Camera stores aren’t the only folks getting in on the reader-review bribery game. The Consumerist and Gizmodo today double-team another gadget shop found to have encouraged naughty shenanigans with a little store credit.
“Dear Valued Customer,
If you have purchased from us before and feel we did a good job, please use the link below and rate us 10/10 and we will give you $5.00 in credit to use for anything on our website.”
Challenged, the sneaky store said “We worded the email that was sent out improperly,” prompting Giz’s Mark Wilson to quip “Of course! It’s like a multi-word typo.”
It’s almost enough to make you think that anonymous, aggregative review systems are intrinsically corruptible!
TheCellShop.net Caught Bribing Customers To Submit “Perfect” Reviews [Consumerist via Gizmodo]
I was in a similar situation about 5 years ago. I ordered an MP3 player, and my money basically disappeared into a black hole for a week before I could get a hold of anyone. They were, of course, responsive the moment I threatened to file a dispute with the bank. I wrote a nasty review on resellerratings.com, and they offered to refund my shipping if I softened it up a little.
There are some interesting behavioral economics questions here. To what extent is leaving a nasty online review a cathartic experience vs. doing our civic duty to warn off future potential customers? And how does the answer to that question change our motivations when it comes to being bought off? I can’t see $5 swaying me if the service was truly poor but I suppose we all have our price.