My wife liked it, nice sweater." Wow, that's a review? Make a little effort folks - especially when getting it for FREE!

I was fit to be tied, wrote to Jeff Bezos and within an hour I received an email from one of his staff members stating that yes they could understand why someone would be miffed and they would make more of an effort to not post every single Freebie at once. Well, frankly it was a non-starter of an answer. So I fixed Amazon's wagon! I went and deleted every single review I ever posted, didn't re-up Prime and have purchased very little since. I know I was being silly and okay, immature, but it sure made me feel better. The only thing I continue to buy are Kindle books and may take the plunge and buy the new Waterproof Paperwhite Kindle released yesterday. Just waiting for the reviews to roll in - lol! Yes, the irony of it!

Re: Weird Reviews

Imaoldhippie — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 17:36:21 GMT

The one review I see a lot is...............I didnt like it.

Huh? Why not? Geesh!

Re: Weird Reviews

dex — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 19:36:45 GMT

@Kachina624@Well isn’t that interesting...thanks for pointing it out.I will be careful how I read reviews,

Re: Weird Reviews

Spurt — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 22:45:33 GMT

@Kachina624

I wouldnt trust any of these reviews with this wording [This review was collected as part of a promotion.] And I dont think these reviews should be allowed at all!!! These people could be paid like the ones Amazon got in trouble for, OR they could have been from the manufacturers website and only picked the good reviews and copied them and posted them on the Q's website!

Re: Weird Reviews

sassenach1 — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 23:14:56 GMT

@Its Me LuLuBelle2 QVC does not require you to purchase the production in order to write a review. Or at least they didn’t.; I haven’t checked lately. I’ve complained about this for years and nothing has been done. So at least Amazon has “verified purchase” on their reviews and require a a disclaimer for reviews for free products now.

Re: Weird Reviews

dooBdoo — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 15:49:13 GMT

I just did a quick internet search for the phrase "This review was collected as part of a promotion." and "QVC" -- I got nearly 5,000 results.

I notice that these particular reviews do not allow us to click on the reviewer name and see their history (hover the cursor over their name, and you'll see they do not contain hyperlinks the way QVC customer names do).

Some are accompanied by other notations, such as "Written by a customer while visiting philosophy.com" or "Written by a customer while visiting alexbrands.com" -- that sort of thing.

The company "Bazaarvoice" manages QVC's reviews -- they recently made changes to the system and I wonder if at that time they merged ratings on other websites with QVC's.

I looked at the Bazaarvoice.com site and they use the same terminology @Kachina624 noticed. Evidently it's what they call "syndicated content:"

"...Over the next several weeks, Bazaarvoice will roll out changes to our content system designed to disclose syndicated review content collected through promotional means, such as sweepstakes, sampling, coupons, and other incentives...

...The incentivized badge will no longer appear on reviews that meet the above criteria. Instead, the following text will be appended to each review:

“[This review was collected as part of a promotion.]”... "

Also, in another part of the website they're called "incentivized reviews:"

"...Authenticity is a core value at Bazaarvoice. This means indicating, or badging, user generated content (UGC) where the author has been offered an incentive.

FTC regulations concerning consumer-generated content, as well as the Bazaarvoice Authenticity Policy, require that reviews display a notification (either as a graphic badge or plain text) any time the consumer has received or been offered material compensation for writing their review.

This includes, but is not limited to, any of the following being provided to the consumer in exchange for writing a review:

Entry into a sweepstakes
Coupons or Discounts
Loyalty Reward Points
Free products, either before as in a Sampling program or after, as a Thank You gift... "

Re: Weird Reviews

Q-Anu — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 03:22:57 GMT

Yep! Just why I no longer trust or bother to give reviews most anywhere at all, including here.

I wonder how many incentives one would receive after giving an authentic poor review or two. 😉

Re: Weird Reviews

Kachina624 — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 07:26:02 GMT

@dooBdoo. Very interesting observations. I guess we might as well quit trying to write honest, informative reviews and just let Bazaarvoice and their Mickey Mouse reviews take over the system. It truly seems that QVC can't do a decent job of managing anything, even the most vital and straightforward aspects of their operation.

Re: Weird Reviews

PINKdogWOOD — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 11:54:10 GMT

@Imaoldhippie The reviews that bug me for clothing items are the ones who say they bought it, fits great, love the color blablabla but they never elaborate on the size they are, they size they bought, is it the regualr size they'd buy or did they size up/down. What's the point? A review like this doesn't help me out on clothing items.

The ones that REALLY bug me of course are the people who post a review but DID NOT even buy the item regardless what it may be! And these reviews actually get posted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's up with this?????????????????????? You cannot review any item if you do not/did n ot buy it.

Re: Weird Reviews

lovesallanimals — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 20:48:07 GMT

More often than not I write a review, after I receive it and have tried it. What I do notice is that when I see a lot of reviews for a new product that are all 5 stars and are extremely positive, I click on to see what else they have reviewed. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen most of them with just this one review, so I know something is not right or honest about this. When I see reviews by people who have posted several reviews and see if their taste is similar to mine, I feel more confident about the product.

Re: Weird Reviews

Justice4all — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 19:13:13 GMT

For better or worse, I can no longer see qvc reviews!

In memory of newziesuzie

Re: Weird Reviews

dooBdoo — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 22:03:36 GMT

@itsmagic wrote:
I don’t trust the reviews that I see are part of a promotion. I hope the Q doesn’t start posting these reviews on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, it appears this will be a standard practice on QVC's site now, @itsmagic.

Re: Weird Reviews

dooBdoo — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 22:07:48 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
@dooBdoo. Very interesting observations. I guess we might as well quit trying to write honest, informative reviews and just let Bazaarvoice and their Mickey Mouse reviews take over the system. It truly seems that QVC can't do a decent job of managing anything, even the most vital and straightforward aspects of their operation.

I always read the reviews with a "grain of salt," @Kachina624, but now I'm even more careful and probably cynical. I guess all we can do is try to be informed about the way reviews are solicited, chosen for publication, and in some cases paid endorsements.

Re: Weird Reviews

depglass — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 22:18:11 GMT

I write a review when I'm extremely happy or extremely unhappy with a purchase. The vast middle group I ignore.