Beware of the reviews on Amazon! Bribery is afoot! I addressed this issue about seven years ago, with a blog post, and also with a review I left on Amazon. That concerned people who had received a free product in return for leaving an Amazon review about it.
Seems these days the bribery on Amazon is becoming even more blatant. So today I’m doing the same thing I did seven years ago, with this post about a review I recently tried to leave on Amazon for a surveillance camera.
Amazon rejected my review, warning: “It appears your review had inappropriate content.”
Well, fuck you, Amazon. I think warning people about bribery is very appropriate, if you want them to buy good quality products. But maybe Amazon isn’t so concerned about that.
Amazon won’t stop me from posting this review. But it will just have to appear on WP. So here it is, below. You can decide for yourself whether or not it is “appropriate.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐5 Star Bribe ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Two months after I bought this surveillance camera, I got a postcard in the mail offering me a $20 gift certificate to post a 5-Star review on Amazon. A note at the bottom of the card warns, “Do NOT mention this card in the review.” Ah, very sneaky! So I guess I’m no longer eligible for this bribe.
I couldn’t find any way to report this bribery to Amazon, so what does that say about Amazon?
I feel incensed that customers are being bribed to leave 5 Star reviews. I need to trust the products I buy. Due to my distrust, I’m leaving a 1 Star review. Otherwise, I would have given it 3 stars.
Ironically, this surveillance camera is made in China, which is a nation suspected of spying on the USA (remember the spy balloon?). But if you’re not a high-ranking government official, I’m guessing they won’t use it to learn about you or your habits, so don’t worry.
It cost nearly $30, with tax. The video quality is okay. You can set it to detect and automatically track motion, but I found the tracking to be wildly inaccurate. Often, when the motion goes one way, the camera goes the other, or just points straight up at the ceiling.
I’m unaware of any desktop app, but a phone app can be downloaded from Google Play, that can be used for controlling the camera. The app shows alerts whenever the camera detects motion. A tiny photo is displayed with the alert, that is hardly recognizable. Unfortunately, I can find no way to expand the size of the photo. And there seems to be no way to make my phone sound an alarm when motion is detected.
You can program the app to record video when motion is detected, if you buy and install a mini-SD card. But the learning curve for figuring out how to do this was rather steep for me. I could find no user manual for the app, and the user manual for the camera was not very helpful.
More features are available if you subscribe to YI loT’s cloud service, which they push a lot while you’re trying to use the app.
When I’m ready to buy more surveillance cameras, I will not choose this brand. Even though it’s okay, I’m willing to spend a little more for something better. Plus, I resent bribery, and feel distrustful of the product after receiving this bribe offer.
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Categories: business
Chasing Unicorns 
Great review. Do you not have some equivalent to a consumer protection agency that would like to know about this?
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We do. Perhaps that might be a good place to send this review.
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We do? You mean, like the FDA protecting us from useless or dangerous drugs, or the FCC going after usurious Internet providers?
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Yeah, well, I imagine my complaint would probably go to the bottom of the heap, only to be glanced at around five or ten years from now.
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But you could probably get an automated reply.
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True. And the robot will probably say, “Your complaint is inappropriate.”
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Send the situation to them anyway. If it goes to the garbage bin, then nothing will change but, if somebody does read it, it might trigger some actions. If nobody reports these kind of things, then nobody can complain about the “govt” doing nothing can they!
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Seems now you’re proposing two complaints. Complaint #1: Amazon bribery. Complaint #2: Government’s failure to act on it. I would add a third complaint: “I’m frickin’ tired of complaining about everything.”
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Consumer what?
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LOL!! Yup!
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I have had Amazon reject my honest reviews several times before as well. For instance, for some seat covers I bought. They didn’t tell me what was wrong with the review and deleted it so I couldn’t go edit it, so I said “to hell with it. I don’t care that much.” I actually gave the seat covers a good review and included a few pictures of them installed in my vehicle, but they didn’t publish it.
Every time I buy something from Amazon, I get harangued by Amazon emails to leave a review, but it really isn’t worth the effort anymore. I have plenty of stuff in my life anyway and don’t buy all that much from Amazon anyway.
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That’s nuts. Maybe you were rejected by an algorithm. I can’t imagine they have human beans checking every review. But I wish they had a way to report bribery attempts. It leaves me distrusting of Amazon reviews, except maybe those reviews of 4 stars or less.
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All reviews anywhere should be treated with a degree of scepticism, but the majority of reviews for a product should be an indicator. As noted in my earlier comment, doing nothing about a poor business practise will not change anything. Going as public as possible with it might just get things moving.
