Companies abusing MR as an Ad-Platform?

[gamba66]

Hello,

I have come to this forum as an Ereader Enthusiast, I have been thrilled to find out about the possibilities E-Ink delivers while also accounting it's limits (flashing, ghosting and static content).

When I heard about Color E-Ink I was excited at first but the only product that came to the market until now is from a Company called Ectaco in the form of the Jetbook Color 1 and 2. Thanks to this forum and many honest User experiences I could draw myself a pretty complete picture of how this product would be and came to the conclusion that the Jetbook Color (1 or 2) is a disaster at any pricepoint, but even more so at 400$ to 500$. Also while reading about customer experiences with Ectaco I noticed many people having even trouble returning their products in the law-regulated time of 2 Weeks usually, Ectaco would just ignore E-mails or even send the products back. Thanks to this forum and also sources of customer reviews (such as amazon) it is obvious for me Ectaco is a very dubious company with very questionable business strategies. And I also know this because I have had some first-hand experience with them asking about their products and special deals!

While reading the Ectaco forums I couldn't stop but notice some certain users, who had a consistency in positive opinions about the products from Ectaco. But not only that, they even had some very obvious advertisements for their products and that not only once but very often, of course only for Ectaco. Obviously, this doesn't only abuse Mobileread as a place for very direct advertising but also distorts public opinions about the Ectaco products, since they at no point ever indicate that they are from ectaco or stand in any relationship to them.

This makes my opinion of the company even worse but also leads me to the question:


Is it allowed to use mobileread forums as a direct advertising platform and even distort opinions from customer reviews?

I thought forums are used from customers for opinions and reviews and if people from companies are here, they state that so and give support and help. But what these Users do is manipulate opinions and try to sell products directly by posting links to "special offers"

So that you can make your own opinions, here is a quote from one of my previous posts, reacting to one of these "employees":

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by gamba66

The users Kris777 and LuBiB seem to be working for Ectaco or atleast in someway related to them. Atleast that would explain the effort from both these users to:

1. Advertise Ectaco Products and "special deals" from them

2. Only give positive feedback about their products

3. Totally ignore all relevant criticism and give very subjective and selective feedback about Ectaco products.

I want everyone to make their own opinion, before someone claims I am just ranting! Thats why just check out their posts:

Kris777's Posts

LuBiBs Posts

Here is an Example of a post from Kris777 in another forum than mobileread:

I just got the XL-1500 as a present from my wife and I have to say that I was very impressed. I already had another model from Ectaco for France but since we were planning to visit several countries she decided we should have this 15 language version. We are going on a grand tour through Europe for our honeymoon and I cannot wait to try it out in real life situations. It's incredible how much information is in this little machine and I can't believe how easy it is to use. It works just as well as the other one I had and we have already learned some phrases that we will need when we arrive in each country. We tried it out at this little Spanish restaurant near our house and it worked so well! The waiter was surprised at first because we pretended not to speak English and we surprised him after! We got everything we wanted plus a big smile!
This model available on sale just for $159.95 now
http://www.ectacodeal.com/ECTACO-XL1500/


This is very cheap and dubious marketing. I suspect LuBiB is from the American Department of Ectaco (which is coincidentally located in New York where he lives) and Kris777 from the Russian Department. This is just another reason why I would never buy from Ectaco. So much effort for advertising but not having any real customer service.

This is one of the worst companies I know! Just search on amazon for ectaco and read some of the customer reviews or any other source of customer experiences, both their products and services get very bad grades:
http://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.ectaco.de

http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=sr_st?__m...rank_authority

Here is the relevant thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...=208488&page=3

[HarryT]

Moved to the "Feedback" forum.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by gamba66

While reading the Ectaco forums I couldn't stop but notice some certain users, who had a consistency in positive opinions about the products from Ectaco. But not only that, they even had some very obvious advertisements for their products and that not only once but very often, of course only for Ectaco. Obviously, this doesn't only abuse Mobileread as a place for very direct advertising but also distorts public opinions about the Ectaco products, since they at no point ever indicate that they are from ectaco or stand in any relationship to them.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

We're looking into it. The early evidence suggests that you are correct.

[gamba66]

I digged a little deeper and found some obvious evidence that LuBiB wasn't only an Employee but actually the Product Manager of Ectaco Greg Stetson.

Please take a look at this. In this Thread LuBiB states that he made a Video Review for the Jetbook.

Originally Posted by LuBiB

soooooo, i manned up and made an English jetBook video review

got a couple of my pro friends with their cameras to shoot the angles and even do the editing for me.

hope this helps to visually see the functions the jetBook has and hope to hear some comments!

disclaimer: (this is the first video review i have ever done in my life lol)

Listen closely to his way of speaking..

Now if you look at that youtube channel there are 8 other videos, 6 of which directly relate to Ectaco.

If you look at CES 2010 Ectaco or Ectaco ER900 Video, LuBiB a.k.a Greg Stetson refers to himself as "Chris/Kris Anderson".

If you look at the ECTACO Youtube channel you will find some Videos where Greg Stetson introduces the Jetbook Color for example: Jetbook Color

Now compare this to the Video that LuBiB has posted! Also one could think that the Kris777 account also belonged to him, since he refers to himself as "Chris/Kris Anderson" (he only says it in the videos)

This video describes Greg Stetson role at Ectaco

I think it is a scandal that Greg Stetson, the product manager of ECTACO, gives himself fake identities to push the products of his company, this clearly just shows what a dubious and borderline criminal company ECTACO is in the End!

[HarryT]

Please leave this with us. We are investigating.