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This afternoon around 1pm three separate forum accounts were registered from the same IP address, and immediately posted complementary (fake) testimonials of Maxxelli, the Chengdu based relocation company. Although each account was created with a different email address, they were all registered from the same IP address which was traced to Maxxelli’s office in Chengdu. The accounts created are Glenn, Albrecht S, and Hannes.
This post is a reminder that if you see an endorsement for a product or service in Chengdu by a forum account that was just created, or has a single post, be skeptical. If there is evidence of a company posting fraudulent testimonials on the forum, we will delete the posts immediately. To date, we have not found evidence of any other companies creating and posting fake testimonials here, yet.
Thanks to everyone who has shared information to make the forum a great resource for all of us living in Chengdu. To companies who wish to abuse the forum: post your spam elsewhere.
Wow! I’ve been positive about Maxxelli in the forum based on my own previous experience, but this is definitely hokey. I imagine it’s a naive staffer who’s had the brain fart to try this on. Fail!!
The forum continues to be an awesome resource for many connected to Chengdu, but you should definitely do your homework when seeking advice.
It’s amusing and you can tell the stories were written by Chinese staffers, but at the same time, it’s all information that is realistically within their normal service standard from what I know 😀
Apparently Maxxelli employs an army of spammers, because they’ve done the same thing this morning! More housing threads bumped by a new account, and of course the IP address leads directly to the Maxxelli office in Chengdu, as the other spam accounts did. The username is Tonnick. At this point I would be skeptical of everything you hear about Maxxelli on the internet.
Don’t necessarily blame the Chinese staff until we know all the deatails. They could be ordered to do this by foreign management. We know in the past that gochengdoo had some problems with fake reviews which were done by foreigners…
Quote:Don’t necessarily blame the Chinese staff until we know all the deatails. They could be ordered to do this by foreign management. We know in the past that gochengdoo had some problems with fake reviews which were done by foreigners…I’ve emailed Peter, the Maxxelli CEO, with a link to this post, so perhaps we will see an explanation. It’s incredible that after posting this thread this happens again within 48 hours.
Also, the email address that registered the most recent account, Tonnick, is [email protected].
This reminds me of when I explained to some Chinese friends that one reason Amazon is a top retailer is because of their product reviews and ratings system.
“But how do you know the reviews are real?”
I was confused by the question, actually. I just thought “people just don’t do that, or not often enough that it’s a real concern.” But apparently all Chinese people are wary of this issue. I’ve been told to be very skeptical about reviews in taobao stores because there’s a decent chance that they’re fake.
Maybe I could say that 98% of products which are sold on taobao are fake ones.
Amazon’s products: hard to say. For example, I once bought cosmetics of the same brand from HK, formal shops in China and Amazon: three different feelings after I used them. HK’s were absolutely best ones.
Quote:Amazon’s products: hard to say. For example, I once bought cosmetics of the same brand from HK, formal shops in China and Amazon: three different feelings after I used them. HK’s were absolutely best ones.That’s why most people overseas won’t buy anything on Amazon or eBay that ships from China: they don’t want fake products.
I think most of us operate on the assumption that foreign businesses in China are run differently than Chinese businesses (I do), but cases like this (with Maxxelli) prove otherwise.
You wanna make an effective fake post, you gotta tone down the hyperbole a little, even throw in some mild criticisms to make it more believable: eg Maxxeli endorsement (fictitious). “I used Maxxeli a few years ago and it was pretty good. The girl was kinda unfriendly, and she never did go out for drinks with me, but the service was totally solid and no ocmplaints”. That’s how it’s done..
It’s too bad for Maxxelli, because they actually do a lot for expat families and others who are here for brief stints. Most of the corporate people who roll through go through them and seem satisfied. I am pretty sure they hired a couple Chinese who went about standard spamming procedure for most Chinese-run websites/web-based services. Having said that, Chinese employees will do what they are told/shown to do, so it is up to management to set an example.
What gets me is how stupid the spammer was. I mean, all you really had to do was use a VPN and change locations, or recognize that you can be traced. But that speaks more to how things are done here than to the actual intelligence of the spammer.
It’s too bad for Maxxelli, because they actually do a lot for expat families and others who are here for brief stints. Most of the corporate people who roll through go through them and seem satisfied. I am pretty sure they hired a couple Chinese who went about standard spamming procedure for most Chinese-run websites/web-based services. Having said that, Chinese employees will do what they are told/shown to do, so it is up to management to set an example.
What gets me is how stupid the spammer was. I mean, all you really had to do was use a VPN and change locations, or recognize that you can be traced. But that speaks more to how things are done here than to the actual intelligence of the spammer.
Check out this profile created a year ago, laowai.
This looks a bit suspicious now. A job posting for Maxxelli, followed by a post giving a glowing testimony for Taxi-Book. Both businesses run by Peter.
Check out this profile created a year ago, laowai.
This looks a bit suspicious now. A job posting for Maxxelli, followed by a post giving a glowing testimony for Taxi-Book. Both businesses run by Peter.
I received a response from Peter Kuppens, Maxxelli CEO:
Hi Charlie,
We just got in 6 interns and i came back from holyday today the got the wrong info .
We never did this stuff and we don,t need it .
next to that i don,t like that most foreiners like to be negative about what people do than positive .
Interesting that he blames interns and denies responsibility at the same time.
When I sent him irrefutable evidence that Maxxelli does indeed create fake accounts and posts fake testimonials on this website (and has for over one year), he did not reply. Instead, Maxxelli’s Operations Manager acknowledged wrongdoing, apologized on behalf of Peter Kuppens and Maxxelli, and said that the information I sent has been shared with all employees.
Here’s the evidence showing that those posts originated from a single IP address which is linked directly to Maxxelli:
Quote:Don’t necessarily blame the Chinese staff until we know all the deatails. They could be ordered to do this by foreign management.You were right to think this, Ray. A CEO who makes excuses for this kind of behavior and refuses to acknowledge guilt in the face of irrefutable evidence certainly points toward the CEO being either complicit or the architect of this.
Regardless, I think the moral of this story is to be skeptical when you read an endorsement of any product or service on the forum, especially if it comes from a new account. You never know who is going to do something stupid like create multiple accounts and make them all endorse one company at the same time, but it would be wishful thinking to hope that they’re all going to be as simple and obvious as Maxxelli is.
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