huskergal
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,449 
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Post by huskergal on Apr 24, 2024 16:58:51 GMT
Do you read product reviews?
I always read reviews before a make a major purchase, a new purchase, or travel reservations.
I was looking at Vrbos yesterday. One of the locations had 9.2 out of 10 stars. I had to look at the bad reviews. This was one of them:
A Beautiful mountain view, tranquil atmosphere and lovely family vacation RUINED! Falsely advertised that the home is “fully stocked” I had to take a 30 minute drive to town to purchase items like toilet paper and trash bags. After I checked out the host shamefully accused me, my 16 and 12 year old daughters of doing drugs because of bloody tissues in the trash and a “white powder substance” that was found in a drawer. Floor to ceiling windows with no curtains or blinds. It’s cooler outdoors in 85 degree weather than inside the house. No duvets on any of the blankets. Skin and hair from other people are on YOUR bedspread. Ummmm … Of course there will be trash in the bins after a one week stay with a family. Of course we left some items in the sink; the dishwasher was full and we ran the cycle to be helpful. The grill was dirty and not usable. Cabinets of “stocked supplies” are unorganized and full of outdated items. Green SLUDGE in the hot tub. ZERO lights outdoors to feel safe and keep animals away. HOT HOUSE. “A+” for the scenery. “F” for guest bedrooms, stocked supplies, being blamed for garbage that was left from the stay before, working functions of the home and the rudest host. I actually left 1 full day early (we didn’t feel safe or comfortable) and she still had the gumption to charge me extra for cleaning and not refund the extra day. This VRBO is a joke.
When I read these, I absolutely do not believe the reviewer. I assume they were terrible guests.
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Reviews
Apr 24, 2024 17:07:17 GMT
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Post by ~summer~ on Apr 24, 2024 17:07:17 GMT
I always read a ton of the reviews for VRBOs - they are very telling!!
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christinec68
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,438
Location: New York, NY
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Post by christinec68 on Apr 24, 2024 17:31:46 GMT
Not specific to VRBO, I read reviews for lots of things. I wouldn’t give any weight to a review like that.
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Post by busy on Apr 24, 2024 17:40:57 GMT
I do read reviews but whenever there is a major outlier - either positive or negative - I discard it.
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Post by katlady on Apr 24, 2024 17:54:28 GMT
I read reviews. I do look at the negative reviews to see if there is a trend. But, if the positive reviews far outweigh the negative reviews, I go with the positive reviews, or vice versa.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 29, 2024 3:54:05 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2024 17:54:45 GMT
Generally VRBO houses do not come with anything more than a starter supply of TP, Paper Towels, Garbage Bags etc. They should not have expected anything else.
All the rest sounds like drama. And you do not leave dirty dishes in the sink. You either run the dishwasher earlier and empty and reload or wash by hand.
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Post by ScrapbookMyLife on Apr 24, 2024 19:58:55 GMT
I always read the reviews, for anything I am purchasing. Especially the bad reviews.
Bad reviews are sometimes not always bad. People will complain about ridiculous things (it was not the same color white, red, brown, etc..) as my other furniture, towels, etc...), it didn't fit, it was too big for the space, shipping took too long, etc...).
For "bad" housing reviews (the mattress was not firm, the dishes were ugly, the toilet paper was cheap and not soft).
Complainers are ALWAYS going to find something to complain about.
When I am reading reviews, I am looking for product quality (was flimsy when assembled, parts missing, product measurements are incorrect, etc...).
In this scenario mentioned by the original poster......sounds like chronic complainers who always complain about something, probably hoping to receive a discount-partial refund.
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Post by papersilly on Apr 24, 2024 20:59:04 GMT
i absolutely read reviews and focus in on the bad reviews. i want to know the downsides to any product or place. reviews impact my decision on whether i want to buy that product, visit or stay at that place.
last summer we stayed at a VRBO that fell short of what was advertised. my friend who booked it, chose not to leave a review instead of leaving a bad review. she was afraid she would get a retaliatory review even though we left that place spotless and followed all the rules. i wish she had left a review so others could be warned of what to expect when they stay there.
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Post by Basket1lady on Apr 24, 2024 21:18:05 GMT
For that review, I'd roll my eyes. But it does seem like some complaints are legit--hair/nail trimmings left behind and green sludge seem like red flags. The house being hot is also a consideration. But this reviewer obviously left the place a mess and thought they were entitled to a fully stocked kitchen.
I do read reviews. Are the neighbors also rentals? Are they noisy? How far is it to public transportation or a grocery store? I'll say that in my review if it wasn't known from the listing or other reviews. I once stayed at an apartment in Paris that didn't have enough toilet paper for 24 hours and no hand soap. Because it was Saturday and a lot of shops are closed on Sunday, I sent my DH out to get some more. I thought it would be obvious, but he came home with paper towels. We had to hunt down a convenience store on Sunday and schelp home a big pack of tp and left most of it behind when we left. I wasn't happy about that one! Also, there was only one large set of windows in the apartment and it was crazy hot because it didn't get any air flow. It would have been ok, but there was a heat wave as well. I think that's valuable to know--it would have been fine any other time. That's my worst AirBnb story, so I consider myself lucky.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Apr 26, 2024 12:57:39 GMT
How many people have a bad or a “meh” experience and don’t post anything though? I always give a little weight to the negative reviews even if there is only one or two because there are a lot of people who won't leave any review, they just won’t go back.
