I was surprised to see your analysis of reseller ratings which I came across while goggling reseller ratings (the way I get to every web site these days ) What surprised me is that I have been looking for a new computer by a higher end manufacturer then the Dell & Micron I have. I look periodically and have not read great things about Alienware post merger and definitely not that good when it comes to Cyberpower and ibuypower , which I believe are the same company. I would venture to say that it is unexplainable that Alienware would have a higher rating then Velocity based on what I have read on pretty much all the computer websites. I had noticed that all 3 are now getting remarkably higher scores the last 6 months which I attributed solely to gaming the system. I have not heard of your company, but it’s nice to know there is another boutique company out there. Thanks for sticking your neck out and tackling a topic that needs to be discussed as reseller ratings is indeed the number one source for checking on the viability of a company for those in the know.

Regards,

Mark

But as with any user feedback system, your concerns of manipulation are very valid, and appropriately so, since you have worked diligently to achieve your current positive rating. It’s good to see that Scott has addressed this with the addition of the ability to update a negative review with a positive response if the problem is appropriately solved. However, again the issue of manipulation can be appropriately raised as you have done.

One way to address this would be to install two tracking methods. The first would be as before, with only the initial complaints tracked and not updates available. The second would be to track the resolution of those negative complaints. This way the viewer would be able to see initial performance statistics, and then the followup service statistics and gauge one against the other.

From a company standpoint, this also would provide not only an incentive to solve problems once they occur, but also to correct the cause and create a more problem free environment so they don’t occur in the first place!

The ability for customers to update their reviews is for sure a good thing. It keeps companies engaged at settling for no less than complete satisfaction, and that’s a win for everyone. At the core, I think that ResellerRatings.com serves two purposes:

1) Provide information about companies to potential customers
2) Provide an avenue of recourse for existing customers.

I think that your points above are great when it comes to purpose #2. Interestingly, it works almost a little too well I have personally found that once you have achieved a 10/10 score, you become a target for customers that haven’t gotten everything they wanted (even if you’ve done nothing wrong). But that’s fine, and that’s healthy.

However, I would argue that keeping some record of the original rating would be useful when a customer updates a review. This is because when it comes to purpose #1, the ability to manipulate past reviews is a tool that can be abused in the hands of a dishonest company. Essentially, they can “pay off” their customers to change their review. I think it would be useful to see how many reviews are getting updated for a company, even if it doesn’t factor into the original score. After all, its better to not do something wrong in the first place, so companies should be rewarded for a lack of bad reviews in the first place.

This difference alone could account for the difference in severity between ResellerRatings.com scores and BBB complaints. A BBB complaint never goes away, even if the issue is resolved. A bad review can be erased entirely, and I’m not convinced that’s best for the consumer.

No matter what the case though, keep up the good work! As one of the highest rated companies on your website, you most certainly have our support, even when we have some constructive criticism.

I appreciate your analysis but I think it is flawed because it omits an important aspect of our site that only came about in the past 9 months.

Our launch of the Merchant Member program changed the game. Merchants are now working harder than ever to resolve customer complaints at ResellerRatings. What would be a bad review in the past (or a negative BBB complaint), is now getting posted as a bad review but then later edited by the reviewer into a good review after the merchant has resolved their complaint.

We do this by:
-Listing and featuring our parcipating merchant members on our homepage
-Creating a merchant member list page, which ranks merchant members by how active they are at ResellerRatings
-Our 48 hour preview system which gives merchants 48 hours to see reviews before the public, incentivizing them to resolve complaints quickly.
-The ability to view invoice numbers, contact reviewers, resolve issues.
-The participation badge on reviews pages: this green checkmark indicates a merchant’s participation, or a red exclamation point indicates that they don’t participate.

So, merchants are now working hard to resolve customer complaints at ResellerRatings. This will skew the score upwards for participating merchants, but that’s a good thing. It tells consumers that by using our site, they can get resolution to their complaints, and it rewards merchants with good ratings for doing what they should be doing – providing good quality service.

Scott Wainner
Founder & CEO
ResellerRatings.com

I vaguely remember my college days and there were many many techniques to generate valid statistical surveys (eliminating cross correlation or some such thing!)

Anyway, you make good stuff, mine still going strong! I had an occasion to open the case to add another drive, and you guys did some super cabling work.

I thought about that, but there were two problems: 1) I could not find units sold for many, if not most of the companies. 2) I suspect that that type of comparison wouldn’t be valid if you’re comparing different types of companies. For example, Puget vs Dell. On the one hand, Dell has a full-out assembly line going and likely has less problems per unit built. On the other hand, they’re large enough that if there is a problem, I bet customers are more likely to go to the BBB more quickly, simply because they have no voice.

You are right though, there is a component of “per unit sold” that should be considered here. I just worry that it opens up more opportunity for subjective interpretation.