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Going with a majority of the reviews could be a good strategy to follow. But I’m starting to think that 4-star reviews and less would be the reviews most likely to be accurate.
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Not a bad place to start. I always scan a range of ratings where possible just to see the extremes, and of course most stuff we buy is mass produced which dictates a periodic “lemon” coming off the production line. This means that a single 1- Star review could be the “lemon”, but a number of 1-Star reviews are likely worth reading. Similarly, a whole pile of very detailed 5-Star reviews are (to me) suspect, because most people won’t spend too much time detailing their feelings about a product or service …. unless there is a benefit to them!
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I like that strategy. Looking at a range of review seems like a good idea. I take some of the 1-star reviews with a grain of salt, though, because I think sometimes people don’t take the time to read a manual or otherwise learn the product they’ve purchased, and then they complain about it malfunctioning.
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I like this Comment but then, it was from me …. so how did I become Anonymous!!!!! China has infiltrated your Blog Tippy!
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That’s how your comments come, sometimes. Hey, are you Chinese?
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我不这么认为！
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😵💫
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I (archaic) am not this (unknown character) approval for-that-reason!
Or something like that.
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Thanks for the translation. Makes perfect sense.
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You’re welcome. Just a free sample of my simplified Chinese translation services. I specialize in instruction manuals.
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If I ever travel to China, maybe I’ll hire you to be my interpreter. You couldn’t be any worse than some of the user manuals I’ve read.
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Fake reviews, site count visits, and YouTube views are whole industries. Not too long ago, I read a technical article (asserting that the “Internet” is now essentially a robot) that included a description of a Chinese YouTube count-generating facility. It consisted of racks with thousands of programmed mobile phones.
But I am assured to you that this is real person to your amazing post that deserve many like and visitors!
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I guess the fraud industry is alive and well. And it seems China is at the forefront of this industry. What a crooked nation.
Hmm, that last paragraph reminds me of some of the spam I get.
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So convenient to overlook the Nigerian scamming industry eh! C’mon everybody, China is not the only country in the world that is looking after itself. The NRA is self serving, as are numerous crime cartels. We should also mention the car manufacturing companies that rig data in order to comply with safety regulations, and then there are the construction companies who “cut corners” to save a few $$$$$s (sometimes with devastating results). How about the restaurants that ask their staff to write excellent reviews for them, and there is the “military serving” industries that need a good war every few years in order to survive. Want to talk about politicians now!
It would not take much to come up with a huge list of dishonest practises that are purely self serving, but these are happening in (no doubt) every country on our planet. To focus on China may help support political goals, but also takes the heat off so many other entities.
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I would agree that corruption is everywhere. But China has a government that suppresses free speech and open debate. That creates an environment perfect for the cultivation of corruption. Thus, I believe China is probably at the forefront of international fraud.
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And Russia? And any number of Middle-East countries? South American and African dictates? Keep the spotlight on China if you wish, but keep looking behind you periodically because that could well be where the biggest threat will come from.
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Any country that suppresses freedom of speech is a country that is suspect to me. But when I shop for products, I don’t find a whole lot of products made in Russia or Saudia Arabia, or elsewhere. But there sure seems to be a heck of a lot of China-made products. So that, to me, is where the biggest potential threat lies, when it comes to consumer fraud.
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C’mon Tippy. The reason so much comes out of China is because they will sell it to you cheaper than other countries. In fact, if China withdrew from the US market, you guys would be in an uproar over the resulting increase in prices. Do you understand that so many major industries around the world (including the US) are in business because they have manufacturing agreements with China?
I wonder how many US products in fact have content from China built in? Did you know that Ford diesel engines were (perhaps still are) made by Massey Ferguson? Nothing is as simple as this dialogue is making it seem.
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Nonetheless, it doesn’t negate the fact that they suppress free speech, and also employ slave labor (Uigars). Which reduces their trustworthiness. Disentangling our business involvements with China could take a long time, but I think it’s an endeavor worth pursuing. But in the meantime, I can be circumspect, as a consumer, about any product I directly buy, that are made in China. I can also choose a product made in a different, more free country, whenever possible. And I have done so in the past, on the rare occasions I’ve been able to find an alternative.
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And all that has come from a camera that was made in China, and a questionable business practise by the distributor and (perhaps) Amazon?
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I guess so. Whatever.
