MichaelBayard
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Belkingate - as new evidence turns up, the company keeps mum
We found out yesterday that there is something amiss with the ratings that Belkin products have been receiving on Amazon -- and while the company's president pleads ignorance, more evidence of wrongdoing continues to mount. According to The Daily Background, Amazon accounts with names like B. Ekim (whose nickname is listed as "mikebayard," same as the name of the employee that seems to have started this whole mess) exist with little to tie them to reality, aside from the fact that they enthusiastically rated Belkin products on sites like Amazon and PriceGrabber. When we asked a representative of the company point-blank whether or not anyone at Belkin has been offering money for positive reviews, we received this evasive reply: Thanks for your email. We are still investigating the situation, and we hope to have a follow-up statement that will answer these questions later this week. To be entirely honest, we don't know what's worse -- that someone would outsource fraudulent five star ratings for his company, or the fact that the alleged fraud was so painfully obvious. Looking back, it does seem suspicious that so many people were so psyched about TuneCast.
Belkin pleads 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.
Belkin rep hiring folks to write fake reviews on Amazon?
Back in our day, if you weren't busy walking up uphill both ways, you'd write your own dang fake reviews on Amazon, but apparently Belkin's Michael Bayard -- or a clever impostor looking to smear the man's good name -- decided it'd be easier and totally non-obvious to hire people on Mechanical Turk to do it for him. For a whopping $0.65 cents you can write a 5 out of 5 review of a Belkin product, and downrank negative reviews while you're at it. Michael Bayard is a Business Development Representative at Belkin, and seems to have pulled the Mechanical Turk posting, but the him and his company have yet to comment publicly. Say it ain't so, Mike!
