Things are apparently heating up in the automotive industry. Yesterday (Thursday, 29th February), Malaysia’s fastest-growing digital used car platform, myTukar posted an open letter to Carsome, an online used car trading platform, on their Facebook page regarding a certain campaign.
The content of the letter was the former criticising the latter for how they run their business and even accusing them of manipulating customers into giving the company 5-star reviews in order to receive rewards. Here’s the full story:
In the letter, myTukar claimed that Carsome’s upcoming campaign goes against ethical advertising and review practices. The company wrote, “It has come to our attention that Carsome has an upcoming campaign where boosted 5-star reviews stand with a chance to win ‘attractive prizes’ such as an iPhone 15 Pro. This is not new for them — they have had similar offers from as far back as 2020.”
The online used car platform clarified that although there is nothing wrong with asking customers to leave reviews, it is still unethical to reward customers for 5-star reviews as it violates Google’s policies. This sort of action would fall under Fake Engagement of Google’s Deceptive Content & Behaviour guide.
“Ultimately, biased reviews hurt the entire industry and consumers as well. We think it’s important that all businesses are judged fairly by their services, not by the amount of money and prizes being given out. We believe all customers want to read genuine reviews when researching about who to spend your money with,” said myTukar on Facebook.
As seen in the photo above, the open letter was not only to call out Carsome’s campaign but it was also a response to the company’s Chief Marketing Officer Ravi Shankar’s LinkedIn post where he said, “Most brands & businesses aim to be perceived as ‘trusted’. Yet most don’t provide consumers with a distinctive reason to trust them in a way that’s any different to the competition. Stand out by telling a unique story that goes beyond just shouting, ‘Trust us.'”
After posting the letter, netizens were divided in the comments sections. Some agreed with myTukar’s claims about Carsome while others pointed out that the former had done something similar years ago, calling them hypocrites and that they were just jealous of how well Carsome was doing. myTukar admitted to those claims of doing similar campaigns in the past but insisted that they have since learned their lesson.
As for Carsome themselves, the used car trading company has yet to respond to myTukar’s open letter regarding the upcoming campaign. Who would’ve thought that these two automotive establishments would come for each other’s necks like this?
Sources: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Support, Carsome
