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Comments on news posted 2014-05-09 09:06:35: Wireless hardware manufacturer MediaBridge recently thought it would be a good idea to legally threaten an Amazon and Reddit user for a negative review of one of their Medialink products (specifically this one). ..


IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Good companies

Good companies don't need to bully negative reviews as they don't have any or very few. The reason this company is criticizing negative reviews is because the truth hurts.

I'm sure Best Buy doesn't sell these routers in their stores.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958

Premium Member

Re: Good companies

So, why did the reviewer change their review completely?

"illegal campaign to damage, discredit, defame and libel Mediabridge and/or to engage in other tortious, wrongful, and/or illegal conduct directed against Mediabridge."

What a crock!
Glad Amazon cancelled their license and hope they stick to it.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Re: Good companies

They probably won't be in business much longer.

Brian_M
join:2004-06-19
Manchester, GA

Brian_M to cork1958

Member

to cork1958
If I remember reading the Reddit post correctly (going off memory here), the individual felt threatened by the legal letter (I'm guessing they're a younger individual and unsure of how things Really work), assumed the company only wanted them to change the review and then did so. But not until the Reddit Effect happened... heh

I had wondered if that would pop up again but never followed the Reddit thread. The mark of a Good company isn't how often they get things right, it's how they handle thing when they go terribly wrong... MediaBridge deserves to fail.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: Good companies

threatening a customer to change their review is enough to be banned from selling on amazon. They had it coming.

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena to cork1958

Premium Member

to cork1958
said by cork1958:

So, why did the reviewer change their review completely?

Most likely because he got scared into doing that because of the legal actions against him. Even if you are innocent, and even if you may be able to defer your legal costs back to the person/company suing you, and even if you are 100% sure a judge or jury will side with you because you are on the right side of the law..... The mere threat of legal action can cause a lot of TIME and MONEY before the last gavel goes down and all is said and done.

This said, I will not do any business with a company who threatens their customers in such a way. Like others have said, a bad review does not happen if the product is actually..... decent.

Mike
Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA

Mike

Mod

Re: Good companies

Or if you read the thread he basically gave them the middle finger by posting everything.

He edited his post because people were attacking the other vendor which wasn't the scummy one.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

2 recommendations

ArrayList to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy

I'm sure Best Buy doesn't sell these routers in their stores.

is that supposed to mean something? I've seen lots of crap in Best Buy.
dra6o0n
join:2011-08-15
Mississauga, ON

dra6o0n

Member

Re: Good companies

Fun fact. Best Buy marks up products bought from suppliers up to 500%.
Then they give their own employees up to 50% discount... But of the markup price.

If you have good connections you can get deals at resellers, or go to where they manufacture the stuff and buy it there... Meaning China. I heard that there are people who would sell stuff there hot out off the suppliers there.

Eagles1221
join:2009-04-29
Vincentown, NJ

Eagles1221 to ArrayList

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to ArrayList
More likely Qworst Buy would sell this garbage , indeed
dra6o0n
join:2011-08-15
Mississauga, ON

dra6o0n to IowaCowboy

Member

to IowaCowboy
Good companies accepts feedback, bad companies shun them.
Simple as that.

Threatening the consumer will only instigate more ire to their business so media bridge must have fired whoever sent that threat.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy
Yeah, it looks like generic garbage.

cableties
Premium Member
join:2005-01-27

cableties

Premium Member

Amazon the new eBay!

->offering the best products you can and treating consumers well while being honest!
Too bad its not the case 100% of the time.

For example:

I've been on both sides when it came to ebay: the seller and the buyer.
I've bought an item that was lost, and two continent postal services never came through.
Seller never offered refund and I lost $200.
As a seller, I had in b/w everything from pictures to disclaimer. I could not guarantee the item however it had a lifetime warranty from manufacturer so if not working, you got a bargain and with some patience, get replaced with new for free!
Buyer reneg'd and ebay refunded. Paypal didn't protect and eBay just boilerplated me.
I no longer sell on eBay. I distrust the fees of both ebay and paypal.

Now..with Amazon, its not eBay. Not yet. But you have to be saavy. Prime customers seem to be better off. Not always a deal though. I just can't justify the cost.

