I am a compulsive researcher of consumer products when it comes to buying large and even medium-sized gadgets.Whether it's a coffee maker, a computer, a frontloading washing machine or a vacuum, I'll spend days trolling the internet to see what other people think of the product.
Now I know I don't need to bother.
There seems to be a growing number reviewers being outed as product totes.
Last week, Apple turfed Molinker, a development company that had created 1,011 apps on the App Store. Turns out, a majority of reviews on Molinker apps were fake. This was brought to Apple's attention by a customer named Patrick Timney.
In July, an employee of DeLonghi, best known for its high-end espresso makers, confessed to having written several rave reviews about DeLonghi products sold on Amazon.com. Not that DeLonghi took action when informed by a reporter from the Wall Street Journal. Their response was employees were free to write passionately about the products, whether they sold them or not.
In that same month, a New York plastic surgery clinic was fined for writing fake positive reviews to buttress real reviews written by unsatisfied customers.
In January, it was revealed that electronics maker Belkin had paid to have someone write five-star reviews of its products on Amazon.com.
And on and on. And it wasn't just positive reviews, it was negative ones too.
When I was researching the perfect front-loading washing machine, I came across scores of reviews that sounded like they'd been written by a paid employee. The reviews would hit on all the chords a typical salesman would, often starting off: "I don't mean to sound like an employee....." But there was a ring of insincerity. Frankly, they had no passion.
But reading the above fake reviews, it seems there was lots of passion, lots of heart, totally believable, and they were only caught because someone starting doing footwork: Tracing names back to original sources, double checking reviews and then contacting companies and websites.
Will I still continue doggedly researching products that I intend to buy? Sure, but when I visit the corporate websites, at least I'll know the reviews are biased.
never trust online products reviews..for in most cases..it is exaggerated ones..not the truth..but to promote..
I have never trusted on-line product reviews. The only solution to fake reviews will be excess amount fo reviews about a product So we should keep on posting in order to neutrlize the fake ones.
I've found, like everything else, that it's best to check several sources. C-net or TestFreaks are great places to find a second opinion. Websites that post both positive and negative responses also get more credit in my books. If a website is willing to post a negative review, odds are good that they're not stacking the deck.
I'm also very leary of "product ratings" using a X/5 or X/10 system. Products that rate highly on these scales aren't always good, they ussualy come with a good name attached to them (Sony, Microsoft, GE, etc). Often times on the futureshop website there will be product ratings on a product that hasn't been released yet.
Bottom line, you can't trust everything you read, so check several well known sources to back up the claims you're reading.
I run a small online retail operation (portable solar power equipment), and I see a lot of this sort of thing. I have no idea how any review site would be able to guarantee sincerity. What I do is use a system called KudosWorks. Basically, I follow-up with my customers several weeks after their purchase to find out how the equipment is working for them. In the process, I ask for a testimonial if they are happy with everything. I then collect these testimonials and a select few are accessible for viewing from a link on my website. The customer names are provided (if they wish), and I felt this was the best system for managing this kind of information. Again, I'm not sure how I could guarantee that I'm not posting a bunch of comments myself, but visitors to my site would likely know the difference as you point out in your article... they would just sound wrong.
I have heard very mixed comments regarding Yelp.com, which is basically a site where people can leave comments (mostly negative) about a shopping, dining, etc, experience.
A happy customer tells a couple of friends if the topic comes up, but an unhappy customer will tell the world these days.