Amazon Reviews

[Bruce Wrenn]

I try to honestly review most of my Amazon purchases. Most are given a five star review because I did my homework before ordering and knew exactly what I was getting. Ease of installation is hard to do as it depends upon where product is going. Recently bought two batteries to go in jump boxes. One was a piece of cake to install, and the other definitely wasn't. Nothing to do with batteries, but how jump boxes were built. What bothers me though is buyers with complicated questions that don't contact the seller first. Fleck water softeners is the biggest one. Seller can tell you more about the unit than I can, even though we have one. But Amazon will put an item up for review before it's been shipped, so I can't review it. I'm a Vine member at Amazon, FYI

[Richard Coers]

No idea what a jump box is, but I guess I don't understand the post anyway. Won't that always accept a review?

[Clint Baxter]

I typically only do a review after I've had a chance to use the product, and I feel my comments are worth posting.

Amazon's habit of requesting me to review a purchase drives me nuts because the vast majority of the time, I have yet to even use the product. And that's assuming i've even received the item which over half the time they solicit the review, has yet to be delivered.

Clint

[Bruce Wrenn]

I typically only do a review after I've had a chance to use the product, and I feel my comments are worth posting.

Amazon's habit of requesting me to review a purchase drives me nuts because the vast majority of the time, I have yet to even use the product. And that's assuming i've even received the item which over half the time they solicit the review, has yet to be delivered.

Clint

I agree whole heartedly. Sometimes, it's a couple months before I actually get around to using product. Last year, I bought some "bent stem" inner tubes for my wheelbarrow, First installed no problems. Didn't install one for three months, well past return window. When I inflated second one (mounted) the stem ripped out of the tube. Had I done a review after installing first it would have definetely been different than after installing second.

[Patty Hann]

I agree whole heartedly. Sometimes, it's a couple months before I actually get around to using product. Last year, I bought some "bent stem" inner tubes for my wheelbarrow, First installed no problems. Didn't install one for three months, well past return window. When I inflated second one (mounted) the stem ripped out of the tube. Had I done a review after installing first it would have definetely been different than after installing second.

You can update your review(s).... not that I'm recommending you do that.
I think I have written 2 reviews.
(DELETE is my most-est favorite-est key )

[Alex Zeller]

I'm also a Vine reviewer and I often update my reviews down the road. I think Amazon wants us to review things within 30 days of ordering it (which isn't always practical). Sometimes I'll rate something higher after getting use to it, other times I'll just add a photo or drop it down if I think it's not as good or didn't last.

[Jim Koepke]

I ordered a switch from Amazon that arrived today. When reviewing my order I noticed a "Report any Issues" link (it may have been worded differently).

I noted how the description did not mention the current rating. It also didn't mention the connectors were made for a particular gauge of solid wire (I forgot to mention that in my report). I also mentioned that the description listed it as a single position switch. This is different than a switch to be found in most homes. It is designed to not need a junction box to mount in.

The switch has three circuits inside, one for ground, one for neutral and one for the line. The switch that needed replacing only had the line being switched. The ground and neutral were hard wired through.

The replacement switch had both the line and the neutral switched. The problem was they worked opposite of each other. When the neutral contact was closed the line would be open and vice versa. It was either not described properly or there was a defect in the manufacturing process. I'm thinking this could maybe work for a two-way circuit.

The shipping tracking was also kind of screwy.

jtk

[Dave Lehnert]

I purchased a security video camera because it received mostly 5 star reviews, The camera was only $45 and no monthly fee to view online. Very much a 5 star review in my book. I had it a very short time and received a letter in the mail from the seller offering me a $30 refund if I gave a 5 star review on Amazon.

[mike stenson]

I purchased a security video camera because it received mostly 5 star reviews, The camera was only $45 and no monthly fee to view online. Very much a 5 star review in my book. I had it a very short time and received a letter in the mail from the seller offering me a $30 refund if I gave a 5 star review on Amazon.

Yea, there are marketing companies that pay people to buy products from Amazon and give them reviews as well.

[Bill Howatt]

Not perfect by any means but better than nothing. When I read the reviews, the ones I hate are those that give it 5 stars because it arrived on time, nothing said about the product.
Alexa asks me for ratings but sometimes I don't catch the product she(it) is asking about. I say "repeat" and just get the "how many stars" question, does anybody know how to get a repeat of the product name?

[George Yetka]

I dont bother with amazon review most are paid for. For example I just typed battery jump pack and NOCO is the leader in reviews and the #1 is 95,000 reviews. My assumption is that they offered a $20 coupon for a positive review at some point

[Mark Wedel]

Whenever looking at reviews, I tend to focus on the 1 and 2 star reviews, since they might be useful. Most reviews are 4 or 5 star because people bought the product and it works, but the 1 and 2 stars review will be about failures of the product (eg, it broke, not well made, etc).

That said, sometimes even 1 and 2 star reviews are useless and not actually reviewing the product. A complaint like it was too costly - well, I don't know what you paid, but I can see what I'm paying and make that decision. Or complaints about lack of features - look at the specs for what features it has - don't complain that the TV set doesn't have 4 HDMI ports if the specs clearly says it only has 2.

I generally only leave negative reviews - I sort of feel that if I'm leaving reviews, I'm adding value to that site (usually amazon), and I'm not going to bother to do that for free.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Yea, there are marketing companies that pay people to buy products from Amazon and give them reviews as well.

That's how Amazon Vine works. They give you the product free, and you have to write reviews on a certain percentage of items received. Your reviews can be good, bad, or ugly, just honest. At the end of the year, reviewer (Vine) receives a 1099 for value of items gotten.

[mike stenson]

That's how Amazon Vine works. They give you the product free, and you have to write reviews on a certain percentage of items received. Your reviews can be good, bad, or ugly, just honest. At the end of the year, reviewer (Vine) receives a 1099 for value of items gotten.

yea, I'm referring specifically to marketing companies. Separate from Vine. Since it's the seller (not amazon) hiring the marketing companies, I'm not sure that there isn't bias. Intentional or inherent.

[Lee Schierer]

Whenever looking at reviews, I tend to focus on the 1 and 2 star reviews, since they might be useful. Most reviews are 4 or 5 star because people bought the product and it works, but the 1 and 2 stars review will be about failures of the product (eg, it broke, not well made, etc).

That said, sometimes even 1 and 2 star reviews are useless and not actually reviewing the product. A complaint like it was too costly - well, I don't know what you paid, but I can see what I'm paying and make that decision. Or complaints about lack of features - look at the specs for what features it has - don't complain that the TV set doesn't have 4 HDMI ports if the specs clearly says it only has 2.

I generally only leave negative reviews - I sort of feel that if I'm leaving reviews, I'm adding value to that site (usually amazon), and I'm not going to bother to do that for free.

I also look at the 1 and 2 star reviews. I also look at the percentage of low reviews as compared to the total number of reviews. I've also noted that many of the poor reviews are made by people that either can't read the product instructions or didn't pay attention to what they were actually buying. When in doubt, ask a question....though Amazon has eliminated the seller giving answers. Now you only get answers from previous buyers of the item, which may or may not be correct.