Oak Road Estate: Complaints, Illegal Practices and Report to ACCC

LPhil22 on 05/10/2020 - 18:00
Last edited 05/10/2020 - 18:35

Not sure if this is the best place to put this, but I’ve seen so many OzBargainers complain about Oak Road Estate who are wine distributors.

Complaints on OzBargain are mainly due to their spamming of calls asking customers to purchase their wines. However I have found an even more pressing issue.

The store has been banned on OzBargain today because of fake upvotes from fake accounts they created. They have done the same on Google Reviews. You’ll notice that all their 4 and 5 star reviews are from fake new accounts. It’s not just a few fake reviews, but hundreds. Other people on Google Review have said the same. Please have a look for yourselves. It’s so suspect and quite infuriating.

I have since made a complaint to ACCC and hope that OzBargain community can come together and also report this company for their illegal practices. I think everyone who is acustomed with this company is pretty fed up with them.

If you feel the same way, you can report them here. It’ll only take a couple of minutes.
https://www.accc.gov.au/contact-us/contact-the-accc/report-a…

This is what I wrote

I believe Oak Road Estate has breached the Competition and Consumer Act by garnishing false reviews on Google Reviews. I have noticed that basically all 5 and 4 star reviews are from accounts newly created and have only 1 review - that being of Oak Road Estate. The chances that all 5 and 4 star reviews from newly created accounts are genuine seem incredibly unlikely. Indeed, this is not something I have seen before. This is supported by their recent post on a site called OzBargain. Oak Road Estate has since been banned from the OzBargain for garnishing false positive votes through the creation of new fake accounts. This is considered ‘sockpuppeting’ on OzBargain. I have attached a screenshot of Oak Road Estate’s ban on OzBargain. I believe this supports the opinion that the Google Reviews are also fake reviews. Although I have not made a purchase from Oak Road Estate, I write to alert ACCC of the company’s illegal practices and hope that ACCC investigate the matter and take action to stop the continuation of these practices. This would ensure consumers are not deceived by this company any further. Best regards and I hope to hear back from ACCC when steps have been taken.

General Discussion

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Oak Road Estate

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 05/10/2020 - 18:06
    +1

    Stick it to them.

  • ChrisLevo on 05/10/2020 - 18:10
    +2

    They ignored multiple SMS and email requests to stop spamming me until I really blew up on the 'phone and offered to tell everyone in my address list as to what mongrels they are.

    • Phil22 on 05/10/2020 - 18:16

      Terrible company. I read on Google Review that they threaten to pull employees commission if they don’t make 5 star reviews. Shocking practices.

      • Phil22 on 05/10/2020 - 19:01

        From Google review

        Most of these good reviews are here because they threaten to take each staff members commission if they don't do 5* reviews.

        • [Deactivated] on 05/10/2020 - 19:25

          Where is your evidence to support? Sounds like libel.

          • Phil22 on 05/10/2020 - 19:26

            @[Deactivated]: You’d have to ask the person who commented. I’m just sharing it.

            • [Deactivated] on 05/10/2020 - 19:28

              @Phil22: And endorsing it. I am not pro or anti, just pointing it out.

              • Phil22 on 05/10/2020 - 19:38

                @[Deactivated]: Perhaps you are right. Although I did say ‘I read’ hence not confirming nor denying its truthfulness. But I understand your point.

  • oscargamer on 05/10/2020 - 18:25
    -1

    Leave an honest review and if you don't like them, just take your business elsewhere.

    • Phil22 on 05/10/2020 - 18:33

      Unfortunately it does not sit well with me that a company purporting to have 4 stars on Google review have a achieved such a high rating from hundreds of fraudulent reviews. Simply leaving a review amid hundreds of fake ones isn’t going to cut it unfortunately. In fact, after I left my review, 4 other 5 star reviews were made from new accounts. I can’t sit on my hands in this case.

      • oscargamer on 05/10/2020 - 18:41
        -3

        OK

        Personally, I have better things to do with my time.

        The world existed before internet reviews.

        I even remember a time before the internet and mobile phones and PC's (I had one of the very first BBC Model B PC's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro ), but there you go.

        • Phil22 on 05/10/2020 - 18:48
          +1

          It’s about protecting consumers. And if employees are coerced in making a review or else they lose commission, then protecting their employees as well per an investigation. To me this is a serious matter with important consequences. For only 5 minutes of my time, i think it’s worth it.

        • jayboi on 05/10/2020 - 19:37
          +11

          Personally, I have better things to do with my time.

          Says the one who is constantly on ozbargain and wasting almost 10 minutes arguing with OP on how he/she is wasting time writing a letter for 5 minutes. Look in the mirror, you have commented almost 4000 times on ozbargain, Who's wasting time now!! Whats wrong with OP trying to protect the community? How would you like it if you got spam called and scammed? And saying that OP isn't doing anything worthwhile is wrong and also calling them a fool is not cool, DO you think commenting almost 4000 times was worthwhile?

