wanttaja
Final Approach
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2008
- Messages
- 5,667
- Location
- "War-Torn" Portland
- Display Name
- Ron Wanttaja
- Home Airfield
- Twin Oaks Airpark
Moved into the new house last month. Decided to see what I could pick up with an over-the-air (OTA) antenna. The answer, not much. All I was looking for was to be able to record the local news and the evening chat shows. Everything else we do via streaming.
Look at Amazon. Hey, here's an outfit advertising an OTA antenna with an amplifier.
Bought it. No increase in performance. The amplifier is powered by a wall wart...and I didn't notice any change in performance with the amplifier powered on or off. In fact, I hooked up a 1947 UHF TV antenna, and got about the same result.
Ok. Package it up, jump through the hoops for the refund, and send it back. Posted a review on Amazon with my results.
Done? Nahh.
Started getting emails from the company. They were sorry I was dissatisfied. They offered to send me an $30 Amazon gift card if I would delete the review.
BTW, $30 is about what I'd paid for the device...and had been already reimbursed by Amazon. Told them I had my money back.
Oh, no, the $30 gift card is in ADDITION to my refund. Just delete the bad review.
Huh. Ignored it after that. But received daily emails, asking if I'd received their offer and would be willing to delete the review.
Finally came back and explained my issues with it. They apologized profusely. They still offered me the gift card if I would delete the review, AND would send me the upgraded version of the antenna due out at the end of the year.
Told them I'd be happy to review the new antenna when it came out, but the review of their current program would hold.
Things were quiet for a couple of weeks. Then I started receiving emails from someone else at the company, asking me to delete the review. This time, they were offering a $60 gift card...twice the cost of the antenna that I'd already received a refund on.
Turned the new guy down again. The response was a bit unexpected....
As a new employee still on probation and a 32-year-old single father, this job holds special meaning for me—it's my first step back to work after becoming a father, and it's crucial for building a better life for my child. To be honest, a negative review could significantly impact my performance evaluation, which is why I'm so eager to resolve this issue properly.
In other words, the company was supposedly going to hold marketing responsible for engineering's failures.
I emailed with how that would mean how crappy was the company he worked for...but that I didn't believe him, anyway.
My email bounced, with a fatal error. Maybe they'd fired the guy that fast, but I suspect more they were just trying to bury their tracks.
The lesson here is, of course, don't take the reviews at face value. Don't know how many companies are doing this, but it certainly would affect the product's score on Amazon.
I'm still curious what the end game was, whether they REALLY expected folks for retract bad reviews for the price of a couple of burgers. I half-suspect they were trying to push me to modify the review so they could claim it violated Amazon's TOS. They can't oppose a negative review, but a negative review including unsubstantiated claims of wrongdoing by the company could get Amazon to delete it.
Ron Wanttaja
Look at Amazon. Hey, here's an outfit advertising an OTA antenna with an amplifier.
Bought it. No increase in performance. The amplifier is powered by a wall wart...and I didn't notice any change in performance with the amplifier powered on or off. In fact, I hooked up a 1947 UHF TV antenna, and got about the same result.
Ok. Package it up, jump through the hoops for the refund, and send it back. Posted a review on Amazon with my results.
Done? Nahh.
Started getting emails from the company. They were sorry I was dissatisfied. They offered to send me an $30 Amazon gift card if I would delete the review.
BTW, $30 is about what I'd paid for the device...and had been already reimbursed by Amazon. Told them I had my money back.
Oh, no, the $30 gift card is in ADDITION to my refund. Just delete the bad review.
Huh. Ignored it after that. But received daily emails, asking if I'd received their offer and would be willing to delete the review.
Finally came back and explained my issues with it. They apologized profusely. They still offered me the gift card if I would delete the review, AND would send me the upgraded version of the antenna due out at the end of the year.
Told them I'd be happy to review the new antenna when it came out, but the review of their current program would hold.
Things were quiet for a couple of weeks. Then I started receiving emails from someone else at the company, asking me to delete the review. This time, they were offering a $60 gift card...twice the cost of the antenna that I'd already received a refund on.
Turned the new guy down again. The response was a bit unexpected....
As a new employee still on probation and a 32-year-old single father, this job holds special meaning for me—it's my first step back to work after becoming a father, and it's crucial for building a better life for my child. To be honest, a negative review could significantly impact my performance evaluation, which is why I'm so eager to resolve this issue properly.
In other words, the company was supposedly going to hold marketing responsible for engineering's failures.
I emailed with how that would mean how crappy was the company he worked for...but that I didn't believe him, anyway.
My email bounced, with a fatal error. Maybe they'd fired the guy that fast, but I suspect more they were just trying to bury their tracks.
The lesson here is, of course, don't take the reviews at face value. Don't know how many companies are doing this, but it certainly would affect the product's score on Amazon.
I'm still curious what the end game was, whether they REALLY expected folks for retract bad reviews for the price of a couple of burgers. I half-suspect they were trying to push me to modify the review so they could claim it violated Amazon's TOS. They can't oppose a negative review, but a negative review including unsubstantiated claims of wrongdoing by the company could get Amazon to delete it.
Ron Wanttaja