I have never sold on Amazon, but I have bought much. I have a co-worker that everyday, a box or several, arrive from Amazon. He tells me he never leaves feedback...he feels why should he?

Only had a 3rd party vendor ask me about a poor rating I gave. I explained it wasn't about the vendor but that the item was lost and no help from vendor or Amazon with tracking it down (it was likely a Xmas theft but it took weeks to get credit and item no longer available... you know... 1 item left... you order it then it never arrives. I suspected it wasn't UPS issue but that vendor never sent it or shipped it so it would get lost...probable but unknown).

I also found that with Amazon, some 3rd party items are priced higher than they are "from the actual vendor's website"! E.g. I bought a bike rack direct from the vendor and their website offered free shipping plus a code gave 5% off total! Now why would I spend more to go through Amazon?

You have to be smarter than the offer...

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Re: Amazon the new eBay!

In the rare occasions I buy on Amazon, I buy only goods that say "Ships and sold by Amazon.com".

Most of the time I buy my goods at Holyoke Mall.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

Member

Re: Amazon the new eBay!

We have prime. Shopped properly Amazons prices are hard to beat on some things. They also tend to have more variety than a brick and mortar store. Can not remember last time I was at a best buy. Go to frys electronics occasionally.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Re: Amazon the new eBay!

I just bought an Asus RT-N66U at Best Buy for $129. I had $10 in RewardZone points so I was all set.
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72 to cableties

Member

to cableties
Ebay and paypal specifically are hostile to sellers. Ebay has pretty much drummed out the middle man, and your are left w/ powersellers moving volume or the newbies who are stupid enough to eat 20% selling/paypal fees.

The internet is supposed to be efficient "meaning" make $1-$2 per item. I can go to Christies and pay a lower fee...

I pretty much buy only now, and don't sell unless it's an item I think I can make substantially more by globalizing than on CL. In fact I donate lots more items these days.

chip89
Premium Member
join:2012-07-05
Columbia Station, OH

chip89

Premium Member

Re: Amazon the new eBay!

& I hate when I have to use paypal to pay for things since they can take $ when they fell like it for no reason & there huge fees!

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx to elefante72

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to elefante72
I too only buy on eBay now and only for spend an amount of money I can accept losing. I rarely if ever go over USD$80 now and usually limit myself to USD$40 at most. I have had issues with small purchases never being received in the past and eBay and PayPal point fingers at each other and tell me I am not covered by either of them. As such, I have never been refunded for a loss by either PayPal or eBay. They just do not do it despite their claims to the contrary. I suppose there are people who have gotten coverage but I am not one of them. I have not sold anything on eBay in about six years, before they really started antagonizing their sellers and raising fees through the roof.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

Member

Re: Amazon the new eBay!

Ebay does have some odd items or more unique I can .ot always find even in Phoenix. Usually in fifty dollar range or less. Only infrequent use them but knock on wood no problems yet even from asia or.china.

WireHead
I drive to fast
Premium Member
join:2001-05-09
Muncie, IN

1 recommendation

WireHead

Premium Member

Who is media bridge?

*crickets*
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72

Member

Re: Who is media bridge?

Like MagicJack. Some branding company made up from some QVC reject.

1. Take stuff from asia
2. Change the appearance
3. Change the name to a "English" company
4. DO a half-a$$ed job cleaning up the manual (if you get one)
5. Double the price.
6. Rinse and repeat.

When I was working in Asia (back in the day) you would be amazed just how cheap things are. I mean they have low wages and more importantly no environmental enforcement. Believe it or not regulatory cost is higher than wage delta.

In any case I was working w/ the people who created drills now sold in a big box store. At the time power equipment was pretty much all being moved to Asis. They were selling said drill to bigbox for $12, and that same drill was selling for $99 in the stores. They were manufacturing it for $7.50.

We are bent over for stuff all the time, these guys just went too far which seems stupid because anyone who deals w/ Amazon is that they take the customer's side 100% of the time. What did they think was going to happen.

JimMcCoy
join:2011-08-20
Midlothian, VA

JimMcCoy

Member

Re: Who is media bridge?

Interesting. Though, if that is the case, what do you consider a fair markup? I mean nobody goes into business just to break-even, so I'm curious.