          • Phil22 on 05/10/2020 - 19:40
            +2

            @jayboi: You’re exactly right. I’m not doing this for myself. I have never bought anything from them. I’m doing what needs to be done in order to protect consumers. Perhaps it’s just the lawyer within me but I’m glad I have support for it.

          • SelfMade on 05/10/2020 - 19:53
            +3

            @jayboi: A lot of people on OzBargain do not value their time at all. All they want to do is save a buck…some will literally travel 10kms out of their way to save $1.

            So sad.

            • jayboi on 05/10/2020 - 20:33
              +2

              @SelfMade: You are absolutely correct.
              Well said

  • 87percent on 05/10/2020 - 18:29
    -2

    Pretty much every place has fake reviews, it is what it is.

    • Phil22 on 05/10/2020 - 18:34

      Not really. But in any case, the extent of the fake reviews is seriously concerning. We’re not talking about a few fake reviews. We’re talking about hundreds.

      • oscargamer on 05/10/2020 - 18:49
        -2

        Gosh.

        • Phil22 on 05/10/2020 - 18:58
          +2

          I’m not sure why you are so against this. You don’t have to support it, but I question why you would be against complaining of a company with such awful practices. Perhaps you support these sorts of companies.

  • Peter Enis on 05/10/2020 - 18:51
    +4

    But Fynn Danda, Noble Bushby, Walter Cliff, and Peterson Jerry all make such convincing Google reviews!!! With upstanding names like those, they've gotta be legit, right?!?

  • netjock on 05/10/2020 - 19:46
    -1

    Complaints on OzBargain are mainly due to their spamming of calls asking customers to purchase their wines

    Put on block list on your phone and move on?

  • Ughhh on 05/10/2020 - 20:00
    +1

    Sign them up to spam for competing or equally annoying spammy companies?

  • whooah1979 on 05/10/2020 - 21:58

    From Google review
    Most of these good reviews are here because they threaten to take each staff members commission if they don't do 5* reviews.

    FWA would be all over this if that was true.

    • Hardlyworkin on 06/10/2020 - 07:36

      FWA? All over it how?

      • whooah1979 on 06/10/2020 - 08:54

        Someone is claiming that the employer is threatening their employees.

        • Hardlyworkin on 06/10/2020 - 09:23

          Ahh so you mean FWC? Well perhaps if an employee lodges a claim against the business regarding their specific circumstances. Coercion perhaps? If they are being forced to do something illegal. Saying they would be all over it is a bit of a stretch!

          • whooah1979 on 06/10/2020 - 09:28

            @Hardlyworkin: The government keeps changing the abbreviations.

            It's probably their competitors leaving bad reviews online to drive away business.

  • OzHunterNSW on 06/10/2020 - 09:54

    So they are DUMPING on more than just the Chinese… why is it that Virgin, and others, think you are an alcoholic?

    The only way to tackle this is to spam all their emails, make sure you unsubscribe from any of their marketing promotions.

    I no longer click on any OzBargain promotions as the last time, I found myself targeted with all manner of marketing…. even my phone number was targeted.

    • terrys on 06/10/2020 - 11:00
      +1

      "I found myself targeted with all manner of marketing"

      That's one thing I have never had happen in 7-1/2 of using Ozbargain.

  • gth on 07/10/2020 - 00:03

    Where is the company based? Surely there is an ex-employee somewhere that can provide some actual details, rather than all this anecdotal stuff.

  • DizzaDizz on 30/10/2020 - 12:36
    +1

    Hey guys,

    I am a former employee at "Oak Road Estate" Or "The Wine Group". I was there for only 1 week and ill tell ya everything people have been saying is true!!
    We are made to do well over 250+ calls per day! We are given the "Bottom" leads to start off with which is basically customers who have brought ages ago or have enquired, we are told to ring these customers at the least once a week regardless of if they have asked to be taken off the calling list. MOST of these customers have notes stretching back for months and months stating they are not interested but yet we are FORCED to still call them!

    We are pressured to follow a very pushy script to a T. We are not allowed to change anything about the script and even if you say no 2-3 times it states that we must still persist in getting a sale. This practice I couldn't deal with because I am all about genuine customer service and this went all against my morals.

    On my second day I received an email stating that every staff member MUST go on google and do a 5* review & provide proof that they had done so or the consequence would be your salesforce would be shut down & you would lose any commissions made that week! I was shocked! They even provided a paid invoice for all staff to use to bypass the customer verification process. I couldn't believe what I was reading!!!

    Because I was so new to this role and I was so strongly against the tactics what they were doing I called the director Ezra James and said I was resigning, he then promptly hung the phone up on me mid way through when I was speaking and I never heard from him again…. Goes to show how they run the company.

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