I used to feel the same way, but had an opposite experience: bought a buggy cable and, since I could find no other way to contact customer service, left a negative (not insulting) review. Cust svc contacted me and sent me a replacement...which was a much more expensive cable which wasn't even yet advertised on their site. They then asked me to change my review. So I amended my review saying the new product which they'd sent me for free was OK but I had no idea if the old one worked.

Also their Type C chargers didn't work with a MacBook + accessory adaptor, which was only described in the reviews.

It's not like one bad experience has soured me on the whole company, but now I try to spread my purchases between them and Aukey (who has also had some Type C duds -- check Benson Leung's reviews before purchasing!)

I cannot help but think that sounds like they are doing A/B testing on which strategy is more effective at making users change their reviews. Nothing wrong with that, btw.

Why would you think they are doing A/B testing from those two examples? One was a 1 star review (very detrimental to their overall score) and one was a 4 star review (very little overall effect). If they were both 2 star reviews or something I would agree with your idea.

In Amazon terms a 4,5 is positive, a 3 is neutral and a 1,2 is negative. Anything other than positive is bad so essentially it means 4,5 and good and 1,2,3 are bad.

I would argue that there IS something wrong with asking users to change their reviews.

If you're advertising & selling version 1 of a product, the reviews should be for that version. Enticing users with a newer or superior version shouldn't make them change the review for the version 1 item.

If a user does update their review, it should state that a replacement was sent that is better, yet different, and possibly provide a link to the better or updated item.

I had a mixed experience as well. An order of six micro USB cables went faulty in no time. The small springs holding the cables' micro usb plug in place tend to easily lose all tension. After that has happened the cable sits loose, slips out easily and the plug heats up due to increased contact resistance.

After having left a review on Amazon, i was contacted by Anker and got an apology and 6 new replacement cables. Alas, they were of the same bad quality :-(

Given how many people had similar experiences, I wonder why they don't fix the products before they sell them? I mean, it's nice that they replace the faulty products, but do I really need to contact them at all? I guess making reliable product at scale for acceptable price is not so easy after all.

I was annoyed that they replaced the buggy product with a different product but then wanted me to leave a favorable review on the bad one. I asked if this is really what they wanted and customer support said yes. This is a shame.

In such cases I usually change my negative review to more neutral (3/4 stars) and add a disclaimer that refund/replacement has been received.

No other way? Was https://www.anker.com/login?back=support/refund-exchange not available at the time when you needed help?

I had a faulty cable that was ordered through Amazon, and was able to receive a replacement in about two days, through their site.

Type C, and USB3 cables in general seem pretty hit or miss. Same goes for some of the "fast" chargers, depending on phone, compatibility seems to hit or miss as well.

Its a well-known fact companies monitor and will answer/address issues brought via social media to avoid possible meltdown. Be it Twitter, Amazon or Newegg.

Have you seen any of the photos from Amazon clients of Anker while their unit blew up?? I had the same issue (thank God I was home because their adapter was behind wall and within seconds curtain caught fire. Had nobody be home I would be going back to the rubble). I emailed Anker photos and haven't heard from them for three months, until I decided to go back on Amazon and gave them 1-star review (I barely spend time reviewing anything). That finally got their attention.

The difference between a company genuinely caring about their customers' experience with their product, and one who will do whatever it takes to manage their public profile isn't all that different to all practical intents and purposes.

That said, I'd consider it more carefully if i was going to engage with them beyond buying accessories. Or if they nearly burned my house down, I guess.

> The difference between a company genuinely caring about their customers' experience with their product, and one who will do whatever it takes to manage their public profile isn't all that different to all practical intents and purposes.

But it sounds like joering (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14395539) was describing precisely a practical difference: a company that genuinely cared about its customers' experiences would, it seems, have responded to attempts at direct contact, rather than responding only to a threat to its public profile.

I had the same experience. Bought a 6 port USB charger on Amazon, and randomly it would just shut off and need to be unplugged from the wall for ~10 minutes and then plugged back in. I emailed their customer support, and they just asked for my address and sent me another unit. Didn't even ask for the return. So seamless, and really made me a fan of theirs.

I think it's pretty well known that you can use reviews as leverage even with horrible companies. I'd be more curios as to how their customer service is in non-review situations

In this modern age, why bother trying to deal with customer service, when going through Amazon reviews is so easy and efficient?

That's exactly what I'd love from any company. Funny I just got an anker car usb adapter and

1) the packaging was cute, very apple-ish in sensory pleasing, the product is cute and solid, below it there's a tiny card with Happy ? on one side, Not Happy ? on the other ... it was very engaging.

2) there's a fitting issue in my car, the positive electrode doesn't connect with the socket until I put 10kg of pressure on it. Maybe I should make a review.. (I don't even need a replacement, just a tip on how to fix the issue)

I have that issue with an older Jeep I own. The cigarette lighter socket is longer than most newer sockets so some USB chargers just do not make great contact.

That's probably it, or I suspect the shape of the bottom connector to be a bit too beveled. I'll try to fit a piece of conducting metal between the two.

Crumple up a piece of tin foil around the end. Make sure it won't fall off and bridge the walls (negative) with the tip (+). Ghetto but effective if you only rarely unplug it. Alternatively, solder wires onto it and plug them into your fuse box. Add an inline fuse for added protection.

Yep, they respond to every negative review with a free replacement, in order to keep ratings afloat long enough until the product is no longer a best-seller. (I experienced this with an aftermarket battery replacement. Apple original lost its chargeability after 5 years. Anker's lost its in less than 1.) It's a "great" way to make a product "survive" (including replacements) through the warranty period, until the product is obsolete for new customers.

> I never was pressured to update my review, never asked to return the original unit, never solicited to buy more stuff. They seemed to have a genuine desire to make sure their customers are being served well, and that is the kind of thing that will make me a customer for life.

This is great, and behavious we should encourage. But lets not pretend this isn't a carefully manage strategy.

A company doesn't care about you. It cares about messages like this.

It's a carefully managed strategy to ... make their customers happy?

If a company acts in a great way (e.g. replacing slightly dodgy equipment) whenever a customer lets them know they have an issue that's great for the customer, regardless of whatever internal reasoning the company may have for acting in that way.

Jeez, wow, I guess it's hard for you to trust friends too.

How can we possibly compare trusting a friend to trusting a company that you'll sporadically buy products from?

My wife bought an Anker usb battery, which stopped charging after a couple months. They required her to advance ship it at her own expense before sending a replacement, or alternatively offered a 50% refund. Shipping from Canada back to their facility cost more than 50% of the value, so she took the half refund. Crazy to hear of others getting replacements for functioning units without having to even return them.

> Canada

Same experience here. Great customer service and the updated USB C charger I got was fixed (wasn't sending data on the old version)