So Many Businesses Loading up on Fake Reviews, What's Your Take?

LunleadedFuel on 24/03/2023 - 10:50

I see so many businesses these days simply loading up on fake reviews. What's your take on this? Do you even trust reviews anymore?

I think those 5 golden stars have an irresistible conscious or unconscious impact on purchase decisions so this is a serious consumer issue. For businesses it seems to be a fake review arms race.

This epidemic seems to infecting every industry these days from restaurants, to services to ecommerce. I recently had a terrible experience with a solar company who had an overwhelming amount of 5 star reviews. When I made my displeasure apparent with a negative review, it promptly got buried under the avalanche of positive reviews they were pumping out.

Platform-based reviews like Google are equally susceptible to fakery but it gives the customer another false layer of assurance.

It seems to be a wild west out there and regulators are clearly too slow to respond.

What does the community think of this? Can you tell if a review is fake? Do you still buy from the business? Does your subconscious compel you to still do business with them?

Poll Options expired

  • 7
    I look at the rating, read and trust all reviews
  • 7
    I look at the rating, read and trust only reviews on sites like Google, Amazon, Product Review
  • 239
    I look at the rating and read but don't trust reviews
  • 2
    I look at the rating but don't read reviews
  • 6
    I don't look at the rating and don't read reviews
  • 6
    Reviews should be banned
General Discussion

Comments

  • HardQuiz on 24/03/2023 - 10:54
    +9

    I was good at spotting fake reviews, now :(

    https://youtu.be/1kXrQ5Nl9Wg

  • Gunnar on 24/03/2023 - 10:59
    +17

    I read the level of detail in a review and the rating (in that order).

    If they've written something that is obviously well thought out and very specific to the business I'd be inclined to believe it.

    A 5 star review with the words "A+, highly recommended" I take with a grain of salt

    Ditto for negative reviews. For example if someone leaves a one star review and the comment "I ordered a 65 degree egg and it was 64 degrees" then I tend to think the problem is with the customer and not the business

    • TEER3X on 26/03/2023 - 07:16

      A 5 star review with the words "A+, highly recommended" I take with a grain of salt

      why? I feel like most people wouldn't go into too much detail when being auto-pestered to write a review

      • xsacha on 26/03/2023 - 12:37
        +1

        Then those reviews aren't as informative

      • photonbuddy on 26/03/2023 - 15:42
        +2

        auto-pestered to write a review

        I always leave a review if pestered to do so. A negative one, of course 😈

    • spedohero on 26/03/2023 - 19:33
      +2

      A+, highly recommended Comment!!

    • furyou on 27/03/2023 - 18:47

      seriously tho, for these huge companies with 2000+ reviews I wouldn't use Google reviews as a standard. Google reviews only good for small local business and not volume business.

      But search for other sites where people only sign up to whinge, see what the whinge is about and whether it's consistent.

  • 87percent on 24/03/2023 - 11:06
    +34

    worse reviews are people who say like "looks good, can't wait to use it", or with cooking receipes "i swapped out the chicken with beef, the corn with brocolli, the salt with vinegar and my family absolutely loved it!"

    • JimmyF on 24/03/2023 - 14:41
      +7

      Or my other fav with with cooking recipe reviews.

      I swapped out the chicken with sawdust, the corn with dirt, the didn't add the salt and my family absolutely hated it! 1 star.

      • baskinghobo on 26/03/2023 - 16:45
        +1

        My favorite is the excellent service, will go there again (1 star).

    • furyou on 27/03/2023 - 18:48

      on aliexpress, when trying to work out if sth is fake

      5 star - "it arrived, haven't tried it"
      5 star - "it's the right color, haven't opened it yet"

  • MantistobogganMD on 24/03/2023 - 11:10
    +5

    i wonder if the Solar company was Hello solar ….. we had a dreadful experience with these guys but their reviews are great :D

    • TEER3X on 26/03/2023 - 07:17
      -2

      Must be, out of the millions of companies, you've obviously hit the nail on the head.

  • SF3 on 24/03/2023 - 11:12
    +4

    need to trust your own spider sense.

  • Master Bates on 24/03/2023 - 11:33
    +42

    Don't read the 5 star reviews, always read the 1, 2 and 3 star reviews for actual intel.

    • freefall101 on 24/03/2023 - 11:39
      +12

      This, treat it like dating - it's all about looking for the red flags. If the one star reviews are things like "terrible toaster, it blew up the first time I tried to use it in the shower" or "I ordered this on Dec 31st and it took 4 days to arrive" then it's probably pretty good.

      If there's a dozen reviews where it broke within the first 2 months due to cheap plastic, red flag.

      • JIMB0 on 24/03/2023 - 13:45
        +8

        I'm sus if there's none of the Karen type reviews. It means that are removing any negative reviews. Even the best business still get bad reviews from difficult customers.

        • xsacha on 26/03/2023 - 12:41
          +1

          Yep. I was looking at reviews once and saw them literally deleted Infront of my eyes (it was for a mattress on ProductReview).

          There's some loophole where 1) you can remove a customer review if they haven't provided evidence of purchase or 2) you can remove a customer review if they haven't taken up the offer of refund within the 180 day free trial.

          Then I noticed they only had 5 star reviews. Don't trust any review site now.
          Look only at which 1-4 star reviews they have left. None is a red flag.

    • kraigg on 25/03/2023 - 08:27
      +2

      I do something similar, but I weed out 1 star and 5 star reviews, as they can be highly emotive or more prone to fakery.

    • whatgift on 28/03/2023 - 10:06

      I’m generally suspicious of one star reviews - they are either from rivals or from a Karen who is totally irrational.

  • Johnsmithaus on 24/03/2023 - 11:36
    +2

    Somehow they always manage to remove negative ones too, I basically gave up on trusting reviews in any direction, positive or negative.

  • iNeed2Pee on 24/03/2023 - 11:36
    +4

    I only read the reviews about the cleanliness of the toilets.

    • HardQuiz on 24/03/2023 - 11:44
      +3

      Username checks out.

      Does it matter if you’re a male ?

  • Some Human on 24/03/2023 - 11:44
    +8

    I only look at the negative reviews. If they're obviously just some Karens with impossibly high standards, I flag them as irrelevant.
    I have only ever left a negative review once and that was for some run down looking pub that wouldn't even serve us or look at us. Others had left similar reviews. A review left suspiciously not long after mine basically stated it was a "classy establishment" for upper class people.
    Could have fooled me. Place looked like a run of the mill pub. They could have lied and said, "sorry, we're booked out", but chose to ignore us while we stood there watching other people get served. No class there.

    • Transient on 24/03/2023 - 12:48
      +8

      When I want to buy something, I also read the negative reviews. I already think it is a good product (the pros), therefore I am trying to find out the bad points (the cons), then do a cost benefit analysis. For example, I thought the Heymix chargers were good and was looking at buying. Then I read all the bad reviews, which changed my mind.

      • Some Human on 24/03/2023 - 12:54
        +3

        Yeah I've done that a few times, too. It's good advice.

  • geek001 on 24/03/2023 - 11:52
    +10

    Everyone knows the best Asian restaurants sits at about 3.5 rating.

    • Gunnar on 24/03/2023 - 14:20
      +4

      LMAO so true; and the one star ratings are from someone with a 'Karen Smith' name complaining about service, rudeness, or the fact no one speaks English

  • lostgoat on 24/03/2023 - 11:53

    Ebay it's so easy for merchants to do a call and get rid of the negs :)

    • Some Human on 24/03/2023 - 21:23

      It sure is, especially when it's been left there without just cause.

