The better the reviews, the more we trust a business. And for companies that means a better bottom line. In a months-long investigation, we went undercover posing as a new business, and discover how companies can buy a positive reputation online. We (CBC Marketplace) reveal an entire industry devoted to helping businesses mislead you. Host Erica Johnson reveals how cheaters pull it off, and how you can spot a faker.
Ted Gilmour is a Vancouver home inspector and industry recognized professional with a commitment to best practice in client service and reporting excellence.
Very sad that this goes on! These people are willing to lie and pose as actual customers, that is very unethical!
We have a company in which we advertise on the website that utilizes reviews from the homeowner. We and our workers worked very very hard to obtain a positive review from our customers. We train our guys to go the extra mile for people so that we can get a 10 out of 10.
I personally know that every single review we have, and we have hundreds, have come from an actual satisfied customer.
There are people like this in every industry that’s out there, people that are willing to be unethical and lie to get your business.
We have been shocked the last couple years to not have been awarded “best of” with this particular company and we wonder if it’s because we have a rating of a 10 out of 10! And by the way a lot of our clients do wright long reviews which sometimes are very heartfelt. Which, according to this video I just watched, would be classified as false. But let me tell you each and everyone of these people are real.
I suppose the Internet has created a platform for a lot of unethical activities to occur and it’s important for those unethical activities to be exposed.
This Marketplace show definitely has me questioning whether or not I will use reviews for restaurants as a valid source in the future, but let’s not get overly cynical here, there are still good, honest people out there that take time to write reviews. I know that I do!
Not long ago people would write reviews, not because somebody coerced a review out of a customer but because the customer felt the service provider went above and beyond expectations. Today consumers will write a review with a 10 out of 10 just for asking. In a way it’s there claim to 15 minutes of fame. Everyone of this type of review hurts honest, ethical and hard-working service providers. The more aggressive a business is at requesting testimonials the more likely they will out-compete their competition. Some of these referral websites are actually providing incentives for writing reviews, how ethical is that. What I’m seeing are relatively young and inexperienced newcomers paying their way to the top on these referral websites. Generally the public has no yardstick by which to measure and may honestly believe they are getting the best service, simply because the service provider was very personable.
Consumers are very accustomed to trusting reviews to make their choices. If you’re not in the top rated you likely won’t get any work. Worse than that if you have somebody hire you they might actually research you after they’ve already booked an appointment. When they type in the name of the service provider, their search results will likely find them listed with HomeStars.If the company has not got hundreds of reviews that service provider may well lose that job to a more aggressive marketer. Not necessarily better just aggressive and more media savvy. Some companies are simply paying their way to the top.