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Belkin's President Apologizes For Faked Reviews

Posted by kdawson on from the genuine-naugahyde dept.

remove office writes "After I wrote about how Belkin's Amazon.com sales rep Mike Bayard had been paying for fake reviews of his company's products using Mechanical Turk, hundreds of readers across the Web expressed their outrage. As a result of the online outcry, Belkin's president Mark Reynoso has issued a statement apologizing and saying that 'this is an isolated incident' and that 'Belkin does not participate in, nor does it endorse, unethical practices like this.' Amazon moved swiftly to remove several reviews on Belkin products it believed were fraudulent. But now fresh evidence of astroturfing has surfaced, by the same Belkin executive."

3 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. isn't the statement contraditroy? by quickOnTheUptake · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Belkin does not participate in . . . unethical practices like this."
    paraphrase: We don't do what we just did.

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    1. Re:isn't the statement contraditroy? by Mechanik · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Belkin does not participate in . . . unethical practices like this."

      Emphasis mine. His statement doesn't preclude them participating in other unethical practices.

  2. They never do what they just did. by riggah · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Belkin's president Mark Reynoso has issued a statement apologizing and saying that 'this is an isolated incident' and that 'Belkin does not participate in, nor does it endorse, unethical practices like this.'

    Phew, for a second I thought I was going to have to use some doublethink to convince myself that Belkin didn't do exactly what he just claimed they never do!!!

    Mr. Reynoso's apology means nothing. He's only sorry because they were caught; as with most people.

    It doesn't matter if they apologize because a business that engages in that sort of unethical behavior will not hesitate to do it again (unless it effects their pocketbooks, in that case they'll just be more careful to not be caught). Once a cheater always a cheater.