  • pharkurnell on 24/03/2023 - 12:14

    is there any point in looking at ratings and not reading reviews or trusting either of them…

  • altomic on 24/03/2023 - 12:19
    +1

    Read this posts title - 5 stars

  • kekw on 24/03/2023 - 12:23
    +2

    I don't even trust my friends reviews. A lot of times they will say this place is shet, that place serve crap etc. But when I actually experienced it myself, most are actually not as bad as they described lol

    • Some Human on 24/03/2023 - 21:25

      My friend: you have to try this pizza joint - it's the best!
      Me: what scientific method do you think they used to extract all the flavour from this "pizza". Seriously, I don't know how they could get pizza so wrong.

    • Ultimate Gattai on 26/03/2023 - 22:48

      I don't even trust some of my friends for reviews because our tastes vary so wildly, especially when it comes to food, it took alot of convincing to get them to try Mexican just once (and they loved it, they've never thought to try Mexican before in their 25+ years of life).

  • jv on 24/03/2023 - 12:24
    +8

    What's Your Take?

    Usually 20%.

  • trilby on 24/03/2023 - 12:38
    +1

    What has happened is that only 5 star review are acceptable - as if every product or experience has to be excellent - why can't they be very good, good or just average.
    I posted a 1 star review about an experience at Ivanhoe wines and after a terse reply from them, there were many 5 star reviews - most from first time reviewers!

    • lostgoat on 24/03/2023 - 12:51

      Reminds me if you cant remove a Ebay neg . Buy 100's of Chinese goodies from different merchants for peanuts to dilute it away :)

    • jacross on 25/03/2023 - 08:55

      Reminds me of the day I went to my tattoo artist to do a session for the sleeve I was getting and someone had given him like a 2 star review or something. It was like someone had declared war on them.

      He had a very high rating (perhaps perfect or something) but more importantly a steller reputation at least in terms of the quality of work so I can understand a need to protect that but boy oh boy… He was furious!

      They were contacting google to see if it could be removed. They were hunting through their emails to figure out who it was. They were concocting plans to scrub it or get them to remove it.

      I'm not sure I got the full six hours of tattoo work I paid for that day but I did get a lot of mirth. Tattoo artists are a crazy breed anyway.

      • pegaxs on 25/03/2023 - 11:32
        +2

        Didn't get your full 6 hours?? Should have left a 2⭐ review…

        • jacross on 26/03/2023 - 09:47

          Well he is very upfront that he isn't going to be pushing it out nonstop for six hours, which is understandable. I don't want him to get tired. I"m happy for him to stop for a minute to discuss a conspiracy theory, religion, whether Eminem's freestyle diss of Trump was good or not, the drone he just bought, the Mustang he just bought, the turbocharger he just bought for said Mustang, whether he should have bought a supercharger instead, and all sorts of other peculiar topics. Or just to rest.

          It serves a better finished artistic product.

          But yeah that day he seemed particularly distracted. I just think it is all part of the process when you are engaging in a complicated piece that requires many hours.

          Plus…yeah not going to do that haha. I saw the consequences first hand.

  • Seraphin7 on 24/03/2023 - 13:49
    +1

    The problem this generates is that it (IMHO) makes it even harder for genuine operators to get a start. If they actually have a great product/service/business, many people simply won't believe the reviews and will shy away. The result being that barriers to entry remain high and crappy products backed by corporate outfits that can get into mainline stores get protected as distribution of new and innovative solutions gets further stymied.

  • pegaxs on 24/03/2023 - 14:38
    +3

    I read reviews but instantly dismiss all the 5 star as being fake and all the 1 star as being pissed off customers. The sweet spot is that 2 to 4 stars.

    • whatgift on 28/03/2023 - 10:09

      This is the way - the middle reviews are people who can rate a product without emotion and be balanced in their criticisms.