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huskergal
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,449
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Post by huskergal on Apr 26, 2024 13:59:17 GMT
For that review, I'd roll my eyes. But it does seem like some complaints are legit--hair/nail trimmings left behind and green sludge seem like red flags. The house being hot is also a consideration. But this reviewer obviously left the place a mess and thought they were entitled to a fully stocked kitchen. I do read reviews. Are the neighbors also rentals? Are they noisy? How far is it to public transportation or a grocery store? I'll say that in my review if it wasn't known from the listing or other reviews. I once stayed at an apartment in Paris that didn't have enough toilet paper for 24 hours and no hand soap. Because it was Saturday and a lot of shops are closed on Sunday, I sent my DH out to get some more. I thought it would be obvious, but he came home with paper towels. We had to hunt down a convenience store on Sunday and schelp home a big pack of tp and left most of it behind when we left. I wasn't happy about that one! Also, there was only one large set of windows in the apartment and it was crazy hot because it didn't get any air flow. It would have been ok, but there was a heat wave as well. I think that's valuable to know--it would have been fine any other time. That's my worst AirBnb story, so I consider myself lucky. I don't know if I believe their story about the nail clippings and the sludge. I am more interested in the white powder. |
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Post by Basket1lady on Apr 26, 2024 15:58:02 GMT
For that review, I'd roll my eyes. But it does seem like some complaints are legit--hair/nail trimmings left behind and green sludge seem like red flags. The house being hot is also a consideration. But this reviewer obviously left the place a mess and thought they were entitled to a fully stocked kitchen. I do read reviews. Are the neighbors also rentals? Are they noisy? How far is it to public transportation or a grocery store? I'll say that in my review if it wasn't known from the listing or other reviews. I once stayed at an apartment in Paris that didn't have enough toilet paper for 24 hours and no hand soap. Because it was Saturday and a lot of shops are closed on Sunday, I sent my DH out to get some more. I thought it would be obvious, but he came home with paper towels. We had to hunt down a convenience store on Sunday and schelp home a big pack of tp and left most of it behind when we left. I wasn't happy about that one! Also, there was only one large set of windows in the apartment and it was crazy hot because it didn't get any air flow. It would have been ok, but there was a heat wave as well. I think that's valuable to know--it would have been fine any other time. That's my worst AirBnb story, so I consider myself lucky. I don't know if I believe their story about the nail clippings and the sludge. I am more interested in the white powder. I must be naive—I just thought it was spilled makeup. I get nosebleeds all the time, so that’s not unusual for me. |
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huskergal
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,449
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Post by huskergal on Apr 26, 2024 17:04:51 GMT
I gave a bad review to a Vrbo at Lake of the Ozarks. We got down there about 10 at night. The door was supposed to be unlocked. It was locked. Called the guy and he said to try and pop the lock with a credit card. No go. The neighbors tried to help as well. It took a half hour to get someone there to unlock the door,
No Wifi. They advertised cable tv. The only station that worked was the SEC sports channel and one news station.
It rained every day so our kids went nuts!
I drank a lot of gin and lemonade on that trip.
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Post by melanell on Apr 26, 2024 21:18:32 GMT
I do read reviews, and as others said, I tend to mentally omit ones that are drastically different from others. I also pay attention to whether or not the review actually has anything to do with the product, the company, the place I want to stay, or if someone is complaining in the wrong place.
I think what I pay the most attention to is how businesses respond to negative reviews. We've actually chosen to go stay places based on how impressed we were with the thorough, factual, respectful responses given to bad reviews.
When "professional" adults start name calling or otherwise engaging in middle school behavior when someone dares to complain about them, we stay far, far away. If something does goes wrong when we're dealing with someone, those responses are our clue as to how we'll be treated when we reach out for assistance.
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Post by disneypal on Apr 26, 2024 22:53:35 GMT
I leave reviews and read them as well...it can help when making decisions about a product or a rental unit.
Considering that the VRBO you read was the only bad one, yes, it sounds made up. It would be hard to believe one family had such a horrible experience when everyone else had a good one. They obviously were not happy about something and decided to get even by leaving a bad review.
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Post by Bitchy Rich on Apr 26, 2024 23:10:14 GMT
There's a restaurant in my town that is half glowing reviews about how amazing the food is, and the other half is blistering reviews for how rude the owner is and saying the food is meh. It's not one outlier. I'm fascinated by it.
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Reviews
Apr 27, 2024 23:41:21 GMT
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Post by Scrapper100 on Apr 27, 2024 23:41:21 GMT
There's a restaurant in my town that is half glowing reviews about how amazing the food is, and the other half is blistering reviews for how rude the owner is and saying the food is meh. It's not one outlier. I'm fascinated by it. We have a few restaurants with reviews like that to and I always find it strange. No idea who to believe. We usually don’t bother trying unless we personally know someone that has been. |
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