When you go to Twitter, Facebook, an online forum or any other form of social media to voice a complaint about a product or service you’ve purchased, one can understandably be left with the feeling that no matter how loud they shout, no one is listening. However, some businesses say they are monitoring all those negative posts and reviews and a few claim to be making systemic changes in response. [More]
Statisticians Sniffing Out Fake Online Reviews Using Scientific Methods
By June 18, 2012
Online reviews can make or break your decision to try out a new hotel, check out a restaurant or even influence your choice of medical care. Unfortunately, companies desperate to be perceived as awesome sometimes try to sneak in their own positive reviews, posing as fellow consumers. Good for us, then, as science has come up with yet another way to help sniff out the fake reviews. [More]
Diner Demands $100 Gift Card To Not Post Negative Yelp Review
By May 29, 2012
We’ve written before about companies offering free stuff or discounts in exchange for positive online reviews — or for removing negative comments — but a restaurant in California says a disgruntled diner tried to use the threat of a scathing Yelp review to squeeze a $100 gift card out of the eatery. [More]
Plastic Surgeon Sues Patient For Defamation After Negative Online Reviews
By May 22, 2012
Online rating sites are a great tool for consumers researching services their peers have already experienced. So in the case of getting cosmetic surgery, a bad review is akin to a huge spitball thrown at a business, which is why an Orlando plastic surgeon is suing one of his former patients for defaming him online. [More]
Science Figures Out How To Identify Groups Of Fake Online Reviewers
By April 18, 2012
Anyone who has sifted through anonymous “user” reviews of products is likely aware that there’s a good chance some of those comments were posted by shills trying to game the system to make the product look much better or worse than it is. While there are already a number of common-sense ways to suss out a bogus review, science has found a way to identify entire groups of review spammers. [More]
Growing Number Of Cyber Shills Invade Online Reviews
By December 13, 2011
Since the dawn of online reviews, businesses have been attempting to game the system by flooding sites with bogus star ratings, fictitious reviews. And even though the major sites have enacted safeguards to prevent automated ways of rigging reviews, there’s little they can do to stop an actual human from logging on to boost a review in exchange for a few pennies. [More]
Hotel Openly Advertises For Fake TripAdvisor Review Writers
By June 16, 2011
It’s no secret that hotels put bogus user reviews of themselves on sites like TripAdvisor, but usually they’re more discreet than this. TripAdvisorWatch found an example of an owner of several hotels in Hanoi posting on freelancer.com under his real name asking “if anyone can teach me the way to write reviews on this forum in which my reviews can not be found as fake and be removed.” [More]
If You Want Unbiased Hotel Reviews, Don't Trust Expedia
By December 10, 2010
What’s the purpose of hotel reviews on Expedia.com? Based on the recent experiences of two customers who wrote to Consumerist this week, it’s not to provide a balanced overview of customers’ experiences. Two unrelated readers stayed in different hotel chains in different cities, had bad experiences, and wanted to warn other travelers. Expedia posted neither of their reviews. Why not? [More]
Feds Arrest Online Seller Who Tried To Drive Up Google Ranking By Scaring People
By December 7, 2010
Pushing the “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” mentality to the extreme, an online retailer allegedly stalked and threatened customers in order to boost his search engine visibility. The seller reportedly went to such extremes that federal authorities stepped in and arrested him on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, making interstate threats and cyberstalking. [More]
30 Ways You Can Spot Fake Online Reviews
By April 14, 2010
Last week we showed you a few ways to spot fake online reviews and asked you to submit yours. We got some really great stuff! Here’s the tips and techniques savvy Consumerist readers use to ferret out the shills, sockpuppets and charlatans when cruising online reviews of products and services. Get yer learn on! [More]
Spot Fake Online Reviews
By April 6, 2010
Here are some warning signs that an online review is being left by a shill, or shills: [More]
Make $20-$40 A Pop Shilling On Yelp
By November 17, 2009
Did you know that you can earn $20-$40 at time just for lying? According to this Craigslist ad, a New York business owner desperate for positive reviews on Yelp, an online yellow pages couples with user reviews, is shelling out for shills.
4 Questions That Will Fix The Travel Industry
By October 27, 2009
When will we see an airline passenger bill of rights? Why aren’t there 5-star and 2-star airlines? How do you deal with hotels filling review sites with fake testimonials? These questions came up in a conversation about the travel industry I had the other night. Here’s some possible answers:
Everydaydeals Bribes User To Remove Neutral Feedback
By May 27, 2008
After receiving two defective “new” headsets and a third one that was missing packaging materials, Lance left EveryDayDeals neutral feedback. EverydayDeals then offered to give Lance a partial refund, but only if he withdrew his non-thumbs-up feedback. Lance’s email, and EveryDayDeals bribe note, inside…
MyGearStore Bribes Customer To Remove Amazon Feedback
By May 6, 2008
“MyGearStore,” a seller on Amazon, tried to bribe reader Michael into remove less-than-stellar feedback. Michael writes, “There were some problems with the order, and I gave them neutral feedback (which was pretty generous).” They said they would give him a partial refund if he took down his feedback. He complained to Amazon, who didn’t reply except with a “thanks for emailing us” and to MyGearStore, who didn’t respond. One tool consumers use to evaluate the slew of online retailers out there is by looking through feedback left by other customers. If stores are trying to pay off customers to get rid of negative feedback, one, they’re stupid because they’re going to get caught. Two, it means you should be suspicious if the feedback for one store, product, or seller is overwhelmingly positive. Critical reading, it’s a good ability to have. The original bribe note sent by MyGearStore, inside..
How Do You Get The Most Out Of Online Reviews?
By December 22, 2007
Products don’t advertise their drawbacks leaving shoppers to rely on online reviews as one of the only ways to determine a product’s true worth. Salon argues in an article heavy on fluff and light on content that reviews are just a meaningless muddle of questionable opinions. We disagree, but the article does raise one good question: how do you judge the value online reviews?
