7 ms·

60% 1 star ratings on Amazon (failing device), still no peace of mind but better than nothing :-(

by lazyant 4y ago

blamazon 4y ago
I was not able to reproduce this result. Can you link?
- ghaff 4y ago
  I assume this. https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B075MMHYMK/ https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B075MMHYMK/ Overall the rating is pretty good but definitely a number of one stars. The challenge with a lot of safety and backup systems is that you might never need them, but if you do need them they absolutely have to work.
  - blamazon 4y ago
    For what it's worth I flipped through the 1 star, 2 star, and 3 star reviews and found one that indicated a false negative, the rest seemed to indicate false positive. With it being a predominantly self-installed electrical system I question if every reviewer's install was done correctly.
  - Aeolun 4y ago
    All the failure modes seem to have to do with the engines not starting when someone needs them, which sounds ok to me. Or maybe that’s survivorship bias, and the ones where the engines do not properly cut out are never in a position to review.
    - tempestn 4y ago
      I doubt literal survivorship bias plays much of a role, given the number of people who actually die this way is tiny. Maybe that was a joke though. The XKCD issue would be more common though - people who are happy with it because they've never had to test it.
- lazyant 4y ago
  https://www.amazon.ca/product-reviews/B075MMHYMK/ref=acr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=one_star&reviewerType=all_reviews#reviews-filter-bar https://www.amazon.ca/product-reviews/B075MMHYMK/ref=acr_dp_... top result in Canada
  - blamazon 4y ago
    That listing has two total ratings, one is 5 star and one is 1 star, with no textual reviews. Doesn't feel like useful data to me.
RockRobotRock 4y ago
https://xkcd.com/937/ https://xkcd.com/937/
- mcv 4y ago
  This got me thinking about survivorship bias in ratings for life-saving devices. If the device fails to save your life, you're not going to be able to give it a poor rating.
bsder 4y ago
Anyone who buys a safety system from Amazon is completely out of their gourd.
- culopatin 4y ago
  What difference does it make? Is an iPhone from Amazon worse than one from the Apple Store?
  - omeid2 4y ago
    Even with something so _standard_ the likelihood of getting a knockoff on Amazon is orders of magnitude higher than Apple Store. Buying a device directly from the vendor comes with a degree of responsibility that you can't afford with buying from 3rd parties (seller), on a 3rd party marketplace (amazon).
  - lozenge 4y ago
    Amazon's never sold fake iPhones as they would be easy to spot, however they have sold, say, dangerous eclipse glasses. Most people do not have the equipment or expertise to test eclipse glasses before relying on it to save their sight.

60% 1 star ratings on Amazon (failing device), still no peace of mind but better than nothing :-(

blamazon 4y ago

I was not able to reproduce this result. Can you link?

ghaff 4y ago
I assume this. https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B075MMHYMK/ https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B075MMHYMK/ Overall the rating is pretty good but definitely a number of one stars. The challenge with a lot of safety and backup systems is that you might never need them, but if you do need them they absolutely have to work.
- blamazon 4y ago
  For what it's worth I flipped through the 1 star, 2 star, and 3 star reviews and found one that indicated a false negative, the rest seemed to indicate false positive. With it being a predominantly self-installed electrical system I question if every reviewer's install was done correctly.
- Aeolun 4y ago
  All the failure modes seem to have to do with the engines not starting when someone needs them, which sounds ok to me. Or maybe that’s survivorship bias, and the ones where the engines do not properly cut out are never in a position to review.
  - tempestn 4y ago
    I doubt literal survivorship bias plays much of a role, given the number of people who actually die this way is tiny. Maybe that was a joke though. The XKCD issue would be more common though - people who are happy with it because they've never had to test it.
lazyant 4y ago
https://www.amazon.ca/product-reviews/B075MMHYMK/ref=acr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=one_star&reviewerType=all_reviews#reviews-filter-bar https://www.amazon.ca/product-reviews/B075MMHYMK/ref=acr_dp_... top result in Canada
- blamazon 4y ago
  That listing has two total ratings, one is 5 star and one is 1 star, with no textual reviews. Doesn't feel like useful data to me.

RockRobotRock 4y ago

https://xkcd.com/937/ https://xkcd.com/937/

mcv 4y ago
This got me thinking about survivorship bias in ratings for life-saving devices. If the device fails to save your life, you're not going to be able to give it a poor rating.

bsder 4y ago

Anyone who buys a safety system from Amazon is completely out of their gourd.

culopatin 4y ago
What difference does it make? Is an iPhone from Amazon worse than one from the Apple Store?
- omeid2 4y ago
  Even with something so _standard_ the likelihood of getting a knockoff on Amazon is orders of magnitude higher than Apple Store. Buying a device directly from the vendor comes with a degree of responsibility that you can't afford with buying from 3rd parties (seller), on a 3rd party marketplace (amazon).
- lozenge 4y ago
  Amazon's never sold fake iPhones as they would be easy to spot, however they have sold, say, dangerous eclipse glasses. Most people do not have the equipment or expertise to test eclipse glasses before relying on it to save their sight.