Yep if I get a particularly exceptional service or conversely a particularly bad one, I leave a review!!
I do write reviews; I believe they are helpful in making some purchase decisions. I have been an Amazon customer since 1997 and many years ago they contacted me to participate in their "Vine" program. That allowed me to choose from a selection of merchandise for free, as long as I wrote an objective review within 30 days of receipt. I got a lot of cool freebies, from vacuum cleaners to printers. I'm still a Vine participant but I am not as enthusiastic as I used to be.
Since I make decisions based on reviews, I feel it only fair to add mine after I've received the item.
Yes I posted one recently after ‘eating’ at a bistro ,I ordered the roast of the day what I received was nothing short of food that should have been binned I received slices of frozen corned beef like you buy in the deli at a supermarket ( I don’t eat or buy that ) The frozen beef had very lumpy cold white sauce on it .,with a handful of cold chips that’s not what I’d call a roast for $16 They had a salad bar with other hot / cold foods but I wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot pole I phoned the council to report unsafe food handling and the heath inspectors didn’t even know what corned beef was WHAT !!! and it’s obvious he didn’t do anything about it as it’s still just as bad from looking at reviews of this place and I never received a call back from him IMO you’d have to have a pretty hard gut to even think about eating there I’m fussy what I put into mouth,we often drive past the location when I’m the city it makes me feel sick just driving past the bistro
I write reviews on products that I have purchased after a month or so. I use to be quick in responding and then I find that the product wasn't all it claimed to be.
Like most my wife waits to see how whatever she buys matches what it's supposed to do. Something she has noticed. On Amazon some things she liked, gave positive feed back on & intended on buying again mysteriously increased in price.
I do leave reviews simply because a lot of my decisions are based on the reviews I read. If the item is great then I share that. If there is a problem with it I try to resolve that problem rather than give it a bad review. If the item is truly not what is should be then I give a not so good review. I also will give a good review to the seller - be it Amazon, Ebay or whoever because customer service is super important. If I order something and it takes weeks to get here then that goes into the review .. slow shipping so others are aware.
@Maggie Mae My wife believes strongly in the status of a seller's "feedback". Over 99% is acceptable to her. I wonder just how accurate those records are: way too many seem far too high to believe. Frank
I have to agree that some skepticism should enter the picture. And if you are willing to take a little time - read the reviews to see what the complaints really are. However there are a couple of things I always take into consideration. The volume of their sales. If they have into the 10's of thousands there are going to be a fair amount nit picky complaints. I also require that a location is shown to me. I have had really bad luck with those that simply say they are in the United States. Some of that stuff comes from the other side of the country and takes forever to arrive. So for me I look at the location, the percentage as well as the amount of items sold. I do prefer to stay with at least 97% and above.
With Amazon reviews, I often find that the one- and two-star complaints are often frivolous, or for reasons having nothing to do with the quality of the product. When an order is late, some people will review the product with one star because they're angry but that doesn't tell me anything about the product. If it came from a third-party seller, the one that I am thinking of buying isn't likely to come from the same seller, even. When someone gives a low rating because the product is damaged, that could be the fault of the shipping company. On the other hand, when a lot of people are complaining about receiving damaged goods, that's worth considering. On the other end of the review scale, I am suspicious of 5-star ratings if they don't give good reasons why the thing is so great.
I pass up yelp reviews and I'm a little suspicious of Amazon reviews. I've seen a lot of reviews and the statement, see my other reviews. Reminds of reviewers for hire. It does make me wonder what they get for their many reviews. I always read reviews but many I distrust. I buy mainly books on Amazon and I pay little attention if if all the reviews are high rated. I've read many on amazon that I think, they don't know beans about this book. But on some products what else do you have to go on, unless you can find multiple reviews elsewhere and compare. I sort of go with this advertissing theory, the more a product is advertised, the cless its value and thus its quality. But advertisers and marketers are generally good at what they do, go figure. Life's a gamble and so is shopping but sometime its fun. I don't often leave reviews, If its way out there on the edge of exceptional, good or bad, I tend to lead a review.