What's up with the flamers on Amazon?

[lunababy]

Hi. I was just ordering BB for a friend who is expecting. Caught some really nasty reviews. What's the story on all of that? Doesn't seem like the kind of book that would have such an angry following! I was shocked.

[chiqanita]

Hey yeah, what's up with them? I read a few and they sounded really angry, like it was something personal.

I added a rating of my own although I didn't purchase my book from Amazon. DH picked it up and brought it home to me while I was on bedrest. I was so grateful to have this book because it allowed me to be a bigger part of preparing for our twins. DH did a bulk of our shopping/purchases, he was and is so cute. I gave him choices and he picked out the cribs, high chairs, swings, co-sleeper, stroller and carseats and most of the other items we needed.

Anyway, I was grateful for the book and along with my own research we were able to make some well informed decisions.

[lisams]

Those nasty ones don't sound like they're coming from parents.

[bostonsmama]

Wow, that's so bizarre. For a moment I felt an intense anger and "defensiveness" for the authors. I guess it just feels like they are attacking a whole community of people who support the book and their quest for finding bargains.

Is there a conspiracy I don't know about?

Larissa

Baseline appt July 25th! Tentative retrieval ~Aug 10th, transfer ~8/13 or 15

Proud Aunt to Jack Dorian, born to my bro & SIL 3/06
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/32719.jpg

[mudder17]

I agree--it is a bit bizarre. One thing I noticed is that a lot of the reviews attack the "good reviews" as being 1) written by the authors and 2) written by someone who hasn't reviewed any other book on Amazon before. The interesting thing is that I looked at a lot of the negative reviews (the first 40 negative ones I came across) and many of them said the same thing and if you clicked on "see my other reviews" this was the only review they had written. So very bizarre.


Eileen

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33732.gif for Leah
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33734.gif 27 months...
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Kaya will be a sister, ~11/14/06!

[farsk]

You know, when I was walking around USA Baby with my copy of BBB, the sales girl said, very defensively, "you know that is just their opinion, not fact." To which I replied, "You know, you're absolutely right, their's along with thousands of other parents opinions about what products work best and are worth the money." I smiled sweetly and then exited the store.

hahahahahaaa!

[cmdunn1972]

Whoa! It doesn't sounds as if she's very good at sales. 1) You don't show a potential customer that kind of disrespect and disregard, especially right from the gate. 2) When a person walks in with a consumer publication such as BBB or CR, you are almost guaranteed a sale (and the store at least some profit) so long as the sales staff doesn't royally screw up or the store doesn't have the item. That person knows what she wants and is power shopping.

My take is if the store is hiring sales staff with that sort of attitude, it isn't worth dealing with anyway. You were smart to leave.

[denna]

That is shocking. I just purchased BB online yesterday along w/ Baby 411 for a friend. I got the book on barnesandnoble.com however and I didn't read the reviews. i already know thats it's a great book but I will have to see these reviews and go write one of my own ;). When my DH and I tried to purchase Baby 411 on amazon it said it couldn't be purchased through amazon so I just assumed that was the case for BB that is why I purchased them on barnesandnoble.com. Not sure if b&n had any reviews for these books but I'll have to look and see.

[randomkid]

First of all, what am I doing up at this hour? Secondly, I have only read one of the bad reviews so far, but next to the statement "Was this review helpful to you" there in small print, it says "report this". You can click on that and it will report the review as inappropriate and that you feel it should be removed. I did this already with the one that I read as it did seem to be a very personal attack - very inappropriate, IMO!

I intend to read more and report them as well if I feel they are not constructive and that they are just vindictive.

Hope others will do the same if you feel so inclined.

[Jo..]

These reviews look to me like the work of one sick person with an axe to grind...It made me sad to see them.

ITA that we need to rate these reviews with one star (not helpful) and then flag them as inappropriate (they contain personal attacks which are not even remotely appropriate). I think if enough people report them, Amazon will remove them.

[MonicaH]

I think there is something organized going on here. Probably some company that got negatively reviewed in the book is paying people to post bad reviews, or else these are employees who are worried about losing their jobs when informed consumers stop buying their products. Notice how they all (well the 20 or so that I read) say basically the same thing? Like it's from a script?

