dagman Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 I have a concern with the integrity of one of my favorite, hookah providers HS. They have been advertising this hookah through emails and on their front page. http://www.hookah-shisha.com/p-6102-Hookah-Ankh.html There was a scathing review of this hookah that fairly outlined in detail the problems with the hookah including missing advertised parts the cheap nature of the frosting ect. It was the only review on the hookah and it was mysteriously removed. when asked about their policy on removing reviews they said they only do so if it has profanity or is about an unrelated item. Do you think it is unethical to remove a opinion on a item being sold when a public forum is provided? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushrat Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Um..it may be unethical...but c'mon now... would YOU allow a negative review of a product you are selling to be visible? Whatever the reason, you have to remember that they ARE a retail site trying to sell stuff. The only place I have ever seen that let a less than glowing review stay up was Hookahcompany.com and it was just for one flavour of tobacco. If you think you are going to get real honest reviews on ANY retail site you are kidding yourself....thats why Forums like THIS exist. So people can post real reviews. Another reason not to have advertisers on this forum, don't have to pussyfoot around so you don't piss off your advertisers. We tell it like we see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no longer welcome Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 that goes with any industry. i never read reviews of products on the website but rather in what i hope are independent reviews on independent sites or forums. for example if you want to buy a corvette do you get all your consumer feedback at the chevy/corvette site or at the official corvette forum. the forum will have more unbiased opinions and feedback and the retailer website will tell you it's the greatest car on earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chinamon Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 i am an administrator on a forum known as tranceaddict.com. i also work for a club (guvernment nightclub) and guv is an advertiser on tranceaddict. we have plenty of reviews (good and bad) regarding events at guv but you dont see me deleting the negative ones. everyone is entitled to their opinion. if a lot of people are unhappy with a product or service then i think the vendor should take that in to consideration and make adjustments... not censor people's opinions. thats the cheesy way out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuie Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Well I will tell you this story. I posted a review of something H-S sells, but i bought it on eBay and not H-S. They pulled my review, when I asked they told me their policy is to pull reviews if you didn't purchase it with them. That way they know you bought what they sold. That is probably the real reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codename067 Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Why give an option to rate products from 0-5, and then remove those that get rated 2 or less? HS is a pretty big vendor..and for them to remove a bad review or two..while giving the customer the choice to write the review as they see fit..I don't get it. It's not like they are going to drive "that many" customers away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rani Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 I rarely purchase from H-S for personal preferences only and for the following two reasons: 1) I hate UPS and they don't ship Fed-Ex. 2) If I have a HJ problem I can call John and work it out one on one. If I have an HC problem I can insist on talking to George. Can't do that with H-S. Having said that, it's all about my personal preference. I've never heard anything terrible about them and have no reason to not consider them a good vendor who have what they believe are valid reasons for the decisions they make - so I'm not going to knock 'em. When I'm the one running the business then I get to make the rules. That's just the way it goes. 'Rani Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattarios2 Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Personally I think Stuie is most likely right. If they deleted negative comments often (or whenever there was one), it wouldn't go unnoticed ... people would eventually complain, and it would get spread all over forums like this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuie Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 H-S has a lot of negative ratings on a lot of products Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcane Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 [quote name='Stuie' date='23 February 2010 - 07:39 PM' timestamp='1266989976' post='453341'] H-S has a lot of negative ratings on a lot of products [/quote] and on themselves.... http://www.hookahforum.com/topic/6372-hookah-shisha/page__view__findpost__p__356775 haha.....i'm still a bit bitter about that... but, like mushy said....that's why these forums are great. could you imagine if i put that post on their site? i bet that wouldn't last 30 minutes... but, with HF...it's been up for nearly a year. and probably has no chance of being deleted to keep negative PR down... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushrat Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 [quote name='Codename067' date='23 February 2010 - 11:24 PM' timestamp='1266985457' post='453320'] Why give an option to rate products from 0-5, and then remove those that get rated 2 or less? HS is a pretty big vendor..and for them to remove a bad review or two..while giving the customer the choice to write the review as they see fit..I don't get it. It's not like they are going to drive "that many" customers away. [/quote] They OWN the site..why would they let any negative reviews stand. If people see their reviews removed they are most likely to just quit doing reviews rather than stop buying from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSU Smoker Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Yeah, I gotta go with Mush on this one, Although it is unethical for them to get rid of the review imo. They do own the site and want to promote good business as far as their profits go. By removing a bad review they can keep and obtain more customers who haven't encountered any problems yet. Also by giving you the choice to leave a bad review (and deleting any bad ones) it gives the appearance that they are a very good site. It looks as if all of their reviews are 4 and 5 star with a few 3s sprinkled throughout. Its all about the Benjamin's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chinamon Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 [quote name='PSU Smoker' date='24 February 2010 - 04:21 PM' timestamp='1267028462' post='453406'] Yeah, I gotta go with Mush on this one, Although it is unethical for them to get rid of the review imo. [/quote] there, you said it. this thread was asking about ETHICS not whether or not they should be allowed to remove negative comments if they owned the site. of course they can remove anything they want since they own it but it is unethical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushrat Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 ah...i see...yes i'd say it's unethical in that case. But not surprising. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chinamon Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 [quote name='mushrat' date='24 February 2010 - 06:16 PM' timestamp='1267035371' post='453437'] ah...i see...yes i'd say it's unethical in that case. But not surprising. [/quote] yup. it is unethical but i dont blame them for doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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