Why I don't trust online review sites

by 12 replies
14
There is alot of different kind of review sites around today, but I have hard time trusting any of them. Here's the main arguments I have against them.
  • Most sites review products they are affiliated to, they get money or products for doing it, or from the customers they bring in.
  • There's no way to know if visitor reviewing the product has an affiliation to the product/service he/she is reviewing.
  • Happy customers rarely seek out ways to that the company, so most visitors are looking ways to complain about their experience.
I the worst-case scenario an employee that publishes honest bad review, get fired for it. (ref. GameSpot reviewer Jeff Gerstmann)


Thoughts?
#off topic forum
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • It all depends.. there are bad and good people everywhere. I agree that it's much harder to trust a review online, but I mean a suggestion or two couldn't hurt. It would probably work better if there were a mutual exchange like barutiwa suggested. A win win concept is the way to go!
  • Same thing with tv commercials I guess. We see famous people endorsing products and we know they are paid but somehow we still believe on what they say.
  • I always try to get what appear to be unbiased reviews. If I want to check out software, for example, I go to Google and type the software's name in quotes and also the word "reply" or "forum". That way I tend to get search results for threads at forums where people are talking about their experiences with the software. Of course, you still have to determine whether that person might be affiliated with the software.

    Good luck!
  • well...there are few sites that do legit reviews...hard to find them though. I was gonna buy a phone from wirefly but after i read reviews i backed out...so there are a few.
  • because most of them are fake.
    online review sites are not doing review seriously many times.
    • [1] reply
    • I can see where you are coming from. I do not trust them either. It is business. These companies pays to get good reviews to attract customers. I say if you need to get review about a company, come to forum like this and post your question. You might most likely found someone that had interacted or knew something. you can also google the company. It will amaze you what you will find.
  • The worst (glowing) reviews actually come from forums like these.
    You see someone post in the forum "I've used this, it did this,yadda yadda yadda" and you think its legit when it really was posted by en employee or something.
  • to be completely honest, Im an affiliate marketer and i dont read online reviews. I usually check message boards or forums like this one if i want to buy something.
    • [1] reply
    • See above post.
  • Depends on what I am looking to buy, but I find that if I am buying a physical product (like a TV or a lawn mower, etc.) I read a TON of reviews to get an overall picture.

    However, I don't use a review site. I read the reviews on the shopping site, such as Amazon, or Best Buy, etc.

    On line products - I trust the word of an actual customer that I know personally. But I only look for those reviews if the product I am looking at is pricey. Typically, $97 and under, I will buy without a review if it either appeals to me, or is something that I was searching for to begin with.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • You have right it looks like they do this only for money, even if product is a scam.
  • I've also noticed that if there is a strong reason for not purchasing something, including software, there are usually a bunch of people bad-mouthing the item at forums. If I see many positive comments AND few or no negative comments, I feel pretty safe purchasing the item.
Join the discussion

Next Topics on Trending Feed

  • 14

    Why I don't trust online review sites

    There is alot of different kind of review sites around today, but I have hard time trusting any of them. Here's the main arguments I have against them. Most sites review products they are affiliated to, they get money or products for doing it, or from the customers they bring in. There's no way to know if visitor reviewing the product has an affiliation to the product/service he/she is reviewing. Happy customers rarely seek out ways to that the company, so most visitors are looking ways to complain about their experience. I the worst-case scenario an employee that publishes honest bad review, get fired for it. (ref. GameSpot reviewer Jeff Gerstmann)