I had to stop reading because it was making me pretty angry. My first thought was to post a review saying that I had saved money, and besides there is this wonderful place called the BBB, you should check it out.... nah, maybe not... ;)

Monica

[annasmom]

Oh goodness, could you imagine if we had to fend these people off on these boards???

I agree with Eileen, the negative posts seem to say the exact same thing, and are all written by someone with only one review credited to their name (the same argument the negative reviewers make about the positive reviews). I am all for free speech, but this seems completely bogus.

[lizajane]

not fact? lol. what IS fact? how could anyone say that THIS is the BEST baby product in the WORLD. i mean seriously, how else do you choose things like baby products, other than opinions... stupid sales lady...

[jennifer_r]

WOW! This post made me want to check out the reviews on Amazon and I can't believe the negative attitudes. I really think it is just some angry people from companies/stores that received negative reviews. Unfortunately, that's one of the negatives of the Internet - it allows anonymity (sp?) and people can say whatever they want. I doubt most people would say this to the Fields' IRL.



Jennifer

Mom to:
Christopher 12/29/89
Adelaide 8/23/04
Bronwyn 11/9/05

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_garnet_6m.gif[/img][/url]

[karolyp]

Very strange indeed!! And was it just me or did it seem like all the negative reviews came from people who lived in CO? Not only were they personally attacking the Fields, but they also claimed all the positive reviews were fake:

"These people and their cult can't accept a bad review. No one needs to pay for a book to decide what high chair is best for them."

Kindof scary if you ask me. And they were also VERY defensive of BRU and CR. Hmmmmm, what's up with that?

[elliput]

I have a pet theory about most negative reviews - not only for the BB book, but everything. It seems like a good work-from-home scheme for advertisers or competing manufacturers to have people write negative reviews in order to *hopefully* drive business their way. For this reason, most of the negative reviews I do not pay attention to as it is obvious that the reviewer didn't actually purchase the item. It is especially obvious when the review says very little little about the reviewed item, but raves and gives extensive details about a competing item.

[nicoleandjackson]

ITA! I "reported" the two most recent 1-star reviews as being inappropriate.

Nicole
Mommy of Jackson 4/30/02

http://b5.lilypie.com/nD9Jm5.png

[nicoleandjackson]

Hey, stranger! Good to see you... :)

Nicole
Mommy of Jackson 4/30/02

http://b5.lilypie.com/nD9Jm5.png

[dr mom]

How bizarre - those negative reviews are written with the persistence and intensity you might expect from a debate about religion or politics...not baby products.

Sounds like one individual with an axe to grind and too much free time on their hands. I flagged all the offensive ones as inappropriate, and if several BBBers do the same thing, I imagine amazon will remove them.

[denna]

I just got a chance to review the bad reviews you mentioned and I couldnt believe the mean things these ppl were saying. I of course had to leave an excellcent 5 star review. :D
I agree w/ all you, it must be a competing company or something. The people seem to be very upset. Taking this book way to personally.

Well we all know we obviously love it... ;)

[elliput]

I did the same thing. It does send up a red flag doesn't it? Interesting that the CR book keeps coming up in the negative reviews as the better alternative. Interestingly Baby Bargains has 450 reviews and is ranked 478 overall in sales, while the CR book has 37 reviews and is ranked 2007. Makes one wonder...

[elliput]

I should know better than to click twice!

[mamamayi]

I know an author who has a book listed on Amazon and the ratings help the authors in some way or another. Even clicking if a review was helpful or not counts in the stats. I'm not exactly sure how the stats help the authors, unless perhaps it makes the books show up more in advertising on the site??? so it might be that the flamers either don't like the author or have a competing book.

[randomkid]

Well, I will say it here because if I do so on the Amazon site, I will just be accused of being the "author writing my own reviews". This book saved me soooo much time when it came to registering. Sure, I may have done some things differently, but some of the things are because I didn't listen to the book (like insisting on buying that Graco Travel System - ugh!). I was very sick when I was pregnant, so I spent 3 hours on the phone with a friend who had a DC under 12 months and the rest of the time on the couch looking through the book. I went to BRU to register and did the bulk of it one evening after work. This book made all the difference to me! I do recommend it to all of my pregnant friends.

