TravisTheHuman
TravisTheHuman MegaDork
12/28/24 4:33 p.m.

All of us have purchased sub-par products in the last year.   What do you do about it?  On a scale of 

1- Its too much effort most of the time, I just let it go

4? I keep the product and leave a review

10- Maximum outrage, contact the company
 

I have to say I land between 1 and 4 most of the time, and it frequently bugs me that I might be part of the problem.  If I dont leave a review or warn others, they could suffer a similar fate.

At any given time I have between 5-10 things I've bought in the last year that do not perform as they should.

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
12/28/24 4:37 p.m.

We almost never leave a review.  

If it's in the 7-10 range, I directly contact the company to see what to do.  More often than not, they are helpful.

I should do more reviews, as we use them to try to find trends that would be a problem.

I have left bad book reviews.  

adam525i
adam525i GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
12/28/24 5:11 p.m.

Sometimes, I have a rule that if I'm leaving a bad review somewhere I have to leave a good review somewhere else. 

I do wish there was a review system on Rock Auto although it would probably be abused in one way or another. I've had issues with parts that I'd like to let others know about and others that have worked great, it would be nice to pass that info along.

GIRTHQUAKE
GIRTHQUAKE UltraDork
12/28/24 5:26 p.m.

Everything really works on a "yes/no" axis, but when it comes to stuff that sucks it's either:

1. item was poor or didn't work. Upload pictures, request a refund, keep it professional.

2. Actual threat to life, unsafe product. There will be returns. There will be images. There will be blood.

P3PPY
P3PPY GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
12/29/24 3:03 p.m.

Yeah all the time. I see it as waving people off of bad things that waste money. 
 

Get this though - wife bought something then a few days later we get a letter from the seller promising us $20 if we left a 5 star review and a warning for our "privacy" to not post the letter. So we posted the letter along with an explanation about the rating scam and Amazon blocked our review. That's BS. 

Datsun240ZGuy
Datsun240ZGuy MegaDork
12/29/24 3:15 p.m.

eBay - guy printed me a Z horn piece that was coming apart when I got it.  I asked for a refund and said I'd leave a positive comment about the experience and how he handled the transaction IF he refunds my money.  

He did and I did what I said - but that's an eBay transaction.  Normally I don't review products. 

MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt UltimaDork
12/29/24 3:37 p.m.

Usually I reach out to the seller or manufacturer and give them a chance to resolve the solution. I typically would leave a poisoned pen review if:

  1. They don't make a sincere effort to fix the problem.
  2. The fix I would have to demand would be a complete redesign of the product or their manufacturing process.
  3. It's very clear the seller is not dealing in good faith.
SV reX
SV reX MegaDork
12/29/24 3:38 p.m.

I don't leave reviews or surveys. Ever. Neither good reviews nor bad ones. 
 

I survived pretty well in the consumer world for nearly 50 years when no one left reviews anywhere. I find the whole obsession with peer opinions somewhere on the scale between annoying, strange, and an utter waste of time.

I do read professional reviews of products before I purchase. 

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/29/24 4:02 p.m.

I rarely leave any reviews but have probably written more good than bad ones.

If it's bad enough I'll contact the company, like a new radiator I got recently where most of the mounts had been drilled through into the tanks creating massive leaks that should've been noticeable if they had anything resembling a QA process.

TravisTheHuman
TravisTheHuman MegaDork
12/29/24 4:04 p.m.
SV reX said:

I don't leave reviews or surveys. Ever. Neither good reviews nor bad ones. 
 

I survived pretty well in the consumer world for nearly 50 years when no one left reviews anywhere. I find the whole obsession with peer opinions somewhere on the scale between annoying, strange, and an utter waste of time.

I do read professional reviews of products before I purchase. 

I'm mainly referring to products that don't attract professional reviewers.

I think this is the nature of online marketplaces now.  50 years ago, when you went to the store for a widget there were 1 or 2 options.  The store pre-filtered the widgets, and also would take a widget off the shelf if everyone was bringing it back/complaining about it.

