Although they should have let him write the review, I don't think people should leave reviews for damaged/broken items before they've tried to remedy the situation with the supplier.
Amazon Dark Patterns
31–40 of 278 posts
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#32There's an obvious conflict of interest within Amazon here. The tasks of selling products, and collecting and publishing useful criticisms and reviews of products should be performed by separate entities.
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#33I once wrote a 1-star review on amazon for a top-selling product that
had almost only positive reviews. The review was published but they
quietly changed its contents. They replaced some words (I guess it was
too strong language like "crap" or something) but even worse they
removed at least one whole sentence and after that the review didn't
make much sense anymore and it looked like I wrote it like that.
Then I watched the statistics about how many people found this helpful. At that time this was in two numbers: people who think its helpful and people who don't. Over months that ratio kept the same. Started with 1 helpful, 3 not helpful. Then 10 helpful, 30 not helpful. Then 30 helpful, 90 not helpful. I found that highly suspicious.
Since then, amazon reviews are dead to me.
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#34This rant is not well written. The first issue looks like a bug on Amazon's side. I'm not going to assume malice without something pointing in that direction. The author writes "What would have happend if I had left a more positive review? Would that be allowed?" Well, would it? I see no indication it would. Those reviews are indeed suspicious, and Amazon should do a better job of detecting fake review accounts. The…
I can actually verify and tell you why. Amazon will not allow you to criticize Amazon or their platform in a review (they said as much). Only the product. They probably do automatic sentiment detection for negative phrases containing Amazon and don’t allow them to be posted.
The platform and shipping are relevant in a product review.
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#35If I think that reviews could be suspect I use ReviewMeta[0]. The process usually indicates if the reviews are legit or not. although for this product, it claims that it passes. Might be that 99 reviews have been deleted though, and Amazon is attempting to fix those reviews.
[0]https://reviewmeta.com/
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#36Although they should have let him write the review, I don't think people should leave reviews for damaged/broken items before they've tried to remedy the situation with the supplier.
Why? When I receive a damaged product, this causes me substantial hassle (communicate with customer support, send item back, order replacement, ...). It seems very natural to write a review that reflects the poor quality of the product in this situation, and this review would be a useful signal to others.
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#37I have a trick - looking at 4 star reviews. They are overally positive, but at the same time - talk about shortcomings (some of them may effect my decision, while others are not an issue). Typically, these are balanced. And totally unlikely to be faked.
For the same reason I avoid 1 star reviews on some services (especially recommending books or movies). They are often related to a strong, emotional reponse, rather than a balanced option that can be reused.
In general people use maximal, and minimal, score in a diffrent way that all other options. For a stricking example, see: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2322441/ratings?ref_=tt_ov_rt
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#38An interesting dark pattern (albeit unrelated to the review flow) is during the standard checkout process. on the last screen before the purchase, the Amazon logo image / header no longer links back to the Amazon homepage like the rest of the site. I guess keeping the user captive leads to more sales
I’ve also noticed that they don’t let me ship a lot of products (mostly food, but also random harmless electronics) to shipping points or Amazon boxes in my city (in Spain), telling me they are full (they are not, they let me ship other products there and it tells me it’s full with literally any shipping point or Amazon box). They only let me ship it to a home address. I can’t prove it’s not a bug, but it seems such…
What benefit would they get from this though?
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#39I also had to implement this pattern for app reviews. Show a custom review dialog, if the user gives 4-5 stars send them to the app store for the real review, if not just say "thank you" and close the dialog. Repeat until one day they'll give you a good review.
I hope you at least anonymously reported that behavior to appropriate authorities. And started searching for a new job.
You don't always have the choice of just up and go. I developed a system for an american startup that gathered everything it could get its hands on through their Gmail accounts. Did I think that's unethical? Yes, but just quitting wasn't an option and it was perfectly legal. I switched to a new company when I could afford it and am now much happier. But suggesting to just quit the moment your company behaves unethical is a little optimistic.
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#40I also had to implement this pattern for app reviews. Show a custom review dialog, if the user gives 4-5 stars send them to the app store for the real review, if not just say "thank you" and close the dialog. Repeat until one day they'll give you a good review.
I hope you at least anonymously reported that behavior to appropriate authorities. And started searching for a new job.
What "appropriate authorities"? Shouting into the void at some google user forum?