Should I delete my review?

[Chino]

Long story short, I bought this;

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JRF149Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


I wrote this review;

3 out of 5 stars

"Build quality seems okay. The adjustment controls for the right eyepiece work great, but the ones for the left side are far too loose. The lense moves around as I tilt my head and it won't stay in place.

Also, despite there being directions for the head unit itself (which aren't really needed in any capacity), there's no documentation for the remote. I spent a good hour last night trying to figure out some use for it, and the best I got was randomly opening and playing/pausing spotify. If you could find this cheaper without the remote, I'd say go that route."



A few days later, without requesting one, I receive an email from Amazon saying I had been refunded. The following day, the seller emails me and apologizes for the crappy unit and tells me to have a good day. I reply and said thanks (in more words) and that was that.

Fast forward three days and the seller emails me again;

"Dear Customer,

I am very happy to cooperate with you, I have given you a refund, have you received this refund?and are you satisfied with our service?if you still have questioning, do not heistate to ask me questions. and if you like our service, can you delete the bad review you gave me on amazon, it really bad for me. I am begging you. thank you very much if you can remove it.

Best Regards
Mark from SIDARDOE"

Now, he knows I got the refund as I had emailed him the thank you, but I still got that message from him. I'm thinking it's a canned response. I didn't reply to this because I was debating what I wanted to do. I have now received this email from him three times in five days. I can't help but think I'm being an asshole, but this kind of thing really pisses me off. As someone who relies heavily on consumer reviews when making Amazon purchases, I hate the idea that I might be buying a shit product that had a dozen negative reviews all get cleared because of sellers making requests like this. It's bribery and deception in my mind.

Part of me feels bad for this guy, but the other part hates this practice and is ready to make my review worse, while calling the seller out on his request for me to remove my negative review.

What would you do?

[hefdaddy42]

I get what you are saying, but there is no long-term relationship here between you too.  You are a buyer, and he is a seller.  You got a bad product, and he refunded your money, so on YOUR side of the buyer/seller relationship, you are square. 

On HIS side of the relationship, your bad review will stand forever (unless you delete it), even though he made it right by refunding your money.

I would be inclined to delete it. 

[Hyperplex]

One bad review can destroy a seller's rep, so I would be inclined to remove it if he made it right by you. I only leave negative reviews of products, not sellers, because unless it's a very unique case, most of the people there are genuinely out to help you, not screw you. That's why so many send out preliminary messages checking in, offering refunds or replacements before anything is even wrong, to make sure they offer the best service and avoid a negative review.

I'd remove it if the ultimate result is that you are square.

Also, don't shit on the seller if the product is the problem. Is there a spot to review the product but not the seller? He did his end of the bargain, by selling it to you and then refunding when it wasn't right. Perhaps the fault is in the product, not the seller. Maybe if you bought the same thing from someone else, the result would be the same? Just things to consider.

[mikeyd23]

Did you send the seller the product back when you were given a refund? Or did you get refunded and the seller let you keep the product?

[Jester]

Personally, I'd delete the bad review.  Heck, if I got a refund, I'd even offer to update it with a positive review.

[Bolsters]

It sounds like you left an honest review of the product, and that's exactly the sort of information I look for as a buyer when considering a purchase. The removal of any less-than-stellar reviews gives an inaccurate picture of not just the overall quality of the product but also the consistency (for example the left lens may not be loose in all of them but if multiple people mention it in reviews, anyone reading them will be aware of the possibility and probability of them receiving one with such a defect).

I look at it like this: If most (if not all) of the 3-or-less reviews get removed because they refund people and ask them to do so, all you're left with is 4-plus reviews on a product that may not deserve that high of a rating. If it were me I'd be leaving the review as is.

[Hyperplex]

But Amazon separates reviews based on whether they are for the product or the seller. In this case, the seller was acceptable (I think) but the product was not. This topic got me thinking about products I got recently and I went through my order history and noticed there were options to review the seller, the packaging, and the product, all of which were separate. My point is that the product is what was flawed, not the guy selling it. In a good review you can even say that the seller was top notch for refunding you for a badly defective product. That way his reviews don't suffer and you still get your point in about the product being flawed.

[Chino]

Personally, I'd delete the bad review.  Heck, if I got a refund, I'd even offer to update it with a positive review.

That's where I'm conflicted though. As a consumer, I appreciate the refund, but I also appreciate a quality product. This wasn't. Sure, the seller deserves a positive review, but the product was still shit. I don't want to five star something that sucks just because of the guy who sold it to me.

