I actually left a dentist because she was offering incentives (I don’t remember exactly what they were now but something of monetary value) if people left her a 5* review on yelp. It felt unethical to me.
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Car dealers were known for that - fill out in front of me, get a free oil change. Or or more they get paid by the manufacturer for certain scores is why And often it’s in salespeople pay plans
Now some allow dealers to fix a bad survey via follow up. Crazy.
You look at many industries or products and they are 4.9 of 5 or 9.8 out of 10. It’s not real - if nothing else based on some just can’t give a perfect score. It’s in their bones that it’s not possible.
When I see a car dealer nationally is averaging 4.75 out of 5 for sales or service, I know the #s can’t be reality.
I usually prefer not to take the time to leave reviews. A poor review for me is not giving them my money.
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I think there’s a difference between recommending a car dealer and recommending someone in the medical field where your health could be at stake based on an incentive.
I sometimes do surveys and occasionally leave reviews on TripAdvisor as a means of supporting a place that had great service or something unique that I enjoyed. Most often reviews are for hotels and I’m more likely to do them while I’m still traveling if I get them. Passes the time in an airport or in the car on a road trip. I particularly do those if I have something that wasn’t satisfactory, although I’ll usually mention it at the desk when checking out also. For others it’s usually if there’s something particularly good or bad. Recently on two occasions young people working at Home Depot were particularly helpful and knowledgeable and I made sure to mention them by name/ time they were working.
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If I really like or dislike a product on Amazon I’ll go to the product page and leave a review if there aren’t too many already there, say 30 or less. And when we travel I like to leave reviews on tripAdvisor because we’ve spent hundreds of dollars at each hotel and perhaps people looking them up sort by review date.
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Trip Advisor is reasonable from a time POV.
I think surverers would get more surveys - if their surveys were designed for brevity instead of asking every detail of every little thing. Hotels way overdo it whereas Trip Advisor doesn’t.
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I ALWAYS leave AIRBNB reviews. Which in turn, gives me a review as a users. Fortunately we’ve had excellent experiences so overall only glowing reports!
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You better believe I left a review about the hotel with sliding glass doors in the bathroom. That was of course the night my husband had food poisoning and between the light and the noise there was no sleep for me.
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I leave travel-based reviews (restaurants, hotels, airbnbs), and I have a Good Reads account but only leave stars for that, no detailed reviews. I guess I leave those because they’re the reviews I seek out.
It’s how Springhill Suites are designed. Terrible.
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I occasionally review stuff I buy from Nordstrom online when an item doesn’t match the description - to warn other buyers.
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My daughters tell me that it’s important to do the hospital surveys, so I do. Others, not so much. My dentist just sent a link to a survey with a note that I’d be entered in a drawing for some unknown thing if I do. I’d rather pay less for treatment, haha.
H does the reviews for any places we stay or guides we use. He’s currently using reviews to guide him on places to stay with our 5th wheel this spring and summer. Campers are very good at pointing out the bad stuff.
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I’ve often remarked that reviews were either really great or really horrible. This thread confirms that!
Wondering why folks don’t leave middle of the road reviews? And also wondering why the reviews don’t actually tell the readers both the good and bad things experienced.
ETA…we were recently asked to do a review. We gave the item a 3. But explained that the presenter was outstanding but the experience wasn’t what we thought it was going to be. No one will ever see that the presenter was excellent. They will only see that 3 review.
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I’ve posted reviews but rarely. Typically, it is only if the service was so far above or below expectations, that I would want to know if researching. I also try to post helpful hints (timing, transportation, etc.) when something worked very well.
I do read reviews to see if there is a pattern. If multiple posters mention cleanliness for a particular hotel, for example, that’s an easy elimination. If they complain because they didn’t get the friendly service expected, or they did not get a refund (when policies clearly indicated the deadlines), I ignore.
I ignore most “auto-reviews” often asked after booking. We recently tried to determine which travel insurance companies actually worked - when needed. So many posters say the sales process was wonderful, but fortunately never needed. That is worthless advice (to me).
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I study reviews at work. If a car dealer has a theme over several via the verbatims, I highlight it to them - this is a flaw to correct.
The reviews are of the customer experience with the dealer. But sometimes there’s a bad score and it will say my salesperson was thoughtful, patient, and top rate but the vehicle I purchased has serious issues.
So I agree - sometimes the review unfairly impacts certain people or businesses.
I think it’s important to review things, because I rely on them very heavily myself. If people use reviews but never take a moment to review things themselves, it’s hard to stay on top of improvements or deteriorations or negative experiences.
I primarily read 1 star, 2 star, and 5 star reviews that seem to have detailed information. I don’t look much at three star reviews, but I actually did read a lot of 3 star reviews just the other day.
I leave reviews for local services, books, hotels, great tours, experiences, restaurants, some products from Amazon. I leave honest reviews, both good and bad, but I use various platforms for reviews. Yelp for restaurants, booking. com or google or goodreads, etc… For local services, I use a different google account because I don’t want to be identified if I leave a local business a bad review. I make an effort to be detailed.
I file grievances and complaints when needed. I take the “brief” survey for customer satisfaction at the end of such calls and I complete it accurately.
My husband told me he always presses the little smiley/grumpy face buttons outside of airport bathrooms. Now I do it too. It takes one second and can make a difference.
I think I am pretty good at spotting fake reviews, or AI generated reviews. I don’t necessarily trust reviews created because someone got a free product, i.e., Vine reviews.
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I leave reviews for excellent service on google because I rely on others reviews when hiring a worker. I have left outstanding reviews for our HVAC company, an appliance repairman, a plumber, an electrician, and our local paint store. I only find reviews helpful when they are accompanied by a written explanation. I also check Reddit for local workers, but I have never contributed. Hospitals push reviews so hard which I find ridiculous. I think outstanding care should receive praise, but doctors and nurses (who are owned by a hospital system) are expected to get a 5. There is a funny meme that shows a 4 star review with the statement “Dr Lewis saved my life!”. What on earth would it take to get that 5th star?
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I leave reviews when things are great and when things are terrible—not so often if things are just “ok.”
I look at reviews — especially the negative ones in deciding whether I want to try places/items.
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I rely heavily on reviews for hotels and clothing/shoes/cosmetics, so I try to pay it forward when I can. I will do other reviews for services that come via email if they are an easy one or two clicks or if there is some kind of incentive attached, like a discount to a favorite store. I find clothing and shoe reviews to be particularly helpful for fit information. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken something out of my virtual shopping cart based on comments about fit or item quality.
I typically don’t do restaurant reviews because food is so subjective and I’m typically not going to very high end, expensive places where I would feel cheated if the food wasn’t 5-star, but I have sent emails directly to restaurants to highlight specific employees who have provided exceptional service.
I recently stayed at a hotel where every employee was amazing - no matter where I went, they all looked me in the eye, smiled, asked how my day was going and engaged me in a polite conversation. When the survey hit my email, I definitely filled it out and acknowledged that. The manager contacted me directly to thank me for my comments.
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