I have been a customer of Lovehoney for over 5 years. I have written over 100 reviews, I am based in the UK, I am an active member of the forum, I receive products fo testing for my honest review, and i've spent thousands on toys in that time. I've won review of the month once.
If your theory is correct, I should have won several times, yes?
No, sorry to burst your bubble - there is no conspiracy theory. A well written review is a well written review - regardless of who wrote it.
As far as i'm aware, review of the month is open to EVERYONE, regardless of location - you write a compelling enough review, then you win - simple as.
The testing program may not be worldwide - these products are being sent out for free, and with international shipping costs, it may not be logistical to do so - that I don't know. And we all know Lovehoney staff review products as well - it's not a surprise.
You are trying to start drama where there is none.
NONE of the reviews are fake. Are you going to tell me all 100 of my reviews are fake? What is the point of 'fake reviews' especially when ALL reviews are posted, regardless of whether they are positive/negative/well written/poorly written - all reviews are posted.
ive written loads of detailed reviews but never been selected as review of the month, but im not going to think its fake because i didnt win!
Its not love honeys fault either if you spend a grand on toys. They havent taken money without your permission so you cant hold them accountable for that.
what would it take for you to believe its all real? And what do the employees reviews matter to you?
I'm not from the UK and get sent testers, and have won oh points for runner up model of the the month and runner up review of the month. As I understood it, the sites, reviews, blog, everything is the same, the currency and stock is just changed depending on country.
honestly, sometimes i dont agree with review of the month, but thats not my choice, and if anything what I've noticed is that its not ussually people who've been here forever but ussually someone i dont know very well or is new.
I don't know how the judging of reviews works but just wanted to say that I am not a "fake as f**k" account, neither am I pals with anyone who works at Lovehoney.
I've been reviewing for Lovehoney since 2012. All my posts and reviews are my own opinions and are totally legit. I have only been runner up twice in all that time - I don't think that is favouritism.
I don't really have anything else to add but I don't think the competitions are a hoax. Would like to see a member of staff respond to this.
For one, noticing bias isn't trolling - it's noticing bias. So, 'digital shaming' is silly.
Two, posting regular in forums does not mean you are a real person. These are ACCOUNTS, not social events. How do you know said regular posters are not real?
Three, if you guys think the SAME folks winning over and over again for reviews that are not really specific than I guess we operate at different levels of standards. I have never seen anything like that. Several one-off reviewers have been fantastic and detailed (shades111 - superb. Dave-S - comical yes, but very detailed) truly deserve reviews. But nope, I disagree that the ones I mentioned are consistently great. And with how many reviews that go down on this, it reeks of bias. Maybe I have higher standards. But I know that I personally see with my own eyes that this place reeks of bias. I don't like subjectivity, I find it a deplorable trait akin to deflection. Different strokes. Happy to give my money to other businesses because this place here...something is 'off'.
Best of luck to you all, be safe and enjoy your toys wherever you choose to buy them. I know that I choose to no longer invest in LH, I don't trust they have integrity.
I've reported the thread and notified Cazz - I don't think Lovehoney even need to dignify the thread with a reponse - we all know that there is no favouritism, conspiracy or anything like that going on. But I guess some clarification on review of the month/tester eligibility wouldnt go amiss.
I decided to investigate further. One of the Reviews of the Month had, you guess it - THREE LH employee reviews! Hold up - the 'winning' reviewer PLUS three, THREE LH employee reviewers? What is going on? If you don't believe me, look for yourself:
Just want to add my support to what everyone's said. I think that LH operate in a completely above-board way in terms of their reviews and competitions. I think that people who are active around the forums are probably more likely to receive tester products, but that the reason for that is because they're an active part of the community and so will be able to answer questions about things to other members if the situation arises. It also makes sense in terms of sending out expensive tester items to be sure that that person is going to be responsible about it and actually give a detailed and honest review. This isn't even saying that new people don't receive testers, win competitions or anything like that though - there are of course many instances of this happening.
I've reported the thread and notified Cazz - I don't think Lovehoney even need to dignify the thread with a reponse - we all know that there is no favouritism, conspiracy or anything like that going on. But I guess some clarification on review of the month/tester eligibility wouldnt go amiss.
That needed to be done =D
I have been sent items to reciew and really i find it is an honor to write reviews for LH I am an everyday person i am real!
And i have not won and i do not think those who have didnt deserve to!
I have never won anything for a review, I dont write a review to win. But I have won a competition and also been lucky enough to try tester items.
I dont see any of it as being underhand or fake on Lovehoney's side
I think with review of the month when you submit it if youve put a lot of thought into it, you think its really good. Everyone has their own style of writing and i guess it can be hard to see someone else has won, and think theirs isnt as good as yours just because its a different style.
I think the person here is under the impression that if you spend X amount of money you should have more chance of winning and getting testers than people who havent spent as much but thats just silly.
It's a really nice feeling to win one of the prizes in ROTM, it happened to me last year. I'm a real person, who gives honest opinions and experiences in my reviews - then someone has to come and sh*t all over it. Not everybody is going to agree with the reviews picked, by I for one like that Lovehoney pick a very diverse selection of reviews, it means that everyone has a chance of winning, and their writing skills don't neccesarily have to be of a professional level. I'm sorry you've not won anything, but seriously, take your negativity elsewhere, because ALL of the forum members are real, we have feelings, and you're making "blue monday'" even more blue!
I also want to add my support to everyone. I have written over 200 reviews and they are definitely not fake and neither am I. I have never won review of the month, but I have won model of the month and can say that none of the competitions that Lovehoney do are in any way fake or misleading. I really do think you are mis-informed ...
Thank you for your comments. We have received your email regarding reviews and our customer service and you have been sent a reply by the Customer Care manager.
Your email has also been passed to me as I choose the winners for the monthly Review and Model of the Month competitions. I have read your email but before I respond, I'd like to be able to give it my full and proper attention and give you a thorough reply. Hopefully I can satisfy you that our reviews are real and honest.
I'm sorry you feel this way, but you've done the right thing by getting in touch and letting us know how you feel. All feedback is extremely useful to us, so thanks for taking the time to to send us an email.
You will hear from me by the end of tomorrow with a full explaination as to how winners are chosen.
The testing program may not be worldwide - these products are being sent out for free, and with international shipping costs, it may not be logistical to do so - that I don't know.
I'm not from UK, but have received several testers so far, which is amazing and I really appreciate it! Shipping was rapid, too!
Ive just looked on the lh aussie site and they dont have a forum, a blog or testers ontheir site?
is that person looking at this and getting the wrong impression? Nowhere on their site does it say anything about competitions so maybe they are only open to uk residents?
There's only one forum between the lot of us, hence why there's a few regulars from the States that are only on in the middle of the night when everyone sensible is asleep :')
The blog, being a blog, is also one-fits-all, as far as I'm aware.
I'm not super up on how the competitions work, but I think one is run for UK and Europe-ish, and one for America-ish.
If it's correct that LH AU has only been up for a year, exclusive competitions is something they may get round to eventually.
You can win cross-site anyway, as I won a prize from the LH.com advent calendar, and there were (consistently to the best of my knowledge) one winner selected each day for each site. I don't have LH AU on Twitter to be able to verify if they did it too.
I'm just going to leave the body of this thread alone though. Whilst I can reel out the maths similar to that of how the tester users are selected, it probably isn't worth it.
*puts hand through chest trying to check I'm real*