Ratings should not be allowed to be changed - BOB please answer???

[miraclebabycaw 10]

Come on BOB - isn't it about time you sorted this out. I understand why you don't want to get involved in ratings issues but you should NOT allow ratings to be changed after the fact unless a good reason is given. I gave a neutral rating to a guy because I paid for speed services, did not receive it the next day and when I queried it, I got abusive language from him. Only after the fact did I understand about the postal striek so rated him as neutral because I still after 2w have not received my items but said on his rating knew that was due to the strike but was not happy with being abused via email hence the neutral rating. He has now gone after positive ratings and changed ALL of them to neutral in response. This is a blatent disregard of the bidorbuy ratings system... why should I now suffer. He was happy and rated all positive until I gave him the neutral ratings. Really unfair.

[Seeds and All 12]

I believe bidorbuy has already addressed this issue numerous times. Any system will be abused. Who will police whether there is a valid reason for the rating to be changed?

[rmckay 10]

Were you abusive to him when asking about the status of your parcel? He seems to think you were. This strike has put both buyers and sellers on edge.

 

I still have a guy who bought one of my items on 21st of August and it still hasn't arrived. Luckily he was very understanding. He said in his town the post office workers were throwing parcels into the road!

[rmckay 10]

I believe bidorbuy has already addressed this issue numerous times. Any system will be abused. Who will police whether there is a valid reason for the rating to be changed?

 

Well often times there is very obvious abuse. One of BoB's top sellers in JHB has given every single one of the people who have given him a negative rating a revenge negative rating. Even when a negative rating is justified.

 

I'm all for a rating system like eBay where you can only rate buyers positive (or perhaps negative if no payment received)

[miraclebabycaw 10]

rmckay - my question was on the sat before I knew of the strike - I had asked for speed services and paid for speed services. Was not made aware of the strike. Post office told me on that Sat that his post office should not have accepted the parcel.

Hi xxx. The parcel has not arrived?? Post office say it is still by your post office, and will not be sent due to the strike??????

 

 

He took this as abuse and started with nasty emails. I have no issue with the strike as I've been stuck with parcels too. Besides which this has nothing to do with what was said. He rated the transaction as positive, I queried my parcel, he felt I had no right to query it and got very snotty about me asking, I rated him neutral because of the abusive emails I received, so he changed his rating.

[miraclebabycaw 10]

Well often times there is very obvious abuse. One of BoB's top sellers in JHB has given every single one of the people who have given him a negative rating a revenge negative rating. Even when a negative rating is justified.

 

I'm all for a rating system like eBay where you can only rate buyers positive (or perhaps negative if no payment received)

I agree. Maybe there should be positiv/negative but with set answers like for negative only if no payment and SNC or products not as advertised etc, but not allow a free for all

[rmckay 10]

rmckay - my question was on the sat before I knew of the strike - I had asked for speed services and paid for speed services. Was not made aware of the strike. Post office told me on that Sat that his post office should not have accepted the parcel.

Hi xxx. The parcel has not arrived?? Post office say it is still by your post office, and will not be sent due to the strike??????

 

 

He took this as abuse and started with nasty emails. I have no issue with the strike as I've been stuck with parcels too. Besides which this has nothing to do with what was said. He rated the transaction as positive, I queried my parcel, he felt I had no right to query it and got very snotty about me asking, I rated him neutral because of the abusive emails I received, so he changed his rating.

 

That email you sent certainly wasn't abusive. Maybe he misunderstood the extra question marks?

 

His changing of the feedback was clearly a revenge rating. At least it's only a neutral.

[Seeds and All 12]

rmckay - my question was on the sat before I knew of the strike - I had asked for speed services and paid for speed services. Was not made aware of the strike. Post office told me on that Sat that his post office should not have accepted the parcel.

Hi xxx. The parcel has not arrived?? Post office say it is still by your post office, and will not be sent due to the strike??????

 

 

He took this as abuse and started with nasty emails. I have no issue with the strike as I've been stuck with parcels too. Besides which this has nothing to do with what was said. He rated the transaction as positive, I queried my parcel, he felt I had no right to query it and got very snotty about me asking, I rated him neutral because of the abusive emails I received, so he changed his rating.

 

Using excessive exclamation marks is bad netiquette. I know this is the way you always write but it may be seen as shouting. Receiving an email where a question is being asked and it ends with more than 1, or at the very most 2 question marks, would make me feel uncomfortable too. In cyberspace you only have words to judge how a person is asking a question. You can't hear tone of voice and you can't see facial expressions. This seller may have seen your question as you shouting about a matter which is out of his control.

[rmckay 10]

Using excessive exclamation marks is bad netiquette. I know this is the way you always write but it may be seen as shouting. Receiving an email where a question is being asked and it ends with more than 1, or at the very most 2 question marks, would make me feel uncomfortable too. In cyberspace you only have words to judge how a person is asking a question. You can't hear tone of voice and you can't see facial expressions. This seller may have seen your question as you shouting about a matter which is out of his control.

