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Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

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Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#131

Post by mathewpeterson »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #66

I see no reason why to buy anything but Anker. I once tried to purposely destroy an Anker MicroUSB cable (bought a 5 pack that had three 3ft, one 6ft, one 1ft, didn't need the 1ft), by grabbing the head of it with clamping pliers and yanking the fuck out of it with the cable wrapped around my hand, and bending it to near 180 degrees repeatedly for about 5 minutes. I could not kill it without straight up taking wire c…

Just keep in mind that all these products are mass produced and are subject to imperfections. Really, the only thing that matters is how good their customer support is and Anker is probably better than most but they still have a long way to go.

I say this because I had one of their USB power ports that my children use to charge their iPads (2x 4th gen) that overheated and burnt up[1]. I completed the contact form on their website and used keywords like "fire" but it took my tweet to get their attention. Even after that, their response was fairly slow. After many weeks and me even shipping the defective product back, they only offered to refund me the cost of the unit, send a replacement power port, Anker brand lightning cables (to replace Apple genuine ones - and those broke), and send me an older generation battery pack. In the end, I did not pursue the replacements because I no longer had faith in their products or brand.

After all of this, I will no longer be purchasing or recommending Anker products.

[1] https://twitter.com/mathewpeterson/status/603337986495807489

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#132

Post by sithadmin »

BHSPitMonkey wrote: post #93
DiabloD3 wrote: post #66

I see no reason why to buy anything but Anker. I once tried to purposely destroy an Anker MicroUSB cable (bought a 5 pack that had three 3ft, one 6ft, one 1ft, didn't need the 1ft), by grabbing the head of it with clamping pliers and yanking the fuck out of it with the cable wrapped around my hand, and bending it to near 180 degrees repeatedly for about 5 minutes. I could not kill it without straight up taking wire c…

As someone who also owns and recommends several Anker products, I do have a counterexample: A microUSB cable I bought about a month ago has gotten it's locking pins stuck in the retracted position somehow, and no longer secures itself inside the port. Not a common case, of course, but they're not infallible.

Good quick fix for this: put a tiny pad of scotch tape on the flat face of the connector. Don't let it overlap the edges.

The extra friction will almost always hold the connector in the port reliably.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#133

Post by radiorental »

eloisant wrote: post #128
radiorental wrote: post #25

What I find interesting here is that Benson is essentially using his employer as a reputation guarantor. I guess depending on the company's HR that could fall either way of a) This is great, we're getting nice PR b) Mr Benson, we need to have a quiet word about what it is you do here and what Google is not in the business of. Really interesting. edit: I assumed this is part of his job. I just find the publishing of t…

Actually this post explains why he's doing that: https://plus.google.com/+BensonLeung/posts/LH4PPgVrKVN It kind of makes sense: he worked on products that use USB-C (Pixel laptops), but if the market is littered with bad cables USB-C will have a bad image which will be bad for the products he worked on. So what he's doing is in the interest in his employer, and for the benefit of the products he worked on. He's not d…

I understand the rationale, but isn't the current s.o.p. to ship a good cable with the product?

"if the market is littered with bad cables USB-C will have a bad image which will be bad for the products he worked on."

I don't buy this tail wagging the dog argument. Sorry.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#134

Post by eropple »

Johnny555 wrote: post #44
synctext wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly shows the need for a reputation system, not locked into 1 company. Reviews need sharing.

A central review clearinghouse will never happen with cheap accessories like this. If model "1234-X" gets bad reviews, the same product will just be renumbered to model "9863-V2" and even the company name may change. So there's no way to keep reviews associated with the same product -- it's the same reason why there are no good review sites for mattresses across all retailers -- the manufacturers use a variety of nam…

This is a really big thing. If you look at, say, a 10-port USB3 hub on Amazon, you will see the exact same thing, down to the boards (to say nothing of the casing), being sold under three or four different brands.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#135

Post by bduerst »

semiel wrote: post #100
fpgaminer wrote: post #83

The current rhetoric when it comes to the failings of online reviews is to point at fraudulent reviews. I posit that, rather, it's the lack of weighting reviews by the expertise of the reviewers. Clearly the reviews of a hardware engineer at Google should have more weight to them than an average consumer (on products like this), because as bkmartin points out, the average consumer has no idea as to the true quality o…

When buying something online, I make a habit of reading a couple of the negative reviews. Sometimes they're, "I meant to buy a toaster, and misclicked on this television instead. Makes poor toast. 2/5." But sometimes they're more like, "It worked great for two years, and then became sentient and strangled my pet fish. 2/5" Rating distributions only tell you part of the story.

