I’m a big believer in consumer advocacy.  I always look at a product’s reviews before I decided to buy it.  Sites like Amazon are great for this, but you have to be able to differentiate between the planted good reviews and the actual reviews.  Getting a review you trust can make or break your purchasing experience.  Spotting a fake review is mostly easy.  Since 99.9% of everything is made in China, look for reviews with bad English.

“This wanderful state solid drive is the bestest and the most cheapest”

is a dead give away.

Mostly, you want to look for reviews by somebody like me.  An engineer, I appreciate how things are designed, how easy they are to use, and how well they are supported.  I make it a point to write a review if my experience was good or bad.  If my experience was bad, and your customer service did not appease me, then look out.  I will make it my goal in life to see that everybody I know, both personally and on the web, will do well to never buy anything from you again regardless of how good it might be.

I will rate things based on a number of hockey sticks.

Hopefully, this will help you avoid painful mistakes, and enjoy life as a great American consumer.

 

Rick