 

Even so, I think most sellers would have just apologized and explained how it was out of their control. Seeing how the seller has the buyers money and the buyer doesn't yet have the item, sellers should be a bit more forgiving if they feel they are being questioned.

[mellowred 10]

However badly one (or five) people rate you, an intelligent buyer/seller will check your ratings and those of the buyer/seller that rated you negative. Getting het-up over silly, spiteful ratings absorbs a lot of energy. You can comment on the rating and that is the best way to put "your side of the story" across.

 

Some people are bitter and nasty and will do their best to transfer those feelings over to you.

 

I do wish that BoB would make a change and NOT allow ratings to be deleted or edited, but until then just get on with doing what you do best, and let the nasty one's do what they do best - trying to upset other people's lives. By thinking on their nastiness you are helping them to achieve their aim.

 

Ignore them - they'll get bored and go away.

[rmckay 10]

Another idea would be that sellers must give buyers a rating before buyers can rate sellers. After all, the buyer completes their side of the transaction first. And since a sellers rating to a buyer can't be changed it would prevent revenge ratings.

[miraclebabycaw 10]

Using excessive exclamation marks is bad netiquette. I know this is the way you always write but it may be seen as shouting. Receiving an email where a question is being asked and it ends with more than 1, or at the very most 2 question marks, would make me feel uncomfortable too. In cyberspace you only have words to judge how a person is asking a question. You can't hear tone of voice and you can't see facial expressions. This seller may have seen your question as you shouting about a matter which is out of his control.

Yes I agree with you on that.. It's a bad habit of mine to emphasise, but I didn't know it was bad netiquette (just knew about CAPS). He responded with he'd sent it and a don't you ????? me, to which I replied that I was asking a simple question because my PO AND speed services had said it was still at the original post office and not to take offense. All I wanted was, ok I managed to find out and it has been delivered but due to the strike yada yada yada. Instead I get further mails about how I attacked him etc. That's the problem with most of the world today where selling is concerned, the customer is supposed to be always right. True there is no need to take abuse from customers but when you are in sales you don't overreact to being asked a question. Anyway that is besides the point. He changed his rating from positive to a neutral ONLY after I gave him a neutral rating which IMO should not be allowed because up until I gave him the neutral which btw was 2w after he had given my my positives, I had positives from him. Not the first time it has happened. Just annoying.

[Seeds and All 12]

Another idea would be that sellers must give buyers a rating before buyers can rate sellers. After all, the buyer completes their side of the transaction first. And since a sellers rating to a buyer can't be changed it would prevent revenge ratings.

 

I'm afraid many seller will simply withhold ratings.

 

On average I receive 5 neutral or negative ratings a month. These are mostly from buyers who did not contact me first and did not read the emails I sent them with banking details, tracking numbers etc. If those buyers were not allowed to change their ratings after I spoke to them I would be stuck with 215 adverse ratings by now! Let me assure you, if some sellers knew that they would be stuck with the adverse ratings in any case there will be a lot more "abuse" of the system. They may just feel that the buyer's lack to contact them first would deserve an adverse rating in return. Civility is after all a two way street.

 

I know that we offer excellent service and quality products and our ratings and sales speak for themselves. Why should I be negatively affected because of a few unscrupulous sellers?

[Seeds and All 12]

Yes I agree with you on that.. It's a bad habit of mine to emphasise, but I didn't know it was bad netiquette (just knew about CAPS). He responded with he'd sent it and a don't you ????? me, to which I replied that I was asking a simple question because my PO AND speed services had said it was still at the original post office and not to take offense. All I wanted was, ok I managed to find out and it has been delivered but due to the strike yada yada yada. Instead I get further mails about how I attacked him etc. That's the problem with most of the world today where selling is concerned, the customer is supposed to be always right. True there is no need to take abuse from customers but when you are in sales you don't overreact to being asked a question. Anyway that is besides the point. He changed his rating from positive to a neutral ONLY after I gave him a neutral rating which IMO should not be allowed because up until I gave him the neutral which btw was 2w after he had given my my positives, I had positives from him. Not the first time it has happened. Just annoying.

 

I honestly don't want to argue about who is right and who is wrong and will probably get slammed for saying this. Personally I feel that you are both to blame for this situation. You knew that the parcel was posted the day after you paid and that the parcel was in transit. Why ask the seller where the parcel is when you knew that it was sent but has not been sorted to your post office? rmckay is correct, the seller should have practiced restraint when replying to you and should have assisted you in a courteous manner.

 

We send 100's of parcels every month and we only found out about the strike on Tuesday 25 August when I read it here on the forum. The strike was not covered extensively in the media. Our local post office accepted parcels throughout the strike, most of which has been delivered. I feel that you could maybe have given this seller a bit more leniency, as you knew their was a backlog on parcels. This is of course only my opinion.

