[UPDATE] I received a note from my PR rep at Belkin indicating her disappointment at my post (which follows this added paragraph). The disappointment stems from the fact that I stated that the rep was from Belkin PR. The individual by the name of Michael Bayard is actually not in PR but is a Business Development Representative whose job it is to sell Belkin products to buyers. I understand her want to defend her department, but I still cannot defend the unethical choices made by Mr. Bayard, regardless of how common it is in the industry. You can find additional details here.

I have to say that I’m very disappointed to hear of this. Apparently, a PR rep at Belkin (not mine, fortunately) has been named as the individual blatantly offering $0.65 per fake review of Belkin products on social product review sites. That’s not all, however, as the fake reviewer was also required to find reviews to competing products and mark the reviews as negative in hopes that it would “delegitamize” them. This kind of baldfaced, scandalous, anti-competitive marketing is about as bad as it can get for people like me.

I’m a blogger. I started PDA Handyman in January of 2001, which means I’ve been doing this for 8 years now. I’ve had large and small readerships (I currently draw around 130,000 readers a month) and I created the site and maintain it because I wanted to carry my love of neat little gadgets to anyone interested in my opinion. With that in mind, I determined early on that I would be careful about how I would review products.

My first rule is simple. If I don’t think a product is of any value to me, I don’t request it from the vendor for review. This is why you don’t see reviews of (much less stories promoting) stupid ass products like USB hand warmers or Hello Kitty mobile phones. Sure, I’ll run up the flag on something stupid to ridicule it, but certainly never to give it any time in the limelight. I request quality products which I think will carry a value over to my readers.

To see, then, that this unscrupulous PR person at Belkin, a company whom I’ve had lots of dealing in the past with, was paying for reviews disgusts me. Later in the piece you will learn that Belkin would also prepare special ROMs for certain devices which would mask any of the known issues those devices were having to skew the results for the reviewer. Since I haven’t reviewed any Belkin products since the Great Mobodojo Revivial of 2008 or during PDA Handyman’s Halcyon Days, there are no Belkin products reviews on the site now.

In case you don’t know, and you likely don’t, PR people who ship out products for review will often open the product, charge it up, and insert a personal note or reviewers guide. It does now raise questions in my mind about who could have done what to anything I have reviewed, though from my experience I’d have to say that the chances of that happening are slim to none. As you know if you’re a regular reader, I very rarely give out 100% glowing reviews. In some cases, like Sony’s nearly unusable Mylo 2 internet tablet, I give very, very poor reviews.

My PR person looked at it and responded thusly:

“That’s a pretty rough review, but thanks for sending along the link. As for the P Series, I will add you to our list, but we have a bunch of requests, so it’s going to be a wait before we can get you a unit. I will be in touch, though, and will let you know as soon as we have one available. It’s a great product and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”

As you can clearly see, I didn’t receive a note informing me that due to my unpleasant review of the Mylo 2 I would no longer be allowed to review Sony products. This is because there is an awareness between PR people and journalists which says that you win some and you lose some. PR people are paid to promote a product or a company, not to force a prescribed view on anyone. PR people are also pragmatic in understanding that not everything a company makes will the consumers like. The PR firm just won’t use any of my review in their PR pieces. I do know, however, that someone will come along and smartly decide not to buy something because of what I wrote.

For that, I’m glad. I want my readers to walk away from Mobodojo feeling like they got some value out of their time on the site. The last thing I’d ever want, as I imagine any legitimate blogger would, is to be considered a mouthpiece or a shill for a vendor or vendors. Belkin may need some time to restructure so they can save some face in this disgraceful debacle. I truly hope that they do. They make some good stuff.

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