This is definitely a case of "Beware Greeks bearing gifts". Two bloggers from India claim that Samsung, after paying for their flight and hotel room to attend the IFA trade show last week, threatened to effectively strand them in Berlin if they didn"t help Samsung with marketing efforts at the show.
TheNextWeb reports that the two bloggers won a contest to go to IFA at Samsung"s expense as part of the company"s Mobilers program. The bloggers claim they told Samsung ahead of time they would accept but that they would attend the show and cover other companies for their blogs.
When they arrived in Berlin, the bloggers then say they were told by Samsung they had to " ... be in uniform, in the Samsung booths, every day. Showing the products to members of the press.” They refused. Later they claim they received a call from Samsung in India, stating, "You can either be a part of this and wear the uniform, or you’ll have to get your own tickets back home and handle your hotel stay from the moment this call ends."
They later claim that Samsung got back in touch with them, saying they would come back to India several days ahead of schedule but only if they wore the company"s shirt at Samsung"s press event. The bloggers did just that, but were not happy about it.
As it turned out, the two bloggers didn"t have to cut their IFA trip short after all. One of them, Clinton Jeff, posted on his Twiitter page, "I have a hotel, I have tickets home, thanks to @Nokia who swooped in and helped me @ the last minute."
Source: TheNextWeb | Image via Samsung