Newegg reviews warning...

[Budfred]

I am a great fan of Newegg since they have a good selection and generally very good customer service. However, I recently bought 2 drive enclosures from them and thought it would be a good idea to let people know what I found out in the course of attempting to rate these items.

I found when I received the boxes that the instructions for the install consisted of 6 graphic images on the back of the box and they were not accurate about the way to screw the drives into the enclosure. I emailed the company for assistance and they never responded, but I figured out how to do it on my own after thinking about it a bit. The company is ADI and I would advise caution about getting their products.

I decided to write a review for Newegg since they offer those reviews on all of their products. I had assumed that these were reasonably objective, but discovered that the "disclosure" you have to agree to in order to post the review includes the clear statement that your review may be edited and/or deleted if it is negative since they offer the reviews as a marketing feature, not a true rating system. I posted my review anyway with a statement to Newegg that I was disappointed that they have this policy.

I am not particularly surprised that they don't want negative reviews of the products they carry on their own website, but I am disappointed that they don't make that extremely clear to people shopping. It has the appearance of objectivity without the reality.

You can read the agreement by clicking on the review option for any item and look at the bottom of the window that opens. You don't have to register to read it.

This is the only negative experience I have had with Newegg and I will certainly continue to order from them, but I will not trust them as much as I did previously....

[BigBlue66]

Thanks for the heads up, Budfred. I was unaware of this policy, and oftentimes will read those reviews in determining whether or not to purchase a certain product. Guess I will insert a grain of salt now.

[saphalline]

I too am a bit surprised by that review practice. I had always thought Newegg above such questionable business practices, but I guess first and foremost they are a business. Bummer. :(

I've always put a whole lot of salt into those reviews anyway, and I have read several and (edited or not) I could tell the problem(s) certain people have with their products are the results of other things. I swear, most of the complaints could be solved by a driver update, and many more by just doing a bit of research. And the worst ones are from customers who plainly picked the wrong product for them (ie you don't buy a $50 video card for playing Half Life 2!).

I never did trust those "reviews", and I have even less reason to do so now.

[John0904]

I consider reviews and or opinions like butts. ;)
Everyone has one and they will vary from person to person.

Though I can see both sides. They want to sell their ware without bad reviews, but as a consumer I would like to know how a product is rated. Apparently, Newegg is not a good place to read about reviews as they seem slanted towards the positive reviews.

If Newegg edits negative reviews, might as well not write a good review.

[gwallen4]

Here's the NewEgg Disclaimer which you must accept before submitting your review:

"Newegg.com is not a forum for product reviews. For product reviews, we recommend sites such as www.cnet.com, www.anandtech.com, and www.tomshardware.com. Newegg.com is a private site that conducts the business of selling computer hardware and as such, any specifications and information posted by Newegg.com regarding products for sale must be factual. However, customer comments in regards to their experience with said products are the opinions of the user. The customer opinion reviews are used at the discretion of Newegg.com as a marketing device for positive and constructive ways to share the benefit of the product. It is not used as a source for negative commentary as we cannot endorse the validity of any negative comment. Therefore, the Newegg.com site is moderated to remove any unproven biased negative comments. It is not the intention of Newegg.com to mislead any customer and therefore before proceeding you are required to click on the "I ACCEPT" button to confirm you have read the above statement and agree to its terms. Furthermore, you agree to release Newegg.com from any liability for any statements posted or removed from posting."

Negative reviews on products done in constructive ways appear all the time. I've found the reviews to be quite helpful as to the abilities and shortcomings of the devices under review.

How many Internet stores do you know that go even one half this far to provide information to customers?

[killercow]

I have also usedd the reviews to determine whether or not I will purchase this product or the other product. Thanks for the heads up Budfred. Also Have they deleted or modified your review?

[Budfred]

gwallen4,

As I said originally, I appreciate Newegg for a lot of reasons and I used to appreciate that they offer reviews of their products. What I don't appreciate is that they don't make it really clear that the reviews are culled to include only the positive ones. I went to see if they posted my review and, of course, they didn't. However, in reading the review that was there I noticed that they include a notice in small print saying that they select the reviews, similar to the warning they insist you read when you post a review. I would rather they didn't put it is small print, but I am glad they are not actively dishonest about it. I will keep shopping from them, but I will not really pay any attention to the reviews anymore....