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App Store: Any luck removing a bad review

Has anybody had good luck reporting a bad review and having it removed? How long does that process take?

Posted on Aug 4, 2008 11:43 AM

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14 replies

Aug 4, 2008 4:38 PM in response to rarunach

I'm sorry, but they aren't even users. Most of the bad reviews I see are "this app should be free", or "this app requires a contract" (look at the salesforce app - the first sentence of the description tells them they need a particular contract). It's one thing if the users are giving a bad review and they, you know, have used. But this reviewing products on spec thing is just not fair to anyone.

Aug 4, 2008 6:30 PM in response to tazz_ben

Yes, the reviews are terrible right now. They need to do something about this. I have a bad review that is just a complaint on why my app is on the AppStore but they haven't ported FLASH to the phone yet. I mean, how is that my fault?

Oh, and I got called a 'ying yang' in one of my reviews. I guess that is OK, but I just thought it was a little funny.

Bottom line is that we are probably loosing sales because of a few bad reviews. And if you want an app on the AppStore, make sure you have THICK SKIN. These direct attacks aren't that fun. But part of that goes with the territory I know. But still, no need for personal insults.

Aug 4, 2008 7:27 PM in response to philipkd

I too got mad at reviews that indicated one of my apps was not working - they couldn't hear the sound because the phone was muted! I am the developer of the animals sound machine so since I couldn't get some of those removed I posted one of my own and commented on how many of the "reviews" were requests for help in getting sound to work on their iPhone & iPod Touch. To date 11 of 11 customers found it helpful and is now the first comment people see when the access my app on iTunes. If you can't beat 'em - join 'em.

Best of luck to all of the developers.

Frank

Aug 4, 2008 8:27 PM in response to philipkd

Hey Philip-

Welcome to the world of reviews. Suck it up and move on to the next task- (like helping me find a tough leak I have been chasing all day...)

Anyway- too bad anonymity brings out the worst in people when it comes to reviews and other online misc. I have products out there which are subject to reviews and I have gotten some doozies- I used to get really upset when someone would post truly inaccurate information about a product, however I have found that if your product is actually good, it won't matter. People will still buy it, download it, give it good reviews, etc. The bad will get lost in the good reviews and you can move on to the next thing.

🙂

Aug 4, 2008 9:52 PM in response to rarunach

One thing all developers can do in mass is to go through the entire App Store and moderate all the bogus reviews they can find as Not Helpful.

If you only do this for your own app, or your friend's app, that's only a couple of mod down points on the bad reviews. But if 100 developers did this, the 100 Not Helpful marks on all those bogus reviews will push them down to the very bottom of the list (and hopefully, eventually out the door).

Aug 4, 2008 11:27 PM in response to Frank Rizzo

Frank, thats a good idea but unfotunately it only works in your country!

For me, this makes it rather uselss since most of the reviews and hence most of the, er, impulsive reviews are not from my country. So I just can't rate them "not useful" nore can I reply or post my own comment.

I think developers should have their own review-section in iTunesConnect where we can see all reviews from all countries and are able to post a reply or at least send an email to the reviewer. Or maybe they could forward all comments to a feedback-mail-address per default.

I figured out by coincidence that every appstore has it's own comments and its own ranking/top100-list for apps. I think thats a bad idea.

A review borad like this just makes no sense at all to me...and the sad thing is: I even miss some of the good reviews that actually help improve my app. 😟

okay...'nuff whining! ;o)
Let's move on...I got some bugs to kill.
Best regards,
Markus.

Aug 5, 2008 1:29 AM in response to Chuck Tee

I heartily aggree. I got a bad review because the users finger got in the way when playing a TOUCH SCREEN device!!

How on earth is their fat finger my fault? If they can invent an invisibility pill for fingers its about the only way to cure the problem.

Like has been said, get a thick skin, mark down crappy reviews like this and get on with improving the app.

I didnt realise you couldnt see reviews from other regions though!! How on earth are we as Developers meant to support the other regions if they have a seperate store that we have no access too???

Aug 5, 2008 1:44 AM in response to Pyrofer

You can acces the other stroes from the iTunes Store frontpage. Just scroll down to the very end of the page and there is a dropdown-menu that lets you visit another countries store. There you have acces to alle the reviews for your app from this country.

BUT you can't rate reviews there or post your own message there because your account is not valid in this store! You can only look, not post or buy something in other countries.

Aug 5, 2008 2:16 AM in response to Markus Stöbe

Thanks, I tried this. It gets worse!
Some total idiot wrote me a bad review because the "Accelerometer" control didnt work. He couldnt control the game but it works fine for his 'other' accelerometer games.

First line of my instructions, "Swipe the screen to move".

He can obviously read as he wrote the review, so just totally stupid?

Sep 26, 2008 10:57 AM in response to Pyrofer

How about this one...

For Blue Skies there are at least a dozen 1 star reviews in the US store claiming the developer is writing fake reviews even though they are Canadian and can't post in that store.

This one is particularly slanderous...

"The developer stooge writing all the fake reviews can't even mix it up enough to make them even remotely believable. Especially giving themself 5 stars everytime trying to offset all the
horrible REAL reviews on here. The developer, motivated out of blatant greed, is only insulting the intelligence of people they need to get their joke of a developer company off the ground. If you develop a crappy game, it should rightfully reviewed into the dirt. The system is in place for a reason.. How about one review per user per app/ccount?"

Sep 27, 2008 11:55 AM in response to PHD Gaming

i think making the review system more like a forum might help. we use get satisfaction for customer support and have a link from the store, but it very rarely gets used. instead, users ask support questions through a review. i can't say i blame them... that is much easier... but if apple modeled the review system after a forum they we could just use that for at least a basic level of "support".

App Store: Any luck removing a bad review

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