I recently tried a new dry cleaners and was annoyed to pay more than $12 for 3 men’s shirts to be laundered & pressed. Well, I’ve received 5 “requests/gentle reminders/nudges” to review their business. Silly me, I thought the bill for services was money, not money and a review. I’m also a bit surprised that they didn’t realize that maybe I was doing them a favor by NOT writing a review, which would say this place’s fees are about double what I pay the guy down the road.
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Somehow the begging and expectation of 5-star reviews/ratings reminds me of the “I did my job but would like a tip!” mentality that has been mentioned on the tipping threads.
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I’ve been watching a few YouTube channel pieces. Almost all of the start “Hey, do me a big favor and like and subscribe to my channel.” But this is at the start, when I haven’t even watched it yet. How do I know if I need to give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down, or if I want to subscribe?
I just gave xcel a big negative review. Did the customer service rep solve my problem, answer my question, or otherwise help me understand why they now send two bills, a day apart, one for elec and one for gas and electric? NO, she didn’t and she wasn’t nice about not helping me. Bad review. Do I think they are going to continue to double bill me? Yes I do. Do I think they will continue to provide utilities and overcharge me? Well Yes, yes I do.
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That was my experience on Amazon about a year ago when shopping for gardening tools. They were all made in China but offered for sale by about 5 or 6 different vendors. The exact same set of stainless-steel tools (the same photo of five tools and carrying kit would follow different sellers). And yet, there were hardly any positive reviews at all, just review after review alleging that the tools rusted after a few days of use. For the cheap price, I figured it was worth taking a chance. Long story short: the negative reviews were obviously fake, but as to why someone would go to that much trouble to discourage any particular seller from making a buck, I’ll never know.
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Sometimes what I do is look at the middling reviews. They tend to be written by real people. I also look at responses to reviews. If they are apologetic about slow service, for example, I may cut them some slack.
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I find reviews helpful in general, but rely on those withcomments. When a bunch of reviewers say the normally wear a size 8 and a medium was gigantic, it’s helpful.
On sites like tripadvisor, I try to see what else the reviewer posted. If they give a terrible review starting with “we arrived at 2 in the morning and there was only 1 person at reception who wouldn’t see us to our room”, I suspect we don’t see the world the same way.
Because reviews help me, I try to leave them. And I might give a 5 star review but note in it that while some decor looked a bit dated, it was exceptionally comfortable or that if you want a full on resort with piles of amenities, this isn’t it but is perfect for what it is. We’re not all looking for the same things!
I hate when I get requests for reviews that don’t allow comments because yes, my doctor did provide excellent care but the fact that I can’t comment on how it took a number of calls, begging, and pleading to get that consultation – one acknowledged by the doctor as one that was necessary and timely – is really frustrating. And frankly, the practice probably can address the scheduling issue more easily than whether I like my doc!
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I love reading reviews of uberexpensive designer crap at Nordstrom! The reviews are obviously fake, tongue-in-cheek jabs at the horrible, overpriced stuff. Nordstrom does not delete them… many folks give those reviews “helpful” thumbs up! Looks like Nordstrom thinks any clicks are potentially merch selling clicks!
Here is an example. Enjoy! 
https://www.nordstrom.com/s/cardinal-crystal-jacquard-knee-high-boot-women/6758173
And this:
https://www.nordstrom.com/s/dolce-and-gabbana-cardinale-pointed-toe-knee-high-boot-women/6758179
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Perfect match with my Infinity Gauntlet.
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That is just plain weird, the boots and the reviews.
I just look at the average of reviews, especially on Amazon. If it’s got 14,000 reviews and still maintaining a 4 1/2 star rating I figure it’s pretty good. If it’s only 100 reviews it might be different.
Like somebody else said above, some of the low reviews are not related to the product itself, I find these helpful.
The ones I personally enjoy the most are when someone had a bad experience so they pile on with at least 10 or 12 things that were just horrible or bad. I laugh at those.
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