topic Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me in Community Chat

Amazon Overwhelms Me

occasionalrain — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 19:44:52 GMT

My coffee maker died so I went to Amazon to order a new one.

Hours of reading reviews, comparing and then giving up. The reviews brought me concerns, issues that I hadn't considered. The feet, are they rubber non-slip or plastic? Does it drip when pouring? How hot is the coffee? Does the clock stay lighted?

Fortunately, I keep a cheap back up coffee maker so I can put off the decision.

Others seem to love Amazon shopping; is there some method to make it easy?

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

Teddixat — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 19:47:00 GMT

@occasionalrain Best not to go down that rabbit hole. It can drive you mad. Keep in mind there are people who enjoy giving bad reviews

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

Kachina624 — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 19:47:40 GMT

Yeah, after doing all the reading and comparisons, you just pick one in your price range and go for it.

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

Sooner — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 19:50:30 GMT

I take into consideration that there are usually a cranky person or two in the review mix. If most people are positive, I note that.

If the concerns are something that would worry me, and many times they aren't, I note that as well.

AND I can, and have, send it back--so how big is it, etc? Now you don't even have to rebox a lot of things. Just take to Kohls, UPS or other points and give it to them! How great is that?

To me it is better than running all over town, wasting an afternoon and then not knowing what to do!

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

agb80 — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 19:53:10 GMT

I will sometimes view pictures of defects by customers and I think that's helpful. I also look at the percentages of who's happy and who is not before making my decision.

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

occasionalrain — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 19:57:12 GMT

Thanks, I had no idea the bad reviews weren't reliable.

Should I choose one with a lot of reviews and more than four stars?

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

jlkz — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 19:58:10 GMT

Anymore when I read reviews, I take them with a grain of salt: companies can pay folks to write glowing reviews just to overwhelm any negative ones. That's FRAUD. Wish there were some way to call them out on it.

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

Spurt — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:05:59 GMT

@occasionalrain wrote:
My coffee maker died so I went to Amazon to order a new one.

Hours of reading reviews, comparing and then giving up. The reviews brought me concerns, issues that I hadn't considered. The feet, are they rubber non-slip or plastic? Does it drip when pouring? How hot is the coffee? Does the clock stay lighted?

Fortunately, I keep a cheap back up coffee maker so I can put off the decision.

Others seem to love Amazon shopping; is there some method to make it easy?

@occasionalrain

I went through a similar experience buying a replacement corded vacuum cleaner...checked many different retail websites and I read so many reviews my head was spinning...ARRRGGHHH!!! Finally chose an Eureka lightweight based on reviews in Consumer Reports--it works fine!

As far as coffee makers, mine went out on a Saturday morning... I checked online and believe it or not my grocery store, HEB, had the best price...I went to the store, but unfortunately they were out of the model I wanted, but I was desperate and didnt want to run all over town, so I purchased the very basic Mr. Coffee model that was left in stock no auto shutoff, no chosing brew strength, just fill it with water, put the paper filter in and fill with coffee, click the basic off/on switch to ON...PRESTO a decent cup of coffee!!! . I had to remember to turn it off after a second cup since no auto shutoff....With our hard water, coffee makers dont last long, and it was on sale for $11 what a bargain and its still going strong....so my advice is the less technology and features the longer it will last!

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

Jersey Born — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 19:59:48 GMT

@occasionalrain - I hate it when that happens (coffee makers die). I replaced my last one with a Cuisinart 14-cup, and I like it a lot. Works well-- makes delicious tasting coffee when I press a button! (I don't ask for much.) I think they discontinued it in the 14-cup version but 12-cup versions are still available.

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

occasionalrain — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:04:06 GMT

@Spurt

That's what my back up is like, Black & Decker and it cost around $15.

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

agb80 — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:05:48 GMT

Or you can buy Folgers Instant coffee which is what we do. I know we're just plebs, low born to our marrow.

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

On It — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:19:07 GMT

Someone posted a while back concerning a percolator. I think my next purchase will be the Farberware percolator. We had one for quite sometime but I think we got lured in by the idea of a drip and got stuck on that. I like a percolator because all areas where the coffee and the water make contact are easily acccessible to be thoroughly cleaned. I am suspect that there's some leftover water lurking deep inside my drip machine that never completely empties. I think the coffee stayed hotter in the percolator. Now if they still make those coffee ground basket liners to help with clean up, we'll be set to go. Would that be something you might consider as well?

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

Icegoddess — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:23:04 GMT

If I see the same complaint over and over again in the reviews, that's a red flag assuming the issue is something I care about. Sometimes the same complaint will go across brands which may indicate a problem with the design concept.

For example, I have a Haan steam floor cleaner that also comes apart to use as a carry-around unit. The little nubs that lock the hose in place broke off, so now I can no longer use it without risking severe burns when it comes off. After reading reviews for many handheld-only units, it appears that the connection is a problem across all of them.

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

on the bay — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 17:58:35 GMT

@occasionalrain,

I've found the same thing. I often get overwhelmed and end up looking at Walmart or Target.com.

Sometimes I will change the relevant thing to lower price first because I think Amazon tends to list the higher price ones (and ones I've never heard of) first. Sometimes that helps and sometimes that doesn't.

As far as coffee makers, who knew that it was as confusing as looking for a cold/cough medicine or something?!

I have always had great luck with Mr. Coffee and despite the fact that I use it a ton, it lasts and lasts.

I haven't found as good a luck with Hamilton Beach, or Black and Decker.

But I just want simple, though with automatic shut off.

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

IamMrsG — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:35:24 GMT

First, I look at the percentages of stars, but feel it’s generally safest to trust the mid-range (3 star) reviews. I will read the Most Helpful reviews, both Pro and Con. Right or wrong, I also take the reviewer’s fluency into consideration when weighing the value of their opinion.

My 2¢ opinion regarding coffee makers: Bunn, nothing but.

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

occasionalrain — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:43:49 GMT

@IamMrsG

Why the mid range, 3 star rather than the higher 4.5 star?

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

occasionalrain — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:47:48 GMT

@agb80 wrote:
Or you can buy Folgers Instant coffee which is what we do. I know we're just plebs, low born to our marrow.

My parents would haunt me if I brought home instant coffee.

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

x Hedge — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:49:36 GMT

Personally, I dislike amazon, not that that really matters here.

Somewhere in the last year I replaced my toaster and coffeemaker.

I liked what I'd had and I ended up buying an identical model coffeemaker, no longer in stores, but available brand new thru eBay.

Very happy with that decision.

With the toaster, it was tougher to find all the features I wanted without paying for features that I don't care about. I couldn't find anything that was really right for abt 6 months.

Bought one that had so-so reviews due to quite a lot of reviewers not being able to figure out how to use the bagel feature or how to estimate the light/dark settings for different breads.

It works great. NOTHING wrong with the controls. So be careful about rejecting an item over poor reviews.

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

IamMrsG — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:49:40 GMT

@occasionalrain IMHO, the glowing 5 or denigrating 1 star reviews can be unreliable, emotionally biased, or, even worse, written in advertising departments.

Re: Amazon Overwhelms Me

ALRATIBA — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:52:09 GMT

When my Gevalia died in 2019, I went to Amazon and bought a very inexpensive Black & Decker - for $30.

Coffee doesn't taste any different when made in a cheaper pot!