Hello, just out of couriosity, how often do u get to review? thanks for ur time xxxx

It depends on what the company is looking for and if you fit the criteria (have a child of a certain age/sex are living in a certain area etc etc) but you are guaranteed products to test to the value of your joining fee.

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Hi

I've normally received 2 items per year, but this year I have only received one (and would argue it was to the value of the £5 joining fee).

Hopefully I will receive something soon, or I might not rejoin next year.

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Hello Dawny .
I can see that you have had Percol Decaffeinated Colombia Coffee , Waybuloo - Time for Yogo, Fit Wash & FunToSee Funberry Farm Room Make-Over Kit so you have definitely had your money's worth. The Makeover Set was worth over £30+ so quite a good thing to review I would have thought.
It really is the luck of the draw - a bit like this EuroMillions thing! I bought a ticket but I didn't win £161 Million - someone else did though! Last month we sent out a Pushcharir worth over £300 to one reviewer!

I'm hoping to join the product reviewing, however it says you have enough subscriptions at the moment so I'll try again at a later date. It's a great idea though

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Good luck with the reviewing. It's a fab idea and a great way to atttract new users, which is of course necessary cos children do grow up after all but isn't working for me at the moment cos I'm clearly the wrong demographic so I don't think I'll be renewing this year. The scheme wasn't run like this when my boy was a baby (it was only for regular forum posters) so I don't think I got anything when he was a baby (under 1) a aprt from maybe some kiddy pasta and also a book for ages 3+.
Last year (the first year it was possible to pay for testing) I got a safety gate, suntan lotion and 2 raw food cereal bars to test (I got the gate through a forum post, not as an automatic send).
This year has been awful, a meningitis arc for checking for septicaemia worth £10 that's a great idea in principle but I hope to never use and includes widely available info that I'd already been sent by the Meningitis Trust, and Cleebo bogey removal tweezers worth £8. So yes worth over £5 and I know you all keep saying that the products actually being useful or good isn't to be expected but honestly, the Cleebo is no use to me at all (definitely not for toddlers) and I've tried to give it away but no one, even mums with babies, wants it, and I hope my boy never gets septicaemia (yes, I've used a glass in the past when he's had a rash just in case), so honestly, what's the point in sending unusable products that aren't even relevant. OK, deep breath, whinge over!

The thing is, this is what being a reviewer is all about. You may well get things that you wouldn't normally buy or use, but at least it gives an opinion to other people out there, whether it be good or bad. All TBW want you to do is an honest review, so if you don't like something then by all means say so. Paying to be a reviewer shouldn't just be about getting stuff for free, it's the chance to provide a service to other parents. The £5 fee that you pay for your years subscription is to help towards the costs of paperwork etc & when you think about it, £5 doesn't get you much these days. There may be people who end up getting a pushchair & people who end up getting something like a book or the Arc meningitis pack (which I got too), but that's just the luck of the draw.

I personally feel that £5 isn't much to spend when you think of what you might get & that you are guaranteed to get something of at least £5 value back in return. If it's something that you personally don't think is worth £5 then you are able to say so in your review, but if it's RRP is £5 then TBW has fulfilled it's part of the deal as the product's retail value is £5, even if you disagree. Most people do get more than 1 product to test per 12 month subscription & as you can see from the periodical closing of the panel, TBW won't keep taking people on if they won't have enough product tests to go around. I think it's a fab idea & don't know of any other site as good as this one for product tests. Well done TBW I say

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Here here! I'm happy to take someone else's place if they don't want it anymore!

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Look, I take your point, and I know this is a great site (believe it or not this was the only mummy site I posted on for almost 3 years, although I've come across a few others recently and spotted some regulars from here), but are you both really truly, honestly saying that you'd be thrilled to pay £5 for something as unusable as the only two products I've been sent this membership year, both in 2010 and then also have to make the time to write a thoughtful review of them when you haven't been able to actually use them? I can't tell you how bad I felt about not being able to do proper reviews. OK, not everyone gets amazing products but really, these 2 seem far worse than any of the items other reviewers have complained about receiving.
I appreciate that the Meningitis Arc is potentially useful but only if my boy is ever unlucky enough to get meningitis, so it's not really something I could give an honest review of because it's hypothetical, I've used a plastic tumbler before now, most cases of meningitis don't come with a rash and I have all the written info that came with it already. Most of the reviews said it should be given free to all new parents but instead it's being sold in shops.
As for the Cleebo (bogey remover), maybe when he was a baby but probably not even then because he always had a runny nose with no dried bogies (I applied for a nasal aspirator and other similar things but didn't get any of them) so I wasn't able to give that an honest review either and said so at the time - to send that to a wriggly 2 year old who's able to blow his own nose just really amazed me.
I've not been sent anything in 2011 and probably won't now because I've had my money's worth and my membership expires in a few weeks.
I never expected a pushchair or anything big, I'm not greedy and anyway he was already aged 2 by the time I subscribed in September 2010, I just wanted to try something fun or interesting that I could actually at least try to use with my boy, is that really so unreasonable? Lou, please accept my apologies if the Meningitis Arc was your only product for the year.
Sarah, I'm sure you'll be able to join soon and will get some lovely products to test when you do or at least less ungrateful than I'm being made out to be.
Since you're both so keen, who wants the Cleebo on condition that you write a proper review of it for TBW? I'll even pay the postage so that I don't have to throw it away (seriously, no one I know wants it, nor anyone on Freecycle).

I'm not saying I'd be thrilled with recieving 2 things that I couldn't use, no one would, but as I said before, I'd do my reviews based on that fact. I did a review on the Meningitis Arc without using it. I just wrote my review on the concept of it. Obviously the company sending it out for review were only interested in your view of the concept & if people would buy it to have as a preventative measure. I agree it's unfortunate that you have been sent things that you were unable to use, but TBW use a computer system to pick out the reviewers based on a lot of different factors, parents age, child/rens age & sex, location etc, so it really is just a matter of luck. There have been times when I have recieved things I didn't really like that much or that I couldn't use, but there have also been times when I've got fab stuff & I have been lucky in that way, as have a lot of people. I just write my reviews honestly, whether they be good or bad.

My intention wasn't to make you feel ungreatful, so I apologise for that. I am just trying to point out that it's just by sheer chance that you have been chosen for 2 things you weren't able to test properly. The companies who send the products out to review usually give instructions as to who they want to test the product (eg, age/sex/location etc), so they must have asked for toddlers to review the Cleebo, as I see it was only toddlers that they were sent to. So, although you feel your review wasn't honest, it would have given the company some great feedback with regards to who they should be marketing the product to & also given mums of babies an idea that it may be something they could use.

Hope that makes my point a bit clearer

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