Obvious Manipulation of Reviews by OverdrivePC

[akello]

First of all, I'm glad to see this getting the attention it deserves because it will help to better determine whether those reviews are honest or not, which is what is in discussion here.

statsman, don’t you dare question my motives or honesty. You don’t know me. This is not between you and me, it is between me and the company and you and the company, do not get things mixed up. Unlike you, I’m not hiding behind an anonymous username, I’m using my real name and have a reputation at stake. If you are indeed a professor, you would not be hiding behind your anonymity and going out of your way to discredit me, and I doubt you would have the free time and willingness to so passionately defend this company. If anything, we should be questioning your motives. I have a reputation at stake and I’m not going to let you or some computer company undermine it. You later state that “perhaps akello just stumbled into a nest of us [Overdrive users] at the wrong time.”. Of course, there exists a possibility that those 6 reviews are a real response to my negative review by hardcore fans of the company, but I was not born yesterday and my better judgment tells me there is a much simpler explanation: they are an attempt by the company to undermine me.

Mario's subtle threat of legal action is unfounded because none of what I said is incorrect and is based on my experience entirely. If this is how this company chooses to pursue people who rightfully criticize them, then it is a further example of their level of Customer Service. I was unable to resolve this matter with him, I warned him several times that I would be reviewing his company, and since there was not a favorable outcome, I have asked the BBB to mediate this case. Furthermore, Mario claims I have stated that his company has defrauded me. In none of my reviews have I said that, so his statement is false. His statement that “akello is free of our support and responsibilities to him”, which is news to me since I paid hundreds of dollars extra for 3 years of warranty and support, clearly contradicts his previous statement that they “have never left an issue unresolved”. My computer is still not fully-functional almost 6 months after purchasing it and the fact that he apparently will no longer be providing me the support I paid for is only further undermining his company and its reputation.

jskagg, my motives could not be clearer. I paid a large premium for a product and service that clearly underperformed. The company’s unwillingness to either fully exchange or refund my product was unacceptable. Their willingness to lead me on a wild goose chase to attempt to “fix” the computer was also unacceptable as I do not have any more time to waste on this computer. When I state that I’ve wasted over 200 hours diagnosing, fiddling with, fixing, opening and closing, restoring, speaking with Mario on the phone about, and testing this computer, I am NOT exaggerating. I work at home on the computer and this is simply unacceptable. Am I a difficult customer? Perhaps, but only because I will not fall into quiet acquiescence over something clearly inferior to what I paid for. Let me be clear on something else, had I not had any of the problems I incurred, or had Mario promptly exchanged my computer or offered a full-refund, my review of this company would have been very favorable. Unfortunately, none of this happened and now it seems that matters have gotten even worse as no more support will be provided to me and my computer is still not fully-functional. I can assure you that any consumer would have felt the EXACT same way had they experienced what I did.

Let me recapitulate for the sake of clarity. I had a terrible experience with an extremely expensive computer. I reviewed the company in, what I believe, was an extremely honest manner. I was undermined, whether truthfully or artificially, by 6 very positive (yet highly suspicious) reviews of this company. As a result, I asked ResellerRatings.com to verify the authenticity of those reviews. I am in no way a “bad guy”, just an extremely dissatisfied customer. Having said, I don’t think Mario is a “bad guy” either (I spent several hours with him on the phone, so I got to know him pretty well), I just don’t think his computers or Customer Service are as good as he thinks (at least not in my case). If ResellerRatings.com finds those 6 reviews in question to be truthful, I will remove my warning regarding them but will in no way remove my very honest review of Overdrive PC as I feel it absolutely necessary to warn others about the potential risks of buying an Overdrive PC. The fact that within days of posting my review, another Overdrive PC customer e-mailed me about their similar dissatisfaction with this company, tells me that I am not alone on this boat.

I will await the verdict on those 6 reviews in question and thank ResellerRatings.com once again for taking this matter seriously.

Andres

[DylanHendrix]

For the record I am an OPC customer who did one of the recent reviews under the name "dylanhendrix". I have no affiliating what so ever with OPC other than buying an awesome PC from them! If you need proof somebody from reseller feel free to contact me. I will check back.
-Karnevil

[Nomadic]

1.

Originally Posted by nomaxim

First of all, - akello has in no way accused you or you company of fraud. He has in fact stated that the reviews here at RR may be fraudulent..

