Am I the only person who doesn't give anu credit to "customer reviews" anyway? I'll go to a reputable review site and search for product reviews before I'd trust a retailer's "customer reviews." I even hesitate to trust actual end-users, after all, aren't a lot of them stupid or not tech-savvy enough to understand perfectly good, if not a little complicated products? I hope Belkin pays for their sleeziness, but don't think they're the only ones.

Tell us, friendly commentators, what sort of response would you find appropriate?

Let Belkin keep the positive reviews, but put a big blood red "Fraudulent Paid For Review" next to it.

Also those "Fraudulent Paid For Review" comments should always show up on the first page that people see when they go to leave comments and not eventually get buried in the back as people buy more stuff.

From Giz: "This kind of fakery is probably far more common than we realize, but it's awful for the consumer. That wireless USB hub, for example, advertises Mac compatibility, but one of the real reviews suggests that this isn't true at all."

As a Mac user, all I have to say to Belkin is that I will never buy a Belkin product ever again. Never! You've lost my business for life. Which is kinda sad, I was going to pick up a few accessories tomorrow and a few at the top of my list were Belkin. I guess I'll be looking at the alternatives.

Maby amazon needs to consider making it a requirement for someone to BUY the product before allowing them writing a review on it

@Daniel Lamin:

Adding on to that note we should have a 'spam all belkin products with negative reviews day'

Reset all their reviews (good and bad), put up a big, can't-miss-it notification that the good reviews were paid for and disable all reviews for a month.

This is totally prevalent. A quick look over the HITs on Mechanical Turk shows the vast majority are simply "bump page views/counts/ratings/etc." tasks occasionally obscured by "verify the name on this page" run-arounds.

Not sure what should be done about these reviews but in the future, a human should probably look at the HITs when they're submitted to filter these kind of things? Amazon could submit their own HITs to do so.

You gotta sift through the chaff. Filter out the 100% "OMG! This HDMI cable changed my life!!" shills, along with the "I could tell the digital camera was total junk when I opened the box and it was made out of plastic, not metal like a real camera*". I read more to find potential problems - like when I see a similar problem being commented on several times. Testimonials I avoid, since they're all shill BS as far as I'm concerned. If I see something that has to have customer testimonials, I find I'm less likely to buy it.

*Actual review when I was researching my first Kodak digital. By the end of his review, he hated it so much that I think he returned it without even trying to take pictures. Turned out to be a good camera, and one that took two hard, plastic breaking drops and still works.

Making all Belkin products invisible for a period of time sounds like a good start. But in that time, if it were up to me, Amazon would implement a notice on all Belkin item pages (with a link to a page explaining this situation) warning that reviews for said product were solicited and all highly positive reviews should be considered suspect. If possible, I'd also search logs or whatever sources available to find out when these solicitations first appeared, and delete all 5-star reviews posted since that time. In this case, the notice would include a disclosure that some reviews had been removed as probably fraudulent.

Maybe then, after a few weeks, I'd make their account and products available again, with the notice described above--on the condition that Michael Bayard is banned from Amazon's domain and Belkin's account will follow if any further interference is revealed.

Meanwhile, if they really want to gain appreciation and trust, Amazon might consider publicizing this issue themselves. There must be some sort of fraud or misrepresentation in this that is legally actionable, and Amazon should publicly warn all vendors that they will pursue judgments against any company or individual interfering with their business model and reputation.

Yeah, I know that's really a bunch of feel-good BS, but it sure sounds satisfying.

I'd love it if there were a way to close the accounts of those who sold their reviews, but I don't know how Amazon could prove an individual account holder guilty, so unfortunately I think they're off the hook.

I guess I'm meaner than you are.

I quit buying Belkin products back in 2003.
[www.theregister.co.uk]

I guess I picked up an additional reason to avoid them.

//Insert feigned look of surprise.

Gasp! What? You mean the same company that sticks 50cent cables in a pretty package and sells them for $50? They wouldn't!

I'm sure Mr. Bayard's actions were entirely his own. (cough)

Measured by numbers affected, these guys are worse than Monster.

Customer reviews are one of the reasons that Amazon became and is so successful. I think there are very few options for Amazon to maintain the quality of reviews without limiting the quantity. The best solution is perhaps to require users to make a purchase first, for any product, before allowing them to review. That way that can't use multiple e-mail accounts to create multiple Amazon.com profiles. But otherwise the best defense is user knowledge. If you click on a reviewer's profile and see only a couple of reviews, or see a high volume in a short time (ie Harriet Klausner), you know something's up. There are a bunch of other things to look for, but common sense is the best defense.