Did you send the seller the product back when you were given a refund? Or did you get refunded and the seller let you keep the product?

I got to keep it, and by "keep it" I mean threw it away because it was useless.

Also, don't shit on the seller if the product is the problem. Is there a spot to review the product but not the seller? He did his end of the bargain, by selling it to you and then refunding when it wasn't right. Perhaps the fault is in the product, not the seller. Maybe if you bought the same thing from someone else, the result would be the same? Just things to consider.

As far as I know, the review is only for the product. I want to be honest with other potential buyers. I don't want to tell them a product is good just because the seller is.

On HIS side of the relationship, your bad review will stand forever (unless you delete it), even though he made it right by refunding your money.

I see where you're coming from. I kind of look at it like my Mini Cooper. My car chewed through 2 water pumps before 30K miles and needed a new spark plug control module before 50K miles. I praise the dealership that serviced it because they covered it under the extra warranty I paid for, but I don't not tell people about the problems I had. If someone is asking for my opinion on the car itself, not the dealership that sold it to me, I tell them what was wrong. Me not being upfront with other buyers seems dishonest on my end.

At this point I'm leaning toward leaving the three star review for the product, but editing the post so that the first thing that it reads is this guy's service.

[Hyperplex]

As far as I know, the review is only for the product. I want to be honest with other potential buyers. I don't want to tell them a product is good just because the seller is.

You should confirm that. My thought, and granted I am not in your user panel to even know so this is pure conjecture, is that the review must be showing up in his seller rating, or he wouldn't be begging you to change it. Product reviews don't normally reference the seller, to my knowledge. If it is only for the product, then I would think you don't have to change anything.

[Jester]

As a buyer, I'm more likely to take risks on products if I know a seller is willing to refund if the risk turns bad.

An honest seller (which this person seems to be) wants to make things right, but don't discount the fact that being an honest seller can sometimes make or break you.  If the field is competitive and margins are low, the loss taken from a refund (losing the product, losing the money, possibly having to take a loss on shipping, merchant fees, etc.) can really be the equivalent of wiping out the profit of many successful sales.

Compare that to people that set up a business, rip people off, close up shop and open under a new name ... again and again and again.  Those are the people that should get our ire.  Not the person that is trying to make his customers whole when things unfortunately go wrong.  All that does is guarantee the success of crap sellers and the failure of honest sellers.

[Chino]

As far as I know, the review is only for the product. I want to be honest with other potential buyers. I don't want to tell them a product is good just because the seller is.

You should confirm that. My thought, and granted I am not in your user panel to even know so this is pure conjecture, is that the review must be showing up in his seller rating, or he wouldn't be begging you to change it. Product reviews don't normally reference the seller, to my knowledge. If it is only for the product, then I would think you don't have to change anything.

Just checked and can confirm that what I wrote is on the product's review section only. Maybe I'll leave my review as is, edit it to mention the refund, but then leave the reviewer himself a 5 star rating.

[ariich]

This is someone from the manufacturer, right? Rather than the seller? Or is that the same company/person?

If its the manufacturer, the review is accurate. Your particular unit was a bit crappy. You should not delete the review.

If that was a broken unit and they replaced it with a fully functioning one then I would say change the review to reflect the proper product. But they didn't, they just gave you a refund. If it's the seller, then yeah that's a decent service. If it's the manufacturer, then they shouldn't get off scott free (again unless they provide a functioning replacement). I mean hell, it's got a 4.5 star rating, it's doing fine.

[Chino]

This is someone from the manufacturer, right? Rather than the seller? Or is that the same company/person?

If its the manufacturer, the review is accurate. Your particular unit was a bit crappy. You should not delete the review.

If that was a broken unit and they replaced it with a fully functioning one then I would say change the review to reflect the proper product. But they didn't, they just gave you a refund. If it's the seller, then yeah that's a decent service. If it's the manufacturer, then they shouldn't get off scott free. I mean hell, it's got a 4.5 star rating, it's doing fine.

Honestly not sure whether it's a private seller or someone who works for the company that makes it.

[Hyperplex]

Just checked and can confirm that what I wrote is on the product's review section only. Maybe I'll leave my review as is, edit it to mention the refund, but then leave the reviewer himself a 5 star rating.

