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Pointless/useless online reviews

40 replies

toffeechai · 11/09/2022 11:02

This person has oh-so-helpfully left a four-star Amazon review for a book they haven’t actually read yet.

Just, why?

See also: people who say they haven’t used the item yet but leave a review about it being delivered.

Guess some people don’t realise it’s meant to be a product review. Anyone else seen any useless reviews lately?

Pointless/useless online reviews
OP posts:
toffeechai · 11/09/2022 14:39

MrsJamin · 11/09/2022 14:29

I manage a product and read our app reviews. Most of the time when reviewers leave one star it's because there's a quirk in their hardware that has a resulted in a bug in the software that we were unlikely to anticipate. Did they get in contact with us before the 1* review? Of course not, it's very very frustrating. People don't really consider that their reviews are read and that their ratings contribute to how new people perceive the product.

To be honest, trying to contact people about bugs is generally such a circuitous and torturous process that I don’t really blame people for this!

OP posts:
LoobyDop · 11/09/2022 14:48

I also think that ratings without even one or two words' comment as to why you gave it your rating should be got rid of - useless - especially as so many people seem to think that 1 star is great and 5 stars is rubbish, so you've no way of knowing that is actually their opinion.

I don’t mind clicking on a star rating, but a product, or the service I get from the seller, has to be really exceptional for me to be prepared to provide an actual review. It really pisses me off that there is this expectation that not only will I spend money on something, I will do some free marketing for them as well.

MrsJamin · 11/09/2022 14:49

All app listings have a support email address right next to where you can write a review - it's not hard to find.

Bluevelvetsofa · 11/09/2022 14:53

I’ve just had an invitation to review something , when I ordered it the day before and it isn’t due to be delivered for a couple of weeks.

AntiHop · 11/09/2022 14:58

Like @User354354 I've seen loads of "I bought this for my granddaughter, I'm sure she's going to love it!" Just why!!!

BeyondMyWits · 11/09/2022 14:59

Amazon, argos etc often send requests for reviews on the actual delivery day. They will get a pretty useless review in response because I know that if I don't send one I'll get another email next day, and the next, and the next....

ClumpingBambooIsALie · 11/09/2022 15:02

RunsLikeaLittleFatDuck · 11/09/2022 14:10

"Bought this for my wife and she loves it."
Yeah thanks for that ... great help!

Surely this one is okay — the person it was for thinks it's good.

I mean, there's not a lot of detail, but it is actually a meaningful and relevant review, unlike "bought it for my sister, hope she likes it" or "never arrived, 1 star".

toffeechai · 11/09/2022 15:05

MrsJamin · 11/09/2022 14:49

All app listings have a support email address right next to where you can write a review - it's not hard to find.

No, they don’t.

OP posts:
toffeechai · 11/09/2022 15:06

They’re supposed to but some just send you round in circles, to useless FAQ pages, etc.

OP posts:
ChimChimeny · 11/09/2022 15:13

BeyondMyWits · 11/09/2022 14:59

Amazon, argos etc often send requests for reviews on the actual delivery day. They will get a pretty useless review in response because I know that if I don't send one I'll get another email next day, and the next, and the next....

Alexa asks us weeks later so DH & I occasionally look at each other confused because we can't remember what it was Grin

ChimChimeny · 11/09/2022 15:14

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

You ask Alexa to play your notification rather than her just piping up out of the blue

Vapeyvapevape · 11/09/2022 15:21

Poor review because:

"Size 12 was sold out so I bought a size 10 , doesn't fit me"

LemonDrizzles · 11/09/2022 15:31

Work2live · 11/09/2022 11:50

“Bought as a gift for my sister, I think she’ll like it.”

Code for: I got paid to write this review

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 11/09/2022 19:48

All app listings have a support email address right next to where you can write a review - it's not hard to find.

Part of the problem with reviews, though, is that every company/product seems to think theirs is the only one you've bought that month. I get why they want the reviews, but if you order a dozen cheap mundane items in a short space of time, it's wearying to then receive requests for 12 reviews of things that have barely made a noticeable dint in your enjoyment of your life.

