Why you should ALWAYS read reviews
I made a mistake this weekend. I ignored my usual policy of heeding bad reviews and bought something anyway. Oh I’d read the reviews, seen the complaints, noted them. And I ignored them all. I wanted to believe that perhaps people were wrong; maybe they got part of a bad shipment or put it together wrong. Maybe they didn’t pay attention to the directions.
The reviews I ignored were on the Big Wheel Princess Bike and the red version of the same, the Red Big Wheel. I had one as a child, and fondly remember spinning out around corners, the asphalt driveway just a few inches from my heels (I’m not alone in my apparent love for the toy). And so I let nostalgia, impulse shopping and stupidity get the best of me when I turned a blind eye to comments that read:
- “The very first time they got on and began to pedal, 3 of the 4 pedals came off because the washers are too weak to keep the “blue” pedal in place.”
- “…assembly was not easy, one pedal would not stay on.”
- “I had to put rubber on the tires just so she could get some traction. The stickers have fallen off already, I wasted my money.”
While there were good reviews on the product, (in fact plenty of people had no trouble) the bad reviews were specific: it’s made poorly. Unlike reviews that are somewhat subjective like: I didn’t like the color, or my son wasn’t really interested in riding it, these reviews were all around the same issue of quality. And still I believed they were wrong.
They were right. The red Big Wheel was missing parts right out of the box, so was never even put together. The Pink Big Wheel, once put together, felt not only flimsy but a washer provided was not enough to keep the pedal on. Not only that but the contruction is such that when you make a turn the pedal scrapes the ground. Both the Big Wheels are currently around the side of the house, with their boxes, awaiting my efforts to return them. Lesson learned. Oh, and one more knock against it, no hand break for doing spin outs like the old one. Now, who doesn’t want to do spin outs?
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