I’ve been censored !

I bought half-dead plants from Amazon and could not have a review accepted until I gave at least one Star. I did write in my review why I had awarded one star and they printed it.
Some of my reviews on M&S were published though less than complimentary.
John Lewis contacted me last week via a Company that did reviews after about 6 pages I was asked if I would like John Lewis to see them. Why ask if you are not going to show the company? DH said it is probably something legal they have to do.

Mark's and Spencer once refused to post a poor review about a pair of trousers I bought and which I'd sent back.

I wrote a scathing review about a Lakeland product, they contacted me and said they would be refunding me in full, no request for me to change my review, and no request for it to be returned, which was just as we, because it was in the skip by then.
Well done Lakeland.

I bought several pairs of yoga pants on Amazon after reading dozens of glowing reports about their excellent design , quality and how well they wash .

They are easily the worse quality items that I've ever bought - they tore at the crutch , opened along the seams and an unbelievable amount of colour comes out when washed .
After one wearing and washing - they were like ancient dishrags .

I thought that the reviews were suspicious !
Never again !

I have been offered a complete refund if I retracted or changed an unfavourable review I had written. Surely companies would save money in the long run if they employed people to improve their products or services than if they just had people bribing the customers to stop writing the truth.

Trustpilot: companies pay them to filter poor reviews. I was in dispute with a China based ‘clothing’ company. Trustpilot refused my review saying I’d have to prove I’d bought the items. I sent photos and reference numbers time after time but still they disputed for the Chinese company ?

Well I’ve just had a minor success. I bought 2 No 17 items and so I had a chance to put another review in. I did so but altered the topic title but still said in the main body of the review that I wanted Boots to sell the product in store, well they have accepted that. So my conclusion is they only want positive titles .

I shall now be more sceptical of reviews.

Finally Amazon allow a wide range of feedback.

Because of the type of work I was in I received regular requests for me to review products. Although never expressed explicitly it was clear by reading between the lines that if your review was “acceptable” you would be offered more opportunities.

Often the product would be provided free of charge and a good review would result in you being allowed to keep it. The most expensive I received was an IPL machine, second most expensive a high end vacuum cleaner. Both products received positive reviews and were honest reviews.

After testing products which resulted in me writing negative reviews I was asked to rewrite my contributions. On refusing I was dropped from their panel.

I have had negative reviews never published or mysteriously disappear so now thanks to my experiences I do not trust any review or endorsement.

Years ago I had a review refused by John Lewis because I wasn’t allowed to mention prices.

More recently, a friend was contacted by a company, she had purchased through Amazon, offering her a free gift if she upped her review from 4 stars to 5
Needless to say, she turned down this kind offer.

That’s why I always say to people: don’t trust Checkatrade or TrustPilot

Its not true about Trustpilot. You can leave bad reviews.

However you can also easily leave reviews for your own business if you want to bury a poor review. Just use a VPNS.

I once wrote a poor review on the firm's website about an appliance we'd bought from them.
The firm contacted me and sent an engineer to sort out the problems we were having.
Good service from, if remember correctly, Curry's.

Perhaps Boots stock more products online than they do in the shops. Could that be the reason?

After I messed up my buy one get one free order and only got one they asked me to do a review which they then wouldn’t print because I said their website was awful.

Our High Street M&S is closing and a new out of town shop is opening. They are bus on social media promoting the new store.
Some locals, myself included, are unhappy about his and have said so, listing our grievances, in comments on posts. These have been rapidly removed with no apology or explanation. Only good comments remain.
I too take online reviews with a pinch of salt. How many are left by employees, family and friends?

It shouldn’t work like that should it? Consumers want a balanced review picture.

That’s why I always say to people: don’t trust Checkatrade or TrustPilot. They only allow good reviews.

Shoddy business practice to say the least!