235: Can You Trust Online Reviews? The Truth About Google Ratings, Bias & Bad Experiences

Rosie (00:00)
Guess what, Roula

Roula (00:03)
Hi Rosie, first. And now I can. What? What?

Rosie (00:05)
hi. Hi, sorry, hi. But I'm excited. Guess what? Guess what?

As of Wednesday the 4th of February, the Rosie and Roula show is exactly one year old.

Roula (00:20)
such a baby!

Rosie (00:23)
so grown up too! One year! So yes.

Roula (00:24)
One year!

That's really nice. Yeah.

Rosie (00:29)
And listeners, we're

recording this on the 5th of February, so it's fresh news, but you'll be hearing this a few days later. Wish us happy birthday, because I'm quite proud of reaching one year.

Roula (00:36)
Few days later, yes.

Happy

anniversary, happy birthday, happy continuity. Isn't it?

Rosie (00:46)
Yeah, I like it. Okay.

Roula (00:50)
cool. All right. I mean, yes, I'm celebrating in my head. ⁓ And now we're move on to the topic, which is.

Rosie (00:57)
Okay, let's move on.

Roula (01:10)
what I have to ask you today. It's not that I have to ask you, it's I have I don't have to ask you anything. OK, here's the thing I realized.

Rosie (01:13)
Mmm.

Okay, yes.

Mm-hmm.

Roula (01:25)
after checking a few web shops or a few reviews on other shops, that the opinions are so diverse and so contradicting that it's hard these days to go and genuinely know if this shop is something for you to order from or not. How do you feel about this?

Rosie (01:35)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I agree.

my God, I agree. And I can think of an example. And of course it's about food because this is me we're talking about. You know, I have celiac disease, so it's very difficult for me to eat out. I will have a reaction if there's the slightest bit of cross contamination. Anyway, there's this place in Darwin, which is the closest ⁓ city to where I am. They do fish and chips.

and they have a separate gluten-free fryer and the reviews Roula are amazing. The first thing that happens when I go up to order, the guy's really rude. He charges an extra $10 because it's gluten-free. We then are waiting for ages. It then comes out and it's disgusting. And then I have a reaction, but all the reviews on Google, actually, no, there were maybe one or two that were negative, but overwhelmingly,

their reviews were so positive. It's delicious and gluten free and I don't react to it. Blah, blah, blah. So yeah, it's hot.

Roula (02:53)
Tell me about the negative

reviews. What did they say? What was it about? Yeah. Do you remember?

Rosie (02:57)
The negative ones.

One of them was about lemon wedges. I remember that. I don't remember the others. And I remember this because I love lemon. This lady said the lemon wedges they gave with the dish were more like ⁓ slivers or just very thin slices like you might put on a cocktail. And so she went up to the counter to ask for more. And they basically verbally abused her and charged her extra and da da da da da. And there was this whole argument.

You know on Google reviews how the company can respond? Yeah, so they're responding and having this full on argument. And I thought, it's just one.

Roula (03:39)
Okay, from

the risk, I'm going somewhere with my questions, okay?

Rosie (03:42)
Yeah,

okay, I don't know where you're going, yes.

Roula (03:45)
From the company response, was the company really rude? And the person was also rude? So their interaction was unprofessional. One is unprofessional and one is aggressive.

Rosie (03:47)
Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yeah, I guess so. You could like, yeah, I will say yes. Yeah. Maybe that was the hint I should have taken the way that the shot responded. But I also thought, well, maybe this this lady's a bitch and they're just putting her in her place because they're sick of this shit. But continue. I want to know where you're taking this.

Roula (04:06)
Mm.

This is the other point. ⁓

I have an example that will probably even complete yours.

Rosie (04:26)
okay.

Roula (04:27)
Well, me, it's about clothes because it's me, it's Roula. Yes. ⁓ My husband and I, when we were in Sevilla, I don't know how to pronounce it in so many languages, in Spain, we went to a vintage shop and the guy, the first 10 seconds, he shocked us. He's very eccentric and it felt weird. ⁓

Rosie (04:30)
Of course.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-mm.

Roula (04:56)
Not welcome, but we're attacked because he jumped at us. He his shop is a little bit dark and he came towards us. He said hi. And then he like touched my husband jacket. Like, what are you wearing? And he started his first sentence about people don't know what they're buying. They don't understand what they're buying. This was in the first 10 seconds.

Rosie (05:23)
Okay,

wow, yeah.

Roula (05:25)
The

person I am, I'm like, I'm going with him until I don't want to go further. So let me see. I started looking into the stuff he has and boy, he has incredible stuff. It's a high end vintage shop. It's not where you go and buy something for two, $10. It has Burberry. It has Ralph Lauren. It has very lot of nice brands, but all vintage.