They're the commerce equivalent of all the charities that want 'just £3 a month' from you and patronisingly inform you how much that is compared with a cup of coffee or a sandwich. When you have 20 charities all asking the same (and it's only ever a foot-in-the-door low amount before they soon tell you they're going to increase it significantly), it's quite a considerable amount out of your budget; especially considering that they expect you to donate just because they've asked for it, rather than thinking you might like to actively choose which charities to support yourself.

I'm old enough to remember the days of mail order shopping, where you had the faff of writing a cheque (or getting a postal order), filling in the form, taking an envelope to the post box and then waiting 28 days to receive your item. Nowadays, we're so used to the convenience of getting what you want delivered to your door the next day with just a couple of clicks.... BUT the constant requests for reviews for every item - as well as often for the delivery company who brought it as well - do rather detract from the convenience and simplicity of buying online in the first place and effectively just serve as an efficiency tax.

DancingBudgie · 11/09/2022 23:56

John W. Osborne Jr.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Veet -- the Men's Hair Removal Gel Creme (from hell) . . .
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 July 2012
After having been told my danglies looked like an elderly rastafarian I decided to take the plunge and buy some of this as previous shaving attempts had only been mildly successful and I nearly put my back out trying to reach the more difficult bits.

Being a bit of a romantic I thought I would do the deed on the missus's birthday as a bit of a treat.I ordered it well in advance and working in the North sea I considered myself a bit above some of the characters writing the previous reviews and wrote them off as soft office types...oh my fellow sufferers how wrong I was.

I waited until the other half was tucked up in bed and after giving some vague hints about a special surprise I went down to the bathroom. Initially all went well and I applied the gel and stood waiting for something to happen. I didn't have long to wait.

At first there was a gentle warmth which in a matter of seconds was replaced by an intense burning and a feeling I can only describe as like being given a barbed wire wedgie by two people intent on hitting the ceiling with my head.

Religion hadn't featured much in my life until that night but I suddenly became willing to convert to any religion to stop the violent burning around the turd tunnel and what seemed like the destruction of the meat and two veg.

Struggling to not bite through my bottom lip I tried to wash the gel of in the sink and only succeeded in blocking the plughole with a mat of hair.Through the haze of tears I struggled out of the bathroom across the hall into the kitchen by this time walking was not really possible and I crawled the final yard to the fridge in the hope of some form of cold relief.

I yanked the freezer drawer out and found a tub of ice cream, tore the lid of and positioned it under me. The relief was fantastic but only temporary as it melted fairly quickly and the fiery stabbing soon returned.

Due to the shape of the ice cream tub I hadn't managed to give the starfish any treatment and I groped around in the draw for something else as I was sure my vision was going to fail fairly soon. I grabbed a bag of what I later found out was frozen sprouts and tore it open trying to be quiet as I did so. I took a handful of them and tried in vain to clench some between the cheeks of my arse.

This was not doing the trick as some of the gel had found it's way up the chutney channel and it felt like the space shuttle was running it's engines behind me.This was probably and hopefully the only time in my life I was going to wish there was a gay snowman in the kitchen which should give you some idea of the depths I was willing to sink to in order to ease the pain.

The only solution my pain crazed mind could come up with was to gently ease one of the sprouts where no veg had gone before.

Unfortunately, alerted by the strange grunts coming from the kitchen the other half chose that moment to come and investigate and was greeted by the sight of me, arse in the air, strawberry ice cream dripping from my bell end pushing a sprout up my arse while muttering..." Ooooh that feels good "

Understandingly this was a shock to her and she let out a scream and as I hadn't heard her come in it caused an involuntary spasm of shock in myself which resulted in the sprout being ejected at quite some speed in her direction.

I can understand that having a sprout farted against your leg at 11 at night in the kitchen probably wasn't the special surprise she was expecting and having to explain to the kids the next day what the strange hollow in the ice cream was didn't improve my status...

So to sum it up Veet removes hair, dignity and self respect.

Nothing beats this review though. I hope he's recovered 😂😂

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