ArkhmAsylm
Evrythng I need isn't really what I want
Premium Member
join:2006-02-22
Saint Paul, MN

ArkhmAsylm

Premium Member

MediaBridge cables weren't so bad...

I always went for the MediaBridge USB cables on Amazon as they had plenty of options and decent pricing. The many cables I have purchased are of very decent quality.

It's a shame...I see that all of these are now unavailable directly from Amazon. Dumb move, MediaBridge.

-
shpatb
join:2013-07-16

shpatb

Member

Re: MediaBridge cables weren't so bad...

I just bought two different cables from Mediabridge and I thought they were very decent for the price. Also they emailed me twice for each product asking if everything was okay with the product and what not.

Subaru
1-3-2-4
Premium Member
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT

Subaru to ArkhmAsylm

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to ArkhmAsylm
Oh man THAT media bridge? I have a few cables from them as well.. This sucks

cableties
Premium Member
join:2005-01-27

1 recommendation

cableties to ArkhmAsylm

Premium Member

to ArkhmAsylm
I've stuck with Monoprice. They are RoHS compliant. Mediabridge, not so.

ArkhmAsylm
Evrythng I need isn't really what I want
Premium Member
join:2006-02-22
Saint Paul, MN

1 recommendation

ArkhmAsylm

Premium Member

Re: MediaBridge cables weren't so bad...

Just grabbed a Monoprice 270-degree HDMI cable from Amazon. They may be my go-to for cables from now on.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT
·StarLink

2 recommendations

SimbaSeven to cableties

Member

to cableties
Monoprice makes great cables for cheap. Plus, you can find just about any cable you'd ever need there. The quality is amazing for the cost.

I had to get 2x S-Video cables, 4x XLR to RCA cables, and some HDMI cables. I thought they'd be sloppily made with the cheapest cable possible. Man, was I wrong. I'd definitely buy more cables from them in a heartbeat.

Monoprice.. HIGHLY recommended.

TuxRaiderPen2
Make America Great Again
join:2009-09-19

TuxRaiderPen2 to cableties

Member

to cableties
quote:
cableties See Profile They are RoHS compliant.
So? Only the hippie dippies care about that. Jane Q. User couldn't care less. And especially in the US, could care even less.

FCC cert with valid FCC ID...

Your right, I don't care about the environment.

It may meet this EU nonsense, but how they achieve that you probably don't want to know! Like sausage, I love it, don't want to know how it gets made!

This is why all the manufacturing is moving out of the US, EU etc...
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco to ArkhmAsylm

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to ArkhmAsylm
I was given one of their routers. It only had a 100 Mbps fast ethernet port so the owner didn't want it anymore. But the router itself is surprisingly rock solid and works great as a regular access point. The interface and features leave a lot to be desired, but for someone non-technical who wants a set and forget router, it wouldn't be all that bad.

exocet_cm
Writing
Premium Member
join:2003-03-23
Brooklyn, NY

1 recommendation

exocet_cm

Premium Member

The comments

On the Amazon page reviews for this router are so funny. Check out the customer pics too.

Had a nice laugh to start my Friday.

Trimline
Premium Member
join:2004-10-24
Windermere, FL

Trimline

Premium Member

Re: The comments

Looks like they pulled the pictures, but the reviews are mounting. Sort by newest first, you'll get the idea.

They should have thought things out more carefully. Turn-about is fair play I suppose...

"it should be expected that we would do so when it is recklessly attacked."

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour

Member

The Streisand Effect

quote:
The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet.

Ref: Streisand Effect

Some people (*cough* MediaBridge *cough*) learn about this too late.

Jim

MooJohn
join:2005-12-18
Milledgeville, GA

MooJohn

Member

It's not libel

if it's true. Every first year law student knows that a true statement can't be deemed libel or slander. I think the FCC application is solid evidence that they are relabeling other gear.

•••

DaveDude
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey

DaveDude

Member

wont buy from them

I would never buy from this company. They should be called thin skin bridge. Any other professional company would offer a refund, or offer a software release.

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena

Premium Member

Re: wont buy from them

said by DaveDude:

I would never buy from this company. They should be called thin skin bridge. Any other professional company would offer a refund, or offer a software release.

