Belkin Employee Offers Cash for Positive Reviews of Router

[JMcEntegart]

Recent reports suggests that a Belkin employee has been paying consumers for reviews on Amazon.com.

Belkin Employee Offers Cash for Positive Reviews of Router : Read more

 

[Silluete]

what a dirty moves

 

[falchard]

Nearly all major companies do this. They buy reviews. It shouldn't really be a shock that they would try other methods to sway public opinion. I think most Americans have the common sense to know most review sites are paid for good reviews. This is actually a pretty creative way to promote your product.

 

[curnel_D]

Just another form of advertising. This isnt a rare thing. Notice how Belkin does ease everyone's minds by saying they'd taken action against the employee involved? This is because that's what he was ordered to do. No employee in their right mind is going to pay cash out of pocket to consumers so that their companies single product gets a good review.

 

[cctchristensen]

[citation][nom]curnel_D[/nom]No employee in their right mind is going to pay cash out of pocket to consumers so that their companies single product gets a good review.[/citation]

If you're the Business Development Rep, it would motivate you to pay out of pocket to keep your job if your "legitimate" methods didn't work. Not saying what he did was right, but he just took his job home.

 

[Guest]

happens all the time, and I agree with above reviews!

Generally these guys are the reason that the salesmarket is all messed up,and people seldomly trust a salesperson anymore.

People who abuse the system, only cause consumers to be more brand-aware.

Maybe not the getting payed for good reviews, but the absurd reviews on major sales sites like newegg and Musiciansfriend,to name a few, happen all the time.
Musiciansfriend actually goes a step beyond, and only posts reviews that can not harm/improve sales.
Usually the negative points are either cut out, or left in if they know it doesn't affect a lot of people (like: "item arrived with scratches", "Item was in terrible shape"(knowing that one with little knowledge can fine-tune it in 5 minutes), or when it's about broken items that they know is a single case.

If there's an item with serious flaws, musiciansfriend will not post negative review that describe true device issues or flaws in details.

I've already passed many detailed reviews that where true, and that reflect how I experience certain items after 3 to 6 months use;which often differ from the first purchase impressions.

usually upon release of a new item, the first 3 posts are either from a salesperson, or from a factory reviewer. Reviews like "Works 100%perfect", "great device,must have",and "I wished the powercord was 3ft instead of 5ft" are the most useless and often most overlooked by me.

Either way; some 'DOA', or 'just a piece of crap'-reviews,without additional info are also pretty useless.

Things like false reviews happen all the time; many times by people saying they tested the device in the store,or had a quick look at the box, but never really used one, or/and don't really own one.

 

[Pei-chen]

Darn, I wrote a good review for a Bulkin power strip and didn't get paid.

 

[ravenware]

Well I generally jump to the bad reviews for a product anyway.

If am interested in a product I don't really give a crap about someones positive opinion, I want to know what's wrong with it.

Newegg has something that I thought was a pretty good idea, They let manufacturers reply to bad reviews. In addition to that they have have info displaying whether the reviewer purchased the item through newegg.com or not, makes it easier to tell if it is a genuine review and not someone blowing smoke.

 

[garydale]

Given my past experience with Belkin products, it doesn't surprise me that some people within their organization may find it necessary to resort to shady practises to push their products.