Our microwave oven, where we do most of our cooking, gave up the ghost, so I was looking at the reviews of possible replacements — four stars or above.
Of course, not all five star reviews are as helpful as others. How long did the reviewer above have the oven? Why buy this one rather than another?
Some four and five star reviews do give useful information about the appliance, but some, like the one above, seem suspicious. I glance through them, but the ones I pay attention to are the three stars and below — they warn of possible problems and keep us from becoming too optimistic. Anyway, we’ve made our decision and will keep our fingers crossed. Unless the thing starts a fire (apparently a possible hazard of microwave ovens), it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
Do you pay attention to customer reviews?
yes and no…but as is often the case, I’ll ask my network “what do you think?” – a couple of weeks ago a relative was asking about buying some furniture – it seems we have all been all over – and most of us had a positive to say on where they had shopped – I don’t know what they decided on…
usually though I don’t have much of a choice, as someone gets me something – my last microwave came via a White Elephant type of sale – it seems to work well. In fact, if I still had that container/lid that someone gave me which didn’t fit inside – I would use that for rice! It was a Xmas present, and he didn’t keep the receipt – I think I used it for storing things…but I couldn’t be sure.
when I was buying the workbench – I did a lot of online searching and went to a few local stores about it all…
You have a lot of people to ask, which helps a lot. And, as you say, sometimes we don’t have to make the decision. But it is nice to have ways of doing research when we need to.
No. I go by the brand name and the warranty. I almost always buy from a very highly reputed retailer who can be trusted to replace/refund in case of problems.
You’re in a city — here we have to order many of the items we buy. And brand names here don’t always mean that much. Warranties don’t always help because often one has to pay the shipping costs both ways, which can be prohibited if the item is heavy. Not to mention we’re not nearly as strong as we once were.
I often look at reviews for general guidance and opinions but I also take them with a pinch of salt because so many of them are put up by the manufacturers or by their rivals trying to rubbish them. Sometimes reviews are totally unreliable. I remember flying with an airline that got some very bad reviews, but turned out to be just fine.
We’ve had our microwave for 34 years and it’s still going strong. And it’s never caught fire.
How many watts is your microwave? We have been buying microwave-convection ovens because we don’t use our gas oven and stove because of venting problems. We’ve had to replace them every several years. Now we’ll skip the convection part and might have better luck with longevity. The new replacement is 1200 watts (old one 1100) so maybe that might affect the lifetime too.
Our microwave is 940 watts. A bit less than yours so maybe that’s why it’s lasted so long.
I do look at reviews. and like you I take them with a grain of low~salt. 🙂
I read reviews even of this apartment the night before searching because I hadn’t moved in 5 years and didn’t have the energy to visit very many as you might recall.
you can always tell the people who ‘hate’ a place and would never recommend it. they tell too much and it shows that they have a personal problem that they might have anywhere they live.
others more balanced will give the pros and cons. and if the pros outweigh the cons then it can be considered. at least by me!
haven’t found one that I’d want to live 43 consecutive years in though!
kudos monk!
We’ve been lucky, and we’ve also decided the pluses outweigh the minuses. Twice since we’ve been here I’ve looked at houses to buy, but they weren’t nearly as convenient as living here. It was a good thing to consider though.
Yes, I read reviews. And like you I consider the bad ones, too, mostly looking for trends that indicate a real problem not just one disgruntled buyer.
Yes, we can usually tell the difference, and the reviews do help.