How One Amazon Review Made a Difference

4/14/2016 House of Geekiness 1 Comments

I've been reviewing products on Amazon for four years now (since 2012). I started writing reviews to tell other consumers whether or not to buy a product, but when I started getting offers from companies to receive free products to review, I changed my goals a bit. Not only did I want to help my fellow consumers know the pros and cons of each product I tried, I hoped to inform the manufacturer as well, but assumed most wouldn't pay much attention to my input.

I have never been more happy to be wrong!

November 4, 2015, I reviewed a product on Amazon that I had received for free in exchange for my honest review. My initial review of the ThunderFit Silicone Wedding Band / Engagement Ring - 3 Rings Pack was fairly positive, despite a few product flaws:

Circled: Seams between colors

Circled: Shiny glue residue

However, I had to update it when the rings actually broke a week later, separating at the seams:

I thought that was the end of it, that it would hopefully keep people from wasting their money on a sub-par product, and that maybe, however unlikely it seemed, that the manufacturer might see my review and it would help them improve their product. I was shocked to receive this email a few months later:

I am referring to this review you wrote for our product -

http://www.amazon.com/review/R26JQ41ID5IUAT/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B015VWGJVU&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=3375251&store=sporting-goods

Which was by the way the most helpful review, unfortunately for us :)

I am contacting you because we made a change to our silicone rings, we've invested about 50,000$ for a different type of machinery, and with that we've finally succeeded to make the 3 color lines with a different manufacturing method (not glue like before) so this time they will definitely not separate.

I was wondering if that would be possible on your end that we'll send you couple of our new models, so you can try them out and see if they still have the problem, and if you see that these are good, it would really mean the world for us if you'd updated your review on amazon.

Currently your review is the first review each and every customer sees on our product page. Not that I have a problem with that, that's totally fine, I just wanted to ask you for a second chance to try our new type and possibly editing your review accordingly.

I was shocked! I practically bounced over to my husband and told him all about it.

ThunderFit send me the new ring set. Here's my updated review:

***Update*** ThunderFit has changed their manufacturing process. They send me a new set of rings to review, and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. Not only do the new rings feel smoother and the materials feel nicer than before, I couldn't break them apart like before! Believe me, I tried. After several attempts to separate the colored section from the black, the rings are still staying together. There are some minor seams on the inside, but they're comfortable to wear and the shiny glue residue is no longer there.

Well done, ThunderFit! Thank you for listening to us reviewers!!

The good:
While the original ring separated and broke within one week, these are much improved!
Nice variety of colors and patterns
Material feels nice, flexible yet strong
The seam separating the colors is gone

The bad:
There are seams in some places from the molding process
The silicone is a lint magnet--hard to keep clean (pictured)
Minor imperfections from the molding process visible in some places (pictured)

I received this item at a discount in exchange for my honest review.