While looking at some contemporary rugs on the Home Depot website I came across a few comments that looked suspicious.

Let me preface this quickly — having communication features like comments and reviews on e-commerce sites is great. I often look at the reviews and ratings before digging into product details, because there may be some wisdom in the crowds worth picking up on. If 400 people say one wireless router is better than another, there has to be some value there. Same holds true for all kinds of products, including books. Amazon.com gets lots of people leaving detailed, valuable reviews. So what about rugs?

Well, here are the 3 comments that stood out for me, and you can decide:

Rug #1

“I was looking everywhere for a multi-coloured rug for a small budget–and saw this one online, went to home depot the next day to look at it and it is better in real life–love the fact that there is matching smaller rugs too.” – Sudbury gal, January 12, 2007

Rug #2

“My husband and I were searching for a new area rug, and we could not find anything we liked for a smaller budget. But then I found this rug online. I went to the Home Depot the next day to see it, and it was better than the picture! This rug is nice and dark, with lots of great patterns. We get compliments on it all the time! To find an area rug this size for this price is extremly hard, but we could not be happier with our purchase!” – Great rug, great price!, November 28, 2006 / By Small town gal from Saskatchewan

Rug #3

“My husband and I were searching for a new area rug, and we could not find anything we liked for a smaller budget. But then I found this rug online. I went to the Home Depot the next day to see it, and it was better than the picture! This rug is nice and dark, with lots of great patterns. We get compliments on it all the time! To find an area rug this size for this price is extremly hard, but we could not be happier with our purchase!” – Great Rug! Great Price!, January 5, 2007 / By Sally from Toronto

I suppose it could be the same person who made all three comments. It’s not uncommon for people to move three times in the span of three months right? So she was in Saskatchewan, then hopped over to Toronto, decided that wasn’t for her and moved to Sudbury…And of course she only identified herself as “Sally” while living in Toronto.

Something is amiss.

My first reaction was, “Someone at Home Depot is putting in bogus comments.” Is that possible? Would they bother?

I noticed very few comments in the rugs section; maybe someone at Home Depot decided to fill in a few holes and make the site look less dead.

My next thought was that it was an overzealous manufacturer trying to pimp their own carpets – but all three of the carpets are made by different companies.

So I’m back to wondering about Home Depot and whether they’d try and scam people by posting fake comments. Maybe its a coincidence or someone being stupid, but it’s definitely a mystery, and something smells distinctly fishy.

What do you guys think?