Beware of Amazon "THE VINE" reviews

[John Doe]

Please be wary of reviews that are from "THE VINE". Apparently,
sometimes a manufacturer distributes free products to certain
Amazon reviewers for their review. I have a feeling that Amazon
awards those free products to reviewers who consistently rate
products highly (that could be determined with some research).

Following (see the link below) is an example of problematic
reviews on Amazon caused by "THE VINE"program. The first/oldest
page of reviews is very negative. Then, apparently Amazon and the
manufacturer gave some free samples of the product to "THE VINE"
users, and the average review score went way up. An extremely high
percentage of those "THE VINE" reviews include the exact wording
"not just for babies" in their review title. You can guess that is
because, thanks to the free sample, they had no real need for the
product.

http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Premium-Digital-Monitor/product-reviews/B002WN2BY6/ref=cm_cr_pr_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

http://tinyurl.com/36rxup3