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View Full Version : My Borg Product review was rejected!



dennis thompson
09-15-2010, 6:32 AM
I bought a pair of horses from Home Depot. After a short time one broke. Brought it back & the returns person was nice & said just get another one which I did. They come in pairs so we opened them to get one & both of the new ones were broken!. I was told to return them I had to have the pair, I only had one with me so I plan to return the pair today & I imagine I'll have no trouble . I wrote a review of the product & offered one star, said don't buy them because they were junk. Home Depot rejected my review since I "didn't follow their guidelines". I'd say the reviews at Home Depot may not be the best guideline to use when buying a product there.
Dennis

Myk Rian
09-15-2010, 7:31 AM
Harbor Freight does the same thing.
I had to fix a compressor to keep it running. Review never was published.

Dan Hintz
09-15-2010, 8:03 AM
Same at Sears... anyone would be naive to trust reviews monitored and published by the company making money off of the product in question.

Phil Thien
09-15-2010, 8:48 AM
Very interesting. This would make a great article for any aspiring journalist out there (hint hint).

Go to a bunch of web sites and create two reviews for the same product. The first, short and negative, no objectionable words, etc. The second, short and positive, not too much detail.

See which sites publish which reviews, and report back.

Jeff Monson
09-15-2010, 8:57 AM
I bought a pair of horses from Home Depot. After a short time one broke. Brought it back & the returns person was nice & said just get another one which I did. They come in pairs so we opened them to get one & both of the new ones were broken!. I was told to return them I had to have the pair, I only had one with me so I plan to return the pair today & I imagine I'll have no trouble . I wrote a review of the product & offered one star, said don't buy them because they were junk. Home Depot rejected my review since I "didn't follow their guidelines". I'd say the reviews at Home Depot may not be the best guideline to use when buying a product there.
Dennis

Well geez Dennis, thats why they have the product reviews, 1st rule is "rate everything good to increase sales", 2nd rule is "there is no 2nd rule" get with the program man :cool:

Zach Callum
09-15-2010, 9:27 AM
I wondered why there were so few reviews on those sites... There are some great tool reviews on Amazon. Some people even go back and update after a couple of years usage.

Dan Hintz
09-15-2010, 9:28 AM
Jeff,

The second rule is dump the product and remove it completely from the website when too many complaints come in and start to appear on other websites.

dave andrews
09-15-2010, 9:35 AM
Same at Sears... anyone would be naive to trust reviews monitored and published by the company making money off of the product in question.

The idea of poor reviews not getting published is quite disconcerting maybe because I rely heavily on reviews for purchasing.

I have only reviewed one item at sears about 6 months ago on a dehumidifier and it was a short negative review with 2/5 stars. After reading this thread I checked and verified that it is still there.

glenn bradley
09-15-2010, 9:39 AM
anyone would be naive to trust reviews monitored and published by the company making money off of the product in question.

Or by magazines that accept advertising dollars. I use reviews as a small part of my decision making process. Folks here and at Family WWing seem to offer the most candid reviews. Other forums have a bit too much of that "I paid for this thing so it must be good" or " this thing wasn't what I expected so it is junk" sort of owner reviews for me. Take it all in and filter out an opinion the best you can is my advice.

Callan Campbell
09-15-2010, 10:13 AM
By not writing a "good" review of a Borg product, you have not assimilated to the Borg. Once you have submitted to the Borg, you will be granted a posted review....;) Or something Star Treky like that:p:p:p
Seriously though, while totally agreeing with Dan H.'s comments and Glen B's, it also a wonder that REALLY badly written and juvenile reviews get posted and left for YEARS on many of the companies websites. I feel you pain and frustration of not being to voice your complaint about a bad product though, sounds like more people will buy it without yours and other previous buyers warnings getting through. Was it the Stanley Plastic Adjustable saw horses?.

Ken Fitzgerald
09-15-2010, 10:32 AM
Seriously,

you have to take reviews with a grain of salt and know who is doing the review.


We have people all the time ranting and reviewing tools here and they have no serious experience or training on how to use that equipment.

Example:

Recently there was a guy who bought a brand new bandsaw and was having trouble getting the blade to track so the sanded he crown off the tires and later admitted he hadn't contacted the company's technical support group yet. Now think about this. This guy is making major changes and damages to a brand new bandsaw WITHOUT TALKING TO THE COMPANY? Point....some bandsaws are made to function with crowns on the tires....some aren't. Before re-engineering any tool give the company a chance to respond. If this company told the guy to "kiss off" on the warranty I would not blame them. I wouldn't have much faith in this person's review.

