Banned for leaving a bad review (not about the glowforge)

my point is that there’s a difference in a support person making an unwise decision, and the ceo of the company banning you from using their service after a review. one is perhaps a poor mistake, the other is a failure of leadership.

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Okay… I understand that, but I don’t believe the company is bigger than 10 people. Maybe even 5 people. “They” had an Indigogo campaign to fund its production. He’s probably just an independent entrepreneur with a few people on staff, and he’s the CEO / developer / sole support dude.

sure which imo makes it even more important to show a classy and trustworthy operation. ars picked up wind of this and reached out, and it’s clear there was no error in communication, it was just the guy lashing out in kind.

regardless i think the whole situation serves as an excellent cautionary tale for iot, generally speaking

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I think buying and installing a product is “giving the company a chance”. That chance was squandered when their app didn’t work. Personally, I have an extreme distaste for being thrown into an uncompensated troubleshooting role because I believed a company’s marketing and the implied warranty.

There are lots and lots of apps that stay open and don’t just flash when they’re launched.


Great scene from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!
That movie would fit nicely in this list…

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I think sometimes how a company deals with problems (and problem customers)says way more about a company than the actual review does.

I don’t think customers are under any obligation to try to resolve their issues before writing a review. I’m sure that’s preferable from the sellers perspective, but reviews aren’t for the seller - they’re for other buyers. And with public responses, a company might not win back the reviewer, but they absolutely still influence potential customers.

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Very true. The scale tipper for me on choosing the MakerGear M2 over other 3D printers I was considering was solely due to the extremely classy way the owner dealt with a pissy customer while reading through the reviews on all the 3D printers.

A year of research before buying and that one action decided the outcome.

(One of the better decisions I’ve made.)

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absolutely yes, all of this

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This is amazing, and I am kind of stuck in the middle. On one hand, I think reviewers generally have far too much impact for how untrustworthy they are. While at the same time if a product is crap, and someone says it’s crap, that’s fair.

There was a cafe near my old house that notoriously banned a patron after they gave a poor review that was recognized by the staff. It was kind of amazing because the place made great coffee and sandwiches, and now the guy literally is refused service and has to go elsewhere. Amazing.

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I go more by the ratio.

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I have talked about this with my girlfriend a bunch, I’m curious what you folks think:

I am of the opinion that people are more likely to leave a review when they are 1) very unsatisfied, 2) very pleased, or 3) slightly unsatisfied (in that order), and are much less likely to bother reviewing something that simply meets expectations and works as expected.

Am I way off here?

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I used to review just about everything, good and bad.

Quit doing that when the shills started stacking the deck. Now I don’t bother unless it is truly egregious.

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I would also suggest adding: “4) very emotional”.

Some people just cannot wait to sink their teeth into a writing a juicy review… and that can be both in a positive and negative way.

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You are correct. Survey firms actually have algorithms to calculate the bias that places into their data.

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If a merchant harasses me for a review I leave a negative review specifically about the harassment.

If a product doesn’t work or has a serious flaw I’ll try to resolve with the merchant but definitely leave details either way in a review.

If a product seems to have a safety issue I’ll leave a review about it. I’d rather be a warned and maybe not buy, but I always read the substance of the most negative reviews to see if they matter to me.

If a merchant does something unexpectedly great if I don’t feel it will make people demand preferential treatment or feel bad for not getting it I’ll review with details otherwise just a generic these guys were great on the customer service really a pleasure working with them type of thing.

If some truly just are wonderful nice all around people to deal with especially if I have experience with their competitors not being so I’ll leave a review bragging on them a little.

If it’s a local small business and they didn’t annoy me I’ll say anything positive I can because growing a business and working with customers is hard and word of mouth goes far.

If I don’t have anything nice to say and there isn’t any reason to say bad things I generally don’t bother.

If I’ve really gotten on someone’s case for problems and lack of customer service or lack of dealing with the issues and they make good on it I’ll generally make a point of leaving a positive if they ended up deserving it review out of guilt.

but that’s just my personal quirkiness.

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One review of left on amazon on was for dog zapper collar. The pin inside the charger area broke. So I left an honest review that the collar was good, good range, but this piece broke after 3 weeks.
Seller contacted and sent a free replacement. So I edited the product review to mention the sellers response but otherwise left the review the same.
It’s great the seller responded fantastically but the product still broke and my experience was still factual.

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YI will write a review for any significant purchase. If there’s a problem I will try to resolve it before writing the review so I can include the way the problem was handled.

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We had an outdoor lounge chair from CB2 that weirdly discolored pretty quickly. On a whim she wrote a review (or maybe it was even just a "me too’ sort of comment to someone else’s review) about 3 years after we bought it and mentioned that. Within a week someone had contacted her and had the local store (which wasn’t TOO local) pick up the old one & deliver a new one. Wasn’t her intent especially given the age, but it’s great to find amazing service like that!

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This is an example of why I prefer to reach out to the manufacturer before writing a review. Often they will try to make things right without the panic and potential bad feelings of a public review. Then you write the review. The service received on a product can be as important as the product itself in many cases.

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As an online vendor, I really wish that more people did this! Always, always give the seller the opportunity to make it right. If they fail to respond to your concern in a professional way, then by all means, say so in your review … but give them a chance to correct the problem first.

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The old saying goes: “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”

The internet says: “You’ll catch the most with s**t.”

:smiley:

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