In a desperate attempt to increase smartphone sales for its new device, the Mate 10 Pro, Huawei reportedly faked Best Buy reviews. The reviews in question, which were mostly five stars, were subsequently removed from the page.
Huawei Continues To Struggle
After its success in conquering the smartphone market, Huawei had an aggressive plan to infiltrate the U.S. market further. Unfortunately, the Chinese smartphone company found itself on the receiving end of harsh fate thanks to the maneuvering of congressional leaders. Wireless carriers in the United States were discouraged from forging a partnership with Huawei due to security concerns.
Without the support of AT&T and Verizon, Huawei will face a more terrible time in increasing sales in the U.S. market. Given all these roadblocks, the company needs to focus on marketing their smartphones directly to customers.
Best Buy Reviews
Website 9to5Google spotted an unusual marketing tactic purportedly employed by Huawei to attract more customers to patronize its latest smartphone. The device in question is the Mate 10 Pro which is available for pre-order.
According to the report, Huawei tried to solicit for positive reviews in a private group on Facebook.
In the group, which had about 60,000 members, Huawei asked people to share “why they WANT to own the Mate 10 Pro” and post it to the review section of Best Buy on January 31.
Those who did will have the chance to be a beta tester of the new handset. With this ploy, the Best Buy listing for the Huawei Mate 10 Pro already had 108 reviews, most of which were five stars. Reviewers left testimonials hailing Huawei’s smartphone as better than Samsung and being an unbeatable smartphone.
The #HuaweiMate10 Pro is IP67 Water and Dust Resistant so whatever happens, nothing can stop this pair. #HuaweiMoments #NewBeginnings #IP67 #CapturedOnMate10 pic.twitter.com/LN7AH88fhA
— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) January 21, 2018
The said post was deleted afterward, but Huawei announced the names of nine participants chosen to be beta testers of the Huawei Mate 10 Pro.
Huawei’s Response
Android Authority reached out to Huawei about the issue involving the fake reviews . The Chinese smartphone company explained the issue as a miscommunication.
“Huawei’s first priority is always the consumer and we encourage our customers to share their experiences with our devices in their own voice and through authentic conversation. We believe there is confusion around a recent social media post reaching out to recruit new beta testers. While there are reviews from beta testers with extensive knowledge of the product, they were in no way given monetary benefits for providing their honest opinions of the product. However, we are working to remove posts by beta testers where it isn’t disclosed they participated in the review program.”
Given the negative publicity stunt, the companies involved were quick to take action, warranting the speedy removal of all the reviews. Anyone who visits the Best Buy website to view the page for Huawei’s Mate 10 Pro will see that there are no reviews as yet.
Huawei Mate 10 Pro release date is set for Feb. 18 according to the Best Buy website.