Definition of fraud:
a. Any act, expression, omission, or concealment calculated to deceive another to his or her disadvantage; specifically : a misrepresentation or concealment with reference to some fact material to a transaction that is made with knowledge of its falsity or in reckless disregard of its truth or falsity and with the intent to deceive another and that is reasonably relied on by the other who is injured thereby

b. A deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain.

c. Something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage


Akello's statements:
Do not trust most of the positive reviews about this company, especially the latest 5 reviews, they are written by the company themselves and are being investigated by ResellerRatings.com for fraud and manipulation of the reviews

Now I honestly believe that most, if not all, of those positive reviews I read a few months ago that led me to buy from this company, where in fact fabricated reviews by the company

Akello has directly and publicly declared that OverdrivePC personnel have written favorable reviews on resellerratings.com while posing as customers. So far all five of those alleged fraudulent reviews have been validated and reposted by rr.com.


2.

Originally Posted by nomaxim

However, most importantly; ( also from the WhoIs record)
Quote:
Secure: No
E-commerce: No

- Your website is Not set up for e-commerce and it is NOT SECURE, this means that CC info is not encrypted...

It is, in fact, the case that build specifications are established using a function on the company's website but all orders are taken by phone, only.


3.

Originally Posted by akello

statsman, don’t you dare question my motives or honesty. You don’t know me. This is not between you and me, it is between me and the company and you and the company, do not get things mixed up.

Akello is conveying that it is inappropriate to question someone's motives (honesty), (at least his own). He goes on:

Originally Posted by akello

If you are indeed a professor, you would not be hiding behind your anonymity and going out of your way to discredit me, and I doubt you would have the free time and willingness to so passionately defend this company. If anything, we should be questioning your motives.

...to accuse statsman of falsely claiming to be a professor. In other words he accused statsman of lying about his job. Why would statsman lie about what he does for a living? Also, if statsmant should "not dare" to question akello's honesty or motivation, how can it then, in the same breath, be appropriate for akello to accuse statsman of blatantly lying about his job?

Finally, what percentage of forum members use their real name? Using an alias is standard. It seems difficult to condemn someone and discredit their viewpoints for following standard established procedure on internet forums.

4.

Originally Posted by akello

You later state that “perhaps akello just stumbled into a nest of us [Overdrive users] at the wrong time.”. Of course, there exists a possibility that those 6 reviews are a real response to my negative review by hardcore fans of the company, but I was not born yesterday and my better judgment tells me there is a much simpler explanation: they are an attempt by the company to undermine me.

Definition of paranoia:
a tendency on the part of an individual or group toward excessive or irrational suspiciousness and distrustfulness of others.


Note: it appears that all five of the reviews that were allegedly forged by OPC staff in an effort to "undermine" akello have been validated by resellerratings.com and reposted.

Originally Posted by akello

Mario's subtle threat of legal action is unfounded because none of what I said is incorrect and is based on my experience entirely. If this is how this company chooses to pursue people who rightfully criticize them, then it is a further example of their level of Customer Service.

Akello falsely publicized that OPC was forging fraudulent reviews. That is entirely different than a negative review. A customer has every right to make an honest, critical review, but not to spread deceitful allegations intended to harm.


5.

Originally Posted by akello

I have a reputation at stake and I’m not going to let you or some computer company undermine it.

(I don't know what else to say)

6.

Originally Posted by akello

...and I doubt you would have the free time and willingness to so passionately defend this company.

I have a graduate degree and post graduate credentialing. And, yes, I found the time to write this post.

[Mario Cifaldi]

Just for the record, here is where I am currently at with "akello" as seen in my most recent reply to his e-mail to me:

----------

Andres, your reply here is 110% as far as I am concerned and has merit from the start. You have and had every right to be disappointed. I have never argued a single thing in the past concerning your review of us except for clearly stating that we wrote the reviews. I think it is overly-implied that you were accusing us of fraud.

Regardless, I actually do not 'want' any kind of suit between either of us. Even if you and I have the worst customer/company relationship possible, you are still a customer using my product that I have designed and that I take pride in. As I said to begin with, this 'was' my fault by not checking behind myself and letting a faulty Ghost image out the door. I won't attempt to side-step anything. What's the point? I am still in the process of a resolve as this is the 'only' resolve from my POV as the supporter of your machine.

I think the easiest thing to do here is to get this new restore DVD to you, regardless of what transpires, just so I know we corrected something that should have never left the building to begin with. Even if we have bad-words after this, I just don't feel right not having held up my end of things.

