Newegg filtering Reviews?

MiXdNuTs

Gawd
Joined
Aug 9, 2002
Messages
832
I posted a negative review on this product back towards the end of 2004 and at the time there weren't many reviews. Now newegg has a special on the product and there are a 50+ reviews and they all alarmingly positive. I know that this product has firmware issues and this was confirmed to me by the manufacturer. Despite that the fact that new firmware was just released (1 year late) I am upset with newegg for removing my negative review just because they are now running a special on that piece of hardware. Now there are tons of reviews and they all have 5/5 rating! That isn't cool. There were other negative reviews allong with my review for this product.
Has anyone else noticed their reviews getting messed with?
 
They have been doing that for a long time....

Unfortuanetly its business...

Look at this way I suppose, at least they might rethink it if they get a whole batch of RMAs, but I doubt it. :(
 
This really makes me upset. I know many people who buy products based on those reviews alone. Now newegg is selling a bad product to customers using false revies from users. This is blatantly wrong.... That is not business, it is cheating. If newegg wants to review a product then they should do so outside of the customer review section.
 
I made a bad review on a kvm switch that said "compatible with mouse/keyboard combos" in the ad, but the documentation that came with the kvm switch said that wireless keyboard/mouse combos are not compatible.

they denied my review because it was based on "a faulty or damaged product".

I didnt even contact newegg and tell them anything about a damaged product nor did I say anything about it being damaged when it got here. In fact, it works perfectly with a regular keyboard and mouse.

Oh well "let the buyer beware" i guess

/still loves newegg
 
I'm sure stuff like this happens semi frequently. I'd probably remove some of the reviews i've read over the years. 50 positives and 3 "this dozent workz, I am I33t!!!1!!"
I'm still obviously going to be tempted to buy it and take my chances.

Now your situation is much different than that one I described as you had a valid issue.
Something like a firmware problem would probably be more helpful so that people know
to update theirs when they get it.

In the end, it's their site, and they'll do what they want. If people are buying SOLEY on reviews, then that's even more wrong. It should be used as something with some insight.
They make no bones about that.
 
maybe back then that model had issues...dunno, but ive had it for a couple months now and its been working great. I've had no problems with it....Other than a USB D-link wireless that would sometimes have trouble getting a connection. My resolution for that was to give it a static IP and its worked perfectly ever since..I do agree though that if someone posts a negative review that they shouldnt remove it so that they can sell more units...


Edit: as a side note I have a revision C unit
 
My friend has this router and it drops all wireless connections every few minutes and has trouble at even 50'. It IS annoying that all those reviews are positive. Google shows a ton of negatives.
 
Haha....I know that POS router.......only one I have had more issues with is a Belkin.

Someone suggested this work around the last 5 or 20 times this topic came up :rolleyes:

Give it 5 stars and then post the negative part in the text. Sometimes this slips through.
 
I also recommend mentioning in your ResellerRatings review of Newegg that they're dishonest in this way. Don't give Newegg like a 1 rating for it, but it's worth subtracting some points for it IMO.
 
thats bad business in my opinion to mislead buyers about products. kinda defeats the purpose of a rating/comment system... why not just do away with it. Customers should be able to trust the company they buy from. Newegg is taking advantage of this trust. We all agree it's not too smart for a person to base their purchase on only the comments... but a lot of people rely on them because they just dont know. Dont forget that newegg sells more than hardware. They have all kinds of products.
 
MiXdNuTs said:
This really makes me upset. I know many people who buy products based on those reviews alone. Now newegg is selling a bad product to customers using false revies from users. This is blatantly wrong.... That is not business, it is cheating. If newegg wants to review a product then they should do so outside of the customer review section.
If people buy products based solely on newegg's reviews then that is their own problem. Newegg is in the business of selling products, not providing product reviews. If a negative review hurts the sale of a product, what should newegg do? What would ANY business do? It's really not cheating at all. You say they are selling a product using false reviews; how do you know those reviews are false and it wasn't actually the bad reviews that were false? Moreso, how would newegg possibly determine the validity of ANY review, good or bad? Bottom line, the reviews are there to sell products. If you don't like it then don't shop there. Tell the people you know to get some common sense and to not always trust a company that is trying to sell you something to tell the truth about a product. Do some independent research.
 
dandragonrage said:
My friend has this router and it drops all wireless connections every few minutes and has trouble at even 50'. It IS annoying that all those reviews are positive. Google shows a ton of negatives.

There will always be more negative reviews than positive reviews.

And, being that it's wireless, which is a hit or miss technology. Many other factors come into play, such as interference and driver issues for the WNIC.

