Thread: Vendors and Feedback

This idea comes out of a post from a new member's search for their first razor. I posted something to this effect there, but thought I'd share the idea through appropriate channels for it to be considered.

In the spirit of providing a supportive community to assist and encourage wet and straight shavers might it be appropriate to create space in which members can relate their experience with our various vendors?

Specifically a place in which people have the freedom to post their objective experiences, positive or negative with specific elements of their vendor experience. Such as: Service, Shipping, Performance, Overall Pleased/Disappointed

For instance; "I purchased this razor from SRD two weeks ago. It shipped promptly. I shaved with it without stropping and it was very smooth." or "I knicked my SRD razor on the sink and sent it in for the free 2nd honing. It was there two weeks*, then came back to me and shaves great!" or "I purchased this brush from 'website' and used it for three weeks. It has continued to lose seven or eight hairs every shave. I'm very disappointed"

(I would discourage the inclusion of price, as prices change over the years, and if a person purchased from a given vendor, they already accepted the price for goods or services. Any prospective buyers reading reviews will determine on their own whether current prices are acceptable to them, thereby maintaining our current position of valuation.)

It can be easy to see such a forum/group/subforum devolving into a vendor bash, or vendor love-in (which sometimes occurs already) but with the appropriate introduction I believe it could very well police itself.

Ideally, such a structure would provide an ever growing log of experiences with various vendors, enabling our community members to individually assess the quality of service and products from our various vendors, and allowing us to track any developments along the way (if for instance a vendor's quality or service fades, or improves). Such a forum may also prove beneficial for our vendors as a means of evaluating their services and perception within their niche market.

I realize that there are logistical hurdles involved in establishing a review forum such as this, and that there are also monetary implications (will vendors who pay for advertising stop if they receive poor reviews from the community, etc.), but I cannot address those issues. (Though I believe it could become a selling point for advertising)

Submitted for your consideration,
Jim


(*note: I've never used this service, so the two week figure is an arbitrary time used for example only)