AIBU to be fed up of reviews. Everywhere, for everything.

[Fourscoreandtwitter]

I know they are useful but I am sick of being paralysed by indecision for every small purchase. How much of my life is wasted reading reviews for trivial items (water bottles, memory cards, socks...) and don’t even start me on trip advisor.

This hotel is our favourite in the area - we have a wonderful romantic getaway here every anniversary being spoilt by the attentive staff, eating delicious food etc.

Same hotel

This hotel is terrible. Don’t waste your money. Rude staff, dirty swimming pool, inedible food.

I literally read two reviews like this of the same hotel the other day .

I hate the Amazon/eBay ones that talk about the bloody postage and not the product! Or the ones that give 3 stars because it was a gift & they don't know if the recipient liked it!

Or "It was really tasty, ut it was just a chocke" 3 star one. Well, don't order a chicken then!

, ut it was just a chocke
But it was just a chicken 😂 No one chocked 😂

First time I visited Toronto my then DP booked a hotel as part of an ice hockey tour, I checked trip advisor and from the reviews tried to switch to another hotel! The reviews were awful and I Half expected to be stabbed in the hallways from the reviews they were that bad.

When we arrived we happened to check in at the same time as a MLB team who were in town to play that weekend the hotel was great and I’ve never really trusted trip advisor since but I do add my reviews to it on the off chance that someone will read them and it helps

First time I visited Toronto my then DP booked a hotel as part of an ice hockey tour, I checked trip advisor and from the reviews tried to switch to another hotel! The reviews were awful and I Half expected to be stabbed in the hallways from the reviews they were that bad.

When we arrived we happened to check in at the same time as a MLB team who were in town to play that weekend the hotel was great and I’ve never really trusted trip advisor since but I do add my reviews to it on the off chance that someone will read them and it helps

Review of thread: D- to all. Must try harder.

Yanbu. Irritates me too. I definitely see why in some cases it's useful but after buying almost anything online now you get a 'please review' email.

I recently bought a security device online, posted a review when prompted about the quality of said item then was sent a follow up email asking me to elaborate. Was so tempted to respond with something like "It's not been nicked yet, so so guess it worked!"

@kitchendancefloor

I think you just need to take them with a pinch of salt. Sometimes interesting when the hotel/attraction replies, showing that some of them really want good reviews.

'I bought it as a present so haven't tried if it works, but packaging looks nice'

Hotel we recently visited: 'The sea was a bit rough but that's not entirely the fault of the hotel'

There's a thread in classics about reviews on trip advisor, very funny.

I think the celebrity canvas review was this Paul Ross one.

I follow a page on Facebook that is for recommendations for family days out and it's full of people asking for tips or what to expect when they get to chosen place. It's like they can't just turn up and see what it's like for themselves, they have to know every last detail.

AirBnB ratings always seem suspiciously good

I used to trust Amazon ones before but now you have to eliminate lots of influencer or fake ones.

I like reviews, especially tripadvisor. I’m a very fussy eater and have been disappointed by friends recommending restaurants before so now I just read about them. I hate paying for good that’s the same /worse quality than something I could’ve cooked.
You can usually filter out the idiots (wrong type of sand.... 😂)

I remember years ago planning a trip to a jungle retreat in Costa Rica. Lots of people on Trip Advisor giving accommodation bad reviews because they didn't have direct dial phones, mini bars or broadband....in the middle of a jungle

I have several friends who will not eat anywhere that isn't heavily reviewed (and approved of) on Trip Advisor. It gets a bit wearing when I suggest a place and get told "it's not on TA, I don't fancy it", even if I have been to the restaurant, scoped out the atmosphere and the menu, and used my generally good levels of human intuition to decide it would suit our needs.

The other thing with TA is that a lot of users are American. And I think that skews the reviews a bit. I have lots of American friends and have travelled widely in the US and talked to hundreds of nice locals. But I think that often they prioritise different things from Brits. eg portion sizes, or friendliness of waitress, or free coffee refills. Those things aren't important to me so I would ignore a 1⭐️ if that was the reason for it. My friends tend not to bother with actually reading the reviews...they just reject places with too many low ratings.

I have been an Airbnb host and more lately an Etsy seller and reviews are probably the thing I like least about either!

Transparency is great but the bad reviews tend to be pretty random and often come from the people you work hardest to please.

Some guests from the US complained in a review that I lived on a hill. Yes, just as it says in the description! What upset me though was there was no mention of all the extras I'd given them (they were keen birdwatchers so I sorted a river trip where they could look for kingfishers). Magicking up a bloody kingfisher for a guest is like giving them the moon on a stick! But no. Just complaints.

It's the same with Etsy - not many bad reviews but when they do appear they're pretty random. One buyer wrote that she was unhappy the cushion I made had a plain back and gave me 2 stars. The description and photos clearly showed the plain back!

I'm not cut out for reviews, but it's a by product of the world we live in and I need to grow a thicker skin!

Ooh I love reviews on airbnb... I only book ones that have a high proportion of decent ones. I agree it must be frustrating when you get unfair poor reviews but surely if it's a good place the trend will be really good overall anyway and anomalies will be clear? I especially like to book ones rated 'superhosts' due to their great reviews.

I was when I saw people left reviews for McDonald's! I mean really?

I hate when people ask for reviews on perfectly normal items. Someone in my fb group just asked for recommendations for a water bottle for her child. Apparently reading the reviews on Amazon wasn't enough information and she just couldn't buy a water bottle without consulting us all on Facebook first. FFS! Just buy any old bottle! What could possibly go wrong??

I give this thread 1.75 out of 5 stars. Sorry OP.

I've just realised its because of the little tips people leave rather than the review itself. For example someone might say if you turn right outside of the campsite you'll find a phone box

Yes, I like the reviews for this too. I've picked up many valuable and handy tips/links this way from Trip Advisor reviews.

Hotel reviews also saved me from booking hotels that advised free wifi. I actual fact, the free wifi was for only 30 minutes a day, which is totally unacceptable. The hotel didn't supply that information anywhere at at all, either on its own websites or third party booking sites, so the multiple reviews mentioning that were incredibly valuable. Ditto hotels that advertise themselves as non-smoking, but forget to mention they do in fact have a smoking floor. Again, totally unacceptable, and not hotels I would ever consider giving my business too.