Being that some of the reviews are positive, that tells you that the router works as intended, otherwise there wouldn't be positive reviews.
 
I think it's possible to give the product a good rating but still write some lines about the problems encountered. In the same page there's a guy that did the same.

When I take a look at ratings, numbers are the last thing I care. Details are more important. :)
 
I wrote a review for a 5 pack of Samsung DVD-RW's. Only 2 of them worked, so I gave it a rating of 2 of 5. That review never showed up either. I was fair with it, it's not like I was cussing or saying "OMFG this stuff sux0rz!!11!" It was an honest review. That really ticked me off.

Now with them screwing us on shipping, I'm getting sour towards Newegg. :(
 
they kept screwing me over with shipping when they kept sending me the wrong stuff... I'm avoiding them as much as possible.
 
I've submitted a half dozen reviews on products - 4 were negative and 2 were positive.

Both positive reviews made it through. None of the 4 negative reviews were posted.

I stopped bothering with submitting reviews - and I was never even given an explanation as to why the reviews weren't posted.

Newegg is in the business of selling products, not providing product reviews. If a negative review hurts the sale of a product, what should newegg do? What would ANY business do? It's really not cheating at all. You say they are selling a product using false reviews; how do you know those reviews are false and it wasn't actually the bad reviews that were false? Moreso, how would newegg possibly determine the validity of ANY review, good or bad? Bottom line, the reviews are there to sell products. If you don't like it then don't shop there. Tell the people you know to get some common sense and to not always trust a company that is trying to sell you something to tell the truth about a product. Do some independent research.

you're using false logic to address an issue of review validity. It's poor support for a questionable, though certainly legal, practice.

I think it's bad business - if you are going to host reviews, that implies impartiality. I know validity is tough to ascertain in these cases, but wouldn't that apply equally to both good and bad, statistically speaking - would there be that great a difference? You and I both know it is not about validity.

It's a gimmick - Newegg uses user reviews as a quasi-scam to lure people into thinking that product reviews equals some sort of legitimacy. While it certainly isn't illegal, it's questionable practice.

Is this a case of Buyer Beware? Not everyone knows about the [H] forums or knows how to find out information. Newegg uses that to sell many, many products.

Tell you what - you open a business in your hometown and use the same practice. Accept customer feedback and then publish only the positive ones - when customers come back with complaints about a crappy product you sold them under misleading pretences let's see how long you stay in business.

Newegg didn't do that initially and grew pretty well. Now it's growing exponentially it seems so it doesn't matter. It's too big - they've baited an entire generation of pc builders and the inevitable switch is coming.

Ultimately, I can applaud their bottom line success becuase they've made a great deal of money - but I think the validity they are shooting for is compromised. It's clear, though, that if it makes money and it's legal, it's okay. It's not that clear cut for me.

What I do? Independent research - as anyone should - and then buy from the cheapest place. Sometimes that's newegg, but more often than not these days, it's another company.
 
RazorOye said:
Tell you what - you open a business in your hometown and use the same practice. Accept customer feedback and then publish only the positive ones - when customers come back with complaints about a crappy product you sold them under misleading pretences let's see how long you stay in business.

Every business does this. Just as you do on your resume. You don't list the times you've been caught screwing around, you list the positive things.

I agree it isn't right, but that's how things are done these days.
 
Look around you. This shit is everywhere. Just watch some car commercials and some movie commercials. At least a few of them will have reviews/testimonials from either reviewers or customers. Now tell me how many of the commercials feature negative reviews. Does this mean the product is perfect and only recieves positive reviews? Hell no. It's marketing. Same as with newegg. If you base a purchase solely on the reviews in a car or movie commercial then you deserve what you get, no matter how shitty it actually is.
 
Newegg is not promoting a single product, though. Bad reviews would not hurt them if the review is true, because users can just go buy another product that Newegg carries. Say D-Link has bad reviews, they can click back and check out Netgear or Linksys.
 
dandragonrage said:
Newegg is not promoting a single product, though. Bad reviews would not hurt them if the review is true, because users can just go buy another product that Newegg carries. Say D-Link has bad reviews, they can click back and check out Netgear or Linksys.
And suppose the d-link widget has a higher profit margin than the netgear and linksys widgets. That is lost revenue for newegg. You say bad reviews would not hurt them if the reviews are true, but they can certainly hurt if they are false. How is newegg supposed to determine the validity of the reviews? This whole argument is just stupid. If you don't like newegg's practices then don't shop there and tell your friends not to shop there. I don't understand what complaining on hardforums is really going to accomplish.
 
