Even if it's not a verified-purchase , it's still counts in Amazon's count of percentage of 1 star reviews.
I don't give a shit about your moral stand against HP. Give me an honest review of a product you own or don't say anything.
But nearly half of Amazon reviews these days are paid advertisements by the seller in my experience.
And while I think you should never write a review for a product you've never used, if you've:
1. Supported or used one at work
2. Had to make purchasing decisions at work, done research, and chosen a competing product
3. Helped a friend or family member with one
Then go right ahead.
In some cases it feels like 90%.
This is very different than, hypothetically, going over all HP products in Amazon and giving 1 star because, say, HP sued someone you don't think they should have, or filed taxes in a way you think is fraudulent or clubbed baby seals. It is also different from rating HP laptops badly because of this issue with their printer, for example. It is actually a review about a major flaw in the product that I would be purchasing, and thus relevant to me as a buyer regardless of moral stands of any kind.
The real problem is people who review products on unrelated issues, like the political positions of the CEO.
It's easy to quibble with this in cases like the Samsung batteries. But exploding batteries aren't the common case: much dumber things are.
Heck, if I and others didn't do this and the printer was still at 4stars because the uninformed majority don't understand the technical aspect of this planned obsolescence, other uninformed readers may not feel the need to read the reviews at all (the average is 4! It probably has no issues! HP is a household name, I'll be using this for years!)
As I said, my review (that the printer has hard-coded planned obsolescence in place) is a fair review allowing you to make a more informed, reliable decision.
It's not worth a long debate, but you're not telling me your whole argument so I don't know how to respond.
"It never happened to me, or any HP printer I've ever dealt with, but I read online that..."
I'd put a 5 star review on my Samsung Note. Why? Because my phone didn't explode. Hell... my phone has been through the RINGER and it still works. Can I give it a 6 star?
But because of a small SMALL subset of users that have issues with Samsung Phones, all of a sudden there are a thousand 1 star reviews who say "they explode and kill puppies (because that's what the TV/Internet told me)"?
What percentage of iPhones were affected by Bendgate? How many reviews were from Android users who never would have bought an iPhone anyway?
There's a line and, personally, I think that it's crossed when you review something negatively for an issue you've not personally experienced.
Is HP shitty for doing this? Does Samsung need negative press for it? Should Apple have to face their issues? Of course.
But unless YOU PERSONALLY have been affected, you are just part of a mob out on a witch hunt.
You don't appear to have thought this all the way through...
Of your examples, only HP intended to make a crappy product. Apple and Samsung tried to make a better one (thinner, more battery life, etc) and just made some mistakes. Mistakes deserve pointing out, intentional dishonesty does deserve a witch-hunt. Every day you don't point this out to non-technical people is a day the scammers get rich from their scams.
Imagine test-driving two cars. On the first, a wheel falls off as you round a corner. Obviously you aren't going to buy it, but then by your logic - not having bought it - you aren't allowed to comment on it.
Also, do you really believe that someone is going to be okay with a product they buy refusing to function, just because it's a tech device? Replacing consumables, even if the consumable is high-tech, is something that even non-techies can understand. As proof, I couldn't fabricate my own tires but would be annoyed if my car wouldn't run with 3rd-party tires, despite not being a mechanic. It's rude and sociopathic, to assume others are too stupid to come to the same conclusions.
Then those people can always NOT write an one-star review. As for the others, there's nothing wrong with pushing an agenda, if you think it's an important fault of the product.