I have FIRST hand experience and knowledge of a particular RV dealership located in Clovis that claims to have held the title "RV Dealer of the Year" for the last two years back-to-back (2007 and 2008). Oh how proudly they fly their banners.
If only the general public were aware that the results of both wins (not to mention the close runner up of their sister store) are bogus - as employees from their company were made by the "owner" (yep, the BIG CHEESE) to enter votes from the phone book and their previous customer base onto the web based polling place.
Fresno Bee is somewhat responsible. The people rely on this information to help guide them to ethical, honest companies that the community endorses.By handed out this award erroneously are they committing false advertising?
But how can the Fresno Bee insure that the people claiming to vote actually are casting the vote? They've safe guarded the process as far as asking for a persons name, address, phone - but none of these fields are required. There is no confirmation e-mail required to submit your vote, and from my experience I can tell you they are not set up to record or pay no attention to the URL stamp from the computer. (Not a computer tech, but I think I have the terminology right) They don't even take into account a flood (hundreds... Upon hundreds... Of entries) of votes subbmitted one after the other voting for nothing other than a particular company in ONE category. Suspicious? I'd say so.
So... Moral of the story... Until Fresno Bee makes modifications and safe guards the procedure it uses for the People's Choice Awards... I wouldn't count on the results as being what the community really thinks. Additionally, if you are in the market for an RV... I'd think hard about the type of company I wanted to make a large purchase such as an RV from... in my experience typically un-ethical behavior and habits are not isolated events.
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