Negative Reviews

[Collectorcol]

If I want to get genuine reviews of a product, the last place I am going to use is the manufacturer's website.. which imho is for photos, specifications, price and availability.

I wouldn't bother looking for any of those on the Sideshow site

Photos. IM LSB and Predator 2 LSB, Both had photographs changed after product started shipping to closer represent the actual production piece.
Specifications. Hulk Maquette shipoed almost half the specified weight.
Price. Predator Bio price rose from preview to reveal.
Availability. Don't start me on Sideshows 'Low Quantity' BS.
These are just some I'm aware of, sure there will be lots more.

 

[Taibhse]

Corporations have a legal requirement to maximise profits for shareholders.. technically any corporation enabling negative reviews on its own website, could be regarded as in breach of its legal obligations by its shareholders.. so, some of the consumer 'rights' we expect, are actually not rights at all.. negative reviews on a corporate website, would definitely fall in that category.

 

[a2themonster]

Corporations have a legal requirement to maximise profits for shareholders.. technically any corporation enabling negative reviews on its own website, could be regarded as in breach of its legal obligations by its shareholders.. so, some of the consumer 'rights' we expect, are actually not rights at all.. negative reviews on a corporate website, would definitely fall in that category.

lol SS has shareholders? Maximizing profits is different than having accurate customer reviews of a product on a website…if the company is forging reviews and misrepresenting a product, that is a legal issue…see amazon.com…profits not being met would not be the fault of negative reviews to the point where shareholders would revolt or file a breach lawsuit lol…its just not gonna happen that way..at all…typically if you are losing money because of the product you are selling, its because you consistently put out a crappy product, not because a handful of people had negative/mixed reviews on a website..it comes down to business practice, and you and I will not affect that at all with a review.

 

[Collectorcol]

I would prefer SS to publish all reviews good or bad but it ain't going to happen.

With most people pre-ordering soon after release it wouldn't make much difference anyway.
Luckily they have some of the best customer services I've ever experienced so most issues are dealt with satisfactorily.
Worst case scenario you return for a full refund, which would suck but better than being stuck with an inferiour product.

 

[Taibhse]

I wouldn't bother looking for any of those on the Sideshow site

Photos. IM LSB and Predator 2 LSB, Both had photographs changed after product started shipping to closer represent the actual production piece.
Specifications. Hulk Maquette shipoed almost half the specified weight.
Price. Predator Bio price rose from preview to reveal.
Availability. Don't start me on Sideshows 'Low Quantity' BS.
These are just some I'm aware of, sure there will be lots more.

I take your point, but I have to start somewhere for Pre-order figure info...

If I pre-order direct, I take screenshots of the product.. if the product changes dramatically, I have the company bang to rights on false advertising, because money has changed hands.

Many corporate disclaimers are not worth the pixels they are displayed with, they are simply designed to discourage the faint-hearted from getting litigious on the Corporation's a**.

Most consumer contracts in the UK have to be able to pass the 'fairness' test, in a court of law.. so taking money against a photograph and then delivering a product that looks nothing like the photo, would generally be an automatic fail on the 'fairness' test by the Supplier.

 

[Taibhse]

lol SS has shareholders? Maximizing profits is different than having accurate customer reviews of a product on a website…if the company is forging reviews and misrepresenting a product, that is a legal issue…see amazon.com…profits not being met would not be the fault of negative reviews to the point where shareholders would revolt or file a breach lawsuit lol…its just not gonna happen that way..at all…typically if you are losing money because of the product you are selling, its because you consistently put out a crappy product, not because a handful of people had negative/mixed reviews on a website..it comes down to business practice, and you and I will not affect that at all with a review.

I take the point you are making.. but I never said it was ok for a Corporation to 'forge' reviews.. this is generally not necessary anyway.. if you compare the full reviews for films and theater shows with the advertising, it rapidly becomes apparent that it is possible to extract a positive phrase of sentence from pretty much any review, even the ones that hate the show.

Eg:
*The Advert.. "It's absolutely incredible" - The Daily Bugle
*The Daily Bugle's full review.. "It's absolutely incredible this steaming pile of horse**** ever got a green-light from the Studio!"

There is no legal requirement for a company to provide consumers with an advertising platform for negative reviews.. not least because such a platform can be abused by competitors, since it is very hard to verify the validity of consumer reviews.. Car reviews where strangely, the consumer cannot remember how much they paid for the vehicle is one example.. and 'One Star' Amazon reviews of books, films and other products, where the reviewer is peddling their own agenda, is another.. There is also a big difference between a third party site posting negative reviews and the Company permitting them on its own website.. and yes negative reviews do impact on profits.. You are correct, your review will make no difference on its own, but if thirty other consumers post negative reviews as well, it most certainly will have an impact.

 

[Collectorcol]

Mothers Basement used an independent review provider, Feefo, and look how that ended.

 

[Taibhse]

To be honest the 'review' that mattered to me for Mothers Basement, was that their website had prices that looked too good to be true.. and I am old and very, very cynical.

 

[67L88Stingray]

To be honest the 'review' that mattered to me for Mothers Basement, was that their website had prices that looked too good to be true.. and I am old and very, very cynical.