  • JimmyF on 24/03/2023 - 14:43

    overwhelming amount of 5 star reviews

    If a product has an overwhelming amount of 5 star reviews and no 4/3/2/1 star reviews, then yes I pretty much assume they are 'fake'. Rarely can any product please everyone. So if it, then most likely fake.

    I normally focus in on the 3/2/1 star reviews as these are the real ones that tell you what is wrong with it. Sometimes just user error or not reading what they are buying, sometimes real issues, like the product breaks easily.

  • payless69 on 24/03/2023 - 15:08
    +5

    Productreview rates Ozbargain at 2.8 stars.
    Scott still trying to mobilize some bikies?

    • lostgoat on 24/03/2023 - 15:10

      He should put a link and direct the boys here to fix it up .

    • mbck on 24/03/2023 - 15:18

      Huh? What were they complaining about?

    • meong on 26/03/2023 - 08:39
      +1

      Thanks for pointing it out… It got me to check the reviews and reading them… I had a good laugh!

      • payless69 on 26/03/2023 - 09:57

        Productreview is actively engaged in a commercial activity and using its power to rubbish its competitors. A bit like Gerry H. asking oldies to sell their homes and buy his shares because his red haired female dog is never getting enough!!!

        • Protractor on 26/03/2023 - 10:50

          There's probably a bit of payback punishment coming from the dweeb trolls who get sin binned here, signing up to PR to bag Ozbargain.
          On a different level, I think some of the Trust Pilot Reviews on the same product/s, stack up closer to reality than PReview.
          I have called out a fake 5 star review that followed a 2* review I gave about a furniture retailer.
          ( Drove a 3 hour round trip to buy stock they didn't have ,but was told multiple times they did)
          PR mods took down the fake review. Mind you that's not common, because there's heaps of fake reviews up there.
          The fake one was a blatant bandaid measure from someone in or close to the store involved.
          If a barrage of glowing 5 star reviews from brand new members, follow a shocker, I take note. If the fresh 5 star ones are first time reviews, it's worth noting. I guess if they never come back it's a 'sign' .

          EDIT. the OZB review at PR by sherdog is almost identical in it's language to a recent sin binned OP on OZB.
          I'd say the pattern is kicked off WPool, kicked off OZB, drop bad review, use fake sign up and come back to OZB to rinse and repeat cos WPool block is more rigid

    • scotty on 28/03/2023 - 08:05

      We can actually link most of those 1 or 2-star reviews on ProductReview to an account or an incident on OzBargain. Just can't be bothered to respond to those, unless the reviews were given to the wrong store. We had people leaving a review complaining about a product or a store, without realising OzBargain is actually not a retailer. We reported those and ProductReview often fixed them up quickly.

  • mbck on 24/03/2023 - 15:18

    I look at how often the get reviews. If it's 50 in a day, maybe not.

    But if it's every one in a while, that would be somewhat trustworthy

  • Oofy Doofy on 24/03/2023 - 15:36

    I look at ratings and read reviews, more as building data points, so I can look into things myself and then make up my own mind.

    I expect less in others and trust more in myself.

  • harshbdmmaster718 on 24/03/2023 - 16:40

    Isn't it normal?? Business isn't going so well, so they pay a service to farm 4 and 5 star reviews.

    That's why when you see something with an overall rating of 1 or 2 stars it's a red flag (farming couldn't help).

    • harshbdmmaster718 on 24/03/2023 - 17:33

      Forgot to say "normal since before covid". I think this has always been happening, it's not just businesses doing tough after covid. Could be a shop that just opened, and just isn't getting as many customers as they expected. So they do the ratings "Boost".

  • unleadedFuel on 24/03/2023 - 16:44
    +3

    2 tricks I use now are:

    • For platform-based reviews, see how many other reviews a person has left. Often on sites lilke Google people make fake profiles just to leave one review
    • If reviews have images, do a reverse image search. You will be surprised how often businesses just use stock images to add proof
    • lostgoat on 24/03/2023 - 16:49

      Surely genuine people with incentives can be guided to place as many 5 star reviews as your $$$$$$$$ can buy .