Someone did an article a while back about where you can use the reading comprehension level of reviewers to weight the Amazon star system.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#136

Post by thomaslutz »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #66

I see no reason why to buy anything but Anker. I once tried to purposely destroy an Anker MicroUSB cable (bought a 5 pack that had three 3ft, one 6ft, one 1ft, didn't need the 1ft), by grabbing the head of it with clamping pliers and yanking the fuck out of it with the cable wrapped around my hand, and bending it to near 180 degrees repeatedly for about 5 minutes. I could not kill it without straight up taking wire c…

I just had to deal with a defective Anker Cable after 5 months.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#137

Post by x0x0 »

bkmartin wrote: post #17

The average consumer has no idea if one of these cables will actually do what they proclaim. The only way to really know is when other customers review the product, which we know is barely useful most of the time due to fraudulent reviews. Great job on the part of this Google engineer for writing such clear and technical reviews of the products. Now that an expert has called some of these cables out as not adhering t…

And in a nutshell, that's why people buy stuff from apple. imo, their brand is "here's a good thing, and we promise it will work". Amazon's is "you're on your own, but it's really fucking cheap!" That's not to say amazon doesn't have good customer service, but the whole thing is still shit. I just wanted a [cable|dongle|hdmi adapter|battery|plant spray|charger] that was what it claimed to be and worked correctly the first fucking time. The fact that you have a good return policy doesn't fix the fact that I still don't have X.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#138

Post by esaym »

ryan-c wrote: post #41
radiorental wrote: post #25

What I find interesting here is that Benson is essentially using his employer as a reputation guarantor. I guess depending on the company's HR that could fall either way of a) This is great, we're getting nice PR b) Mr Benson, we need to have a quiet word about what it is you do here and what Google is not in the business of. Really interesting. edit: I assumed this is part of his job. I just find the publishing of t…

My assumption is that he's working on some sort of project where he's buying many cables on Google's dime to test them, then reporting his results on Amazon. My worry would be the cables that get good reviews being switched out for crappy cables down the line. I've had problems with this for cables and adapters before - I'll re-order from Amazon and get a slightly different product that is not 100% compatible with th…

Or pretty much anything on amazon has that happen.

Most recently a "good ol' American made" can opener turned out to be a cheap China counterfeit: https://www.amazon.com/review/R3MJPDPNRM9HXR

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#139

Post by discreditable »

GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #29
lips wrote: post #7

It would physically pain me to work at a company that sells defective equipment. I'd like to see amazon just develop in-house testing for certain types of stock. Cables, power supplies...

Don't they have an in-house line of cables?

You're probably thinking of AmazonBasics. They make a variety of products including USB cables, USB chargers, backpacks, monitor stands, and a bunch of other general stuff. I have several of their cables, chargers, and one of their backpacks. They are all fairly good.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#140

Post by CamperBob2 »

SixSigma wrote: post #103
fpgaminer wrote: post #83

The current rhetoric when it comes to the failings of online reviews is to point at fraudulent reviews. I posit that, rather, it's the lack of weighting reviews by the expertise of the reviewers. Clearly the reviews of a hardware engineer at Google should have more weight to them than an average consumer (on products like this), because as bkmartin points out, the average consumer has no idea as to the true quality o…

One problem I have with Amazon reviews is this type : "Just got the product, arrived really quick. It worked when I tried it a minute ago, 5 stars."

Or, "UPS driver threw package over fence, and it sat in the birdbath for 2 weeks before I found it. Didn't work when I plugged it in. One star."

People should have to take an IQ test before being allowed to post reviews.

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