Okay, now I understand, I shouldn't have used the word "honest." Not sure what word I should have used "validity" perhaps? I'm not questioning the fact that many people love some products, but if there is a negative review, I feel like the product has been "critiqued" and I can better decide for myself it that product will work for me. In other words, not all negative reveiws have to end up negative. I am not saying that negative reviews are more honest or valid, I just feel like I've gotten "both sides."

Although not worded very well :rolleyes: I can agree with what Nancy is trying to say. Here is my take:

If members are afraid of backlash from posting a negative review then the validity of all of the positive reviews could come into question. Nothing is ever 100% positive for everyone. Furthermore, this thread was not a review of the product itself but of the circumstances around how the winners needed to claim their prizes.

I appreciate ISB writing a public apology. Obviously something needs to be done in the future vs a vs their administration and website. For GC recipients if they are to order by website then the options to put in the GC code should be made transparent and easy for the winner. If not, lots of questions come up in the winner's mind. Until such time as the website can be made to work seamlessly, then perhaps ISB should put on their gift certificate wheither it be for money or a specific product, please call our toll free number:xx.x.x.x.x..x. to redeem your GC.

I will say that these two negative customer experiences are troubling to me. How-ever, there was an apology issued, and one can hope in the future they will do better with this type of thing.

ISB has high quality products, and I have been happy with the products that I use.

It was a prize for something, not from the GE. I think it was from some sort a raffle. I forget since I'm not the prize winner.

Oh, and FYI to those members that are confused about Nancy's wording, would you mind if I shared one bad experience that turned worse because of a bad review?

I had sent a YT vendor a check for an item that I never received. I put a stop-payment on the check, let the vendor know, purchased from another YT vendor and just left it at that. Bad experience, but the vendor explained she was going through a rough time. Well, I kept getting threatening letters from a check cashing place. They were threatening to sue me for placing a stop-payment on a check they cashed for the vendor. I posted my experience, exactly like it happened, and still I got bashed from people who had a good experience from the vendor. That kind of thing makes people afraid to share an experience.

From now on, if I do have a great experience I'll share it. Otherwise.... I'll keep my virtual mouth shut. What do we as a community gain there? If Nancy's post was ill worded, then it was just that. But in the end, I think she was just trying to say, we can't seem to express anything negative because others might take offense. I will admit when I posted my review of my awful experience, it had a tone. Can you blame me? I was going to be sued for over $1,000 on a $100 check!! The product itself is great (which I received from someone else), but the customer service of that member.... :rolleyes:

I remember when that happened to you! :(

Me too, and that member is now banned.

That was an extreme case of poor customer service. That member replied to one of my emails, quoting what I had written. The message said the check was cancelled, so she must have ignored it right? Anyway, that case like I mentioned was extreme poor customer service. But if I got bashed for that, I'm not surprised no one else posts bad reviews.

Since I feel like I have gotten to know Nancy over the years here AND I have seen her post about this topic before, I think I immediately took her post as she intended and not how some read the words. It might have been an unfortunate choice of wording, but I know that Nancy was in no way inpuning the integrity of the individual positive reviewers.

I think what she is saying is that the overall positive review picture is not nearly as believable if only positive reviews are seen. If you have a Review Forum and 99% of all reviews on all products are positive, you sort of doubt the overall accuracy -- not the individual's experiences with the products or their word, but you feel like too many negative experiences are not being voiced. On the other hand, if you see 85% positive and 15% negative (and I am just pulling numbers out of thin air as an example), then you feel like people feel comfortable enough to report any experience -- good or bad. Now -- if a product has ALL product reviews that is fine as long as you see other products are occasionally getting a negative review. It is easy to believe no one has had a bad experience about one product, but it is NOT easy to believe that all experiences with all products are positive.

In short -- she is not disbelieving the individual positive reviewers at all, she is saying if negatives are never received the overall positive picture is probably distorted. I hope this helps and doesn't just further complicate this issue. :)

Oh thank you for explaining it so well, that's exactly what I meant!

Im sorry you had that experience. I wanted to try their products but they have that $75 minimum order so I dont because Im not going to pay $75 to maybe find out the product just works so so for me. Ill stick to my minksheen and biogroom. I agree I like to read honest reviews negative and positive and in the past their has been backlash with the negative reviews so people dont like to post them but they are important for others to see. I saw what Nancy was trying to say

As there have been a few posts trying to further explain Nancy's post I won't address each of them. I do understand what you all are attempting to explain and appreciate your input. For me this has gone on long enough and I'm moving on.....

I will say one more time I fully support Capn-noonie or any one else leaving an honest negative review just as I do support those that leave honest positive reviews here on yt. When I read reviews there are other factors that then go into my decision as to whether to buy because I do understand that not everything works for everyone 100% of the time.

Also, I do think the tags on this thread are a bit much being that ISB has tried to rectify this situation to the best of their ability....seems a bit mean spirited and would make me not want to ever donate a prize again. I've seen second and even third chances be given to YT members with much greater offenses than this.

Yea I dont like the tags either. But I dont like that done to anyone unless there is a big great offense thats taken place and the person doesnt try to rectify it. Otherwise it seems mean spirited like you said

I don't totally agree with the tags either. Poor customer service, imo should be poor communication, but not sure how that would work in a search function. Someone would have to put those specific words into a search.

The thing is, the communication with Ivs was great, friendly and helpful, when it was assumed I was gonna order $75 worth of stuff. After admin cleared it up, the communication was slow, curt, and impersonal. I could feel "attitude", and then having them say I had an "unpleasant tone" in my later emails. I was trying to get the point across that i was getting frustrated.

From my view point, here is a vendor who is hardly posting, does not contribute much to the YT community, and donating a prize that is actually a coupon. They are here for free advertising (well besides being a CM). I think they were caught in their, well I don't want to say trick, but for lack of a better word, and then spun it around to making it that me and LD misunderstood. I still have not gotten a reply by them: If they really did not intend the prize to be a coupon, why would they have to mention the $75 minimum? She said "You'd really only be spending $50"

And never really understanding you only wanted to spend the amount of the Coupon $25.00.

Big mistake by this vendor. Just think of the potential customers lost from YT alone; bad marketing. Over $25.00 they lost thousands.