Ignorance is a lack of knowledge. Stupidity well......a stupid person probably can't learn.

Some people doing reviews can fall into either of those categories and their reviews are worthless.

I trust the experts at magazines to point out advantages from a user standpoint. I trust the folks at a few magazines to give an unbiased report. I trust some folks at websites to give good reviews.

In the end, I would prefer to see, use, touch, analyse and decide based on my own experience.

Often that is hard to do when you live in Idaho.

Ed Hazel
09-15-2010, 10:37 AM
There are some great tool reviews on Amazon. Some people even go back and update after a couple of years

usage.

Manufactures / suppliers would never hire anyone to write product reviews online, would they?

Neil Brooks
09-15-2010, 10:50 AM
I wrote a review of the product & offered one star, said don't buy them because they were junk. Home Depot rejected my review since I "didn't follow their guidelines". I'd say the reviews at Home Depot may not be the best guideline to use when buying a product there.

I wouldn't render judgment, here, without reading what you wrote, and then looking at the "guidelines" to see if you, in fact, WERE in violation of any of them.

Positive, negative, or neutral review ... WAS your submission in line with their guidelines ?

It would be unfair to HD if the mere fact that your review was negative ... had nothing at all to do with its rejection.

I'm sincerely asking the question. I'm not trying to pass judgment, here.

Dave Lehnert
09-15-2010, 11:26 AM
I know some will reject a review if you enter in a price.

Ben Franz
09-15-2010, 11:36 AM
Disturbing yes. Surprising - not in the least.

Since the question came up, I wanted to say that a year or so ago I wrote a review on Rockler that was critical of their urethane bandsaw tires. I was a little surprised when it was published right away and unedited. Kudos to Rockler. I've written a few reviews on Amazon, a couple very critical - one star ratings - and they were all published as well. Some online vendors seem to play it straight.

Dan Hintz
09-15-2010, 12:05 PM
I believe Amazon censors for language and such, but other than that it allows any review through. Still, you have to wade through the chaff and the obvious shills.

Van Huskey
09-15-2010, 1:32 PM
Or by magazines that accept advertising dollars. .

I used to think that was a non-issue BUT after I read some interesting posts by a member of upper-management from a company posted here, I have become more cynical, in the woodworking realm anyway.

As for reviews on sites that are in the chain of commerce I only read the negative reviews, I figure those are probably real.

Jerome Hanby
09-15-2010, 1:39 PM
I used to think that was a non-issue BUT after I read some interesting posts by a member of upper-management from a company posted here, I have become more cynical, in the woodworking realm anyway.

As for reviews on sites that are in the chain of commerce I only read the negative reviews, I figure those are probably real.

I can't speak of wood working magazines, but when I worked for UDS and we owned the V.32 modem market, we called PC Mag on the carpet for trashing us in a review. We objected to their test procedures and conclusions, but the bottom line was we purchased a cover ad each month so they printed a prominent retraction...

Callan Campbell
09-15-2010, 2:39 PM
Seriously,

you have to take reviews with a grain of salt and know who is doing the review.


We have people all the time ranting and reviewing tools here and they have no serious experience or training on how to use that equipment.

Example:

Recently there was a guy who bought a brand new bandsaw and was having trouble getting the blade to track so the sanded he crown off the tires and later admitted he hadn't contacted the company's technical support group yet. Now think about this. This guy is making major changes and damages to a brand new bandsaw WITHOUT TALKING TO THE COMPANY? Point....some bandsaws are made to function with crowns on the tires....some aren't. Before re-engineering any tool give the company a chance to respond. If this company told the guy to "kiss off" on the warranty I would not blame them. I wouldn't have much faith in this person's review.

Ignorance is a lack of knowledge. Stupidity well......a stupid person probably can't learn.

Some people doing reviews can fall into either of those categories and their reviews are worthless.

I trust the experts at magazines to point out advantages from a user standpoint. I trust the folks at a few magazines to give an unbiased report. I trust some folks at websites to give good reviews.

In the end, I would prefer to see, use, touch, analyse and decide based on my own experience.

Often that is hard to do when you live in Idaho.
I hear you Ken. I was adding a bit of humor on Home Depots part for not taking this persons review and posting it. I've read many reviews over the years, from all types of people. The well written and well thought out reviews stand the test of time.

Mike Heidrick
09-15-2010, 2:45 PM
I use smc and woodnet to gauge a lot about what I do not have experience with. Some folks I trust based on their experience here. Others I factor into a weighetd scale - if 25 -125 of you hate something there is probably a reason why. I just use my best judgement. I trust experience and value the experienced. I also take some risk and that is on me and my checkbook :) Mostly I bank on the industrial - buy once and buy for life.