    • xsacha on 26/03/2023 - 12:45

      Too much effort.

    • baskinghobo on 26/03/2023 - 16:51

      To add onto this, I usually check the person's other reviews to see if they have ever left any negative reviews. Although this obviously won't stop people leaving good reviews on their friend's business but it is a good starts.

  • AustriaBargain on 24/03/2023 - 16:49
    +4

    I take negative reviews regarding enforcing mask mandates to be a badge of honour for a business.

    • coffeeinmyveins on 25/03/2023 - 04:51

      haha yes! "They wouldn't let me in if I wasn't wearing a mask in the middle of a pandemic"

  • El cheepo on 24/03/2023 - 17:58
    +1

    I look at the most recent reviews, they need to be specific for me to even consider them mildly legit or trustworthy…

    stuff like:
    Amazing food
    Best restaurant ever
    Best blah blah blah in town… don’t mean squat.

    Same goes for 1 star reviews, can spot karens a mile out usually.

    Basically anyone looking at reviews beyond the plain star rating should be able to pick up if they are real or not quite easily.
    All 5 star reviews come from single review accounts… sus
    All 5s are non specific… sus
    Plus other basic things most people check anyway.

  • jm7 on 24/03/2023 - 19:10

    On Google, reviews always sort by 'most relevant', I always change it to 'newest first' and ignore the reviews that are written by profiles with 1 review. If a place has alot of fake reviews I tend to avoid it.

    • HardQuiz on 24/03/2023 - 20:33
      +1

      Watch this video

      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/13538890/redir

      • jm7 on 24/03/2023 - 21:57

        Thanks! Hopefully Google remove all the fake reviews!

    • Hangryuman on 27/03/2023 - 16:23
      -1

      'I always change it to 'newest first' and ignore the reviews that are written by profiles with 1 review'

      yeah I start with 'newest first' - restaurants tend to go downhill after 2 years, so older reviews tend to be irrelevant

      if the first page is all 5-star I stop reading and assume they're fake/paid for/the business needs to advertise so I avoid it.

      I ignore all the 1-star reviews or low review numbers and look for Google Local Guide reviewers with hundreds of reviews

      and then read them carefully for their observations

      after newest, I might re-sort by 'lowest first' - and then look for Google Local Guides

      as an example I just googled Rockpool near Sydney's Circular Quay - never been there and seeing $200+ for meals I'm unlikely to - https://rockpoolbarandgrill.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/0… - but this reviewer jumped out - their reviews I browsed seemed to be either 5-star (perfect, amazing, the best) or 1-star - so hmm - I wouldn't believe their reviews - https://goo.gl/maps/iuah7WarNjh6K2q67

      I used to trust Google reviews, but these days there are so many fake reviews it can be almost impossible to sift through the dross which ends up meaning I'm not hurrying to try new places unless I hear about them by word of mouth

  • coffeeinmyveins on 25/03/2023 - 04:50
    +3

    Hey ChatGPT, write me an API to pump out fake reviews that are generally positive for my solar company at a rate of between 5 and 10 reviews a day, varying randomly

    • lostgoat on 25/03/2023 - 08:12

      Grt thinking . I'll add the tool to my arsenal to get rid of neg reviews.

  • Hardlyworkin on 25/03/2023 - 08:06
    +3

    Many businesses don't like real reviews. Just ask Ozbargain's favourite conveyancers.

  • jacross on 25/03/2023 - 08:59
    +1

    I'm not going to pretend fake reviews don't influence me because they absolutely do. To the extent I can mitigate this, my strategy is to look at what the 2, 3, and 4 star reviews say. I figure there is going to be some interesting nuance in those ones.

    • Hangryuman on 27/03/2023 - 16:48

      'look at what the 2, 3, and 4 star reviews say'

      yo - the Olympic Scoring Method - ignore 5-star and 1-star reviews as likely from friends and rivals, then average the rest.