Then I think either the seller has misunderstood the nature of your review or is simply mistaken as to how the review process works. I think the seller deserves the positive rating but the product deserves the sub-par review. I think your idea works well, mention the good customer service and reiterate it was the product, not the person, that was faulty. That's what I would do if I were in your situation.

[mikeyd23]

Maybe I'll leave my review as is, edit it to mention the refund, but then leave the reviewer himself a 5 star rating.

That sounds like exactly what I would do in this situation.

[Chino]

Just checked and can confirm that what I wrote is on the product's review section only. Maybe I'll leave my review as is, edit it to mention the refund, but then leave the reviewer himself a 5 star rating.

Then I think either the seller has misunderstood the nature of your review or is simply mistaken as to how the review process works. I think the seller deserves the positive rating but the product deserves the sub-par review. I think your idea works well, mention the good customer service and reiterate it was the product, not the person, that was faulty. That's what I would do if I were in your situation.

I think he understands how the review process works. He's worried that a poor review will result in him not selling as many units. There are dozens of those headsets available and competition is tight. I ended up editing my review. I left it a three star review, but opened it with;

"Edit: 12/13/2016

The seller personally reached out to me via email and apologized for my inconvenience with the defective unit. He was very professional and refunded my money without me even requesting it."

Now that I'm thinking about it, that might not have been the best way to handle this. People may now order one and just say it was bad to get a refund 

I left him a 5 star review on his seller's page.

[El Barto]

In his first reply he suggested "we are working to improve the product." Manufacturer=seller.

Your amended review is probably what I would have done, though I might have kicked it up one star (but would have given him only 1 or 2 initially). Dude deserves an opportunity to get his act together.

[TioJorge]

I think what you did was spot on and agree with Barto and Ariich. I myself use Amazon (Prime too) a fuckload and used it primarily to buy my PC components to build the one I'm on now (which was a few months ago, yay!). So yeah, having honest, unaltered reviews is a huge deal.

If the product was faulty and they merely gave you your money back; leave that review up and edit to say at least they refunded you. If they gave you a new product that was better, edit it and say just as much. If they did nothing...you know, so on and so forth. So I think that's pretty apropos.

The most important thing is that the customers aren't being duped simply because they gave you your money back or compensated you. I don't get the idea that compensation equates to the shitty product not being a shitty product if that was indeed the case. It still happened, it still needs to be documented and people still deserve to know. As for the ramifications of one bad review...totally and completely overblown. If he's a singular seller that is small time and is just starting, sure, it'd be tough to recover, but it's possible and quite frankly if the very first sale you make is shit, that probably says something. If they're even a mid size seller with more than a few reviews, one bad review will not (or should not) destroy them. It'll hurt, sure...as it should. Such is the way of business. Especially these days when we're in a mostly faceless online market.

[ariich]

The most important thing is that the customers aren't being duped simply because they gave you your money back or compensated you. I don't get the idea that compensation equates to the shitty product not being a shitty product if that was indeed the case. It still happened, it still needs to be documented and people still deserve to know.

As someone who commutes every day on the worst train service in the UK, I could not agree more. Compensation is a small help but really does not overcome the fact that the service is shite.

[Prog Snob]

I wouldn't delete it. You owe it to other buyers to let them know about the issue you had with the product. The refund doesn't negate the defects. You can adjust the review to mention you were refunded, but the original issues with the product still stand.

[axeman90210]

I agree with Barto, I probably would have kicked up the review a star and then added in the body something to the effect of "Product itself is a 3, but customer service is a 5" or something to that effect.

[Chino]

This guy. He's guilt tripping me hard.



I responded that I'd be interested in trying one of the new sets. He followed up with...

[Dr. DTVT]

He doesn't get it.  If I wanted to buy one and read your amended review, I would be more inclined to buy it for myself because if I got a defective unit like you did, they would take care of it somehow.

He doesn't seem very American for a guy named Mark.  Red flag?

[TAC]

Chino, it sounds like you are getting a virtual blowjob.

[Progmetty]

Does "canned response" mean the same thing as "template"?
Also the dude the begging Chino, I'd give him a break. He kinda reminds me of the Tennis instructor Milos from that one Seinfeld episode

[Prog Snob]

Then maybe Chino should ask for his wife in return for a better review.

[pogoowner]

Does "canned response" mean the same thing as "template"?
Also the dude the begging Chino, I'd give him a break. He kinda reminds me of the Tennis instructor Milos from that one Seinfeld episode

That is exactly how he sounds.