today I verified (by chance) that my review of a product was gone. I checked my email: no warnings, no infos.
I would like to know if you, who believe in the “civilized community” (I read your discobot), also believe that a negative review can be made to disappear without informing anyone.
I must admit that this is the first review (in 20 years in internet) that I see disappear under my eyes.
I think it is my right to buy a product, verify that it is nothing but lousy, keep it and leave a negative but true review. Is it normal?
I spent money, buy a template that is HORRIBLE, no support, no refund,… and no negative review because the author, poor american baby!, not agree with it!
I understand that the Staff of Envato hurt my pacience so much that I understand why a lot of users prefer the words “Download it via torrent” instead “Pay for a template”.
Leaving a review must be first of all helpful. It doesn’t matter if it is 5 star or 1 star as long as it follows certain rules. The link that ki-themes posted should be helpful. If you leave a 1 star review explaining where the problem is with the product or the support of it then the review won’t disappear. But if you start using defamatory expressions like the “poor american baby” or if you openly advocating piracy then your review isn’t considered helpful and can be taken down like the above link describes.
Although I am not a moderator, I think that rage has no place on the forum.
All I know from personal experience is that an author has not the power to make a bad review disappear just because he or she does not like it.
Also not me, not any other forum user can be a judge on this matter.
If you feel that your review was removed unfairly then you should contact support.
Heya @Manni32. I’m sorry to hear you had a nasty experience, but, chances are you are not up to date with the Support Policy, and from what I can see it’s not that the author did not agree with your review, it’s because the review itself covers mostly things that are not included in Item Support, in which case, it can be removed.
Indeed your review is not disrespectful, but it depends on a few things why it may have been removed. Firstly, take a look at the Item Support Policy.
Case 1
If your support expired, then leaving a review that you’re not getting support, will have that review removed, regardless of the quality of the copyrighted text. It’s sort of logic, support can be extended, and is a paid service after 6 months.
Case 2
Your first bullet point points to a feature that does not exist in the item preview, from what I understand, therefore, that feature cannot be reviewed upon, since, it does not exist. In this case, if you asked for that feature and the author didn’t add it, you’d be basically rating because of Item Customization, which is the first line in the what’s not included in item support.
Your second bullet point, however, is mixed. If the third party asset is included in the item, then yes, the author must help you with it. If you’re using a third party accessory from someone else, then the author is not obliged (though many do) to help you.
Your third bullet point and fourth again, fall under what’s not included in item support. This requires your skill in place to edit and modify, skills you may have or may need a freelancer to create for you.
If your support has expired, or you based your review on elements that are not included in item support, then it is understandable why your review was removed.
In this case, if you lack the experience to edit it, and support does not cover the customization you wish to create I can recommend getting assistance from a freelancer from Envato Studio. You only pay for what you agree upon, and you have a safety net between you and the Freelancer to assure that both of you are satisfied.
Hi Enabled,
I think this case must be discussed in an open field just to alert other customers that the reviews can disappear for some reason.
Sorry for you, I’ve read the document you mention. As conclusion, I think the staff has removed my review WITHOUT SEND any information email… it’s a strange thing, 'cause Envato send and resend a lot of email for anything… in that case no. Why? I don’t read in the Support Policy “we can delete your review without alert you by email”. So, what I have to think?
Not my case: I bought the template about 1 month ago, so I’m must have full support.
You understand bad: the first point is a feature build-in the template and you can set it only from a custom panel made by the owner of the template. By the way: why you sell your template in the entire world if you are not in with european laws?
Sorry. I have dozen and dozen of screenshot of the template’s support forum where the moderator says “Did you have troubles with the titles of pages??? Sorry for you, we can’t provide you custom code and we can’t solve the problem… please: write suggestion for future upgrades of the template!”… why I paid for the support?
Sorry for you, again: I’m talking about FEATURES THAT ARE INCLUDED EXCLUSIVE INTO THIS TEMPLATE, so included into a thing that I’ve paid and the thing not works .
I pay. I review. If I use a disrespectful language, ok, delete my review then alert me. If I’m ok with the language, well… deal with it.
By the way, in my conclusions I want to send a clear message to the community: “Hey guys, take a second look when you post a review because the staff can delete it without advise you, so watch out your board”.
This is useful feedback, and I’ll pass it along to staff. This has been the procedure for sometime, but feedback from customers is always welcome and taken into consideration.
You are correct. Support. Not customization services. Those are not part of support. So adding extra features, outside the live preview is considered a customization.
Well, in that case your review was too vague. I and I’m certain staff understood the same thing. If you’re mentioning the fact that a feature is not working as described, you are entitled to a full refund, without stress. If the author rejected your refund request, you can dispute it with Envato.
An item must work exactly as described and must provide support for all existing features. Regarding European Law, unfortunately, I am no expert in this matter, so I cannot help you out with this. These are just templates that are on sale, their legality changes so often it’s impossible to keep up with. I’m going to avoid the talk of laws regarding products, since it’s over my expertise and I’d rather not give advice on something I’m not fully aware of.
Yes, this the example of customization I was referring to. Let’s take into account the following scenario.
