Uh oh. Censorship is never good. And it looks like Target has done just that: eliminated free speech by removing all the negative comments on the Jason Wu for Target cat tote bag (as shown by the screen capture at left).
How do I know this? Well, because out of frustration after the Jason Wu wipeout, myself (and several other disgruntled consumers) left this bag only one star, chastizing Target for making so few of them in the first place. Other negative comments included requests to limit the amount of designer merchandise you can buy in stores (as to deter the eBay vultures) and complaints that Target wasn't restocking this item. I recall I was about the 5th or 6th negative review, and my comment added the fact that their in-store finder is COMPLETELY inaccurate. Not sure if my message got through to them or not, but I am sure that my comment (and others) were all removed, as this item now has 18 five-star reviews.
9 comments:
Well, I agree that censorship = bad, but I don't blame Target for wanting to keep their product reviews as product reviews and not product availability or distribution or policy reviews. I don't know what avenues they have for people to register complaints of that kind, but the product reviews don't seem like the right place for it. (I have the same thought when I read reviews on amazon, for instance, and it focuses on how quick the shipping was. Good to know, but not helpful information about the product.)
I had that happen on a pet food website when I complained that the formula must have changed as all my cats stopped eating it. I had emailed with no response so I posted on FB and it was removed within minutes! Perhaps these websites have a program looking for key woods to delete.
Have to agree with Biki on this. The reviews you're referring to were likely deleted because they have nothing to do with the product. They're simply not helpful -- if I wanted to know what people thought of the bag, and reviews are giving it one star because of product availability, that tells me nothing about the product. If I was Target, I'd have removed those reviews too. If you want to review Target's policies/availability, then review a Target store itself, don't review a tote bag...makes no sense.
Of course the the funny part is that it doesn't matter how many stars this item gets or how little, because stars or not, you cannot get this bag anymore. It is as ridiculous as continuing to show ads for this line. Because they are advertising a thing that is long gone.
Enough with clothing lines that sell out in a matter of minutes please. Make enough so everyone that wants it can buy it, and that will get rid of eBay vultures.
Mel and Biki: while I see your point, as a registered user of their site (which you have to be to leave reviews) it would have been nice to have received an email from them stating that my comment was removed due to the fact that it didn't comply with their review policy. Other companies do this; I know Yelp does.
I would normally agree about being off-topic, but all of these review sites allow some editing of reviews - even Yelp. I don't know why anyone would make a purchase decision based on these.
Target is advertising these items as available in store when they know they are not available. This could be easily categorized as "bait and switch" and probably breaks a dozen FTC rules. I would want to know about that and the reviews are the only place to indicate that for me as a consumer to other consumers.
And really - EVERY review is 5 stars??? That just screams BS to me.
The review function is meant to review the actual product, not for customers to vent out their frustration. I'm not sure if Target usually censors their comments or not (I hope not!) but I did notice a lot of 1 star reviews on Jason Wu items just because the site was laggy, or "it was the only item I wanted from the collection and I coudln't get it". How is that useful to customer who wants to purchase an item? I was looking at one of the adorable skirts and was surprised that I got 1 star review... when I clicked it, some one was just complaining how she wasn't able to get her hands on it. I definitely flagged that comment for review.
Want the collection? Shoulda woken up early to get it.
I am writing in reguards to having a bad experience with Target and there delivery and online service. I ordered a futon from target.com and paid $328.54. The couch was delivered on 6/19/12. When the delivery men came to the door, they were giggling and laughing and banging on the door really hard. I ran down stairs to answer the door and the the two men were intoxicated. They bought the package to the door and the door and it was all damaged and destroyed. I told the two men that I was not accepting the futon in that kind of condition. They took off and left the package blocking my door so I could'nt get out of my apartment. 10 minutes later they came back and took the futon very sneaky like and disapeared of the property. I called target.com where we delivered the futon from and they told me they could'nt do anything to help me. Their delivery men stole my futon and they cant do anything for me? They had the nerve to tell me to call the police. So now am I not only out of a $328.54 futon, but I'm also out $328.54. This has been the worst experience I have ever been through with Target. They are crooks and I am going to the local newspapers and news stations on t.v. and radio to report this issue til justice is served. I have a few political connections as well that will see sure that justice is served.
It's painfully OBVIOUS that target censors low rating reviews. Most items that get 1,2 or 3 star ratings on Amazon or even Walmart.com, manage to get 4.5 and 5 star averages for their reviews! It makes the review system worthless, so every item I see on Target.com, I have to go to Amazon to read the reviews, because the target ratings have almost all the bad ratings removed.
Post a Comment