To ask people who haven't used a product to NOT review it?!

[HashtagTired]

One helpful review "I bought this for my nephew, I'm sure he will love it"

Another "I got this as a gift..."

is that meant to help me? Am I meant to go and buy it just because you have?
NO! IT ISN'T HELPFUL. Don't give it 5 stars if you haven't experienced the item!

Rant over.

I was once offered a product for free, if I reviewed the product on their Facebook and website but they wanted to review before they gave me the product.

I never did it. I can't review a product I haven't used.

Oh yes. "Bought as a present, looked good, haven't used". How is that helpful?

Also pointless are bad reviews of the quality of an item purely because buyer or recipient didn't like it; "seemed well made and sturdy, easy to erect, but could only give this cat tunnel 2/5 as tigger has no interest in playing with it". Err, just because it wasn't LIKED, doesn't make it CRAP!

I hear ya.
Another peeve of mine is bad reviews for no real reason. Years ago I looked at a lawnmower of all things. Over 70 outstanding reviews of how bleeding wonderful it was but a number of bad one star reviews as well. But none of the bad reviews were from people who had actually USED it. "The plastic looks flimsy and I returned it immediately for something sturdier" Not a single complaint of it actually breaking or anything, just ones saying how they reckoned it "will break".
Incidentally, I've owned one for 5 years now and it still starts first time 😂 and hasn't broken once.

Buy it, use it then review it. It's not that difficult to understand, right?

I know, so annoying on amazon.

Or "it arrived but I haven't used it" 4 stars. THAT IS NOT HELPFUL

"The product is amazing but the Yodle delivery person left it behind the bush" 1 star THIS IS NOT HELPFUL

I was thinking exactly the same yesterday as I want to buy some ski goggles specifically for when the light is bad - I have good sunglasses and goggles already for sunshine. It is difficult to buy this sort of thing as you can't really test before you use them! Looking out at the carpark is not equivalent to looking at a mountain of snow!

So many people reviewed them before trying them "they seem comfortable" WTF - can you actually bloody see with them if the light is bad???

I also take bad reviews with a pinch of salt too unless they're not alone. A friend with a rather unique business once had some genuinely nasty customers who wrote a lengthy review on a popular review site accusing her shop of attacking their service pet, disability discrimination and all manner of other horrible things. Her CCTV of course vindicated her completely but as she couldn't upload that to the review site she could only reply and it was her word against theirs. It did damage her rating considerably.
As it turns out, they were owners of a similar business and wanted to damage hers to further their own. Get rid of the competition so to speak.

@DSHathawayGivesMeFannyGallops yes, the 2 star reviews for cat products because Mr Tigger didn't like it! So annoying!

@alibongo5 Get yourself a pair of gogs with Oakly HI Yellow lenses... life changing.

I was reading one yesterday:

“I ordered the wrong one but couldn’t be bothered to send it back” One star.

How is it Amazon’s fault you’re a lazy fucker?

Ooh thanks @FluffyWuffy100 - will go and look now!

All this reviews are the fault of the bloody insistent “please leave us a rating or review” emails you get after purchasing - it would be way more helpful to remind buyers after 6 months instead of instantly. How can you review anything the moment you receive it, after all?

But yes - maddening. And baffling the people who answer the questions with a pointless “I’m not sure” answer.

Haha. Oh yes, the questions on amazon. Reminds me of when I was looking to buy a laminator a while ago and saw this helpful question...

Oh, this infuriates me! I'm a writer and I had PERFECT 5 star ratings across the board for a book until someone came on and gave it one star - she had bought the Kindle edition and she didn't have a Kindle so it was of no use to her . Obviously my fault . . .

I

Oh YANBU!! I hate this, they give it five stars for being delivered and haven’t used it yet!! It’s really annoying!!!

As for Amazon reviews.........

I have a friend who was on the Amazon Vine program - this meant that he was sent about 5 items a month (or perhaps more) for free by Amazon to review. He writes very well and his reviews always got good results. As a result of this he had traders from China getting in touch with him directly with stuff for him to review on Amazon.
He now gets about 2 or 3 parcels a day with stuff needing to be reviewed. Everything from USB leads and pencils to a 3D printer. He has a whole double garage full of this stuff.

I had similar though Ocado. But I dropped out after about 6 months as all the things I had to review were things I couldn't use.

What I hate is when people review clothes and say stuff like "quite snug so I ordered a 14" okey.....so what is your usual size????

To be honest @DownHereInTheHorridHouse if I read her review I'd be laughing at what a dink she is rather than see it as a slur on you (and yes, I'm curious to know what your oil is!).

I HATE these! Some are amusing though.

The ones I find the most baffling are the ones where the reviewer leaves a really long negative review, describing the stuff they didn’t like about the product because they ordered the wrong thing. There’s one on a Kindle on Amazon, and it’s like WTF man, send it back and get the one you wanted?!

used this item every day for six years and it fell to pieces! Not worth the money!

• reviewing some £10 piece of tat.

The material on this dress feels really cheap

Well, you did only pay £6 for it.

Theres a woman who reads the same kind of books as me and I often see her reviews. Always one star with the words Good Book. One star??

@LifeLaundry loads of those on Very!

“Love this top, looks lovely, washes well, dress up or down - bought it in all four colours” - one star