Item 1 - 50.000 purchase. Each buyer wants 5 minutes of edits on their item, they can pay to have them, in which case, the situation is well worth it, or they can do them themselves. ( This is customization )
Item 1 - 50.000 purchase. Each buyer has a bug with their item with the headings. Each buyer can get a refund or the author is mandated to fix that bug. ( This is Support )
Item 1 - 50.000 purchase. Each buyer wants 5 minutes of edits on their item, the author would literally be shot to hell with work over a product worth only a few dollars. ( This is why there must be a boundary, to protect both author and buyer, otherwise)
Now put yourself in the shoes of the author. Editing every little thing for a buyer, for a product that costs up to 60$ of which the author is getting 30$ ( after all taxes and local taxes ) can be frustrating. That’s why there is Envato Studio, and custom freelance requests.
You have to understand the definition of stock. Stock Products = Templates = products that you see how they are, and that is what you get. If they provide extra features, that’s awesome, but if they don’t, then you have to add them. This is the definition of Stock Products. So in this case, I have to favor the author, although your request is small indeed, it still falls under a custom feature. It is unrelated to support.
No need for Caps Lock mate. I’m here to help both of you and to provide a solution for your current issue. And indeed, if you have purchase and item, your support is valid and
The author is not providing support
The author is stating broken features are normal
The author refuses to fix broken features
You are 100% entitled to a refund.
These are isolated incidents, and like you, most buyers come to the forums or contact support, where the issue is investigated and the buyer refunded or provided what he paid for.
Which leads me to my conclusion on this matter, and this is mostly all I can do as a moderator. Please visit Envato Support, click the Request a Refund button and state your case there. If you have already done so and your refund was rejected, you have the option toDispute that Rejection directly from the email you got from Envato. A specialist will be assigned to your case and will analyze both your request and the item.
If you haven’t already opened a refund request, open one now from the link I provided. You can dispute it the author rejects it and proceed from there.
Cheers Manni, and again, I’m sorry to hear about this experience. It’s rare that these things happen, but rest assured, there is Staff in Envato specifically there for situations like these, and if you paid for something and you’re not getting what you paid for, you will be refunded, no questions asked. Just go through Envato Support.
NOOOOOO! You are totally wrong! My asks were: “Hey creator, here we have troubles with page titles! It appears a sort of apostrophe! In which file I CAN SOLVE IT?”. The answer was: “Sucks to be you! We do not provide you any kind of information about that. Write a comment in the suggestion box so we can consider your problem in (future) upgrades”. I s this a customization? I was saying: hey, wrong titles in the pages. It is a core feature!
Strangely, it was not vague in your first statement. In this case you have to know details, of course, but my intervention is not into the review. My intervention is: Why did you clear my review without alert me via email? I’m asking… no answer… I’m asking… no answer…
… I’m asking… no answer… I’m asking… no answer…
Ok, well,… but I don’t want a refund. I want my template and the right to post a review in which I write: “This template is bad”.
This is your assumption, not mine. But I respect it (just to be clear).
If that apostrophe is not there, in the demo, as a design feature. Indeed. I am wrong, therefore, you are entitled to a refund.
As I mentioned in my first reply, this is the current method done, but your feedback is welcomed and I already passed this to higher staff!
If the apostrophe is there as a design feature, yes, it’s a custom feature, if the apostrophe is there as a bug, then no, it’s support.
I still consider and request that you get in touch with support regarding this issue. What you are describing sounds like the item has a bug, in which case it should be re-reviewed, disabled and the author asked to fix that bug, so you can use it properly. And in case he refuses, you will be able to get your money back.
Not an assumption. A statistic. Not a public one, I admit, I cannot share exact numbers, but I know these cases are rare, less than 0.0001%, and Envato Support always solves them.
I still recommend, going through support. If the item is broken, you’ll get the chance to have it fixed. And writing a review, that is strictly related to the fact that the item is broken and support is unwilling to fix it, will most certainly not be removed if correct.
Ohhhh. Finally! That’s the point!
How can customers solve a situation like this with a powerful and quick tool if:
technical forums are not visible if you not buy an item, so you don’t imagine what happens inside these world aftermarket;
negative reviews disappear;
Envato encourage the policy “Did you recognize the bug? Refund!”
I don’t want a refund! I want that the item I have buyed must work well! I don’t understand why I need to ask a refund when I can ask an urgent bugfix!
Now we are on the point but I don’t know how to report this situation to the Staff.
Well, the fist posts didn’t sound like bugs they sounded like you wanted an extra feature. Language barriers on forums can be annoying!
That’s absolutely normal for the web industry. It’s a protection for authors against illegal downloads. Having the forum visible, and a file leak, well, 0 income.
Only if they break the rules, or if they are interpreted as such. No other method of removing ratings exists. They are removed by staff.
What else would you want Envato to do? The items are checked and reviewed, if you report the item, you will get a refund and the item will be disabled until it’s fixed.
I can understand that. In that case click here, and fill in the form. A representative from Envato will contact you shortly ( it can take up to 7 days, there was a minor issue with the marketplaces where Chrome marked files as corrupted, so there can be a backlog of tickets, but usually, replies take place in less than 24 hours ).
Please provide as many screenshots, evidence, links, descriptions as possible to staff that indeed the item is broken.
Please note! As I stated above. Envato cannot force the author to fix the item. They will certainly do the following things.
Contact the author, and disable the item until the issue is fixed. (there is no timeline on that)
Offer you a full refund pending the item being fixed. After it’s fixed, you can purchase it again, as it’s recommended if you want the license to work.
These are the courses of action that you can and should take! Cheers!
