I may have faults, but being wrong ain't one of them - Jimmy Hoffa
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Ebuyer's wrist is smacked over review rankings
ONLINE SELLER Ebuyer has been criticised by the UK advertising watchdog and told not to use its more favourable hardware reviews in advertisements.
In an adjudication published today the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) said that the firm has been running an advert for a portable internet radio, which it said came with a lot of high scoring user reviews.
"A website, for an online retailer, stated 'Foehn & Hirsch Portable WiFi Internet Radio (Black)' and showed four and a half stars. Further text stated '17 reviews'," said the ASA.
"[A] complainant, who saw the ad on 17 September, challenged whether the claim '17 reviews' alongside the four and a half stars [was] misleading, because they believed the reviews displayed were selected to create a favourable impression."
Ebuyer responded to the ASA, telling it that while reviews were submitted by customers they were approved by project managers. Filters are in place, it said, to show which ratings are the most "useful", and that in general reviews would always be more positive than negative. It said that this could be changed.
The ASA upheld the complaint from an individual who said that he had not had his negative review approved, and said that it considered that negative reviews are "as useful to consumers as positive reviews". It added that the claim "17 reviews" alongside the four and a half star rating could give the impression that all reviews followed the same lines.
The advert must not appear again in its current form. Ebuyer has also been told not to mislead its customers by picking the reviews that give the best impressions. µ
Tags: Hardware
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i'm told by ebuyer themselves that they no longer use citylink!
if this is true, its a victory for common sense!!
You could get it delivered to work like the rest of us?
We had a City Link Depot just around the corner in York, but it was closed and we're now expected to go to Leeming - 35 miles away!
The result - we've stopped using any site that doesn't offer an alternative.
if ebuyer want to improve their business they will stop using city link.
city link only deliver to part-time, retired or dole people. if you work full time then they take your goods 20 miles away and expect you to collect it
thats not a delivery service, its blackmail with a ransom!
the sooner city link spontaneously combusts, the better