Reviews on Amazon

Been buying from Amazon since it first started and learned the hard way the first month. First, always check dimensions. Once bought bronze (I thought for the garden - quite expensive enough) turned out to be one and a half inches high! Second, how many are in the lot. Once had twenty four boxes of miso soup, twelve packets in each box. Like it but not that much... And third, take no notice what colour it's supposed to be, unless it's white. Ordered rose pink bra, got dark brown one. However, now I'm an old hand and, also, Amazon have perfected the easy return with a lot of drop off places. I work at home and Amazon saves me a lot of time.

I do use Amazon reviews, especially for more expensive items, and if there are more than a couple of bad ones I will look at those too. There is the caveat that some are put there as a offer on a product for a reduced price if you give a review. Some, as others have said above, are laughable, both good and bad ones.

It's like Tripadvisor, I read the hotel and accommodation reviews on there are generally go by the average. I especially like a hotel that will come back with a genuine response to a review, whether good or bad.

I don’t often leave Amazon reviews but did always leave positive trip advisor reviews if I was happy. My daughter convinced me that we should also leave not quite so positive reviews if not 100% happy to give the establishment the chance to a) respond and b) improve if needed. Otherwise she’s quite correct and the reviews are skewed. But, working in catering myself, I am constantly amazed at the numbers of people who have an issue, leave and then leave a negative review when in the majority of cases the problem could be solved easily if it were brought to the attention of management there and then!

A high-end supermarket asked me to review some onions I'd bought. What could I say? They were onions.

I always look at the reviews and have a lot of them helpful. The way I assess most products is to see how many reviews are critical and duplicated. In other words if the reviews are mainly good and then you get the occasional criticism I go by that as a general guide. Yes some criticisms are unbelievable but that is life I suppose. I try to leave reviews when I can as I use them myself. I have also had the occasional question answered and found these helpful so again I try to answer. The soppy ones are treated as a laugh.

I usually look at them, I look at the negative ones, so I can see if they bring up anything that may be a dealbreaker, some things that bother some people may not bother me,, but if it says for example that it didn't last long, was flimsy, but some of the good reviews were along the lines of arrived on time, not used it but it looks ok, had it a week and so far so good, well I'd look at something else. And if they all said flimsy would something else do instead
Ebay sellers too, I'll look at negative reviews, and see how they are responded to if they sound like real problems

Authoress

Try being an author who depends on fair reviews for sales sigh...
I only have one 1* review, but the reviewer was complaining that it wasn't much of a murder mystery. Given that it's historical romance, she's absolutely correct *sighs harder*

Being in the same job, I so agree with you. Someone gave me 2 stars & complained that I'd got the geography of a particular place in Cornwall all wrong: a place I hadn't even mentioned or referenced!

I review books. Rarely do I give 5 stars. A books has to be outstanding for that. I don't leave 1 or 2 star reviews either. It's my opinion and others may like what I don't.
Funniest reviews are for Haribo sugar free.

am constantly amazed at the numbers of people who have an issue, leave and then leave a negative review when in the majority of cases the problem could be solved easily if it were brought to the attention of management there and then!

When you have the sort of experience I had you give up complaining . Complained about a dish served in a pub, the chef (female and twice my size) stomped out, picked up my fork, tasted the dish “nothing wrong with that “ and stomped back. Didn’t pay for that dish and have never been back there.

Yes, I’ve read a few stupid reviews, but my beef is with the questions section, “Is it vegan” for instance when the description clearly states whether it is or not and lists the ingredients where appropriate.
I’ve even had emails from Amazon asking if I can answer a question for a customer when the answer is there in the description of the goods!

I get irritated by reviews with low star gradings and a good or OK written review. Or those complaining the item is smaller than expected when the measurements are clearly given in the description.

When ordering clothes, I particularly like the photos placed by buyers. They often look very different from the glamorous sell g photo!

Selling photos

I tend to skim through them looking for anything specific that I may be able to check out.

I've realised that a lot of the reviews are not even for the correct product - I was flummoxed by a review that mentioned a handle on a product that didn't appear to have a handle, and after doing a bit more checking found that it was for a different model.

It's also fairly clear that very few people read any instructions before complaining that something isn't working.

When I can I go to sites that sell to professionals - things like DIY products - because the reviewers tend to know about the things they are reviewing.

Rosina

I've always relied on Amazon reviews and have been put off buying some items as many reviewers have pointed out faults. Hence I try to always put fair reviews for things I have bought. I have to say I don't bother with things like post it notes or rolls of brown wrapping paper .

Same here, reviews can really help.

A beach holiday where the complaint was ‘too much sand everywhere’!!!!

i have read that some of these reviews can be a bit suspicious , I did read that deals could be made with customers , buying a product and being paid to give good reviews

geekesse

My favourite was an overheard comment (not really a review) over breakfast on the Orient Express: ‘I had trouble getting to sleep. I do think they could do something about the train moving at night’.

You’d think if someone paid an awful lot of money to travel on a sleeper train, they’d expect it to move at night.

Gold, pure Gold!

I recently wrote a review for something I wasn't happy with. It was a salad spinner. After loads of cheap plastic ones breaking on me I ordered an up market one for nearly €30. It was certainly more robust than the usual kind - at least it is so far, but it doesn't get the salad leaves as dry as the cheap ones do, despite longer and more rigorous spinning. With the old one I can wash and dry the leaves and keep them for several days in the fridge, but with the new one, the salad leaves are still wet and start to ferment after a couple of days.

The company contacted me, asking me to retract the review, even offering to replace the whole price if I did. I didn't do so. They should improve their product, not waste effort bribing people.

Normally I just ignore the reviews because they do contradict each other, as has been said. I just check the technical data to see if it is exactly what I want.

What a good laugh. Made my day reading these.