  • 2esc on 25/03/2023 - 11:25
    +2

    I dont trust any reviews but five star reviews often feel suspect and one star reviews can be someone with a major axe to grind. The 2,3 and 4s stars seem to have more genuine reviews and opinions.

    But when you have a service with ten reviews eight are five star and two are one star you wonder whats going on there.

    Excellant service and two karens?
    Or fake reviews and they are really bad at their job?

    I end up looking elsewhere.

    • Hangryuman on 27/03/2023 - 17:03

      after reading the 'reviews' here I'm starting to think photos can be another way to add value to a review

      as a Google Local Guide level 8, I've posted something like 400 reviews, with something like 800 photos - which have apparently been seen over 7 million times - my takeaway is a LOT more people look at the photos than read the reviews

      [comedian: 'What's with those scrolling text banners at the bottom of the TV screen ?
      If I wanted to READ I wouldn't be watching TV !!!']

      tho' I think I saw some other comment about fake reviews with fake photos found in google search - so I guess that's a next level of fakery

      my experience two days ago at a favourite restaurant we often eat at twice a week - we took friends there for Saturday lunch - and waited in a queue of about 10 people to get into (only a few minutes - moved quick) - then as we sat at our table, I noted the queue remained at about 10-14 people waiting to get in to the chock-full bustling restaurant

      and I said to the friend as we had just walked through the empty/mostly closed CBD - 'what other restaurant have we seen in the city for Saturday lunch that has a queue out the door ?' - and she said 'none - this is the only one we've seen that's full'

      that's a clue - forget your fake reviews - if there's a queue (oops - ignoring Instagram FOMO - https://www.delicious.com.au/eat-out/latest-news/article/we-…)

  • hasher22 on 25/03/2023 - 18:50
    +1

    I used to work for marketing for a few months and here's a few insights on reviews

    1 - Most people do not trust total of 5 star businesses, while on a business side it may look amazing, customers know a 5 star business may seem very fake and untrustworthy and sus
    2 - The sweet spot is around 4.5 - 4.8 stars, people will tend to go to places without reading the reviews
    3 - If people do read reviews pictures are more trustworthy with the review (even if the picture is stolen, unless it's obvious it's a stock photo or whatever, consumers will not further research if the review is fake or has a fake photo)
    4 - People tend to read the 1 star review first and determine if they should go to said place
    4a - People tend to trust 1 star reviews more than the 600+ 4,5 star reviews, something to do with human conditioning, money and peace of mind if going to a new place
    5 - Fake reviews whether it's 5 stars or 1 star, most people can't distinguish real or fake unless it's really obvious, so their brain goes back to my points 2,3,4
    6 - While reviews are great for a business, people are more influenced by word of mouth or asking forums on their opinion because it tailors personally to their needs
    7 - the bigger the business, the reviews don't matter. For example if a Nike shop has 2.7 stars, people will still shop there, but if a local small business shoe store has 2.7 stars, you can best bet their business will suffer greatly!

    But personally for me? I don't really care for reviews in general unless it's 3 stars and under. I like to go to new places, when my mates and I are out, if I want ice-cream I'll just google map the nearest ice cream place and we'll go there and I will personally review it myself. My friends tend to think otherwise, they will argue it's 3.5 stars or 4 stars and don't want to go and im like "seriously? can you just be open minded for once and lets just try?"

    But I also skip past reviews like "great place" or "worst place ever" or "worst customer service"… those kind of reviews mean nothing to me. If the review has 1 or two paragraphs, I tend to believe it.

    I also don't care for fake reviews, cause usually fake reviews are shallow in general like "great place to eat, would recommend!"

  • BrettSh on 25/03/2023 - 23:16

    I once alerted Product Review to a couple of sock puppet reviews for an Australian building company and Product Review promptly removed those reviews. Sadly, I can't imagine Google doing the same.

