Vouching sight unseen, is it only us CCr's?

[Mikey P]

The practice of recommending products that one has never used, let alone seen..

Do Plumbers, Electricians, Doctors and Landscapers go on forums or tell their cohorts to buy expensive pieces of life or death equipment like a 25K truckmount, based solely on what they've read about the machine by a few guys on the internet?


We've all seen it here on the Boards since the dawn of of ICS
Any of us who has been around for a while has bought something that turned out to be junk or have horrible customer service yet all these happy virtual cleaners (shills perhaps ?) continue to ramble on about their satisfaction..


My suggestion to any and all is be very careful when considering taking advice from a person who touting a product or service. Please use the PM system here to ask them if they have used either and by all means, start threads specifically about that one item you are looking into carefully analyze the following comments. Make damn sure they actually own the product, ask for pictures if you have to.
Nothing could be worse than laying out big bucks to a one man truckmount builder who never set funds aside for future warranty issues and all of a sudden comes down with" can't answer the phone due to throat cancer".
This is the age of caller ID remember...

 

[The Great Oz]

People that are shills can still send pictures, and people that bought the product and rave about it may be idiots or too embarrassed to admit they made a poor decision. It takes time in the field to prove how a product works, so if the company hasn't built a trusted reputation I'd recommend passing on the latest craze no matter how good it looks.

 

[hogjowl]

And never go on TMF and ask what TM to purchase.

 

[Mikey P]

Or installing 20 inch Bayco valves on your White Tragic.

 

[Shane Deubell]

I owe A LOT to that old ics crew.

We started off with a butler, 2 cimex, SFS and hit the ground running.

Can't imagine what its like today.... well actually i can its a total clusterfack.
Problem with the internet in general too much information and ANYONE can be an expert.

For me personally, look for around 10 years experience range in business or pretty much ignore their advice. On a major purchase anyway....

 

[Derek]

no matter how many times ppl are warned with threads like this though, the bottom line is some of us have a good measure of discernment and research skills & some of us have less. discerning who to trust takes patience and the ability to use the Search feature, Google, the telephone and PM's like Mike said.

if you're in a rush and don't ask the right questions, then commiserating on a thread like this is for you.