I would have expected blatant censorship from many other E-tailors online, but when it comes from Newegg it hurts. I have brought Newegg literally tens of thousands of dollars of business through my workplace and at home and now I feel kind of let down to see that they are using shady business practices. This is especially true because they didn't always partake in this type of censorship. My original negative review was up for months before this new promo was launched and then they scrubbed AND padded the review section. There are now positive reviews for this product dating from before my review that were not there before...
 
heh..I left a bad review about that router as well. I have a signal quality of <50% from 15 feet with nothing in between me and the router... I dont see my review posted anywhere
 
I just bought that router and it's working just great. No problems at all with it. I used the Wireless card for it and works great too. I used the software that came with it. Not only that but my modem is wireless too.
 
Yes, the practices of the egg have gotten shadier. No, it's not terribly honest or right.

And your analogy about this "shit being all around" is not valid. You're so concerned with validity - then pick something analogous.

And drop the "validity" argument - puhlease! It doesn't work. You ask how can they determine whether or not a review is negative and deserves it or doesn't explain why it's negative. How can they prove a positive review is true? How can they prove that the person reviewing a product actually bought the product and isn't some widget-assembly line cog just helping the company out. It's a lame argument.

Besides, I see reviews all the time that are a single line - "THIS BOARD ROCKS!!!!" - how is that a review, honestly? I see tons more one-line praises than negative. Neither should be there since neither is actually constructive or beneficial if it's going to be a worthy "review"

A production company is going to pimp its movie. A car manufacturer is going to pimp its car.

My point is this: people are much more inclined to believe the quality of a product on newegg and questioning it less than some random, no-name movie reviewer who swears that Gigli was an artistic accomplishment. We recognize that for crap - we know that production companies will only print positive reviews.

Newegg, though, prints some negative reviews in order to create a facade of validity. If they print some negative reviews, they must print most of them right? Wrong.

And it's that premise that makes a difference. People buying there the first time and are fooled into thinking a product might be that good. After all, not every review is 5 stars.

You know the agenda of a car company and a movie production company or whatever example(s) you used. Yeah, the agenda of newegg is to make money but it also appears that it's also an effort to give people an indication of product quality.

If you're cool with that - fine. It's business. But don't try to legitimate it with poor analogies and business paradigms that just don't apply in this situation.

But we are in agreement on one very important thing: people should not use user reviews on newegg as an indication of a product's quality or longevity or anything else.

It's not exactly a bait and switch - but what happened to MiXdNuTs cited above is what I'm talking about. We've bought into newegg and from newegg and convinced how many others to buy from them? Now, the practices change (you don't think there are fewer negative reviews posted now than before? Seriously?) - and that's deliberate. That's shady. hook people and then change practices - it bankrolls serious cash. True.

But you're also right about something else - our complaining about here on [H] isn't going to do anything constructive anyhow.
 
I don't think the Egg ever screwed me over - in my estimation, they do a great job. Hell yeah, they're gonna get a bit greedy... they're the fat cat, because right now they are the leading retailer, or at least close. The shipping has gotten a bit out of hand at time, but you're still not going to find a better deal out there most of the time. Sure, ZZF ships most everything free 2day, but newegg gets it there in the same time. ZZF's got higher prices that make up for the shipping.

For those of us who need PayPal accesibility, and who need to return something that's borked, Newegg really can't be beat.

Now about this censorship, it one time told me my review was unacceptible because I had something like "God Bless Newegg"... that wasn't cool.

Remember, you don't own the review, Newegg does. They can do whatever they damn well please. The best way to complain is to post on a forum about the product in question and see if others are having said problem. If not, then God doesn't like you.

I'd be careful guys, stay away from slandering Newegg's good name. (Biting the hand that feeds comes to mind.) I think they are one of the [H]ard|Forum's sponsors, and we need to be good to them. Without the $$ from banners, the forum might be running on Pentium II's :p

Just be patient, Newegg will come around.

 
You would think that any and all (well, most) online retailers will filter their user reviews. They're out there to make money, and if theres a negative review the soon-to-be-purchaser wouldnt purchase the item. Thats why, in my opinion, it is best to go to a public review "only" site such as the site epinions.com, or user reviews at (such as) Amazon/Pricegrabber. In those three sites I have mostly never seen all 100% (or close to) positive reviews.

Just my $0.02.
 