Whoever is leaving those bad reviews is pretty obvious. Some of them are the same, word for word, with a different name. Many of them also mention CR, which I bought and returned as I didn't find it helpful at all! I also noticed that there is something mentioned about a blog. Obviously this person (or these people) know about the boards as well since one of the reviews I read says something about the book's supporters. Don't people have anything better to do? How sad that someone is so angry and bitter. If someone has that kind of time to leave so many bad reviews, *they* must not have kids - lol!

Funny how there are so many hateful reviews, but overall the book still gets 4 stars. I reported as many as I could, but had to stop since I have to go somewhere. I hope that Amazon gets the clue.

[JTsMom]

Holy crap- what is up with that??!?!! Some people have too much time on their hands I guess. I loved the book, and I recommend it to every expectant mom that asks me a question about a baby product. I would have been lost without that book!

[kep]

I'm blown away by all of those reviews. What is wrong with people? It's just a book. People are getting all upset and taking it so personally. And yeah, I would hate to think that there might actually be parents out there, (real people), who would leave a 5-star review! And leaving comments with personal attacks in them really crosses the line. Do people really have no life? :(

[KimberleyDawn]

I certaining don't agree with everything in the book and agree that it can make you spend more *BUT* only if you are inclined to be a compulsive purchaser to begin with!! I do think it's a great *reference* guide and have and will recommend it. I guess I hope that honest people reading those crazy reviews will see that there is a BBB following and if there is a following there's probably a reason KWIM. I too wanted to post something leading people here but I was worried about all the garbage that would come...not that the boards are hidden though....I think a lot of people that are honestly interested in the book will stumble on over here and can read what everyone has to say and will realize that those reviews are not really what the book is about.

HAPPY READING & PURCHASING BBB FRIENDS!!!!!

[lunababy]

So no I am curious...what is the CR book? I didn't catch that. Two funny things I thought about after I posted...

One of the Amazon posts said something about you don't see people in BRU with BBB. But I bring my tattered copy whenever I need to do serious shopping. And I have my days but I am definitely not a nut-job for doing it!

Also, because the Fields are so great about releasing new editions I'm sure the rank for each individual book is lower.

The whole thing is so silly. Thanks for shedding some light on what is going on. Hopefully Amazon knows this happens. i will definitely read negative reviews with a grain of salt from now on.

[DebbieJ]

>One of the Amazon posts said something about you don't see
>people in BRU with BBB. But I bring my tattered copy whenever
>I need to do serious shopping. And I have my days but I am
>definitely not a nut-job for doing it!

We did all our registering with the book in hand and I have seen MANY parents doing the same! I always stop and tell them how much we loved the book, what things we got (always mention the car seat and stroller b/c even though they were $$$$ we are getting fabulous mileage out of them).

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
2 year check up: 25 lbs with clothes on and 35 inches!
BFARed for 20 months and 6 days
(Breastfeeding After Reduction is possible! www.bfar.org)

http://www.bfar.org/members/fora/style_avatars/Ribbons/18months-bfar.jpg

[tarynsmum]

When we registered, and whenever I went to buy ANYTHING for the baby when I was pregnant, I had my copy with me. One time I accidently left it at home, and grabbed a copy off the shelf (at USA Baby) and used it while I was there. Even now I still keep it in my car to refer to if I'm out looking at a new product.

It makes me really mad that people would flame the Fields' like that. I want to write a review too, but then, since it would be the first review I wrote, some might look at it the same way we're looking at those who's only review was the negative one. And FWIW, we get consumer reports, and their baby section doesn't come close to everything BB covers. I hope Alan and Denise read this thread and know that we all support them!

[american_mama]

Interesting about the USA Baby negative reaction. One time at a USA Baby, I mentioned the book and a salesperson said with a don't-be-so-naive tone of voice that the Baby Bargains book isn't so great because the authors are wined and dined by industry and thus favor certain brands. May or may not be true, but I wondered why the salesperson acted as though the book was somehow hurting her. I don't see how it could decrease sales at USA Baby. The salesperson was a woman of about 20 who I sincerely doubt had kids and who looked like this was just a temporary job for her, so I wondered why she cared.

[hudsonam]

OMG! What is wrong with some of those people?! And they all suspiciously say that everyone should use the BRU and Baby Zone consultants in the stores. Uh... yea, the BRU employees near me are FANTASTIC (not). I was getting really aggravated reading those reviews. How annoying!