Ordinarily, when buying a product on the Apple Store or any other online store, you’ll have the option of reading through customer reviews that were written by people who have already purchased and used the product that you’re considering.
However, Apple has removed all customer reviews and ratings from its online store. AppleInsider reports that the change occurred around November 17th.
Apple is one company that is highly admired for having one of the best after-sales customer support for a tech company, but this latest news from the Cupertino giant might make potential customers assume otherwise. Apparently, the entire buyer review section is missing on Apple’s online retail store page.
Nonetheless, the move according to AppleInsider doesn’t appear to be a mistake from Apple, but rather an intentional push. The customer reviews section was apparently pulled over the weekend, starting from November 16, and no one is really sure why something like this has taken place. Although, the Ratings & Reviews section on Apple Store listings has been removed in at least the U.S., UK, and Australian regions.
Why this is weird is because customer reviews are often read by potential buyers to assess the longevity of a product and the experience of other users, mostly to see if that product is worth purchasing or not. Thus removing the ‘customer reviews’ section can potentially mean that Apple could lose out on future buyers.
It is possible to view the changes by looking at the Wayback Machine archive page, you’ll notice that customer reviews were present before. After scrolling through the first-generation Apple Pencil buy-page, you’ll notice that the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section is no longer present.
One possibility as to why the company did this would be that Apple decided not enough people are reading through customer reviews, or that it just doesn’t hold enough value for the cost of maintaining it. But surely, the Cupertino firm has data on how often these reviews are being read. For instance, something like the Lighting to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter had 735 one-star reviews, with many simply complaining about the removal of the headphone jack from iPhones.
Another possibility is that this is only a temporary change. It’s likely that Apple could be revamping this section for a future return, but we’ve yet to receive a confirmation from the company regarding this.
But just because customer reviews have been pulled from the Apple online store, doesn’t mean customers should be worried about making a future purchase. Apple’s products aren’t exclusive to its online store and can be found at places like Amazon, Best Buy, B&H and others, meaning customers can check out reviews and ratings there for better guidance.
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