@Daniel Lamin: i'm actually against this b/c sometimes a product works so well for me, i feel inclined to review it on multiple sites (newegg, cnet, amazon, etc.), but considering other alternatives, that might be the best option.

at the very least, if you give priority to reviews for items bought thru that retailer & then delete all other reviews when situations like this present themselves, that could help to restore some authority to the reviews.

@Daniel Lamin: It worked for TurboTax.

That's almost as bad as people suing over their negative reviews.

Here's my procedure for dealing with this issue and reducing the likelihood something like this will happen again:
1. Pull all of Belkin's products from the Amazon.com catalog, and explain why when someone tries to search for anything Belkin.
2. This "blockade" remains in effect until Belkin pays a per-comment fee for identifying and removing the items. This fee must be paid for in full before the items are restored.
3. As some of you suggested, make it so that only the people who actually purchased the item are eligible to review it.

@TheName: That would be nice, too. It sounds sorta common-sense from the consumer's POV, but I'm guessing the thought never came within a mile of occurring to the team that implemented MT.

This incident shows one of the best reasons to always look for the negative reviews of any product.

Not really. Competitors have been know to write negative reviews for competing products.

One of the flaws in the Amazon rating system is that you don't have to prove you own the product to review it, a hole this *hole took advantage of, deliberately instructing people to write reviews for the product as if they owned it, even if they did not.

@CheritaChen: How did this reply end up here? *growl* Sorry for the confusion, folks.

well, if it were my company, i would get my superstar lawyer team to write up a pretty stern "breach of contract" letter nullifying any existing agreements, orders, future orders, etc. i'd imagine this falls under "tampering" clauses that exist in most b2b agreements. i'd demand an accounting of all paid for reviews, charge an advertising fee for each review, plus a penalty for violating the contract terms & use the opportunity to renegotiate unit price for unfulfilled orders.

Amazon needs to do something. Either flag all the bogus reviews, remove Belkin from their website or only allow reviews for items purchased.

This post was written using a buggy overpriced Belkin wifi card that never had worked right.

@Ragman & LordofthePing: While what you say is true, it unfortunately doesn't address the problem of Belkin benefiting from the foolish who don't look beyond a star rating or use judgment in digesting the claims made if they do. Those suckers are punishing themselves by buying Belkin's crap, but Belkin still gets their money. This type of thing needs some idiot-barricading.

Are there any honest businesses left?

Every day more and more stories of corporate corruption coming to light.

Business ethics are seen only in books these days and no longer practiced.

No wonder so many consumers have lost confidence. We're tired of being manipulated and lied to.

@Alex Brewer:

"Reputable review sites" often have to concern themselves with ad revenue. See: Gamespot, and the firing of reviewers who wouldn't suck advertiser dick.

Yeah, there's still Consumer Reports...but even they JUST DONT GET IT when it comes to certain items (cars).

The best bet, IMO, is to find a forum you trust. Like a blog or message board where there's actual discussion, and go with a consensus arrived at by interaction.

@mac-phisto:

Well said!

@Alex Brewer:

On sites like Amazon or NewEgg, I usually just read the negative reviews. If there are a bunch that say the item has a certain deficiency/bug/problem from people who sound reasonably intelligent, I figure they are probably right.

If all the negative comments are complaints that don't really seem relevant (product was DOA - yup, that occasionally happens) or demonstrate that the person doesn't know how to use the product (router does not dispense ice cold beer), I ignore it.

The problem is Amazon's own Mechanical Turk. They don't oversee it and it's become a source of junk, fraud and business cheaters. It needs to be scrapped.

Amazon has purged all the new positive reviews.

Bayard isn't very adept at black-hat FRO (Fake Review Optimization). Maybe he'll fare better at job hunting.

I think Amazon should set up an email address or some other way to let them know that a manufacturer is soliciting false positive reviews. I'm sure Belkin isn't the only one doing this.

Amazon's customer reviews are a very powerful resource for them, and I'm sure they know it. They should make it clear they're protecting the quality of that resource.

They should also investigate this and similar events, and if they can't mark the fake positive reviews as contaminated, they should just delete them, and consider deleting all the reviews written by those users.

@madanthony: That's actually a great idea for a product: A router that not only connects you to great porn sites but also dispenses ice cold beer. I'd buy it.

I think having a bunch of posters making the statement on Amazon Reviews that Belkin rewards posters to put tainted reviews should do the trick.

The amazon users who posted the fraudulent reviews are just a guilty as the Belkin representative. Everyone involved in this scheme should be banned from Amazon, to matain some level of integrity.

@Blueskylaw: well step #1 would be to delete any reviews from members who were paid for the HIT. Assuming people don't have separate Amazon accounts for MT and reviewing products (unlikely) this would be easy to figure out.

