To be fair to Waves, they do allow 1 and 2 star reviews. I usually just filter out the 5 star (and 1 star)  reviews on their site and in my experience the 2 up to 4 star reviews are pretty fair; even the 4 stars reviews not being totaly  uncritical.

bitflipper
Yes, they do. Not using paid employees, though, AFAIK. Instead, they recruit users to be "ambassadors" who get discounts in exchange for spreading positive reviews on forums and retailers' sites.

Discounts?.... how much more can they be taking off after the recent year ouch!

Sanderxpander
Did you click that link? It's another "Waves", in the beach life market.

 lol
 

Ambassador Program
The Waves Ambassador Program is for the ultimate fan or adventurer. We are looking for people to use our products, take pictures and tell us your stories. We want your feedback so we can continue to improve our products. There is no cost to join the program and we only ask a few things in return. Click the Apply Now Button below if you are interested. We get a lot of requests so please allow a few days for us to get back to you.

What You Get

• Free & Discounted Gear
• Early Access To New Products
• Prototype Testing & Product Input

What We Ask

• Use & Test Our Products
• Send & Post Pictures Of Your Adventures
• Tell Your Friends

 

Busted
 
 
 

I wondered how long before somebody figured that out...answer: three weeks.  Those of you who take the time to include links in your posts, take note.
 
The Waves Street Ambassadors program is a real thing, though. They got a lot of flak for it when it was introduced (2012?), and may have since abandoned the program, or at least lowered its online visibility. The actual link to the street ambassadors page today just takes you to an advertisement.

His wife, does she ... ?

Why is it that we still have this thread? Has anyone provided a shred of real evidence that there are fake reviews on Waves' site? 
 
A quick look reveals several negative plugin reviews. So the accusation that Waves doesn't allow them is ridiculous. 
 
Where are the forum moderators when you need them? Oh I forgot, they're all aboard the Waves-hate train.
 
Cheers,
Eddie
 

RobWS
This is taken from Consumer Reports: “Watch What You Say When Posting Online Reviews”.  "In one case, the retail website KlearGear.com sent a Utah Couple a bill for $3,500 after they posted a negative review on RipoffReport.com, complaining about the company’s failure to deliver a desk toy and key chain costing less than $20.  A federal court ruled that the couple didn’t have to pay after the company failed to appear to answer a lawsuit the couple filed against it.  But by that time the couple’s credit had already taken a hit."
 
Free speech?
 
Any company that does not allow negative user reviews has something to hide and should be avoided.
 
I finally took the Waves plunge earlier this year and now own 4 plugins.  I couldn’t help but notice also that the reviews were glowing.  Are the products good?  Probably.  But all of the reviews had a sameness about them as if one person wrote them.  They were all very short, maybe averaging 3 sentences.  Aren’t there any Waves users that can articulate beyond that?  I personally write reviews on Tripadvisor.com and most of my reviews are multiple paragraphs.  They might be too long for some people, and I’m sure not read for their length.  But I know there are others looking for detail and that’s why I put a lot of thought into them.  I’d like to help out others when making decisions.
 
As far as magazine product reviews go, you can’t beat Tape Op.  They are what FM radio was to the airwaves back in the early 70’s.  AM DJ’s beat you over the head with slick talk and a playlist that would repeat every hour.  FM was free to be real with their listeners.  Tape Op has that feel with their readers.  The best part of their magazine is the gear review section.  Talk about multiple paragraphs!
 
If I buy a Waves (or anyone else’s) product because of glowing user reviews and find I have an honest problem with that product, I’m going to question buying any other product from them.  I remember a quote from Zig Ziglar, “If I catch you lying to me one time, I will put a question mark after everything you say going forward”.  Good advice.
 

Your comments even though general, question my integrity and even my ability to articulate. I find them very offensive. Brief comments are just that.
Maybe brevity is something you could learn for your trip advisor reviews.

RobWS ... But all of the reviews had a sameness about them as if one person wrote them.  They were all very short, maybe averaging 3 sentences ...

 
Yeah, I'll just jump in here again and point out that this statement is false. I just looked for a few minutes and found reviews that were lengthy and detailed. So again, unless you or anybody else has even a smidgen of proof that the reviews are fabricated, I would advise you to keep your unfounded suspicions to yourself. 
 
You know, there's a term for spreading falsehoods that damage someone's reputation. Need I go further? 
 
 

RobWS If I buy a Waves (or anyone else’s) product because of glowing user reviews and find I have an honest problem with that product, I’m going to question buying any other product from them.  I remember a quote from Zig Ziglar, “If I catch you lying to me one time, I will put a question mark after everything you say going forward”.  Good advice. 

