What prompts you to write reviews?

MSE_Laura_F

I'm keen to know what drives product/service reviews. Do you tend to write them? If so, what prompts you?

Is it only on the back of a bad experience?

Or do you write reviews when you've had a good experience?

Do you tend to respond to company emails asking you to leave a review?

DullGreyGuy

I tend not to write them; in fact I am not keen on 90% of other peoples reviews I read either:

• People mix up reviewing the merchant and reviewing the product. A review of a TV says its great as it turned up in 3 days... whats that got to do with the TV esp as the merchant offers a premium next day delivery?

• Reviews are written too soon, the difference between a cheap pair of shoes and an expensive one is rarely how they look or fit the day you take them out the box but how they look after 9 months wear. This is particular true of things like insurance where people say ABX Insurance is great as the policy was cheap but they've never experienced their terrible claims experience

• Reviewers expectations are often wrong but they blame the product/merchant. Buy insurance that doesnt cover Accidental Damage and then give 1 star review because your dropped phone wasnt covered. Would be like buying a freezer and giving it 1 star review because it wont microwave your lunch. Similarly those that review a hotel having only been to its bar or such

If something is truly fantastic or is fairly poor (ie slightly lower hurdle for negative reviews) then I may leave a review. I tend to do it more for travel than other products or services.

Dont recall ever responding for a request for a public review, have done a few private surveys. 

breaking_free

I'm probably in the majority of people that rarely write reviews, but when I do it could be either due to a very good or very bad experience. When I write a good review it's because I want the business to be rewarded in the form of extra business going their way; conversely, a bad review is to (hopefully) prevent other people experiencing poor service. (I write more good reviews than bad ones.)

I agree with the poster above re: people mixing up reviewing the merchant vs reviewing the product.

I'm a big fan of online reviews and always read them to help me make decisions. 

oldagetraveller1

Yes, I do write reviews, but not too prolific in quantity.

If something's good or better, I'll write a review accordingly. If poor, a review to reflect that.

For whatever reason, even after being invited to write a review of a service/product on Trustpilot, it's always rejected. Even after providing proof that I am a customer etc. to Trustpilot they reject it.

One review they did publish was on themselves, 1 star because of their strange rejection procedure.

"Every review on Trustpilot is screened by our bespoke automated fraud detection software that identifies and removes fakes."

Automated speaks volumes. Their so-called "Integrity Team" don't seem to be very good at their job either.

born_again

Tend to only leave positive reviews. 
Coming from customer service, Good service needs to be praised.

Trustpilot. Is now avoided.

TELLIT01

I do write reviews, but predomantly about holiday accommodation plus restaurant experiences both here in the UK and abroad.  I do my best to keep them balanced, mentioning what is done particularly well and what isn't.  I agree with born_again that good service needs to be praised, but particularly poor service shouldn't go unmentioned either.

pinkshoes

I write reviews for all sorts of things.

I read a lot of reviews too before purchasing, but only using reviews written by people that look like they have genuinely bought the product and used it for a while. I find 3* and 4* reviews far more helpful than 1* and 5* ones!

JetpackVelociraptor

I write reviews for companies, but not products, and only where I feel the need to either warn people of something particularly bad, tell people about something especially good, or promote a business that I think needs it. So mostly for small companies, especially if they don't have a lot of reviews already or if they have one or two bad reviews that look unreasonable, I'm more likely to leave a review even if all that happened was what you'd expect to happen. For larger companies, only if it's very bad or very good. If something goes wrong but the company resolves it sensibly, I usually wouldn't leave a review.

daveyjp

I only do hotel reviews, but reading other reviews after a visit always make me laugh.  At a hotel we recently stayed in someone said it was 10-15 minute walk from the hotel to the old town and main shopping area, which is about right.

A subsequent reviewer disagreed, helpfully telling readers from the hotel to the old town was 'literally 5 seconds walk!  Thats 15-20m unless you are Usain Bolt. Can't see the point in disagreeing to the point of then being silly about it.

deannagone

I do write reviews, usually on particularly good or bad products but also to inform readers on products that have no reviews. 

Occasionally when I write negative reviews, the seller will contact me and say if I give you a refund will you change your review?  I always say no and if they write again, report them to the site I have placed my review on (I really do dislike that practice, how sellers think stating they are living in poverty and really need this job will change what I found when using a badly designed falsly advertised products, i don't know). 

If I have looked at Youtube reviews or online reviews and notice comments I wouldn't agree with, I comment on what I have found with regards to that aspect of a product.

I use reviews to make 'informed' choices as to purchases and that's why I write reviews.  I often find many glowing reviews (for example on Amazon) and find the product doesn't perform as stated.  I always point out that my review is seemingly very different to others and leave readers to make up their own minds.

But as said, I also write glowing reviews when a product performs well.  And I do go back and update a year later if I find my opinion has changed.  But sadly, I write more negative reviews than positive, which is a shame.  

Mnoee

I review things fairly often, unless I have nothing to add to the existing reviews. Looking at Amazon, I've reviewed 53 items - 3 x 1*, 2 x 2*, 5 x 3*, 11 x 4*, 32 x 5* - so mostly positive. 

I do it because I rely heavily on reviews when purchasing things online, and like to be helpful to others who are also relying on them. I've received 70 'hearts' from people who have found them useful, so although they're usually grouped on a few products where I've found something particularly useful to add, I'm still averaging at being useful to at least one person per review written - which is enough to encourage me to continue.