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Well I think China has hacked your Blog! I posted a Comment some time ago that shows as Anonymous, and when I tried to comment by replying to Anonymous, your Blog apparently did not exist. Scary eh!
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Damn. Maybe they’re on to us. We’d better start saying nice things about China. For instance, I like some of their food. Eggrolls are great!
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Americans have voted that we want cheap products delivered tomorrow, and other concerns like quality, environmental impact, slave labor, etc. are a distant second. Therefore, manufacturing chases poverty.
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Sadly, that sounds about right.
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These “like factories” have a market though. People or companies will pay for Instagram likes and follows or whatever.
But, if I could get a few thousand more Flickr followers it would be worth approximately $0 for me, so I’m considering this carefully.
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If you paid me a nice amount I could be bribed to get on Flickr and be a follower. Don’t think about it, just do it. 🙂
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💰 💰 💰. Is this enough?
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I would say No, but then Tippy will have the misconception once again that I am a high maintence woman. So yes, it’s enough….for now.
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Above was supposed to be a link to my flickr page.
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Ahh! The mule’s ears. I “liked” it. Do I get more money now? 😉
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Uh-huh. Just what I thought you’d say.
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Pfttt!
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I tried to like it, but was told I had to sign up for an account. Just what I need, another internet account.
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You mean it actually took you to the page? It didn’t take me to it. I just saw the photo on here.
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Well, it took me to some sort of page. I saw the mule’s ears photo, as well as a bunch of other photos that Jason had previously posted on his blog.
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Well all I saw was the picture on your blog. It didn’t take me anywhere. Guess you are special. 🤪
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They probably figured a high-maintenance woman like you would want to charge them for looking at their website.
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Think of accounts as a sign of prestige
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Okay. But prestige isn’t important to me.
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I have never had that “misconception.”
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Riiiight! I beg to differ!
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The key word here is “misconception.”
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The key word here is “Smart-ass!”
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That’s always key for this blog.
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😶🤚! 😂
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Interesting. I never realized that a detailed review could have been coerced or fake. Those are the ones I tend to believe (the detailed ones).
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Apparently, gift cards have been offered for 5-star reviews on Amazon for at least five years now, according to my research. I think it’s officially against Amazon’s rules, but they don’t seem to enforce the rules very well.
Perhaps the best course of action is to disregard all 5-star reviews, and only consider those with 4-stars or less.
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Your experience sounds like an experience that someone I know had. Though she got offered the gift card after leaving a negative review. She had purchased a refrigerator that had wonderful 5 star reviews. The refrigerator was awful. Had problems with it almost right away. She left a negative review and got an email from the company saying they had taken her review down because negative reviews were not allowed! But if she would change her review to a favorable one they would give her a gift card. She of course refused the gift card. Crazy!!
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Wow, that’s nuts. And you can’t even blame the company for treating her coldly. But I’m glad the light came on in your friend’s head, and she had enough integrity to refuse the bribe.
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Yes, the light came on, LOL! She figured out why there were so many 5 star reviews for a refrigerator that didn’t work! And now she has cold feelings about the company! 😛
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I just hope she’s stocked up well on canned foods and dry goods.
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Haha! She has another refrigerator now, a 3 star one. 😉
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Sounds like an improvement. She can probably safely donate her old refrigerator to a children’s playground.
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Oh yes, what fun for kids. 😄
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Pathological Amazon reviewer. A most “Helpful” review among a couple of hundred is a very long and technical evaluation comparing a very popular mountaineering stove to several alternatives using actual numbers (weight, relative masses of fuels, fuel operating temperatures, heat calories produced…). It just places the stove into the best context for its use.
Last two were for some Chinese-made lead-acid batteries in an Uninterruptible Power Supply (4-Stars, last reasonably well, but often fail by leaking), and the non-returnable Chinese-manufactured generator that I bought (2-Stars due to poor packaging resulting in damage and crappy American-based company customer-service). I try to be helpful with reviews by giving specific details. I don’t use them to vent or to croon.
Nowadays, Amazon is pretty much a competitor to the likes of Ali-Express, since China is where the stuff comes from anyway. I’ve used AE mostly for tech equipment… microscope imaging, camera adapters, digital soldering, signal-generator… and I always write a review. However, they have NEVER published a single one. I eventually came to the conclusion most if not all reviews on AE are paid, either to promote a product, or to downgrade a competing product. I think it’s just a part of doing business in China.
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I like helpful, detailed reviews. Too bad AE won’t publish yours. I’m getting the sense that the entire review process has become so corrupted you have to take it with a big grain of salt.
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