In the KAIZEN Blog I wrote a post about Jeff Gertsmann, an ex-review writer for GameSpot who was fired (allegedly, but likely) for not reviewing a game high enough despite the publisher paying hundereds of thousands of dollars in ad money-------check it out and spread the word on this, it is very sad and it is looking more and more like the rumors are true (too many 'coincidental' things happening as well as a comment written by an anonymous GameSpot employee that gave very detailed details abotu the situation and history around it)---it makes me sick that companies pull this kind of garbage---check it out and let me know what you think.

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Originally posted by JeTSpice:
Good for you, dude. The thing about "firing without firing" is if it ever goes to court, the company can say "We didn't fire him, he just stopped showing up." And they don't have to pay unemployment, either. Christ says "not one stone will be left upon another." That's the fate of these companies. It will be so awesome when He returns to rule.

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Agreed--God certainly isn't going to cover someone's back if they can't even help everyday people. I think though it is a dangerous precedent for these companies to set (or maybe it is even not a precedent any more and just everyday business???) to say this is ok and we should stand up and sock it to them----I heard someone say online that publishers buying ads AT ALL on these sites constitutes a conflict of interests--I don't know if I totally agree with that but at the very least I would say it would be imperative to keep marketing and editorial/reviews separate and make sure to have a strongly worded publicly known policy that ad space does not constitute an endorsement/positive view of the game----but yeah man it just made me sad--I know first hand what it is like to have to chose between the right thing and the thing that will allow you to stay under the radar--and, like the blog says, I got slammed pretty hard so I know how emotionally draining it is---it breaks my heart man to see someone else going through it.....

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I had always appreciated Gamespot as they seemed to be quite fair and told the truth about the games. Except for one exception, I have always completely agreed with Gamespot. Even when I didn't heed their complaints, I would end up buying something and realize they were right.

As for your warranty story, sounds very familiar. Unfortunately, as the years pass on, companies are less interested in the individual and more interested in the bottom line. Even employees are becoming a commodity to purchase one day and disregard the next.

Don't even get me started on the stuff we have had to deal with for one warranty company that couldn't even tell us where to send our camera. All we wanted was a location to mail it. They could not even tell us that. Eventually we got it, but it took a few months of phone calls and getting the runaround.

I'm not saying money is a bad thing. I certainly realize there is a balance between needing money to pay for employees and having those employees. I'm just glad I'm not the one in charge having to deal with things at that level.

If you were a top-exec, how would you handle a situation if a large company said they were going to pull money out of advertising? Would you change the review? Discipline the employee? Take the advertising hit?

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Originally posted by ssquared:
I can't stand this kind of stuff. Advertisement/Reviews are clearly a conflict of interest. 20 years ago I used to read several (three) different synth & keyboard magazines. One of them would never (except on rare occasions) give anything less than a B in any of its ratings. To me, the magazine became useless as far as reviews went.

I had always appreciated Gamespot as they seemed to be quite fair and told the truth about the games. Except for one exception, I have always completely agreed with Gamespot. Even when I didn't heed their complaints, I would end up buying something and realize they were right.

As for your warranty story, sounds very familiar. Unfortunately, as the years pass on, companies are less interested in the individual and more interested in the bottom line. Even employees are becoming a commodity to purchase one day and disregard the next.

Don't even get me started on the stuff we have had to deal with for one warranty company that couldn't even tell us where to send our camera. All we wanted was a location to mail it. They could not even tell us that. Eventually we got it, but it took a few months of phone calls and getting the runaround.

I'm not saying money is a bad thing. I certainly realize there is a balance between needing money to pay for employees and having those employees. I'm just glad I'm not the one in charge having to deal with things at that level.

If you were a top-exec, how would you handle a situation if a large company said they were going to pull money out of advertising? Would you change the review? Discipline the employee? Take the advertising hit?

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I would

Take the ad hit--then share the story with the public and build public support--this shows that people can trust your review, so they will come more--plus, they will feel sorry for you being screwed by unscrupulous publishers and come to support you--then you can charge a higher ad rate for those who still advertise because you have more supporters and traffic on your site, which naturally increases the value of the ad space.

WHat store did you buy the camera from? Just curious.....

Yeah it is really sick---I hope they get nailed to the wall for it because treating employees like that is twisted--I don't even know how that manager can sleep at night!!!!

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Without a Good Guys around we were stuck. It is under GE Warranty which we called and called but they were COMPLETELY 100% useless. A simple question...

"Where can we send our camera for warranty service?"

"We can't give that out."

"WHAT? You can't tell me where to send this? It's under your warranty coverage."

"We don't have a list of locations. You need to contact our special Locator department."

"You can't just look it up on some screen and tell me ANY type of address to send it?"

"No. But I can forward you to our Locator department."

"OK. Thanks."

"Hi. Locator department."

"Blah blah blah...explaining situation."

"We will get back to you in two weeks as we track down a location for you to send the camera."

"Why does it take so long? Can't you just give me a location? What is so hard about it."

"We'll get back to you by two weeks."

"OK."

<several weeks go by>

"Hi. You said you would call us in two weeks with a location but we haven't heard back."

"We can't give you a location."

"What?"

"We can do search for you but it will be two weeks."

"What are you talking about? Can't you just look on your computer and come up with a list?"

"Well, it may not be the correct list. You can only send it to certain places."

<And so it went on until finally we got an address. And we got the camera in great working order in the end, but boy was it a hassle with ridiculous reasons.>

The real bummer is I had bought my SLR (with warranty) from the Good Guys just about a month before it shutdown. I'm afraid to call and get the runaround again.

I've had bum dealings with other things, too. From health insurance to phone companies and plenty of others. It's like they are told to make it as difficult as possible. Or perhaps they are given monetary incentives.

That said, I have also had great experiences. Even had some terrific experiences with health companies. Tamron was beyond excellent. Each phone call was pleasant, and I felt like I was their #1 customer. They gave me updates on my lens, admitted the issue, fixed it, and returned it in less than the expected timeframe. They even told me upfront, "We currently have a large number of lenses to fix. It will be awhile until we get to it."

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http://kotaku.com/gaming/advertorials/1up-shows-support-for-gamespot-reviewers-328882.php

HOORAY!!!!! I would march on that--provided where they are marching isn't cold outside like it is here--or they have a bonfire......

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That news article you posted was interesting in that it mentioned about people cancelling their GameSpot accounts. I'm interested in seeing how this all pans out.

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Originally posted by ssquared:
Excellent! Glad you got such a kick out of my story. You probably enjoyed hearing it from a competitor company. :-)

That news article you posted was interesting in that it mentioned about people cancelling their GameSpot accounts. I'm interested in seeing how this all pans out.

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Yeah hehe---GE and NEW are equally bad, although I heard stories that GE does the run-around more wheras NEW is more or less a little more militant to their customers--so 2 types of evil......

Yeah, I think GameSpot and Eidos may have done themselves in--at least their dominance (yeah Eidos isn't ultra dominant, but they are big) will be hurt significantly-----does anyone know if IGN does this too?

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http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/03/gerstmann-gate-blackout-monday-update/

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