FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions About Real Customer Comments.com

1) Does all visitor feedback submitted get posted to this web site?

Answer: No. Our editors reserve the right to exclude feedback that is rude, inflammatory, defamatory or patronizing. Promotional material or submissions that “sound a little too good to be true” are also rejected outright.

Real-Customer-Comments.com is not a forum for the promotion of affiliate products or MLM schemes, so any self-promotional materials and links to promoted products are also rejected outright.

We do try to be as fair and open minded as possible, but we will reject any material that we feel does not add value to this site, or to its visitors.

2) I don’t believe in Santa Claus. You guys must be making money somehow. If it’s not by selling products, how do you do it?

Answer: A very few visitors to this site and UltimateFatBurner.com have a difficult time accepting that we don’t have a hidden motive of some sort. The fact is, we are 99.9% supported by advertising (see the “Ads By Google” out the right hand side of this site?).

Since our income is not dependent on product sales, we can therefore present both the “pro” and “con” sides of every product without worrying about it making any impact on our revenue stream.

In other words, we have no vested interest in presenting a biased version of feedback for any product. And that’s why the feedback on this site may differ so much from that you’ve seen on others.

3) Surely not all the comments on your web site are real? Surely there’s a chance that some unethical people are writing false reviews in order to generate positive exposure for their product or a product they are affiliated with. Or alternatively, some people may be writing false negative reviews about a competitor’s products.

How do you guys stop this?

Answer: We know some retailers will try to place a positive spin on their own products by having their employees post good feedback, while at the same time leaving negative or derogatory comments for their competitors. We are always on the lookout for this.

Of course, it is always possible that some bona fide comments are rejected, or that some “manufactured” comments are included (we are only human, after all!), but we do out best to ensure only real, credible comments are included on this site (most of the time, fabricated testimonials are pretty easy to spot).

That’s also why we recommend all comments and testimonials need to be taken “with a grain of salt.”

4) How come there are so many negative reviews for a particular product? You guys must pick and choose which comments are posted to your web site.

Answer: Nope. All product feedback is posted as we receive it, provided it meets our editorial guidelines (see question #2). We do not “pick and choose” the feedback presented on this site. Such a practice would be unethical and dishonest.

Additionally, since we are not actively promoting or selling products, we have nothing to gain financially by doing so. Basically, if you see a lot of negative feedback for a product and no positive that’s exactly how we’ve received it. If the feedback you’re seeing here is different from what you’re seeing on other sites, we would suggest you determine the relationship between the people posting the positive comments and the retailer in question.

Most of the times, the sites posting exceptionally positive comments have a financial conflict of interest – they earn huge commissions on any sales they refer. Obviously then, the credibility of the posted testimonials are suspect, especially if the ones you are seeing here are different.

We’ve also received feedback that some popular feedback sites are not posting negative feedback, especially when it pertains to products they are affiliated with. This too contributes to the perception that the feedback presented here is overly negative, or we have an anti-supplement bias.

Keep in mind too, that angry people who have had negative experiences are more likely to share their thoughts than those who have had an “average” or “satisfactory” experience with a product. This can on occasion lead to an “overly-negative” comment profile.

5) Customer feedback is highly anecdotal and is not an alternative to properly conducted clinical studies. Do you recommend purchasing products based on visitors’ comments?

Answer: We believe that even though visitor comments are indeed anecdotal, they can provide value to the visitor — if only that it allows the visitor to obtain a more realistic view of what a certain product can do for him or her (we also believe visitors need to be cognizant of the “placebo” factor — see this blog post for more).

While we do not recommend making a purchase based solely on visitor comments and testimonials, we do believe credible, screened testimonials (like the ones provided on Real-Customer-Comments.com) can provide some of the information needed to make an informed purchasing decision.

Additionally, many of the sites posting “reviews” on the Net have a financial conflict of interest; they’re owned by, or affiliated with the products they are highlighting. As such, they may actively removing negative feedback from their user reviews. We don’t do that here, so visitors get a more accurate picture of the products in question.

6) Have you guys tried all the products presented on this site? And if not, how can your editorial team discuss them with any authority?

Answer: Whether or not we have tried any of the products on this site is totally irrelevant. Testimonials are anecdotal. They are not considered evidence. There are many reasons why a product may “work” for a person (including the placebo effect) that have nothing to do with the efficacy of the product in question.

That’s why the only thing that’s considered evidence for the proof of a product’s effectiveness is the double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial that’s published in a reputable journal.

And while we may not have tried every single product, we have reviewed them in depth on UltimateFatBurner.com, comparing the existing clinical evidence against the claims made by the retailers. So in each case, we are well aware of supporting clinical evidence-or lack thereof-for the products we discuss.

7) How come the editors are jumping down everyone’s throat? I thought anyone could comment on this site?

Answer: First of all, if you think the editors are jumping down everyone’s throat you need to spend more time on this site. We have over 4,000 posted comments, and only a handful of them receive any comments from the editors.

Second, Real-Customer-Comments.com is a not a mouthpiece for the supplement industry.

Any comments that are obviously posted by affiliates or the retailers of the products in question will be addressed accordingly. Same goes for comments that contain obvious paradoxes.

Since we also act as consumer advocates, we don’t let visitors make unsubstantiated comments that are just plain wrong, as other visitors may assume them to be credible, and base a purchasing decision upon them.

For instance, a visitor may say, “XYZ product is very powerful for burning abdominal fat”, and we might follow up and say “there is no evidence that XYZ product is any more effective at burning abdominal fat than any other type of fat.”

Some visitors may see this as being argumentative, but the fact of the matter is that our #1 mandate is to educate our visitors as well as provide them with a forum to post their comments.

We’ll also respond in kind to nasty posts – we’re happy to carry on any discussion in a civil manner, but if a visitor wants to “dish it out” he or she had better be ready to take it, because we won’t tolerate abusive behavior – whether it’s focused at us or our visitors.

In other words, this is a moderated blog / forum, and we take it seriously. Stupidity, rudeness, blatant promotional material, nastiness and so on will not be tolerated. That’s what our visitors enjoy about this site. If that doesn’t work for you, you’re probably in the wrong place.

DISCLAIMER:
Customer-written product reviews are provided as a service to Real Customer Comments.com web site visitors. Although all feedback is screened by our editors, we neither endorse such reviews nor can we vouch for their accuracy. Personal feedback is always highly anecdotal.

We urge you to learn as much as possible about a product before making a purchase and we strive to offer comprehensive, accurate information to help you in that process.