    As others have said, reviewers who have only ever posted a single 5 star review are suspect, The other thing I find suspicious is is a company that has lots of reviews that are either 1 star or 5 stars. That smacks of damage control.

  • Speckled Jim on 26/03/2023 - 00:21

    The flipside of the real/fake review conundrum is this: real or not, they likely influence pricing.
    Where the reviews are generally to overwhelmingly positive, this will keep prices firm and might "justify" further jacking.

    Think back to reviews that screech about amazing value for money and look at price history. If there's a chorus of vfm, there's plenty of headroom.

  • navegante88 on 26/03/2023 - 01:38

    I own a business and have 50+ 5 star reviews. It does suck that other companies use dodgy tactics to inflate their rating. It especially sucks when you see a restaurant down the road that has yet to open but somehow has over 100 5 star reviews. Mine took over 6 years just to get half of what they got.

  • Cletus vandamme on 26/03/2023 - 02:55
    +2

    Nice topic A++++++ would read again.

  • MagicOZ on 26/03/2023 - 07:06

    I only trust reviews that are 1 stars reviews that have good arguments why it's 1 star review.

    • whatgift on 28/03/2023 - 10:16
      +1

      I’ve found 1 star reviews to rarely have decent reasons for that rating - usually just a rant because everything wasn’t perfect for them. For example, complaining about delivery which is not in any way an assessment of the product, or necessarily in control of the business.

      • MagicOZ on 31/03/2023 - 07:01

        But when there are good arguments, then the review is very helpful. 5 Stars reviews of a product will be limited to the moment of the review, if the product fail not always the people will update their old reviews. 1 Stars reviews often talk about common defects and quality issues, others are may yet to discover. It's hard to make your mind about a product or service, looking for common patterns in the reviews helps.

  • TEER3X on 26/03/2023 - 07:19

    I used to have a policy when purchasing things from Amazon, if more than x% are 1 star I don't buy. Something like 9 or 10%

    Then there's fakespot and reviewmeta

  • footyboy on 26/03/2023 - 07:34

    As someone who (at today) has 133 x 5-star reviews, it is possible. You just gotta ask, a lot.

    Maybe 10 reviews is easy to fake, but any decent volume has to be seen as legit.

    Best to look at number of reviews each user has left.

    If every review is the first review… 🚩🚩🚩

    Aidan.

  • [Deactivated] on 26/03/2023 - 08:02

    I look at the photos of the models if they're too good looking then I assume it's to good to be true.

  • Spending2Much on 26/03/2023 - 08:32
    +1

    Was just looking at a Dyson/Ryobi One+ battery adaptor.
    Seems two very popular brands/products.

    $99.90 adaptor. Crappy 3D printed adaptor.

    8 reviews.
    7 five star (88%) and 1 four star (13%)

    Late
    I would love to give a review but I still don’t have the product I’ve paid for
    5 stars

    Haven’t received it.
    Haven’t received the product yet.
    5 stars

    Canadian delivery.
    Glad to do a rating but still waiting for adapter to arrive
    5 stars

    🤦🤦

    • Protractor on 26/03/2023 - 11:30

      That says way WAY more about the Dyson clique, than anything about reviews.

  • [Deactivated] on 26/03/2023 - 09:08

    I was looking for a mechanic and found a place with 4.8/5. 99% of the reviews were fake - they all had only one review ever (that place), had a similar sentence structure/style and vocabulary, and a lot of them had pictures, some INSIDE THE WORKSHOP. Clearly fake. The only real ones were less 1-3 stars.

  • Kranbone on 26/03/2023 - 09:36
    +1

    I don't pay much attention to the positive reviews but rather, I see how the business responds to the bad reviews. If a business replies to a bad review and is accountable, reasonable and forthcoming, it indicates while they may not be perfect, they are at least somewhat responsive, willing to accept criticism/feedback and make improvements or find solutions.