[miraclebabycaw 10]

I honestly don't want to argue about who is right and who is wrong and will probably get slammed for saying this. Personally I feel that you are both to blame for this situation. You knew that the parcel was posted the day after you paid and that the parcel was in transit. Why ask the seller where the parcel is when you knew that it was sent but has not been sorted to your post office? rmckay is correct, the seller should have practiced restraint when replying to you and should have assisted you in a courteous manner.

 

We send 100's of parcels every month and we only found out about the strike on Tuesday 25 August when I read it here on the forum. The strike was not covered extensively in the media. Our local post office accepted parcels throughout the strike, most of which has been delivered. I feel that you could maybe have given this seller a bit more leniency, as you knew their was a backlog on parcels. This is of course only my opinion.

Actually I did not know because speed services was down when I tried to check online and both my post office AND the speed services hotline said that the parcel was still at his post office NOT that it had been received at my post office. This was supposed to be overnight delivery. I found out about the strike that Saturday when trying to collect my parcel. At the time of paying for speed services I had no idea about the strike either. The nuetral rating had nothing to do with not getting my parcels as by the time I rated him 2w after I was supposed to get the parcel I was well aware of the strike. The neutral was because of the nasty mails I got even when I explained that the information at my disposal said that it had not even been sent. And now why would I slam you :confused: hehehe. You are fully entitled to your opinions and at least you know how to do it in a nice manner . I can see the points about changing ratings, just really an abusive system if people want to be petty.

[lilythepink 11]

Revenge Ratings

 

It has been my experience that when I reported a revenge rating to the admin team then it was removed. Just approach the team pleasantly, advise them that you had been rated positive (because you paid quickly as a buyer, for example) but now, because you have rated the seller neutrally or negatively, they have taken revenge on you. One of the rules of Bid or Buy is that we may not be revengeful.

[Whitewolf 10]

Unhealthy situation

 

It has been my experience that when I reported a revenge rating to the admin team then it was removed. Just approach the team pleasantly, advise them that you had been rated positive (because you paid quickly as a buyer, for example) but now, because you have rated the seller neutrally or negatively, they have taken revenge on you. One of the rules of Bid or Buy is that we may not be revengeful.

 

I think that it is a decition between the buyer and seller on what they want to rate a person, because no one else took part in the transaction. If they can not agree to disagree then they must live with it, instead of involving BOB to intervene to change ratings.

 

I got ratings before which i havent deserved, well that is what i thought at the time when i was angry. And afterwood i thought about it, and i have found that i was not as innocent as i thought because why will someone fight with someone who dont fight back. It is just not possible.

 

So to give someone a neutral rating or negative first, you open yourself up to get a slap, since if you are a grown up you could have handled it in email and sorted out before it got to that point, and it wont help to run to BOB to sort out your mistake.

 

Unfortunate you get people who prever the back door, and like to do that without talking to the other party first, instead of handling it up front and then get burned and want other to sort it out.

 

Rather dont rate and cool down and then come back later after alot of thought and if still prever to rate negative/neutral then there is a good reason to do it.

[Madam Guru 10]

I totally agree that it is really not good practice for BOB to delete a negative rating but then leave the seller's negative revenge rating on your profile. Why bother to e-mail and ask why there was a negative rating if the BOB administrators punish the buyer when the seller's item is not delivered or when the shipping or delivery method was not explained until AFTER payment. Should that not be part of the advert - to say that items are dropshipped and not in stock with the actual seller???:eek:

[Madam Guru 10]

Sellers ratings can be changed. It happened 2 me

[lilythepink 11]

Well said, Mellow Red. I think we all take these things far too seriously! Anyone who reads the ratings will see what the true picture is.

[mellowred 10]

Exactly!

[Guest Guest]

so True

[lilythepink 11]

Well said, mellowred. I agree with every word you have written.

[banner32 10]

Annoyed at Rating

 

I am really annoyed and request BOB to CHANGE MY Negative rating , i sold a Mint BB 8520 but stated secondhand! The buyer bought it and posted a very good rating. Two weeks down the line he requestred a cable and handsfree which i said i would get for him. i have kept in constant communication , but have been travelling. Yesterday he changed my rating from a Very positive to negative , stating he cant make contact!! this is a blatant lie and has changed my 100% dwon to 87% because of this!! Really not fair that after 3 weeks a rating can be altered!!

[Vinyl Lady Decals 11]

Hi banner32

 

I suggest you send BoB an email attaching all the emails between you and the buyer. As far as I can see, the original transaction was concluded hassle-free on both sides and the extra items he wants are a separate transaction. As this is the case, he cannot change the rating for the original transaction. Ask them to review the rating and explain the whole situation nicely. Ask them to remove it if they deem it unfair. Send your email to hello@bidorbuy.co.za. BoB are very fair in their dealings. Good luck