Belkin pleads for mercy over paid Amazon reviews deception

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/belkin-pleas-for-mercy-over-paid-amazon-reviews-deception/

Remember how Michael Bayard, a Belkin Business Development representative, was apparently hiring people from Mechanical Turk to post glowing reviews of Belkin products on Amazon and elsewhere? Well, we just received an apologetic letter tucked firmly between the quaking legs of Mark Reynoso, President of Belkin -- a man clearly fearful of a consumer backlash. Reynoso expressed "surprise and dismay" that one of his employees "may have" (er hem, may have?) invited positive reviews for payment. While Belkin isn't admitting fault, it's at least taking responsibility to "re-instill trust" through the following actions:

"We've acted swiftly to remove all associated postings from the Mechanical Turk system. We're working closely with our online channel partners to ensure that any reviews that may have been placed due to these postings have been removed."

Hit the read link for the full, ethical grovel.

Filed under: Networking

Belkin pleads for mercy over paid Amazon reviews deception originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments