Bogus posts

dmg24

katerinasol wrote: »

You're definitely not alone, the moment I see a first poster praising the company I always think it has to be a representative. It's a shame that even despite this site existing companies still think consumers are mugs!

If you look at the Grabbit board, you will see a fair amount of mugs! The amount of blatant self advertising on there that people will still buy from because it is a 'bargain'. If people stopped doing that, hopefully the self advertisers would disappear.

bethesda

phoodless wrote: »

I think it works the other way as well - someone new posts about a bad experience and how rubbish a company is - and serveral "new" users also chip in. Very suspect.

i was going to say the same thing...............just look at the rants about hermes.........mostly by 'newbies' and it happens when there's a free book to be had aswell

rustyboy21

Putting my head above the parapet here....:eek::eek:

Perhaps sometimes though, some of the people who do as OP states, are not people who wouldn't normally post their views and are merely lurkers. Why do they not have the right to express their views, and how do you know if what they are stating isn't correct?

I have never had a bad experience of some of the latest retailers getting attacked, the likes of tescos, asda, M&S, pixmania etc, I havent posted on these threads though. I normally seem to post, when I see posters, who seem to think they are in the right and seem to want inachievale things out of their experience. I try to reason ( as on here) that there is always another side to the view they have and try to look at the situation rationally

What does annoy me is when people start new threads and they start them with the words 'CON, COWBOYS, SCUM etc'. If they have had a bad experience, fine, but don't slag them off without proof to back up your argument. Be more level headed in your views and you will get better responses.

At the end of the day, this is a free of charge forum, open to all and is not some select ' Club' where you have to know someone who knows someone to join. Take the rough with the smooth and live with it. Some people on here think they have the right to put down anyone who contradicts them. That is the real sad situation.

moonrakerz

This type of post is becoming quite common on review websites.

The thing is that they are so obvious to spot - I read one recently by someone giving 5 stars to a cruise ship, which everyone else had given 1 star, it was just copied out of the brochure !!

dmg24

moonrakerz wrote: »

This type of post is becoming quite common on review websites.

The thing is that they are so obvious to spot - I read one recently by someone giving 5 stars to a cruise ship, which everyone else had given 1 star, it was just copied out of the brochure !!

Groupon recently had a 'deal' for a hotel in Marrakech. The reviews on TripAdvisor were mediocre. The morning that the deal became live there suddenly appeared five excellent ratings, one even quoting the exact room size!

Esqui

Oopsadaisy wrote: »

What's wrong with making sure as many users a spossible know about how bad a company is?? For example take a look at the posts on MSE wrt Pixmania...as far as i'm concerned the more that know the better.

Nothing at all...but if you post a thread about a company, people will read it. It doesn't need another 5 three-year-old threads directing you to look at your topic.

MissUno

I agree I think posting false information either good or bad on any source people use to guide them in the right direction as a consumer is very wrong. There is so much false advertising out there as it is. What annoys me is people who subsidise their income getting paid to make false positive claims about products or services online on forums/youtube etc. Therefore making it even more difficult to make a proper consumer choice.

Esqui

MissUno wrote: »

What annoys me is people who subsidise their income getting paid to make false positive claims about products or services online on forums/youtube etc. Therefore making it even more difficult to make a proper consumer choice.

I agree. It's silly spending all that time being paid to promote things online when you could be out enjoying the great taste of Coca Cola. But that's their prerogative...I think what they need is a cool glass of great tasting Coca Cola and that will make things alright again.

MissUno

Esqui wrote: »

I agree. It's silly spending all that time being paid to promote things online when you could be out enjoying the great taste of Coca Cola. But that's their prerogative...I think what they need is a cool glass of great tasting Coca Cola and that will make things alright again.

Haha, sarcasm.

It's true though. There were people I used to enjoy watching on Youtube until their videos all became about giving false praise in return for freebies or payment.

I know that all advertising has it's dishonesty, just need to look at any mascara advert to see that.

I know it's idealistic to expect a bit of honesty these days though.

Now I'm going to use my amazing new Avon scrub that gives perfect skin upon first use and then drink some lovely Evian water....purity from within that stuff is.:D

wdw2003

dmg24 wrote: »

Groupon recently had a 'deal' for a hotel in Marrakech. The reviews on TripAdvisor were mediocre. The morning that the deal became live there suddenly appeared five excellent ratings, one even quoting the exact room size!

My wife and I were having a laugh over exactly that the other night. The Groupon ad sounded wonderfully tempting with over 1,000 poor deluded souls signing up, then we checked on Tripadvisor to find out how awful it really seemed to be.

Not only that, it seemed to be cheaper to book direct than through Groupon. :laugh: