[AlanQS]

Fake Amazon reviews are a problem for buyers in that quite a few sellers seem to submit fake reviews with similar wording, often with wording that would not be used by a person with English as their first language and some of them are fairly easy to spot, but I have just experienced a new twist. A means of getting rid of low scoring reviews.

I got a 12v socket for the boot of my XE and it didn't work. I discovered that the earth plate of the connector wasn't coming into contact with the base of the socket because of tiny plastic nibs which were preventing the two pieces of metal contacting each other. I bent the plate on the contact and once re-assembled, it worked. But if you weren't capable with your hands, the device would not have worked at all. I reviewed it on Amazon on that basis and rated it 3 star since the complete package was quite good (i.e. good cabling and in-line fuse, etc.) The average rating of this item was 4.8 stars.

Amazon have just e-mailed me with this:

"Thank you for submitting a review of Sucre Auxiliary ® 12V-24V 120W-250W Power Boat Car Cigarette Lighter Socket Plug + 1 M Cable Ring; we’re sorry you did not have a positive experience. We investigated your concerns about product authenticity, and the information we have indicates that the product you received was authentic. As a result, we removed the review you submitted. This ensures that customer reviews remain as accurate as possible for the benefit of future customers.
We appreciate your input and hope you will continue to submit valuable feedback about your experience shopping on Amazon. "

Good trick, eh? There's no point in contacting Amazon about it as you get brushed off with weasel words. To me, the system of reviews appears to be quite corrupt.

[JustChris]

Dodgy AF.

[Bryans69]

I try to avoid Amazon at all costs. Their business practices, and the way they treat their staff, are completely shite.

[JD6]

That is very poor, but unfortunately not very surprising. I’m quite a big user of Amazon (250-300 orders a year) but I find the vast numbers of fake reviews to be a real problem. I have tried to get them to remove some fake positive reviews in the past, with no success. Their customer service is fine for simple things like getting a refund, but is hopeless for anything more complex.

I would have thought that a company of that size could run a far better review system if they wanted, but perhaps if most customers assume them to be genuine, it increases sales, so there is little incentive. No idea what the answer is.

[philiper1]

I use fakespot.com, not 100% but helps narrowing down the ones to avoid!

[Hooded]

Interesting, but odd that they removed your 3 star review as there’s plenty of 1 star reviews on a lot of products, so it’s not as though they don’t allow bad reviews.

[Rbrown]

I had a bad experience with a toy I bought for my son.

Most of the reviews were 5 stars, so thought it would be ok.

Parcel arrived and total junk!

After a bit of a battle I got my money refunded. By this time I had posted a negative review.

The seller kept emailed me asking me to remove my post. Things got a bit heated. It was at this point I reported him to Amazon. Never heard another thing.

I fee the problem is the sellers. Amazon can only police what they know about.

Like others have said. I try to avoid Amazon.

[JR1664]

A couple of years ago I was looking at an irrigation system for the garden.

Amazon was totally occupied by Chinese sellers with masses of fake reviews. It was laughable actually as each reviewer was reviewing similar products from the same few Chinese factories .

Just had a quick look again

Same shit, same fake reviews from the same factories

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jeteven-Irr...53A4HWB2NXF0Y7

There's a reviewer on there Anna Lza, she gives a 5 star review on a fucking watering system then does the same for a pink furry rug

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer...at_pdctrvw_srp


These are the business addresses for both products dear old Anna reviewed.

longhuaxinqu minzhi jiedao
dongmingdasha 1101
shenzhenshi
Guangdong



longgangqu bantianjiedao
guangyayuanlu 4hao207
shenzhenshi
guangdong

Look at this guy, Steven Collins

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/profile/...gw_btm?ie=UTF8

He's reviewing multiple products every day all from the same Chinese factories and is a top 100 reviewer ffs.

[un1eash]

I only ever buy items sold by Amazon as the market place is no better then eBay. Most stuff is branded so you know what you get. A friend of mine is part on the Amazon Vine program.
He gets a lot of cool free stuff but trys to avoid the Chinese sellers. Even vine is flawed as people post reviews before even recieving the products or basic generic reviews where they clearly haven't even tried the product.

[Hooded]

Originally Posted by JR1664

Look at this guy, Steven Collins

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/profile/...gw_btm?ie=UTF8

He's reviewing multiple products every day all from the same Chinese factories and is a top 100 reviewer ffs.

I wonder how much he’s getting paid for each fake review? Could be a way to make a few quid for anyone made redundant during lockdown

[TouringPleb]

I'm currently boycotting Amazon due to this


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-officers.html

[Abrek]

I am ashamed to admit but I’m a member of a few fake reviews groups on Facebook. I received in a region of £3,500 worth of stuff in the last 14 months. Although amazon is getting better at spotting accounts that post fake reviews, two of my 4 accounts have been banned from posting reviews. The way I see it you should never rely on reviews in your decision making, that goes for anything sold by third parties if it’s sold by amazon reviews are generally genuine

[JR1664]

Originally Posted by Abrek

The way I see it you should never rely on reviews in your decision making, that goes for anything sold by third parties if it’s sold by amazon reviews are generally genuine

I see many of the chinese outlets are putting _EU or similar in their names but can't hide their addresses. If I can unearth fake reviews in 5 minutes then Amazon are still ignoring the problem.

I rarely buy from there unless its a branded product, however it even puts some of these so called branded products in the shady area.

[335dX]

I’ve just had a similar run in the with the telly shopping channel Ideal World.

Bought this:

https://www.idealworld.tv/gb/pp/math...c-salescash_iw

As a cheap watch to wear at work rather than my PO. It arrived and the leather was badly scratched on the strap where they had put a cable tie as a security tag, real classy.

Long story short, in the box was a note saying contact ‘Watchbase’ should you have any issues. After a bit of digging turns out ‘Watchbase’ are owned by the presenter Kevin on the channel, old guy with grey hair. The brand, Mathey Tissot was bought out years ago and looks like is owned by the same company our Kevin owns! So it’s fakery.

Duly got sent an email from Ideal World asking for a review, 1 star, explaining the above and they wouldn’t put it on their website.....fucking thing sits on the web with 4 x 5 star reviews.

So what’s the point. Makes me so angry.

PS sent the watch back!