epnnf

Recently, I purchased two unrelated items, based on positive reviews, and they did not work as advertised. Ever happen to you?

Juan Foote

Yup. Lots of times and in particular with cheap Chinese made crap that places like Amazon sells.

As a for instance, we got a Kitchen Aid handheld mixer some years ago. Along the line the "beaters" got damaged and we needed more. Kitchen Aid themselves have been out of stock of the required parts for years, so we started trying to find a good set of mixers on Amazon. We have purchased three sets so far and each one of them come apart the first use or so. Cannot seem to find anything good as a replacement.
Another were the "heat spreaders/flavorizers" for our gas grill. The stock ones burned out in about a year of use. Opted to try to find something better and am on the second set from Amazon within the year. The one positive there is that both sets were still cheaper than the replacement stock ones that we know are garbage.

Unfortunate to say, but most online reviews and in particular with a couple of red flag retailers are all garbage posted by shills. I try my best to buy a verifiable name brand item when I can, with reviews done by sites with some credence.

skijor

Too many folks writing reviews with amazon's prompting, when they've only owned the item in question for a week or so...not enough time to lend any credibility either way. Caveat emptor

Darth Lefty 

Pick something with thousands of ratings. Read the 1 star reviews. Then you will be prepared

veganbikes

I find a lot of reviews I read are all quite terrible "Shipped quick" "looks nice" "0 stars" (but didn't follow instructions) stuff like that where nobody is really reviewing the product they are just commenting on it for the brief time they have had something to do with it. A review should have some time spent with the product actually using it and testing it and if you had problems making sure you followed instructions.

Some reviews I have seen are actually good because someone knew their stuff and really used the product or they just knew how to care for it (in the case of carbon steel woks in my case)

I am generally cautious with reviews unless I know people with the product or know the brand well enough but if I can see a lot of well written and thought-out reviews that will help my decision sometimes.

Kat12

Or, "I don't know, I haven't gotten it yet" or "I don't know, it was a gift" or "downvoted because UPS broke it in shipping" or "downvoted because I decided I didn't like the color" or something. (At least Amazon makes reviews optional, unlike sites like eBay or Etsy that keep bugging you to leave a review until finally you just write "fast shipping, nice item, thanks" to get them off your back...)

I always read the negative reviews (and, at times, have found out that some people's negatives can be my positives... these shoes run narrow, you say? Great; they're gonna fit me!). Negative reviews can be ridiculous too (see again above for examples), but at least they're informative-- I don't need to be "warned" if a product is great.

chewybrian 

My friend told me "Starters" sports bar was no good, so I stayed away for six months or so. Finally, I went yesterday and it was fine. They had all the games on and the food was good. I guess the alcohol was expensive (I was the designated driver for my Dad). But, I just drink coffee, so no worries.

Of course, it didn't hurt that my Bengals won the division in a nail-biter...

Playoffs? Playoffs?

Juan Foote

Yes and no. I used to think so...

I started doing some background checking on the people leaving one star reviews, such as to see what else they have rated and what level. I commonly find that many of them either haven't reviewed much else, or are the type not to be satisfied with anything and rate it all low. You also cannot discount the stupidity of the common man and in particular for items that require ANY level of assembly by the end user.

jerrymor

Happened to me recently but i was very lucky that homeadvisor customer service solved the issue very quickly. Lucky me i found a great source where i can always reach them out. The company is great in general but some issues can happen unfortunately everywhere. The most important that business can admit their mistakes.

noisebeam

I find I tend not to buy after reading reviews then go sulk and wish I had bought two of whatever is worn out that needs replacement.

Hondo Gravel

T-shirts with sorry cotton. Spend the xtra 5-10 bucks get a T shirt that won’t evaporate even on the gentle cycle lol.

jon c. 

I want a toaster that toasts both sides evenly. Seems a simple request, but none of them seem to be able to handle it. The last time I bought one I focused on that in reviews and bought one that was well acclaimed in that regard. The reviews proved incorrect.

I'm usually pretty lucky in that regard though. Can't think of too many things lately that I've been disappointed in. I'm generally not terribly swayed by positive reviews but a host of negative reviews citing similar problems will usually dissuade me.

genec

Heck, apparently some folks can't even open a box without whining about it.