@bxbrett:

I'll wait until Linksys or Buffalo are caught doing this before I get despondent.

When your product are notorious crap, and you've got no hope of changing that in the near term, you can get desperate.

@Alex Brewer: I give lots of credit to customer reviews. If it's an expensive item I read all the reviews, or at least a significant number of them. I search for the negative reviews as well.

There are a few that go to extremes, on either end of the scale. ("Everything ever made by this manufacturer is crap!" or "I love this product so much we're getting married on Saturday!") Toss those out, look for trends across multiple reviews, and check the writing style and quality in the reviews ("Diz ting is teh r0xx0rs!" is not a useful review,) and you've generally got a pretty good idea of what to expect.

Reviews can also be useful if you run into a problem with something. There's a good chance someone else has had the same problem and has figured out a workaround, and put that in their review.

@mac-phisto: While I'm sure you know what you're doing and write an informed review, I like his suggestion because it eliminates the people who accidentally review the wrong product. Say two similar models and they leave a review on one with complaints against the other.

I prefer to do an internet search for something and throw in words like blog and forum. It's the only way to find the real problems people have had with an item.

As to Amazon...saw a cool GPS system and looked up the cost and reviews at Amazon. All of the reviews were 5 stars practically and the first 10 out of the 25 used lots of exclamation marks. I'd guess they were written by schills.

Seeing news posts like this gets my blood boiling. I have been in an IT role professionally for over 10 years now and I learned early on that Belkin products were unreliable, low quality and came with very poor technical support. I placed a BAN on the purchase of any Belkin accessories for our office because just about everything they made was junk. Every time I see the name, I shudder a little.

I am someone who has always carefully researched ratings for a product I'm considering the purchase of, and that includes reading the ratings at Amazon. So I'm disheartened to hear this story. (Though I have to say, I do look at the dates these ratings were offered and I would probably notice a bunch of ratings done within a few days of each other.)

I think the suggestion that Amazon limit ratings to those people who have purchased this item is a good one. I know that a lot of people who submit ratings at Amazon's website have purchased items elsewhere and this limiting-the-ratings-to-Amazon-buyers might reduce the number of ratings on the website. Perhaps Amazon could offer an inducement to its customers to leave ratings for the products they've purchased?

The only thing that concerns me is if Belkin is "taking this seriously" or not.

Belkin's President has already responded. Not sure if its enough:

[www.crunchgear.com]

@bxbrett: Corporations are way too powerful. Years ago when our country was younger, the US would revoke a company's charter for almost any infraction of the law, rendering it unable to do business. These days, the corporation has the same rights as a man - only it's more powerful because it has millions of dollars and high-profile lawyers backing it. As Lincoln said in the 1800's:

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong it's reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."

@Daniel Lamin: Unfortunately, this would prevent anyone from recommending (or warning other customers away from) products they own and use but didn't purchase from Amazon.

Considering how many people use Amazon's ratings as a research tool but make their purchase elsewhere, this would eliminate a lot of legitimate feedback.

Mechanical Turk is like the internet itself -- it has some junk, fraud and business cheaters, and it also has some really good uses. Scrapping it would be a huge mistake.

vivisect. VIVISECT!

Belkin should be not only be shamed, but they should be required to notify everyone who may have purchased their products on Amazon.com since the paid for reviews went up offering a complete and immediate refund.

Amazon should also flag all Belkin pages that the existing reviews may have been paid for.

Finally, the names of anyone who was paid to review should be exposed. As a blogger myself, I hold the foot soldiers ultimately responsible. Whether or not their review was genuine, they should offer full disclosure. Anything else makes them less ethical than Belkin itself.

i've rated many items i didn't buy directly from amazon, usually as a warning to other buyers, but sometimes to rave about how awesome it is. it's not like my opinion isn't as valid as that from someone that bought it from amazon, so cutting out reviews from people who hadn't bought directly may not be the best option.

it's also hard to differentiate which of the people were paid and who actually liked it. i know it's known to be horrible, but there's people who don't expect perfection from electronics. if it cuts out every once in a while, it's no big deal, so they may still rate it a 4 or even a 5. it may be a small portion of people, but it wouldn't be fair to assume all the 5's were false and delete them.

and for amazon, not selling belkin products for a while doesn't make good business sense, as they would be diminshing their own sales, not the sales of belkin. the only person feeling that would be amazon.

so to sum up, something needs to be done about the false reviews, but i have no idea what that is!

Why should Amazon do anything? If you buy the router and don't like it you can send it back on their dime. If you buy the router and do like it then they make money. This is no different from any other product they or any other retailer sells.