I really can't stand customer reviews on the Internet
Jstas
Posts: 14,806
They are either "best product ever!!!" or "worst product ever!!!".
The best reviews rave about the product, the service, the shipping, the packaging, the people on the phone and so on. Yet they never say anything useful. They say "highest quality!" Yeah? Really? Quantify the statement please. Highest quality compared to what? The terms they use are vague. It's like when people put up their "personal likes" and say thing like "I like music, movies, walks on the beach, candy, the laughter of children". Oh yeah? Who doesn't? You just told me you are like every other freakin' mouth breather walking the face of the Earth. Thanks for nothing you shallow, self-absorbed twit.
Then you get to the worst reviews. They piss and moan about every stupid little thing. Like, for instance, I was just looking at reviews for towels. Now even towel companies tell you not to use fabric softener on the towels because it reduces absorbency and feel. So I read several negative reviews. They state things like "I washed the towels 7 times, used fabric softener and everything and they don't absorb anything!!!" Really? Seriously, directions, read them. Then there was the one from lady who bought black towels, complained that they faded after multiple washes. She hadn't even used them yet. Why did she wash them? Because they didn't smell nice and the black fabric left black lint in the washer, dryer and on her arm. So she washed them like 7 times and used fabric softener to make them smell nice before she ever used them. Ummm...DUH?! What did you expect, lady? Then they go further to question the scruples and standards of the vendor they bought them from, exclaim that they will never shop their again and then tell every one else to do the same. How is this a useful review?
When you find the moderate reviews, they are moderate because of such things as "The box they came in was thin but they were undamaged." OK, but they arrived undamaged so the packaging was obviously adequate. This warrants a 2.5 out of 5 star review? Another one stated "The color was lighter than I expected and I would have returned them for an exchange for another color but I had company arriving and did not have the time." 2 out of 5 stars. So, you liked the product enough to exchange them for another color of the same product. The only issue you had was the color was not what you were expecting. So you are intending to buy more of this very same product from the very same vendor but you gave it 2 stars out of 5 because you "had company". So your review is sucktastic because of your piss-poor planning? Excellent. Excellent. You make me want to kick you in the crotch repeatedly to make sure you can never reproduce.
Rarely, very rarely do I find an actual review worth the time. Shopping online is nice because of the myriad of options you have compared to what is and isn't carried in stores locally. It's nice because you can find odd colors that aren't common as well as screaming deals on typically cost prohibitive items. But at the same time, it's a crap shoot because you only have pictures and descriptions and the vendor's word that this isn't a pile of poo. The customer reviews are supposed help dissuade that and provide some level of piece of mind. But the reviews are so useless that they just add more F.U.D. to the situation.
The problem is everywhere too. You name it, tools, paint, floor tile, cellphones, cars, tires, towels, sheets, furniture, electronics...it's everywhere. Hell, go look at the "customer reviews" on the Polk product pages here and you'll see the same stupid behavior. Glowing reviews with no reason that is actually related to the product concerning why you think it's so glowing. The negative reviews harp on such insanely minute issues that they seem completely unreasonable in expectation. The moderate reviews are so middle of the road and inane that they offer even less help than the extreme reviews.
That and everybody is somehow an expert yet they have no background whatsoever in the "field of expertise".
It's waste of freakin' time.
...rant over.
The best reviews rave about the product, the service, the shipping, the packaging, the people on the phone and so on. Yet they never say anything useful. They say "highest quality!" Yeah? Really? Quantify the statement please. Highest quality compared to what? The terms they use are vague. It's like when people put up their "personal likes" and say thing like "I like music, movies, walks on the beach, candy, the laughter of children". Oh yeah? Who doesn't? You just told me you are like every other freakin' mouth breather walking the face of the Earth. Thanks for nothing you shallow, self-absorbed twit.
Then you get to the worst reviews. They piss and moan about every stupid little thing. Like, for instance, I was just looking at reviews for towels. Now even towel companies tell you not to use fabric softener on the towels because it reduces absorbency and feel. So I read several negative reviews. They state things like "I washed the towels 7 times, used fabric softener and everything and they don't absorb anything!!!" Really? Seriously, directions, read them. Then there was the one from lady who bought black towels, complained that they faded after multiple washes. She hadn't even used them yet. Why did she wash them? Because they didn't smell nice and the black fabric left black lint in the washer, dryer and on her arm. So she washed them like 7 times and used fabric softener to make them smell nice before she ever used them. Ummm...DUH?! What did you expect, lady? Then they go further to question the scruples and standards of the vendor they bought them from, exclaim that they will never shop their again and then tell every one else to do the same. How is this a useful review?
When you find the moderate reviews, they are moderate because of such things as "The box they came in was thin but they were undamaged." OK, but they arrived undamaged so the packaging was obviously adequate. This warrants a 2.5 out of 5 star review? Another one stated "The color was lighter than I expected and I would have returned them for an exchange for another color but I had company arriving and did not have the time." 2 out of 5 stars. So, you liked the product enough to exchange them for another color of the same product. The only issue you had was the color was not what you were expecting. So you are intending to buy more of this very same product from the very same vendor but you gave it 2 stars out of 5 because you "had company". So your review is sucktastic because of your piss-poor planning? Excellent. Excellent. You make me want to kick you in the crotch repeatedly to make sure you can never reproduce.
