Warning about dodgy 'recommendations' on MSE forums

mattersdorff

I don't know if the forum adminstrators will pull this post down but I think it's really important to warn fellow GENUINE MSE forum users about some seriously suspicious 'recommendations' that regularly pop up in these forums.

I feel a bit guilty using Leathersofaworld as an example because I've noticed it happen with a number of companies and I've almost been caught out buying products based on dodgy 'recommendations in the past.

But the practice of registering as a new forum user simply to recommend your own company under the guise of being a normal person is a disgusting thing that all genuine MSE members should be aware and wary of.

My original post is at:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=277392&highlight=leathersofaworld

does anyone else find it a little suspicious that the two people that made positive comments/recommended Leathersofaworld.com in this post both seem to have registered to use MSE forums purely to recommend this company in this post.

I obviously can't prove anything but I just hate companies that register as everyday 'normal' people and make sneaky recommendations about their own company.

The first post from Nathbargainhunter was posted in August 2007, SEVEN months after the previous post so if he's the happy owner of a sofa from leathersofaworld, why is he doing a 'sofa' search in the MSE forums???

Doing a search would surely have been the only way he would have found that post. Why is he searching for 'sofa's when he apparently already owns a great one and knows the exact company to buy from?

There was also a gap of a month before Sianywarny registered purely to comment on how good this company is and 'agree with one of the previous comments'.

I thought I might take my investigation further so did a search for leathersofaworld in the MSE forums and guess what I found:

Another 'newbie' registered under the name Amycaff to hail the services and quality of leathersofaworld.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...hers ofaworld

And in another post, yet another 'newbie' registered under Ste1987 purely to make an arbitrary comment about the delivery times of leathersofaworld.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...hersofaworl d

ALL of these comments came almost a full month, sometimes more, after the previous posts so yet again, there more than likely no way they simply stumbled across the posts and decided to make a comment... they've had to search for sofa before doing so and then gone through the registration process simply to make these recommendations... nothing before, nothing since.

Wanting to be completely fair to leathersofaworld, there was a total of 2 people who have been long-term members of the MSE forums that I discovered HAD made positive comments about the company.

Let this be a warning to people out there, at the very least check how long a person has been registered on MSE before believing everything they say, check out what else they've commented on and at the very least, take 'recommendations' from newbies with a healthy pinch of salt.

and I'm not bringing into question just leathersofaworld but many many more companies that try similarly deplorable, underhand tricks to attract business.

p.s. let me say that leathersoftheworld actually seems to be a decent company selling sofas at good prices... I'm in the hunt for a well-priced sofa myself which is how I stumbled across this post but these sort of seriously suspicious 'recommendations' do more to make me worry about the trustworthiness of the company than reassure me.

Sorry Leathersofaworld, I know you might feel victimised by this post but it's just bad luck yours was the company I noticed trying this disgraceful technique.

dinglebert

would be better in the warnings thread methinks

Butlers1982

People will find that with time you seem to have a radar of people who are only here to promote either their own or a company they have affiliation with.
In my opinion i think the people should have their IP blocked and shouldnt be allowed back on this website. There are many names i can think of that are on here that constantly promote their own company and have the cheek to moan when they are caught out.

I know the Mods work for free so maybe their could be a few more given the extra responsibility so that threads can be blocked or deleted sooner rather than later.

savvy

Hi mattersdorf

Any posts you see like that can easily be reported to Abuse by yourself and the Forum Team will deal with them fairly swiftly ;)

Board Guides that are assigned to the actual board can also be alerted by pm if they haven't spotted them, but bear in mind we can only action anything on the boards we have assigned to us and nobody else's, like right now I'd love to zap those posts, but it's not my board so can't *pouts*

sco0ter

This has been going on for years but more now because of the success of the site. The other favourite is "I just found this fantastic bargain at this website. I have used it many times" or "is this company ok as it has loads of bargains". these are all ways to get you to the website in hope that you will be stupid enough to buy something.

superscaper

Butlers1982 wrote: »

In my opinion i think the people should have their IP blocked and shouldnt be allowed back on this website.

Unfortunately I doubt that'd actually achieve very much and could also potentially block completely innocent posters if they just happen to get that IP address assigned to them. There's absolutely no way of actually blocking an individual person from registering as much as they want to.