I’ve bought clamps and glue from them and no problems but I have not and would be unlikely to buy machines from them. I do get the twice daily price drop emails and they are a pain but I’ll get reduced price edge band clamps etc. I’m trying not to buy from Banggood or wish as I’m aiming to avoid Chinese products, knowing full well that 99% of everything I buy is in someway made in china. That said if you can stomach Chinese products Banggood is a brilliant way of saving money and getting some reasonably ‘decent’ stuff.
Rutlands Warning!
- Thread starter Renegade
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
Distinterior
Established Member
I couldn't agree more Doug.
I've bought about 4 or 5 different items from them over the past 6 years, including cheap router cutters and a 100mm 4 jaw chuck for my wood lathe.
The chuck is of a reasonable quality, but it is by no means " premium, precision and professional "
They certainly aren't high up on my list of preferred companies to buy stuff from.
You appear to be confusing Trustpilot with Amazon (or should that even be "Which?") Trustpilot shows how satisfied customers have been with the supplier - by their very nature they can't show reviews of every one of the hundreds, possibly many thousands, of items a supplier stocks.
Your complaint seems to be in the nature of "Why doesn't the world work how I want it to?" rather than working with how it actually is ...
Blackswanwood
Still Learning
I have no axe to grind with Rutlands but think it’s underhand to post selective reviews. There may be an explanation but the eye is hardly drawn to it. Axminster by comparison post all reviews whether good, bad or indifferent.
johna.clements
Established Member
I am not confusing the Rutlands site with anything.
Rutlands appear to select a number of four and five star reviews to show, they certainly do not show anything that does not have a four or five star review.
Rutlands make the choice to show reviews, which they select. If their website is short of space they could only show so many reviews per product and remove the oldest ones, then we would have an honest system.
I am just pointing out what they appear to be doing with their reviews. This allows people to take the reviews with a very big pinch of salt, since they are selected. Then as you say we can "working with how it actually is" which is that there are effectively no reviews on the Rutlands site.
You can't have visited their site for a while. They stopped posting written reviews middle of last year? but showed the stars. I have just check to see if that is still correct and they don't even display the stars now on the items I looked at.
johna.clements
Established Member
Axminater show reviews now. All star ratings. This is the only one star review out of a 29 for a mortice chisel.
. 20 five star, 4 four star and 4 three star. I have never bought anything from Axminster so I have no personal experience.
QUOTE
scotland
- Review 1
- Votes 2
- Age 35 to 44
- * Verified Purchaser
☆☆☆☆☆ ☆☆☆☆☆ 1 out of 5 stars.
· 2 years ago
low quality, very disappointed with my purchase
used only once to create a small mortice in soft wood, the top metal band is falling off when hit with the mallet and the chisel tip is breaking off and uneven
thetyreman
Established Member
also how do you explain that there was already reviews posted on the site at the same pico second they made it 'live' a brand new product can't already have people who have bought it, got it home and have reviewed it giving it two 5 star reviews.
But is that just not the way of modern advertising, we do have a very descriptive language that is so easily misused. We don't sell flats anymore, they are now luxury appartments and establishments advertise "good food served here" which is nothing more than pre empting your opinion and the other classic is "fresh food sold here" which I believe is determined by local enviromental health inspectors as hopefully you would not be selling rotting food. Terms like precision are meaningless and need to be used in context, what is precise in woodworking will not be precise in other fields of engineering and trades.
Looked at about twenty different items now and no reviews. What I will say then is no reviews for anything I am looking to buy which is strange.
johna.clements
Established Member
https://www.axminstertools.com/axminster-trade-clamps-forged-f-clamp-swivel-handle-250x120mm-505539
Average Customer Ratings
Overall
☆☆☆☆☆ ☆☆☆☆☆ 4.8 Overall, average rating value is 4.8 of 5.
Performance
Quality
Value
☆☆☆☆☆ 4 out of 5 stars.
· 11 months ago
One review
A great addition to the workshop
I like clamps and different clamps are handy for different jobs. I like these because they have more reach than my other workbench clamps and this makes them versatile. Nicely make too: expect a lifetime of reliable service ;-)
Strange for an f clamp i picked at random.
Trust no one that way you wont be dissapointed
Blackswanwood
Still Learning
I use their site quite often and actually double checked before posting - reviews are there. Click on reviews and scroll down. I found several that were left in the last few days when I just looked. I can only guess that the items you are looking at haven’t been reviewed by anyone.
Richard_C
Established Member
I've concluded that reviews are increasingly untrustworthy and there is much sleight of hand. If you look at any Screwfix reviews on their website the default sort order is "high to low". For anything with more than a handful of reviews changing the sort order to "most recent first" gets you a very different mix. Not dishonest but the customer has to think carefully.
You also get lots of worthless 5 star reviews saying things like "arrived on time, nice box, not used it yet" or similar because suppliers nag you to review as soon as it arrives. I ignore such requests and rarely review anything.
You also get lots of worthless 5 star reviews saying things like "arrived on time, nice box, not used it yet" or similar because suppliers nag you to review as soon as it arrives. I ignore such requests and rarely review anything.
Blackswanwood
Still Learning
I think Screwfix enter you into a prize draw if you leave a review which may be why there tends to be quite a few inane comments.
I get requests from my animal's insurance companies asking how they've done ....................... I've never made a claim.
I'm scratching my head here: they're showing Trustpilot ratings for them as a company, reasonably enough since their Trustpilot average is 4.7/5. The Rutlands site also shows reviews for individual items, presumably where they have been reviewed. Looking at a random selection I can't see any problem with those reviews: for example, one item shows a five-star rating. It actually has 12 reviews, 11 of which are 5-star and one of 3 stars (and a rather silly quibble at that). That gives an average of just over 4.8, which works at a five stars in any normal rating using simple star symbols. Since I'm apparently a bear of very little brain, can you explain to me what's wrong with that rating?
Blackswanwood
Still Learning
If you’re happy to believe it crack on.
The point is (and this isn’t the first thread in which it’s been highlighted) others have found that where the weight of reviews would pull the score down the lower scoring ones don’t get published so it doesn’t drop.
Based on what's there to be seen, there doesn't appear to be any element of belief involved - it's simply a question of arithmetic. However it seems that hearsay evidence of skulduggery is admissible in this kangaroo court, so I'd venture to suggest that that's where "belief" comes into it...for myself, I'll be basing my verdict on the available evidence.
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johna.clements
Established Member
I have no objection to a company having highest first as the default order for reviews as long it is clearly displayed and can easily be changed to most recent. i always change it to lowest first which does bring up some stupid ones but can be useful. Earlier I posted that someone put in a review that the splinter guard clashed with the blade on an out of the box tracksaw. This could indicate that the person has not read the instructions or watched a video such as those by Peter Millard or that the instructions are bad. Most likely the first but it could be bad instructions and lack of research.
I know a restaurant, owned by a major pub chain company, where about 80% of the reviews are by members of the staff. The manager thanks the people who just happen to have the names of people who work there for the review; often that is the only review they have made. I have no reason to believe that that place is unique.
Companies do badger people to write a review which is why you get a lot of reviews that only refer to the delivery.
