Apple pulls customer reviews from its online store

Humza

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Staff member
What just happened? Apple's product listing page used to have a "Rating & Reviews" section where it did the usual job of letting prospective buyers know about consumer experiences with the company's hardware and accessories, beyond just their price or technical information. However, Apple silently removed that section over the weekend in a move that could hurt its credibility.

User reviews and opinions are part and parcel of most consumer items and generally reflect how a product fared in the market. Apple, which is well-known for its transparent approach towards leaving even the most negative opinions on its official online store, might have taken a step back after it silently took down its buyers' review section from its retail website.

AppleInsider, which first reported on this change, received a tip from a reader who noticed the missing section on Apple's online store. Given that the information was absent on Apple's website across multiple countries, the change was noted as intentional on Apple's part, rather than a mistake.

AppleInsider also did a comparison of the store through the Wayback Machine and found the removal to have occurred between November 16 and November 17.

While it could be a temporary change, eliminating customer reviews soon after the arrival of its 16-inch Macbook Pro is a bit odd, as many people might still choose to go to Apple's official online store to see how the laptop is faring, instead of watching YouTube videos or going through third-party review websites.

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Tells me that Apple has something to hide, otherwise they would stand behind the product and let the chips fall where they may with customer reviews ..... better go to Dell! LOL
 
Yeah well, Amazon has a review problem as well. I don't even want to buy anything from Amazon anymore because the reviews are fake.

I feel the same way. I'm getting to where I don't trust anything on Amazon, even when it says sold by Amazon. I've received things in opened packaging, stuff that had scuff marks on it like it had been previously used and returned, but sold as new. I even received things that seemed like Chinese knockoff clones... like flash drives and external memory that arrived in odd packaging, seemed to be made of cheaper quality plastic, and didn't work at all. They took it back, but should it be that hard to get it right the first time? Reviews often seem fishy too.
 
As a general rule, I never trust product reviews on the product manufacturers website anyway. Though that is not to say any company couldn't and doesn't already put out fake reviews on popular commerce sites. All reviews should be taken with a grain of salt anyway, as you have a whole mix of people and reviews - even if they are all legit reviews; some people are just angry or stupid and that their experience isn't necessarily relate-able.
 
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