Let me see if I can get this DVD finished today and in the mail tomorrow. Please do not feel obligated in any way to alter your opinion or view on all that has happened. If you decide later down the road (after flawless product reliability and satisfaction from the new restore DVD fix) I will be excited to hear so and honestly hope this is the case.

Thanks

-Mario

----------

If it is decided (for whatever reason) that we will not support you beyond this point, I will gladly refund your 3 Year Warranty so this was not money spent on something we did not deliver. But, I think that after the new DVD arrives to you, you can then have a functional TV tuner (which is the basis of the support issue in question). Since this is the main issue with the system, I think that you will be very happy with the machine after this final resolve. I hope at least.

Now, I understand that the bulk of your disappointment with us is that we will not build a new machine for you or refund 100% of your money, but this is our support policy and has been for 7 years. There is nothing different about your support issue than any others for us to move away from our long-set support measures. We have to treat your support issue as a support issue and work as fast as possible to resolve (as I still am by working through the weekend to complete and test your new restore DVD).

I hope that you are finally satisfied with the computer once we make this final repair. I understand, expect and apologize that your experience with ‘dealing with’ us has been far from perfect. As you can see from our rr.com rating, this is VERY rare.

[nomaxim]

Originally Posted by Nomadic

Definition of fraud:
a. Any act, expression, omission, or concealment calculated to deceive another to his or her disadvantage; specifically : a misrepresentation or concealment with reference to some fact material to a transaction that is made with knowledge of its falsity or in reckless disregard of its truth or falsity and with the intent to deceive another and that is reasonably relied on by the other who is injured thereby

b. A deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain.

c. Something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage

Sadly the state of Georgia does not use a dictionary as its legal code. (I'm using Georgia because that's where OverdrivePC is located.) They use the Georgia Legal Code A search of the Georgia Legal Code for 'fraud' will bring up 89 entries, and a search for 'false statements' returns 81 entries, a few of which refer to the same code(s). The only ones I think apply here would be the ones for things like;
'wire-fraud' [if akello's payment was no good]
'non-delivery of goods and services' [if akello did not get his computer]
'warrenty' [didn't look this one up, however, here in Ohio a warrenty is a service contract and would fall under the above.]

The law you are looking for is I believe this one; 51-5-4

51-5-4.
(a) Slander or oral defamation consists in:
(1) Imputing to another a crime punishable by law;
(2) Charging a person with having some contagious disorder or with being guilty of some debasing act which may exclude him from society;
(3) Making charges against another in reference to his trade, office, or profession, calculated to injure him therein; or
(4) Uttering any disparaging words productive of special damage which flows naturally therefrom.
(b) In the situation described in paragraph (4) of subsection (a) of this Code section, special damage is essential to support an action; in the situations described in paragraphs (1) through (3) of subsection (a) of this Code section, damage is inferred.

The local BBB in fact would be more familiar with Georgia laws and would function as a mediator. Note: A ruling by the BBB is NOT in any binding to either party, in fact the BBB has no legal authority. They could rule that OverdrivePC has done all it can in this matter, or that OverdrivePC has not. Either way the BBB's findings would be helpful in any legal action. But, that matter should remain between the two parties involved.

Originally Posted by statsman

One does have a record with the BBB until some filing is made by a customer. The fact that the BBB does not have them on record generally indicates that no complaints have occurred. Check with the BBB to verify this, but I am 99.9% certain that this is the case.

You are infact 100% correct as I stated;

In that four years the BBB has not ,as yet, generated a report for them. In other words no one has complained to the BBB about them before.

A company can however become a member with the BBB, if they so wish, at any time. That is up to the company, but having a file is very helpful when Joe Consumer wants to check out a company, as is RR. (If you look around this forum page you'll see why, some are flat out scams. )
In fact some of OverdrivePC's competitors are BBB members, some are not.
For Example;
Falcon-Northwest

File Open Date: March 2004
BBB Membership: This company is not a member.
The Bureau processed a total of 0 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period.

Alienware

Membership Status: This company is not a member.
The Bureau processed a total of 675 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total 675 complaints in the last 36 months, 393 of those were closed in the last 12 months.

The Bureau's report on this company is being updated. As of April 18th, 2006, this company's membership in the Better Business Bureau has been suspended, pending revocation by the Board of Directors.

They should have never sold out to Dell.

Originally Posted by statsman

That said, you take a very methodical approach to this problem and should be commended on your objectivity.

Thank you, I only wish I got a nickle for it each time