Do you read consumer reviews before you make up your mind?

Bretrick

Bretrick

Well-known Member
Location
Perth Western Australia
I often read reviews when I want to purchase something. I concentrate on the negative reviews. They are most likely more honest than many of the positive reviews.
Maybe you need a new heater. Which one is the most reliable?
Especially handy when looking for accommodation. Several times I have rejected places because of negative reviews
Before I bought my Air Conditioner I read a lot of reviews. Because they expensive to buy and install. about $1600.
Checked out portable ones at half the price.
Almost all the reviews said, “Noisy”. So a wall mounted one it will be.
I chose one that cost approximately $1200 installed.
 

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I love that there are reviews. Though I hate the Vine Reviews, studies have shown that giving people even very insignificant gifts affects outcomes (I think the studies were about gifts to people rewarding contracts, but I'd think they'd be applicable to people giving reviews too).

It is funny sometimes to read the one star reviews, today I was looking at reviews of a multi-vitamin/mineral and someone was all upset about the warning and said they sent it back. The warning was just about the risk to children of iron poisoning. Good luck to them ever finding a multi-vitamin/mineral that doesn't have that warning (well I guess the iron-free versions such as the senior versions wouldn't have the warning).
 
AprilSun said:
I always read the reviews first. I don't bother with the good reviews. I want to know what people don't like about it so I start with the lowest negatives and work my way up.
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Exactly the same way I do it.
There is a car salesman here with at least 10 -15 stores all over Perth.
John Hughes - every Saturday he takes out a double page spread in the newspaper full only of good reviews.
There are at least the equivalent number of bad reviews but they are never addressed.
Bad reviews are ignored by John Hughes.
 
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I read the bad reviews first also. I take it with a grain of salt, but sometimes they bring up something I hadn't thought about.

When I moved here I looked for reviews for the nearest Toyota Service Center. The dealership has many online reviews about sales, even one from a priest. ;) He said they did a great job of selling him a car. However, reviews about the service center were glaringly absent from their website. I ended up going somewhere else for repairs.
 
I read them, but disregard the 2% that would complain if they were getting pure gold for a dollar an ounce. “The color just isn’t the deep gold I was hoping for”.

But if the 1 star ratings are above 10%, usually it is something to pass on. There is a lot of junk being sold in this day and age. If there is a sufficient number of reviews, inherent defects will be part of multiple negative reviews.

Also, one has to be careful as some reviews are nothing but shills. Or they are by reviewers getting the product free, which has a bias built in. Deciphering the reviews can be tricky
 
I seriously doubt if any of it is honest stuff.
If you have a good / serious discount coming from Amazing, good luck getting a quality product.
They do not ship it in a reasonable time like a week. You sit and wait and wait and cancel their carpella.
Ever tune in a Prime football game an hour late, want to watch the from the beginning and it shuts you off
at 5 min. to go in the 4th. There is no honesty its all about B.S. & Talk, talk, talk, is all you get!
Most all of it is about overpaid big mouths blabber now. It just will never shut up!

Look at American Pro football, kick off, set ant watch it sail out of the endzone, Return teem had a hard time returning
Kickoffs past the 30 yard line in the 60's, now its a given, Bet, watch the betting adds at commercial's on Pro football.

NCWA sports are becoming a smaller and smaller conference with more teams thing too. more ? The other day the Iowa
Hawkeye coach is not the Hawkeye Coach anymore he is a Moon Family Coach that donates $10,000,000 To U of Iowa footballs coach.

The Will and Renee Moon Excellence Fund will endow the football head-coaching position in perpetuity, and Kirk Ferentz and those who follow him will hold the formal title of Moon Family Head Football Coach.

Moon Family Coach - Bing
Money Talks, Football keeps marching! My thought is its boring, no reason to care, why watch it. Waste of money buying tickets.
My thought is the Sports line of Crap is total B.S. and is fleas-sing Billions. I have watched the same plays, the same tackles, completions
and touchdowns for many decades. Its boring. A waste of my time and yours. Same stuff, same outcomes, over and over. To start kickoffs
need to be made from the 20 yard line and not returned, they need to start at the 20 yard line. Kickoffs crazy rules have ruined football.
 
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I am always worried about making the wrong choice. Yes, I do research any big purchase to death. I then go into the store and get a good feel for what the sales people have to say. It the product had nothing but bad reviews and the sales person is pushing it, I am in the wrong place and the wrong product. I will spend the extra time to be at least 50% sure I am making a good purchase.

I have been dealing with buying a new counter stove top. My old one, 30 years old has finally died. We all know appliances these days are not made to last. Mine was a glass top but I know I will need to buy one with the so-called old-fashioned type with coil burners. My hands and wrists are not as strong and I am concerned about dropping a heavy pan.

The second issue, I have gas into the house, fireplace and water heater. Would it be better to have gas run into the kitchen and getting a gas cooktop. To be truthful I prefer gas cooking, I learned to cook on gas from my Mom but I have never had it as an adult in my own home. I also think having gas in the kitchen would be a great selling point when and if I have to sell.

Can you all share your advice on this? What do you think, is gas the best option, if not, I will go with the coil electric.
Thanks in advance!!
 
I do tend to read them, but I take most with a 'pinch of salt'. I work on the assumption that many reviews are bogus, so I look at the ratio of good to bad. If every review is good, then that's probably OK, but if there is a significant number of bad reviews, then that may be a sign to go elsewhere.

I tend to have little faith in magazine reviews and they read too much like disguised advertisements.
 
Imogene said:
I read reviews for a lot of things.

If it happens to be a supplemental product for myself, my horses, or my dogs, I look for clinical studies on credible websites — most of those being .edu, or .gov

If I am looking for a local service that I have not needed in the past, I also check BBB ratings.
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What are BBB ratings please?
 
If you find reviews useful, do you ever write them as well? I don't frequently, but if I receive a product or service that is significantly above or below my expectations I'll write one. This is particularly true if the reason might not be immediately apparent to a potential buyer.
 
I read the reviews but someone will always complain as nothing is perfect. If I read something that really sounds bad or I would want in the product that sounds bad, I do not buy.
 
Tommy said:
If you find reviews useful, do you ever write them as well? I don't frequently, but if I receive a product or service that is significantly above or below my expectations I'll write one. This is particularly true if the reason might not be immediately apparent to a potential buyer.
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Yes, I do write reviews. I am more prone to write them for local businesses.
 

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