    • baskinghobo on 26/03/2023 - 16:59

      One of my red flags is when you see a 1 star review and the business responds by claiming that they have no record of them being a customer.

      • cybapete on 26/03/2023 - 21:51

        not as far fetched as it sounds sometimes businesses pay for bad fake reviews of their competition as well as good ones for themselves

    • cybapete on 26/03/2023 - 21:53

      responses from the business is one of the things i look for most in reviews
      does they reply to bad reviews and if so are they out to make things right or just trying to bullshit their way out of trouble

  • echelon6 on 26/03/2023 - 09:58
    +1

    I avoid places with too many reviews, I just assume they're fake. E.g. all the restaurants in Harris Park have a few thousand reviews, wtf.

    For hiring tradies, sweetspot is 10-20 reviews. Small enough that if they give me shit, my negative review hurts them enough, but they still have had a history of positive reviews.

    For restaurants, I look at photos but otherwise don't pay close attention. Also there's different standards in different areas. E.g. dining in Crows Nest? every place has very high ratings but the food is crap to average and expensive, because the locals of Crows Nest don't have good taste in food, their priorities are other things (god knows what, ambiance? drinks? service? they just want to meet up with friends over drinks and are happy with anything that looks good in a photo) whereas you look at the ratings in Chatswood / Eastwood, a low 4s is as high as it gets but the food there is so good and competition is fierce. That's because people eating in easwoo and chatty are very picky and actually eating out for the food.

    • Hangryuman on 27/03/2023 - 15:03
      +1

      'dining in Crows Nest? every place has very high ratings but the food is crap to average and expensive, because the locals of Crows Nest don't have good taste in food, their priorities are other things (god knows what, ambiance? drinks? service? they just want to meet up with friends over drinks and are happy with anything that looks good in a photo) whereas you look at the ratings in Chatswood / Eastwood, a low 4s is as high as it gets but the food there is so good and competition is fierce. That's because people eating in easwoo and chatty are very picky and actually eating out for the food.'

      uspeek da troot !

      I have heard there are 2 kinds of restaurant goers -

      1. those who don't care about the food and look for fancy decor and surroundings and will then say it was wonderful - I have pictures of brown mousse on a plate that looks like an actual turd and tasted not dissimilar

      2. those who don't care about fancy decor and surroundings, in fact prefer to eschew those as likely to be overpriced, and who focus on the taste of the food, which tends to be cheap - one of our nearby favourites is a hole in the wall with old laminex tables, but the noodles are hand-made (BANG!!!) to order and when we take friends there they say it is delicious. While fancier renovated restaurants on either side look much nicer, we have eaten in both and did not like that food, so we prefer to walk into the hole in the wall which is often empty, and we sit at our favourite table most every time.

      Another legendary restaurant favourite has been there since about 1967 in the same family and has never been renovated - the floor is black and evil-looking, but the food is heavenly and cheap, but that place is popular as people have known about it since 1967.

      • echelon6 on 28/03/2023 - 12:40

        haha someone thinks like me

        some suburbs are just bad for food - crows nest is one. Then there's these 'local restaurants' that maintain a high rating because of loyal locals that 'support local' and all that. That's all good, i like local businesses too, just be aware the rating doesn't necessarily reflect the food quality.

      • ass3ts on 29/03/2023 - 20:05

        I guess the locals there grew up eating the same bland food every day, so they wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

  • THICKnSLOW on 26/03/2023 - 12:31

    Here's a thought.

    mygov branch out to make social media apps and also a certified reviewer section based on your tax file number.

    BOOM!! Did I blow your mind.

  • centrelink on 26/03/2023 - 12:47
    +2

    My rule of thumb is if a business has too many 5 stars, then it’s probably fake

  • rave75 on 26/03/2023 - 13:01

    I look at the negative reviews only. Most people only leave reviews if they had bad experience.

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