GuitarGuitar - odd experience

TheMadMick

I was idly surfing the net and got to GuitarGuitar and went to the page where they are selling PRS SE A40E's at a very reasonable price. I thought to myself "Mine has opened up nicely like the reviews surmise. Maybe people might like to know about that". There was no obvious way to leave a review. So I went to the "can I help you" chat thing at the bottom of the page and asked. How can I put on a review of this guitar I like so much.

Oh, we cull the reviews from XXXX and YYY. Apart from the copyright implications I wonder why they might do that. I was being positive and the effort to them must be next to nowt.

So, in case you are in any doubt, my review summary is that the PRS A40E has become my go to guitar for most things. I hope to get round to putting something better on the relevant page when I get my head round this.

Answers on the back of a £20.00 note to me please!!!

MagicPigDetective

Could it be due to negative reviews? Not good for business? 
I couldn't work out how to do a review on the Andertons site.... was stumped. 

BigPaulie

I had a similar experience. I bought a VOX Adio from them. Their service was great; faultless, but the amp was rank rotten. I looked for ways to leave a review, but it seemed you had to be invited to leave a review. I felt it was a strange way to do business, but wouldn't put me off using them again.

Mellish

It may, as @MagicPigDetective ;says, be due to bad reviews, which may or may not be true  

m_c

Some shops will only let buyers from them leave reviews, and you'll get a link to leave a review after you've bought an item.

It's not so much about avoiding bad reviews, it just helps to provide some verification over who's actually leaving reviews.

BillDL

@TheMadMick ;

Were you logged in with a GuitarGuitar user account while looking for a "review this" button?

As far as I know they only allow people to review an item if they purchased that item i.e. a "verified purchase".  I have never tried to buy an item from them as a "guest" (some companies allow this), so I don't know whether you would actually have to be logged in to add a review or whether you could click an emailed link to review your purchase made as a guest.  It is probable, although I haven't tested it, that you can only review an item you have purchased if you are logged into your account.

There is very sound reason for this practice, and from my experience this is quite a normal restriction.  I have seen websites where an account holder can leave a review about anything, whether they have bought the item or not, and often reviews there are written by uninformed dumplings.  On many occasions on those sites you will see reviews against a similar but different item, and a negative review accompanied by a "one star for reliability because I haven't used it yet" can upset the average star ratings.  If you were able to review items you haven't bought from them you could roam around reviewing anything you wanted to, either positively or negatively, depending on your motives and knowledge level.  Stores are often accused of getting staff, friends, family, etc to give false glowing reviews to bolster their reputation.  Enforcing the "account holder only" and "verified purchases only" rules mitigates this allegation.

DeepBlueWitch

I recently spent £5000+ at guitar guitar but had no way of leaving a review. Shame it would have been very positive.