Rosie (05:31)
Okay.

Right, right.

Mm-hmm.

Roula (05:55)
You can see it's only inclusive, exclusive stuff. He even have this Jean Paul Gaultier corset that looks the one that Madonna used to wear in Vogue. This kind of stuff. And very friendly, I asked him to show us. I told him that I'm looking for a nice wool coat. And he brought six, all of them mind blowing. So I was trying them on. At the same time, my husband was also looking into the men's section.

Rosie (06:03)
Oh my god, yeah, wow.

Mm-hmm.

Roula (06:25)
And when my husband returned, told her, he returned carrying two wool blazers, really nice stuff. So my son was telling me, mom, I don't feel comfortable in here. This guy is scaring me. Somehow I understood his point because yes, if I look at people walking in the street, they're not eccentric. They're not stylish. They're practical. They're on vacation. They're walking. My husband is practical. I, on the other hand, was wearing nice outfits because

Rosie (06:38)
Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

Roula (06:55)
I'm on vacation, I'm putting on my best clothes. I wear my practical stuff every day at home. This is how I feel. My husband is the contrary. And he said to my husband, what you're wearing, you wear it if you're going to hike on the mountains. You don't wear these in the city. I couldn't agree more. And the way he said it, it wasn't kind. It was harsh. But my husband understood his point.

Rosie (07:00)
Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Yeah. Yeah.

Roula (07:24)
because he knows, okay, I'm being a practical. Yes, he's right. Do I want to hear it from him? Yes, because he has incredible stuff and he's looking incredibly nice. All right, so we bought some stuff and we left the shop and we were like, my goodness, what just happened? We bought four jackets, wool jackets.

Rosie (07:24)
Yeah.

Mm-mm.

⁓

And this guy was essentially quite rude,

Roula (07:51)
He wasn't

he wasn't rude all the time in the beginning. But then we were having conversation about how people come inside and they want the cheap stuff, but because the stuff here is is exclusive, they think that he's how can I say? ⁓ Cheating or being superior or arrogant. And he is all this stuff because the stuff he has is damn good.

Rosie (07:55)
Yeah.

Mm-mm.

Mmm.

Yeah, yeah.

Mm, mm. Right.

Roula (08:22)
But it's not for everyone. Anyway,

we left and because we were in a shock of our experience, happy, but at same time confused, should have we left? Is it good that we stayed? At the end, when we left, the guy was very warm and friendly. And of course we bought stuff, so he's happy. My husband went looking at his reviews on Google. He has 1.7 out of 5.

Rosie (08:42)
Yeah.

⁓

Roula (08:51)
All right, bear with me. And the people reviewing most of the reviews, the bad reviews are he's aggressive, he has shit stuff. He's so if you don't buy, he scold you, etc. So a lot of bad reviews. And then there is this one review of a lady. said that he has exclusive stuff. If you're thrift shopping and you want

Rosie (08:54)
Yeah, okay.

Hmm

Roula (09:20)
this kind of things, it's the shop for you. Otherwise, don't go in there. And I also left a review. I understand people's reaction because he come across aggressive and unfriendly. But if you go a little bit further, the surface, I understood he's frustrated because people come in wanting to buy crap, but he doesn't have crap. And they think he's overpricing his stuff.

because they don't understand the brands, etc. He has lot of frustration. You know, he has his clientele. I'm now one of his clientele. And I left a review that I understand people's reaction. And if you're looking for a regular thrift shop, don't go in there. If you're not willing to dress and have a catwalk inside and try everything he has and have the experience, don't go in there.

Rosie (10:07)
Mm-hmm.

Mm.

Roula (10:17)
And I felt these reviews, are they unfair? Not totally. But it says a lot about the person writing the review. They're also frustrated and they went for something they didn't get. Which tell me the person that wrote a review about these wedges. It could be that she was not kind when she asked for more wedges and they said no. And if it's a policy no, then it's no. I don't know.

Rosie (10:27)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mmm.

Yeah.

Roula (10:44)
this is what brought me to the Google reviews is that it's the person exactly is how the person feel and act. not, I find the review is very important, but they have to be more like details. What is exactly that is bothering you and have you dealt with it correctly or not?

Rosie (10:48)
We're finally getting to the point now.

Mmm!

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Roula (11:10)
Or you have reviews that say they give people one star because the delivery was late or that.

Rosie (11:16)
Yeah, which often isn't

even the fault of the company. Like it's out of their control. Yeah.

