Phoney Review Sites – Don’t get burned or scammed by them!

Phoney review sites hurt a lot of people. If the headline got your attention, let us know in the comments!  Perhaps you’ve had an unfortunate experience with one of these sites, yourself.  Let us know and help us all.

The problem with phoney – aka fake –  review sites is twofold.

First, they directly harm legitimate businesses.

Secondly, they leave people wondering who they can trust.

How do phoney review sites work?

Let’s take a look at how phoney review sites work, as opposed to sites that legitimately rate and rank the trustworthiness of online businesses.

What I refer to as “phoney review sites” are sites that let anyone offer a review without any checks and balances. They may have been created with a desire to help consumers and legitimate businesses, but without checks and balances in place, including monitoring and a dedicated support system, they will rapidly descend to the level of a place where people with an ax to grind destroy good people and businesses.  They become little more than “sleight of hand,” a trick used, often maliciously, to skew the real value of a website or business.

Without naming names, which in itself is a great way to open yourself up to flame attacks not worth the trouble and intellectual exercise to deal with, there are a number of so-called review sites online. Some are very popular and some people put a lot of merit on their ratings. But due perhaps to something as innocent as really believing no-one would abuse the site, they are not moderated and thus become phoney review sites. The end is worse than the beginning!

Beware! Before accepting what a “review” site says about another site or company, good or bad, check the review site, itself. How to they rate?  How do they decide on the ratings for others? The following points are important to consider and follow.

1. Do your research

Do some research and find out what people are saying about them. A sprinkling of unhappy reports are not unusual, as there are far too many scammers online who deserve to get exposed.

Such complaints do not automatically make it a phoney review site

But if there is a litany of complaints from many sources, look again.  Something isn’t right.

Disclaimer:  Certain links on this site are affiliate links for which the owner is remunerated for sales and/or leads.

How easy is it to contact the people behind the site?  Have you found yourself frustrated trying to find out who is saying nasty things about you or your business?  How did you deal with it?

How open are they to checking the legitimacy of your concerns?  If you’ve ever had to ask a review site to review an unfair comment about your business, were they helpful?

Do they allow anonymous posting?  Do they allow absolutely anybody to post without any checks? This last one is of key concern. It is the opinion of this blogger that any site that blindly allows any users to rate websites is a phony review site. Even if major web browsers include their apps in their store and allows them to be attached to their browser as an ‘add-on,’ supposedly for safety, they are a phony review site.

I say this boldly, because no matter how altruistic the motive of the review site owners may be, allowing users to post anything they want about a site with nothing to verify who they are or what they are saying is opening up very ethical and honest businesses to being maligned.  It also makes it possible for the very worst of businesses to manipulate the ratings in their favor, simply by paying enough people to give them a good review.

As always, buyer beware. Do your due diligence, but don’t simply trust the opinion of a site because it calls itself a reputable review site. Check around and make sure you know the truth.

2. How can I deal with a negative phony review?

If someone posts a phony and negative review of your website or business, the first thing to do is to try to contact support of the owners of the review site.  They may be legitimately trying to help consumers and willing to listen.

Be polite and patient!  If you are able to have a civilized conversation with the people who control the review site, the chances are good they will hear your side and by sympathetic.

Unfortunately, as has been my experience, it’s usually difficult or impossible to get any help with the site owners or support in such a situation.  If you have had any experience with a good review site that is helpful, please tell us about them in the comment section.  They deserve good press!

In most cases, your best bet moving forward is to do everything possible to bury a phony and negative review.  What I mean by that is, you want to gain enough good press to move any bad reviews so far down in the search results that they aren’t seen.

This takes work!  Ask your satisfied visitors and customers to give you a good review on the site that has bashed your business.  This will raise your overall rating.  For example, if you have one review only on a popular review site and it’s negative, your negative rating is 100%.  However, if you gain nine good reviews, your approval rating is 90%.

Work hard to give good, honest service.  Give 110%, all the time.  Blog regularly.  Only post good, relevant information that will help your audience.  Know what you’re talking about.  Don’t advertise scams.  (The last one goes without saying.  The problem is, a lot of people get involved in scams unwittingly, because they don’t do enough research.  Do your due diligence!)

Points to remember when dealing with phony reviews

1. There is an old and rather vulgar saying:  “Don’t get into a pissing match with a skunk.”  It is pretty obvious what would happen in the literal situation.  You would lose!
2. Once something gets posted on line, it stays on line.  Unless you can politely convince the owner of one of the so-called review sites to remove an unfair and poisonous review, it’s going to be there until the end of the internet.
3. Getting angry and bashing the owner of one of these sites will only make it worse.  Have you had that experience?  I hope not!
4. If you are the victim of an unkind, unflattering, phony review, try to contact the owner(s) of the review site to present your case.  If you can’t get reach them, or they are unwilling to help, don’t get mad.  Politely thank them for their time, and get to work.  As mentioned above, work hard to be a good citizen and honest business person.

Don’t let it get you down

It may sometimes seem true that “good guys finish last,” but remember, good guys sleep better at the end of the day.  Phoney review sites make life difficult for lot of legitimate business owners. Don’t be dishonest like them!

Those who lie, cheat, scam and unfairly bash legitimate, honest business people may seem to be winning, but a day of reckoning is coming for them.

Take care, stay safe, and please share! Remember to leave us a link in the comments!