Mitchell Andrus
09-15-2010, 3:09 PM
That's why I don't read reviews. I'll ask here before buying.
.

scott spencer
09-15-2010, 4:25 PM
I've seen plenty of negative reviews posted on Sears website, and have had negative reviews published that I posted on sites like CPO, Amazon, Epinions, and Rockler. I suspect Neil's correct in that it was more a matter of a policy violation than the actual rating. I'd think that watch dog groups would be all over them for screening out the negative reviews and only publishing positives.

In any event, I take any reviews fairly lightly regardless of the source, many reviewers simply have little experience, and even a qualified reviewer's preferences might be different than mine. If there's a negative review based on a quality issue, I also consider that an isolated problem with one unit doesn't increase the chances of another unit having the same issue....I do watch for quality "trends" though.

dennis thompson
09-15-2010, 5:42 PM
I went over the Home Depot Review guidelines & can't see where I violated them. I did call the product junk which it is. I emailed them & asked them how I failed to follow their guidelines, it will be interesting to see what they say, if they reply
Dennis

Neil Brooks
09-15-2010, 6:05 PM
I went over the Home Depot Review guidelines & can't see where I violated them. I did call the product junk which it is. I emailed them & asked them how I failed to follow their guidelines, it will be interesting to see what they say, if they reply
Dennis

Interesting.

Here's what appears directly to the right of the text field, in which one may enter their own review:



Tips for writing a review:


Focus on the product and your individual experience using it
Provide details on why you liked or disliked a product
All submitted reviews are subject to the terms set forth in our Terms of Use

Reviews that contain the following types of content will not post:


Obscenities, discriminatory language, or other language not suitable for a public forum
Advertisements, "spam" content, or references to other products, offers, or web sites
Email addresses, URLs, phone numbers, physical addresses or other forms of contact information
Critical or spiteful comments about other reviews posted on the page or their authors
Comments that criticize The Home Depot or other retailers Associates, shopping environments, policies or procedures outside the specific context of product performance

My guess ? From what you've told us ... the problem might BE the use of the word "junk."

If it is, I don't actually have a problem with HD refusing to post it, on their site.

It's certainly not the harshest language, but ... it strays from the being fact-based -- something they DO seem to encourage customers to be, in their reviews.

Their Terms of Use (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?pn=Terms_of_Use&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&locStoreNum=1544&marketID=51) page really doesn't shine any additional light on the subject.

Please DO let us know if/when they reply !

Dave Lehnert
09-15-2010, 6:08 PM
I would have to see what was said in the review to pass judgment.

Bill Whig
09-15-2010, 8:05 PM
I think it's remarkable that reviews on proprietary systems are not abused more (than they might be). The economics involved seem to suggest they should "cheat".

Bill

Thomas Delpizzo
09-15-2010, 10:40 PM
I try to find many sources of reviews, if I can find them. It's difficult for certain markets due to the power of the advertising bucks, but mags like Consumer Reports are pretty good (not Consumer Digest - they advertise). I was surprised Tiger Direct seemed to allow a lot of negatives on products. I guess when you have so many companies that want to sell through you, you may not care if one threatens to pull their ads or product. Other places are those powered by forums such as this one. Harmony Central for musical instruments is an example.

Jeff Mackay
09-16-2010, 1:08 AM
I recently posted a review of a patio set I bought from Home Depot. Twice. In my first review, I really only focused only on the poor service I got for delivery. They rejected it. So I wrote a second review, focused on the product--detailing both good and bad points about the product, and only complained about delivery in the last paragraph. That one was accepted.

I figured that if I was buying online, I'd like to know the experience that others have had with the product. I also complained to them when I posted the response. They have to realize that if someone wants to publish derogatory information on the web, they'll find a way to do it.

Ken Fitzgerald
09-16-2010, 1:18 AM
Jeff,

The difference is the specificity.

If you say something is junk that is just an unsupported comment.

When you specify that yours had a bad "X" and it was a poor design because lever "A" was manufactured from a too light gauge metal and the design didn't incorporate a needed brace..... Those are specifics supported by your experience.

Then if you slip in you feel like you also received bad service because ......