Rarely, very rarely do I find an actual review worth the time. Shopping online is nice because of the myriad of options you have compared to what is and isn't carried in stores locally. It's nice because you can find odd colors that aren't common as well as screaming deals on typically cost prohibitive items. But at the same time, it's a crap shoot because you only have pictures and descriptions and the vendor's word that this isn't a pile of poo. The customer reviews are supposed help dissuade that and provide some level of piece of mind. But the reviews are so useless that they just add more F.U.D. to the situation.
The problem is everywhere too. You name it, tools, paint, floor tile, cellphones, cars, tires, towels, sheets, furniture, electronics...it's everywhere. Hell, go look at the "customer reviews" on the Polk product pages here and you'll see the same stupid behavior. Glowing reviews with no reason that is actually related to the product concerning why you think it's so glowing. The negative reviews harp on such insanely minute issues that they seem completely unreasonable in expectation. The moderate reviews are so middle of the road and inane that they offer even less help than the extreme reviews.
That and everybody is somehow an expert yet they have no background whatsoever in the "field of expertise".
It's waste of freakin' time.
...rant over.
Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you!
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you!
Post edited by Jstas on
Comments
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I especially hate the negative ones on amazon that don't even review the product itself. those stars for the product not the vendor that sold it so please dont' slam a good product with a 1 star review b/c the vendor took too long to ship or they weren't communicative enough for you.. Amazon has another system for rating their vendorsMain 2ch -
BlueSound Node->Ethereal optical cable->Peachtree Audio Nova 150->GoldenEar Triton 2+
TT - Pro-ject Classic SB with Sumiko Bluepoint.
TV 3.1 system -
Denon 3500 -> Dynaudio Excite 32/22 -
The worst reviews are the ones that are 10 times longer than they need to be to get the point across.
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Great rant! I got a big kick out of it and learned a bit too.
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This is what I picture the reviewer looks like when I'm reading the customer reviews.
Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
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This is what I picture the reviewer looks like when I'm reading the customer reviews.
Perhaps I'm just dense John but I don't get the above. Is there a link to something or is something supposed to popup? -
This is what it was supposed to be :
If you will it, dude, it is no dream. -
Geeez!:eek: Does that guy have a problem or was that face put on?
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Ah, I must have it cached. It appears fine for me.
For those that don't know, that's Robert Pattinson, he plays Edward Cullen, one of teh vampires from the Twilight movies. That was taken at his appearance at ComicCon last year. He's making a face in reaction to a question from the audience.Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
Well, that nicely sums up what most people probably think, but I think the word "rant" is a bit harsh; it seems to be based on what I would say is real-world experience. Still liked the verbage, though; good write-up.
I don't put much stock in reviews anyway, mainly because I always think in the back of my mind that the "reviewer" is probably a paid employee of the company that makes the product they're reviewing. My .02So, are you willing to put forth a little effort or are you happy sitting in your skeptical poo pile?
http://audiomilitia.proboards.com/ -
Don't read them. Problems solved."Just because youre offended doesnt mean youre right." - Ricky Gervais
"For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." - Stuart Chase
"Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago." - Bernard Berenson -
I rarely read a review and usually trust my superior intellect when I buy gear.
HAHA Jstas loves Robert Pattinson....LOL, I knew you were uber ****!CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint. -
Customer reviews are crap. Most of them are just average consumers with no basis of comparison, and many will make a product sound better than it is to justify their purchase to themselves. Some places though, like here or Audiogon, I put a little more value on because these are people who are more likely to know audio. Amazon reviews, pretty useless. I try not to buy things I can't see for myself, but that's getting difficult with online sales growing so much.- Jeremy
Amps: Jolida FX-10, NAD 3045, NAD C320BEE, Sansui G-9700
Speakers: Polk Monitor 7A's, KEF Reference 104aB
Sources: ProJect Debut Carbon, Sonos streaming FLAC -
When I offer a review....I give the whole truth, nothing but the truth and no holds barred. Whether it's good or bad? I don't care. I just offer my observations with no reservation.
I might be considered my own worst critic when it comes to my own system, truth be told...~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
I find it especially funny when people **** about something on a product that's broken, when it's actually something they just can't figure that out or a setting they haven't found yet, ran across this when I bought my Pioneer AVR
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I love customer reviews! You just have to determine the worth of the review. When I read something like "THIS IS PIECE OF CRAP AN I WOUD NOT BUY IT FO MY HO!" I tend to discount the review.
madmaxVinyl, the final frontier...
Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want...
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Jstas, if you want your head to explode read the Kindle reviews on Amazon sometime. I was trying to figure out if that's what I wanted to get my dad several months ago and the reviews were hilarious.
I always read a bunch of 5 star reviews and then a bunch of 1 star reviews to get both extremes. The 1 star reviews were pretty much nothing but people complaining about Amazon pulling the digital version of the book 1984 even after purchase.
What many failed to mention is they didn't have a choice (publisher) and that they refunded the money to their customers in full whether they read it or not. -
Reviews are useful for ferreting out the crap products. If you see enough people say that the product broke or performed like crap then you've got a good idea that the thing sucks. Otherwise people tend to rave about anything that works pretty much like it should. So if you want to be able to tell if this TV is better than that TV then forget it because everyone loves the hell out of their TV if it works OK. And yes, people tend to rave in order to justify their big purchases.SystemLuxman L-590AXII Integrated Amplifier|KEF Reference 1 Loudspeakers|PS Audio Directream Jr|Sansui TU-9900 Tuner|TEAC A-6100 RtR|Nakamichi RX-202 Cassette
