Well, if you’re Belkin (manufacturer of computer cables and accessories) it may not be worth much now. According to The Consumerist, a Belkin representative has been caught trying to get users to post 5 star ratings on his company’s products on Amazon, Buy.com and Newegg. Apparently, a few Belkin products were getting lacklustre reviews, so he offered cash in exchange for good reviews.
While it may not signify the entire company is ethically bankrupt, it is clear that at least one employee is trying to artificially inflate the company’s reputation. This is an obvious case of poor ethical judgement, but it’s a case of fraud too.
As if that wasn’t crazy enough, this representative used Amazon’s own Mechanical Turk service (where companies post menial jobs that humans do better than machines) to attract potential commenters. Didn’t they imagine what would happen if they got caught? Appearing on The Consumerist blog is not generally a good thing. Damage control time.
Read more on the story here.