I wrote a review about Zipzoomfly's bad shipping practice. They say 2 day free shipping but on a couple of my orders they didnt even process my order for 2 days and it took me 5 days to get it from the time i placed my order. They even called me on the phone and asked why i gave them the negative review. When they say 2 day shipping i think i should get it on the 3rd day at least. This happened on a few of my orders not just one.
 
apHytHiaTe said:
I'd be careful guys, stay away from slandering Newegg's good name. (Biting the hand that feeds comes to mind.) I think they are one of the [H]ard|Forum's sponsors, and we need to be good to them. Without the $$ from banners, the forum might be running on Pentium II's :p

Just be patient, Newegg will come around.

This is exactly why I decided to take this issue up in this forum. Newegg is the main sponsor here and I would hope that they can take notice of what we have noticed. This forum is full of some of the best that the gaming/hardware community has to offer and we do carry some influence and Newegg knows this. In general we are also pretty big idealists when we can be. Newegg is a company that we have supported and I want to be able to continue to support. Newegg should either stop tweaking/scrubbing the reviews or they should post a notice that states exactly what they have removed from the reviews.

We are the top 1% as far as online street smarts. We know when a review is bogus and that they generally don't matter anyways. However, the vast majority of online consumers don't know any better and this makes filtering reviews equal to taking advantage of somone who is not in a position to make an informed decision.
 
CMAN said:
I wrote a review about Zipzoomfly's bad shipping practice. They say 2 day free shipping but on a couple of my orders they didnt even process my order for 2 days and it took me 5 days to get it from the time i placed my order. They even called me on the phone and asked why i gave them the negative review. When they say 2 day shipping i think i should get it on the 3rd day at least. This happened on a few of my orders not just one.

I left a bad review for Best Buy for the same reason. I got an item there - a BFG 6800 GT OC (I know, you're thinking why Best Buy? I had a gift certificate for over 200 bucks and grabbed the PCIe version of the card which was 399.99 - cheaper, actually, than the egg or zzf at the time) and added second day shipping for like 5 or 6 bucks. The item was ordered on Thursday but didn't even ship until the following Tuesday. I got it a week later - what was the point of two days?

Of course, the two days is only for the shipping - that doesn't include processing time which, acc. to Best Buy, could be days after the order. Which makes sense, I guess. It just strikes me as a little on the slow side. Whereas Newegg does a better job then zzf, usually, on getting items out the warehouse more quickly.
 
newegg user reviews are secondary in my mind compared to actual website reviews
 
RazorOye said:
I left a bad review for Best Buy for the same reason. I got an item there - a BFG 6800 GT OC (I know, you're thinking why Best Buy? I had a gift certificate for over 200 bucks and grabbed the PCIe version of the card which was 399.99 - cheaper, actually, than the egg or zzf at the time) and added second day shipping for like 5 or 6 bucks. The item was ordered on Thursday but didn't even ship until the following Tuesday. I got it a week later - what was the point of two days?

Of course, the two days is only for the shipping - that doesn't include processing time which, acc. to Best Buy, could be days after the order. Which makes sense, I guess. It just strikes me as a little on the slow side. Whereas Newegg does a better job then zzf, usually, on getting items out the warehouse more quickly.

New Egg always processes my order within 1 hour,and i get in 2 to 3 days from the day i order it. I live in florida and i have recieved stuff from New Egg out of California in 2 days after i ordered it,now that is execellant service.
 
It takes newegg two-three days to ship my item and it takes three days to arrive which made it almost a week. I am done with Neweeg. To begin with, I didn't really like them because of the gay ass shipping that they charge on each item.
 
vat said:
It takes newegg two-three days to ship my item and it takes three days to arrive which made it almost a week. I am done with Neweeg. To begin with, I didn't really like them because of the gay ass shipping that they charge on each item.

I don't want you to turn this into a Newegg flame thread. I was just trying to see if others had noticed the same censorship that I have been subjected to and MAYBE provoke a response from a Newegg representative. There is no need to squabble about shipping issues here, but you can start a new thread for that :) .
 
MiXdNuTs said:
I don't want you to turn this into a Newegg flame thread. I was just trying to see if others had noticed the same censorship that I have been subjected to and MAYBE provoke a response from a Newegg representative. There is no need to squabble about shipping issues here, but you can start a new thread for that :) .

I believe you started the thread by flaming New egg your self for removing a negative review. Who reads those lame reviews anyway,those review's of a product by people are worthless.
 
MiXdNuTs said:
I don't want you to turn this into a Newegg flame thread. I was just trying to see if others had noticed the same censorship that I have been subjected to and MAYBE provoke a response from a Newegg representative. There is no need to squabble about shipping issues here, but you can start a new thread for that :) .

Whatever dude, you were the only who started the "I am upset" and I am just tagging along with my experience.
 
Back
Top