Roula (11:21)
No.

Many, many reviews I read because the delivery is late. Or reviews that say it serves its purpose. What? If I'm buying a pen to write, I know I'm buying a pen to write. What kind of shitty review is this? It serves its purpose.

Rosie (11:40)
You want a whole self-reflection

in the overview, know, paragraphs and subheadings.

Roula (11:48)
Come on, I hate it when you say these things about me ⁓

Rosie (11:52)
No,

it's detailed reviews are very helpful, especially when it's perhaps a high ticket item you're looking to purchase. So clothing, probably not something I can relate to as much because you're very into that and I'm more into technology. So if I'm looking to buy a specific product, I want detailed reviews, all the detail, the good and the bad. I don't want a biased review where they only talk about the good things or only the bad things.

Roula (12:17)
Indeed.

Rosie (12:21)
need a well balanced view and it's hard to get that online.

Roula (12:27)
writing reviews is emotional. People are happy and they write a review or they're upset and they write a review. ⁓ and this is something that, yes, as you said, I, I hate it. Calm down, come back and write the review later. There's no urgency for it.

Rosie (12:31)
Yeah. Yeah.

Come to...

Says

the emotional one talking about reviews.

Also, I think what's important to one person when writing a review would be different to what's important to you. So the fact that this guy was a bit confrontational when you first walked in the shop, that wasn't enough for you to go, oh, I'm walking away and leaving a negative review. It was part of the experience, but overall it sounds like you had quite a positive experience because you walked out with four beautiful items and you had fun trying things on.

Roula (13:19)
True, as you said, it's very personal. The person walking into a shop or buying food, et cetera. And I feel it's nicer to write a negative email to someone, a company first before writing a negative review, especially when it's attacking personalities. If the product is bad, it's based on a real factual, you tried the product.

Rosie (13:23)
Mmm.

Mm. Yeah.

Roula (13:48)
It broke the first time you used it. It's really bad product. That's, can trust these kinds of reviews, but when reviews are attacking people personalities, I find this, like it could be useful, but my experience could be different with these people because we interact differently.

Rosie (14:09)
Yeah, yeah.

Roula (14:11)
And if they send an email to tell someone, had this experience at your shop, you're an asshole on an email and they reply a total asshole, then keep it on email.

Rosie (14:12)
you

You're an asshole.

And don't share that in a review. See, I'd want to know.

Roula (14:29)
⁓ yeah probably it's good to share it on the review you know when you're certain it wasn't a one time off it wasn't it's really bad character every day

Rosie (14:35)
And you're certain they're an asshole?

Again, you need that self-reflection going on.

Roula (14:44)
Hahaha!

Rosie (14:47)
Need like a checklist before you hit submit on the review. Rulers checklist.

Roula (14:52)
Where are my emotions now? Am I happy? Okay, the entree was delicious, the dinner was crap. So what's my review? Is it good or is it bad? I need to sleep on it.

Rosie (15:03)
I mean, it's tricky.

Sometimes I don't leave a review because it's overwhelming. Because like you, I want the detail and then I don't end up leaving one, but then I'm really grateful when other people leave a detailed review. So it's difficult.

Roula (15:21)
True, I don't write negative reviews. I only write reviews when I'm 100 % satisfied.

Rosie (15:25)
Why?

See, and that's why you end up with reviews like this fish and chip shop where there's amazing reviews and there's only a couple of people who can be bothered to post their negative review. So I go there really excited and then have a shitty experience.

Roula (15:44)
Crazy! So you have experience with lot of good reviews, few shitty, and I have experience with a lot of shitty, few good, and our experiences are different. I had fun and you regret it.

Rosie (15:52)
Yes!

So true.

Reviews are flawed. my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. So maybe you just have to give things a go, but don't go in naive. Like if you're buying something and there's lots of negative reviews, maybe think about that. There's going to be a reason. Maybe it's a valid reason. Maybe it's not.

Roula (16:00)
I wonder how reliable are the reviews.

yes and you know what is really cool if you leave a review for us so as they say in dutch in dutch they say cookie from cookie it means i'm gonna give you a from your own dough so if your dough is shit your cookie will be bad and if it's good

Rosie (16:25)
It's so smooth.

Roula (16:41)
So now that we're talking about reviews, please go to rosieandroula.com leave us a review. If you're happy, you might buy us a cup of coffee. And if you're upset, send us an email. Do not send us a bad review. I promise you we will reply. In which mood you will be, I don't know.

Rosie (16:41)
like that.

hahahaha ⁓

Can't say. All right then. Bye.

Roula (17:02)
Bye!