[chef8489]

I have a product that was sent to me for a review, and i am struggling with a decision. Basically there is a lot i find lacking in the product and wondering if you would leave a mediocre to bad review or just not leave a review? I guess i could send a sample of the review to the company and see what they want to do, but what would you do? Now just because i dont like the product, doesnt mean someone would not, and i try to find the positives in every product. So far the company has other items i am quite fond of, but what i have right now for review is just not one of them,

 

[NA Blur]

I focus on a few things with products that are not that great.

First, be sure to focus on the positive when possible. This keeps the review in a lighter mood and makes it more informative.

Second, if the product is really bad send a kindly written email to the company that reached out and let them know that due to some major flaws in the product you do not feel comfortable paying a bad review. Be sure to include insightful suggestions for making it better. This should reflect how you really feel of course and you should understand that more than likely hard work went into that product.

Lastly, honest reviews are important, but if you find the product unbearably bad you need to decide if it is worth it to you, the community, and the manufacturer to post the bad review.

 

[wuwhere]

Could be why most reviewers have positive reviews because if the product is bad, reviewers tell the manufacturer the way it is and let the manufacturer decide whether they want the bad review published or not.
 
The other thing is manufacturers can make changes or tweak their product to the reviewers' liking but this isn't fair either because that is just one reviewer's pair of ears which most of the time is different than most people.

 

[Brooko]

If the Company is decent, you can leave a critical review without savaging them.  And (just IMO) if you're worried about posting the review because it could affect your relationship with them - then you're not really being impartial.
 
If its really bad, you can always talk to the company about it - before you post.

 

[chef8489]

  If the Company is decent, you can leave a critical review without savaging them.  And (just IMO) if you're worried about posting the review because it could affect your relationship with them - then you're not really being impartial.
 
If its really bad, you can always talk to the company about it - before you post.

Not worried about my relationship with them at all. I have a disclaimer in the first of the review that states that we as reviewers should be objective and should not let the fact that what we got free affect the review or the fact that we might not get more to review affect it.

 

[Brooko]

Cool - then (again just IMO) post it, be fair and offer critque on improvement.  Ultimately that's all we can ever do.

 

[NA Blur]

  Could be why most reviewers have positive reviews because if the product is bad, reviewers tell the manufacturer the way it is and let the manufacturer decide whether they want the bad review published or not.
 
The other thing is manufacturers can make changes or tweak their product to the reviewers' liking but this isn't fair either because that is just one reviewer's pair of ears which most of the time is different than most people.

It is crazy to read through the reviews here and see that most are 4 stars or above. I always go back and adjust my ratings after a few months to reflect anything I may have found.

 

[chef8489]

I let a few other friends that do reviews as well listen to the iems and they came to the same conclusion as I did and wonder how they got such a great review on here. I guess it comes down to we each like different things and think different things are important in products.

 

[captblaze]

maintain your integrity... if the product has flaws, discussing them doesn't make you a bad person or a lousy reviewer.

 

[Currawong]

I'd say too: Post your honest opinion. 
 
When I go onto Amazon to check out a product, the first thing I'll do is read the negative reviews. Ignoring the usual "it was broken on arrival" stuff, I'm looking specifically for the product's flaws, to find out if they are something that will affect me or not. I recently bought a BT keyboard and found, on arrival, that it was bent and that the quality was shockingly bad, despite it getting glowing reviews on various tech sites, so very often the negative reviews do me a favor, quickly pointing out the things that would be buried in larger reviews that I need to know. 
 
If anything, I've found manufacturers to be happy if someone who isn't suited to their product doesn't buy it, as they don't want unhappy customers, so you'd be doing everyone a favor IMO.

 

[Dirt McGirt]

Give the review. Particuarly in audio I find it highly annoying nearly every product review is positive, reviews have become nearly worthless at a lot of places. At least cars and other more mainstream products will do rankings or give somewhat balanced feedback. Versus audio where a new power cord has completely transformed someone's system. Be constructive and give positives along wth what you do find as being negative.

 

[NA Blur]

I would love to see the average rating of all the audio gear as listed under the reviews section. I bet it will be above 3.5 stars. Bias is hard to avoid, but sometimes it is just flagrantly wrong. Honesty is key.