 
Hang on. You're saying that just because your experience with a product might differ from others, the other people must be lying? So if everyone is honest, every product should get consistent ratings? But isn't that what you're complaining about with the Waves reviews? What exactly are you trying to say here?
 
 
Cheers,
Eddie
 

I will say I have Waves plugins (as well as FabFilter, SoundToys, Cytonic and a few others) in every project. They are extremely reliable, work consistently from track to track, project to project. There is a reason they are considered a standard in the industry.
 
Dan

Hello Eddie,
 
It’s obvious to me now that I have failed my own articulation test, causing more controversy with my words than being any kind of help with my post. 
 
Just as I did with Mudgel, I apologize to you for leading you and other readers down the wrong road.  My intention is to help others if I can, not to hinder them.
 
The title of Sharke’s post is, “Does Waves fabricate their customer reviews?”  That caught my attention and I read everyone’s reply. 
 
Buying products via the internet is a huge business today and only growing bigger.  Online stores see user reviews as a great way to encourage more business, i.e. “See all of the satisfied customers we have”.  But there are some online businesses that prohibit negative reviews.  The quote from Consumer Reports is just one example of a company’s retaliation of a user’s negative review.  We all need to be aware that reading some sites’ reviews are only showing one side of the story.  I have never looked at Waves’ terms and conditions for leaving reviews but I would doubt if they fall into that category.  I don’t think Waves has anything to hide.  Apparently they have very competitive products.  To be honest, I am new to what Waves offers, but I heard so many people talking about their products that I wanted to check them out.
 
Earlier this year when I went on the Waves site to look for a specific product, I wanted to see what others had to say about it.  What I found were short generalizations which didn’t help me as much as I was hoping for.  My first impression was that Waves does not want lengthy reviews.  So from my point of view everyone was doing what everyone else was doing, leaving quick, to-the-point reviews.  Is that a Waves’ requirement?  I don’t know.  Like I said, I have never read their terms and conditions for posting.  Is there a word count limitation?  When someone goes to write a review, they see that all the other reviews were short so they write a short review too.  That’s why it appears to me that one person wrote them all.
 
Before making a purchase, I needed to do more research so I looked up the same product on the Sweetwater site.  What I found there were a large variety of reviews.  Some were just like the ones I had read on the Waves’ site, short generalizations.  But many went into great detail which is what I wanted.  Now I felt I could make a decision to buy because I had enough information.
 
Maybe I’m different than most buyers, but I don’t want to know if you like the product, I want to know why you like the product.  That’s what I found was lacking in the Waves’ reviews and why I said they all had a sameness about them.  They were too general for my needs.  So I combined the reviews from Sweetwater with the reviews from Waves to make a decision to buy.  If you like a Ford Taurus, that’s great but I’m not going to buy one just because you like it.  Tell me why you like it.  Convince me to buy one.  No, I’m not trying to turn you into a salesman.  I want to know your honest opinion.  What do you like about the car?  The more you can tell me, the more I’ll be convinced.
 
The Zig Ziglar quote is simply a good piece of advice I wanted to pass along.  Quite a few years ago I made an online purchase from a NYC photography store that wasn’t completely upfront about the sale.  Obviously, they were trying to be deceptive.  Well, based on that Ziglar quote, I have never purchased from them again.  If they can’t be trusted, then there are plenty of other photography stores to buy from.  As long as there is a product to sell, there will be dishonest sales of that product.  I believe that is the minority.  Most companies want to increase their sales with integrity, not deception.
 
Eddie, I’m not sure if I addressed all of your concerns completely, but there is one thing I have learned from you and Mudgel, the next time I decide to leave a reply on this forum, I’ll put aside what I wrote for a while before posting it.  That’s actually the same concept in mixing.  Take a break, rest the ears, come back to it.  Does it still sound right?  Good advice.
 

RobWS ... So from my point of view everyone was doing what everyone else was doing, leaving quick, to-the-point reviews.  Is that a Waves’ requirement?  I don’t know.  Like I said, I have never read their terms and conditions for posting.  Is there a word count limitation?  When someone goes to write a review, they see that all the other reviews were short so they write a short review too.  That’s why it appears to me that one person wrote them all. 

 
See, you're still impugning the integrity of a company by posting innuendo. It doesn't matter that it "appears" to you that the reviews are fraudulent; unless you have some hard evidence, you're just trolling.
 
Cheers,
Eddie