Indeed. I think the biggest problem with this (and this is noted in the news post on DSLR), is that this particular router seems to be nothing but a re-brand, a router model they bought the patent for from another company, and are selling for more money under their own brand name. Now, this happens all the time, and respectable companies do the same thing and have been for decades, and it doesn't always have to be a bad thing. But if you are supporting something that has CODE in it that can be buggy and may need updates, you sure as hell want the programmers that can fix the software, and with re-brands that isn't always the case.

What we can learn from this, is that you should probably buy from companies that have been reviewed by trustworthy reviewers, such as engadget, pcworld, tomshardware, and a variety of other reviewers. When I need to make a decision on new technology, that is usually where I start looking. (via Google searches).

I recently bought a ASUS router for $119, I have only had it for a few weeks, but it appears to be ROCK solid, and I just got IPv6 to work over the weekend as well. This was based on reviews from a multitude of sites, where this router came in on 2nd or 3d place in many reviews, with the top 2 spots taken by routers that cost over $200. Being budget minded, and a budget of around $100, it seemed this router was the best "bang for buck". My wife who had connection problems when she took her Macbook to the other end of the house, hasn't lost connection since.

thedragonmas
Premium Member
join:2007-12-28
Albany, GA
Netgear R6300 v2
ARRIS SB6180

thedragonmas

Premium Member

Re: wont buy from them

said by maartena:

Indeed. I think the biggest problem with this (and this is noted in the news post on DSLR), is that this particular router seems to be nothing but a re-brand, a router model they bought the patent for from another company, and are selling for more money under their own brand name. Now, this happens all the time, and respectable companies do the same thing and have been for decades, and it doesn't always have to be a bad thing. But if you are supporting something that has CODE in it that can be buggy and may need updates, you sure as hell want the programmers that can fix the software, and with re-brands that isn't always the case.

example: olimpia info globe, its a globe caller i.d. that uses LED's to display data. being legally blind i JUMPED at buying this thing. after 1 year of operation it had areas of "dark" on the "display" and showed EEPROM ERROR, on start up. it cost $50 at the time.

go to buy a new one. find out that olimpia sold out to sharper image, who had it on "sale" for $100 (listed markup was $150), couldnt find any of the previous ones at the time and really needed one i could see. so bit the bullet.

one year later, exact same eeprom error...

i really hate when companies buy up patents but dont bother to improve or fix problems. and hate it even more when they jack the price sky high when they take it over because they put there "perceived" higher value name on it.

lesson, research research research. of course, if crap companies like this issue SLAPPs at the drop of a hat, well, good luck.
alancats
join:2000-09-20
New York, NY

alancats

Member

Foolish

Medialink acted foolishly. I actually own one of their routers. Yeah, they're re-branded Tenda routers from China. The Tenda name shows up if you use a program that identifies neighboring router brand names and the channel and frequency at which they're operating. Mine has worked fine. The foolishness of the company's response comes from using such a heavy-handed and artless approach to a relatively inconsequential review, among a slew of reviews, a response that was sure to backfire. In this age, companies have to act with tact. They produced what was the number 1 best-selling router on Amazon, and, it's generally received good reviews from users (at least, that was the case until this brouhaha occurred). So, why let one negative review -- even if it contained some inaccurate claims -- get the company's feathers all ruffled?
ackman
join:2000-10-04
Atlanta, GA

ackman

Member

I will never buy MediaBridge

That was enough for me, they can go out of business. Given the option, I will choose another brand for my needs.

fg8578
join:2009-04-26
San Antonio, TX

fg8578

Member

Reviewer should have stuck to the facts

A simple review of the router should have been enough.

His claims of them selling the same box under a different name has NOTHING to do with the performance of the box under review. Also, his claims of planted, fake reviews cannot be proven, and again, have NOTHING to do with the performance of the box under review.

Obviously, most of the commenters in this thread didn't bother to account for those two facts.

•••••••••••

David
Premium Member
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL

1 recommendation

David

Premium Member

well they lost their license

because with the lawsuit, technically that was physical proof they violated amazon's policies. According to amazon's policy threatening a customer to change their review is enough to be banned from selling. So they pretty much screwed themselves from ever selling on amazon ever again.
SilentMan
join:2002-07-15
New York, NY

SilentMan

Member

I buy only from Newegg

Serious people; never had a problem with them; never got a DOA product from them.