Sometimes it is worth the gamble, but always have a fallback plan in case something like that happens.

 

[a2themonster]

I take the point you are making.. but I never said it was ok for a Corporation to 'forge' reviews.. this is generally not necessary anyway.. if you compare the full reviews for films and theater shows with the advertising, it rapidly becomes apparent that it is possible to extract a positive phrase of sentence from pretty much any review, even the ones that hate the show.

Eg:
*The Advert.. "It's absolutely incredible" - The Daily Bugle
*The Daily Bugle's full review.. "It's absolutely incredible this steaming pile of horse**** ever got a green-light from the Studio!"

There is no legal requirement for a company to provide consumers with an advertising platform for negative reviews.. not least because such a platform can be abused by competitors, since it is very hard to verify the validity of consumer reviews.. Car reviews where strangely, the consumer cannot remember how much they paid for the vehicle is one example.. and 'One Star' Amazon reviews of books, films and other products, where the reviewer is peddling their own agenda, is another.. There is also a big difference between a third party site posting negative reviews and the Company permitting them on its own website.. and yes negative reviews do impact on profits.. You are correct, your review will make no difference on its own, but if thirty other consumers post negative reviews as well, it most certainly will have an impact.

Right I'm with you, but I think if that they are posting reviews that appear to be from other users, you are expecting the totality of reviews, not just the positive ones..I agree a ton of people together as one uniformly bashing something can affect profits, but that is atypical of your average review scenario.

 

[Lejuan]

This thread is testament to why Sideshow would be ill-advised to host reviews on its site.

 

[67L88Stingray]

This thread is testament to why Sideshow would be ill-advised to host reviews on its site.

They already do. The time it takes to sift through all the less than perfect reviews could be better spent organizing all reviews from people who have been verified to have purchased said item. Not that hard, or at least no harder than what they do now.

 

[Lejuan]

*negative reviews, correction.

Collectively, we are a bunch of Aspergers-spectrum, obsessive, compulsive, nit-picking ******* who have an unhealthy and disproportionate sense of entitlement vis-a-vis our toys. It's best that that sort of behaviour is quarantined in a forum such as this.

 

[Collectorcol]

Speak for yourself...



Ok, 99% of us!

 

[Lejuan]

Speak for yourself...



Ok, 99% of us!

Oh yeah, goes without saying I'm not talking about you and me Col. I mean everyone else.

 

[67L88Stingray]

*negative reviews, correction.

Collectively, we are a bunch of Aspergers-spectrum, obsessive, compulsive, nit-picking ******* who have an unhealthy and disproportionate sense of entitlement vis-a-vis our toys. It's best that that sort of behaviour is quarantined in a forum such as this.

Clearly, but just because most buyers have a higher than normal explications they should be ignored? I don't mean to let rants on there, but accuracy and quality of product are something that is pretty easy to judge across the board. They might as well be just writing their reviews themselves. This practice reminds me of when bad movies throw a good review from one critic out of 1000 on their promotional material like everyone thought that about it.

 

[Pork Chop Express]

That's correct. When I have something to say about a figure, I post it here. No irony in your observation there Porkchop

And, had you spent a little more time reading my post than authoring yours - I was accusing him of wasting Sideshow's time.

I always thought you were a reasonable guy, but here you are, leaping unarmed to the defence of a whiney-pants comic book guy who, through some misguided sense of entitlement, repeatedly demands Sideshow accommodate customer reviews on their site. How utterly ill-sighted and vacuous

The fact that you commented on the length of time to get your refund would imply your time as well.

"Leaping unarmed", a little grandiose.

 

[Taibhse]

*negative reviews, correction.

Collectively, we are a bunch of Aspergers-spectrum, obsessive, compulsive, nit-picking ******* who have an unhealthy and disproportionate sense of entitlement vis-a-vis our toys. It's best that that sort of behaviour is quarantined in a forum such as this.

I take exception to the term 'nit-picking'! ...three minutes to Wapner

 

[Lejuan]

Clearly, but just because most buyers have a higher than normal explications they should be ignored? I don't mean to let rants on there, but accuracy and quality of product are something that is pretty easy to judge across the board. They might as well be just writing their reviews themselves. This practice reminds me of when bad movies throw a good review from one critic out of 1000 on their promotional material like everyone thought that about it.

So your issue is representation? ie, Sideshow's keeping the good reviews but filtering out the bad ones = a bit dodgy, misleading etc?

I agree, but I guess I don't care enough about it to argue it Sideshow's issue to resolve. I mean, it's their business; it might be a misleading practice, but they've obviously decided they don't want to countenance negative feedback. I can't bring myself to get worked up about it, certainly not enough to pick up the phone and call them about it once, let alone multiple times as Ivbolt has done.

Maybe it's because I happened across this site before I did the Sideshow site, but... in practical terms, doesn't this site's figure threads offer all the feedback anyone could want regarding sideshow's products? Is it a question of time, ie it's more convenient to have reviews for a product situated at the point of sale than have to wade through threads on a nerd forum?

I take exception to the term 'nit-picking'! ...three minutes to Wapner

I see what you did there