Now there are 6000 options for the same widget and the online marketplace makes no effort to filter them - it pushes it onto the consumers.

 

TravisTheHuman
TravisTheHuman MegaDork
12/29/24 4:05 p.m.
MadScientistMatt said:

The fix I would have to demand would be a complete redesign of the product or their manufacturing process.

I think I come across a lot that are this one.

californiamilleghia
californiamilleghia UberDork
12/29/24 4:16 p.m.

I tried to leave a review on Amazon about a poor quality EZ-Up style canopy , 

But Amazon would not let me do it because I  never left a review before !

This was on my account of 10 years and maybe 100 items . 

not much you can do about it crying

 

ddavidv
ddavidv UltimaDork
12/30/24 7:25 a.m.

Amazon is so littered with fake reviews it's nearly useless. When I'm shopping products on there I read all the reviews I can that are 3 stars or less. Often there are some good, well-written reviews that will point out problems. It helps me avoid the real turd products on there. And by the way...a lot of the Chinese crap sold on there is just the same product offered under six different unpronounceable brand names. I've left the odd review either when it was truly a disappointing purchase OR there are few or no reviews of a product.

I have left reviews for self-published books both ways. I'm an author myself, so know how important a good review can be. But I also don't shy away from flaming a book that the person clearly needs to find another hobby.

I do give reviews on TripAdvisor because I use it a lot when I travel, and they have been very useful for me to find places to stay or eat. I give more positive reviews than negatives on there.

TravisTheHuman
TravisTheHuman MegaDork
12/30/24 10:23 a.m.
ddavidv said:

Amazon is so littered with fake reviews it's nearly useless. When I'm shopping products on there I read all the reviews I can that are 3 stars or less. Often there are some good, well-written reviews that will point out problems. It helps me avoid the real turd products on there. And by the way...a lot of the Chinese crap sold on there is just the same product offered under six different unpronounceable brand names. I've left the odd review either when it was truly a disappointing purchase OR there are few or no reviews of a product.

It is sadly littered with fake reviews.  I can't fix that, but I feel like contributing my negative review when a product sucks is at attempt to do my part.  I wonder if everyone who had issues with products did the same, would it be effective?  

Researching a product is exhausting because there is so little quality information and so many different choices, most of which you know will be garbage.  Writing a review is actually easy compared to that.

 

Edit, I checked a recent product I reviewed.  It has 123 total reviews.  I gave it 2 stars.  My review dropped its score by .02  Doesn't sound like much, but if 20 people do it, its now a 4 star product with enough 2 star reviews to warn a future customer.

 

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 MegaDork
12/30/24 11:26 a.m.

It's never a simple matter to leave a review.  They want information that I don't want them to have.  I assume that if I leave a negative review, the company will hire a contract killer and eliminate the problem rather than improve the product.

 

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
12/30/24 11:34 a.m.

I always look at the one-star reviews.

Wish I could remember the product, but it had a one-star review that stood out: “I know people start with the one-star reviews, so let me tell you why this product really delivered....”

I forget the specifics of the note, or even the product, but the didn’t read like a bot. Seemed genuine.

So I bought it. Product did deliver as promised. 

Beer Baron 🍺
Beer Baron 🍺 MegaDork
12/30/24 11:37 a.m.

I frequently leave reviews if I am able to provide objective and useful critique. I want and appreciate quality reviews that help me make good purchases. So I leave the sorts of reviews I would like to see more of.

I often leave reviews with 2-4 stars rather than ever leaving 1 or 5, because those are the ones I gravitate towards because I trust the reviewer is more likely to be objective and critical. Rather than, "It got damaged in shipping. 1 star," or "I love it! 5 stars!"

I've been offered unexpected refunds after leaving a critical review, even after what I would normally expect of a return window.

Coniglio Rampante
Coniglio Rampante GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
12/30/24 11:40 a.m.

I rarely leave a review.  But last Fall, I received an expensive shirt (on sale) that had an incredible number of loose threads on it.  Long story short, the company deleted the review.  

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