Those specific observations and comments are useful to the retailer, the manufacturer and potential future buyers.

dennis thompson
09-16-2010, 6:54 AM
Ken
I explained in my review that my horse broke shortly after I bought it & when I went to the store to return it, the two new horses we looked at to replace it both broke as we opened them, to me that defines Junk.
Dennis

Moshe Eshel
09-16-2010, 8:02 AM
I wondered why there were so few reviews on those sites... There are some great tool reviews on Amazon. Some people even go back and update after a couple of years usage.

I second that, I've found Amazon, and some other sites that are not the producers of the products they carry (this is true for BIG sites that have LOADS or products of many categories) - to be quite good with their review system. I actually read a large selection of the reviews for each product I buy there - both negative and positive. Negative to know what is bad or problematic, and the positive to get more of a feel for the product - to see if it fits my needs (sometimes the manufacturer description is VERY lacking in that respect - telling me what the tool does)...

Also as one that works in the website business, companies will not host bad reviews of themselves (this is true for all companies including Amazon), and if they make the product then a bad review on it - reflects on the company itself. You want the dirt - you have to dig a little, no way around it.

BTW if something doesn't have a review on Amazon, I bide my time - it usually means: A. no one is buying it. B. it is too new and no one got his yet. or C. no one cares enough to review - VERY bad sign.

dennis thompson
09-16-2010, 9:22 AM
Neil, Dave
Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the rejected review, basically I said:
-had the horse a short period of time & it broke
-brought it back to HD, clerk was very nice & said go get a replacement
-they come in pairs so I brought both back to clerk
-as we opened the new ones they both broke
-given that mine broke quickly & the two new ones broke as they were opened I said in my review that they were junk
-rated them one star (poor)
-said I wouldn't recommend them to anyone
Dennis

Greg R Bradley
09-16-2010, 3:27 PM
One of my customers has one, and sometimes two, full-time subcontractors to blog about their products and write reviews. Obviously, they are products with a much wider market than woodworking tools.

Darl Bundren
09-16-2010, 5:10 PM
Like Moshe, I read the Amazon reviews on stuff I am considering buying.

I do not take them as irrefutable, however.

Richard Dragin
09-16-2010, 8:24 PM
Having not seen your review we can't really form an objective opinion. Based on the fact that you are buying and reviewing cheap plastic sawhorses I have to question your opinion of your own review.

dennis thompson
09-17-2010, 6:24 AM
Richard
Very constructive comment
Dennis

scott spencer
09-17-2010, 7:05 AM
Neil, Dave
Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the rejected review, basically I said:
-had the horse a short period of time & it broke
-brought it back to HD, clerk was very nice & said go get a replacement
-they come in pairs so I brought both back to clerk
-as we opened the new ones they both broke
-given that mine broke quickly & the two new ones broke as they were opened I said in my review that they were junk
-rated them one star (poor)
-said I wouldn't recommend them to anyone
Dennis

It does seem like a knitpick, but even the their screening is subjective too. I suspect they don't pay enough to attract many from the "best and brightest" pool to do the position. I wonder if replacing the word "junk" with "poor quality" would fly?

Lee Schierer
09-17-2010, 8:36 AM
What makes everyone think that just because it is on the internet that it is has to be true and fair. In the past when did you ever see a manufacturers advertising flyer, newspaper or magazine ad with anything but rave reviews by owners quoted? You think they would publish a flyer intended to sell a product that a user says "This product stinks!"? Not a chance! So how is the internet different at a manufacturers or retailers site? They are going to use comments that help and not the ones that don't.

Independent sites might be different, but any site with a vested interest in selling a product or gaining revenue from a product is going to "cull" the postings regarding that product to be in a positive light.

Richard Dragin
09-17-2010, 9:46 AM
What makes everyone think that just because it is on the internet that it is has to be true and fair.

Oh sure, and next you are gonna tell us that Wikipedia isn't always factual!

Dan Hintz
09-17-2010, 11:06 AM
Oh sure, and next you are gonna tell us that Wikipedia isn't always factual!
You take that back! :p

Nick Sorenson
09-17-2010, 7:14 PM
Harbor Freight does the same thing.
I had to fix a compressor to keep it running. Review never was published.

They take a few days to show up but my reviews have all showed up. I've left some honest ones (both good and bad). I checked back and they were there. It takes a few days. But maybe others have had different experiences.

Josh Reet
09-18-2010, 1:31 AM
Harbor Freight does the same thing.
I had to fix a compressor to keep it running. Review never was published.

I've read a ton of negative reviews on Harborfreight.com. Some written by flat-out idiots. I'm not saying that they couldn't be removing some reviews, but I think it is far more likely that the issue lies elsewhere. I'm a big believer in Occam's Razor and server error or PEBCAK or what have you seem far more probable.