Can a Business Hide Specific Google Reviews?

Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 08:51
Last edited 30/06/2021 - 14:45

Hey guys

100% sure this is probably the wrong place to post, but I figured since I left a Google review for a business, it kinda falls under work related things?

So, a few weeks ago my SO's sister wanted to get a second hand car. We live in Brisbane where there's a lot more options than where the sister lives, so we looked at some car places. One place we went to was absolute shit. They lied to us, refused to give back a deposit (holding deposit - see edit 2) when we asked (see edit), "forgot" about things they said they would do and all these other things. It was so bad I wanted to leave a 1 star review for them.

Now, I've left reviews for places before, and usually within a day or two, the review goes live, so when I hit submit and didn't instantly see it, I thought I'd just have to wait a bit. I posted the review on the 14th or 15th of June, so about 2 weeks ago, and it's still not available to the public. When I'm viewing at the reviews on my login though, I can see it. I also got an email from Google on the 16th thanking me for my review - everything in the email makes it seem like the review should have gone ahead etc. Also to add to the weirdness, the number of reviews before logging in and after logging in is the same? Lastly, the weirdest part - there's a bunch of reviews from just before I posted mine, and from after posting mine (since I can sort by newest), and while they all show up, mine isn't. Specifically, there was 1 from 4 weeks ago, 1 from 3 weeks ago, and 2 from 1 week ago which are all there (also all 5 stars, but probably not related?)

Is there something I'm missing with this? Does it seems like the business is trying to remove my review somehow, or do 1 star reviews just take longer to be publicly visible? Thanks in advanced!

Edit: Hey guys, after a bunch of comments about the deposit, I just wanted to clarify: I've been to car dealerships who have asked me to put money down on a car I'm interested in to hold it against other people rocking up and purchasing it on the spot. They've told me it's fully refundable, and I've taken advantage of that for car I've waited for mechanics to check (out of my pocket). It's happened that some cars had too much wrong to justify the price for me (see student living), so I've asked to take the money back so they can continue to sell the car. Every time I've done that, as far as I'm aware, the dealership has called that a deposit. This is what the dealership was offering when we were looking at the car this time - to put down some money to make sure no one else can buy it while we went to get mechanical checks, and if for any reason we weren't interested in the car after that point, we would get all the money back. The word deposit may be the wrong word - if it is, I'm sorry - just let me know what it should be called. Sorry for any confusion!

Edit 2: in the comments iCandy mentioned I had a holding deposit, which was subject to mechanical checks etc, not an actual deposit. This is why when we spoke to them they said they would be happy to refund us the "deposit". Sorry for the misunderstanding everyone, I didn't realise the difference in wording!

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Comments

  • Muzeeb on 29/06/2021 - 09:07
    +7

    Business owners can flag Google reviews to be reviewed but only if they violate Googles policies.

    If it's just a shitty review because of a shitty service there isn't much a business owner can do.

    • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 09:37

      Do you happen to know how long that process takes? Maybe they saw it and flagged it and it's in review by Google?

      • Muzeeb on 29/06/2021 - 09:40

        Let me google that for you

        Be patient. It can take several days for a review to be assessed.

        • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 09:52
          +1

          Fair point - sorry, been a long day :P

          I guess the next step is to just keep waiting then - hopefully it's not too much longer!

  • bobbified on 29/06/2021 - 10:08
    +2

    They lied to us, refused to give back a deposit when we asked…

    It'll be interesting to know under what circumstances you were asking for a refund? Because the only time a used car dealer would be willing to give back a deposit is when hell freezes over.

    • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 10:22

      We saw a car we thought we liked, and put a deposit on it to hold it for a few days while we made up our mind, which we were told would be completely refunded if we decided we wanted it back. In the meantime, the mechanical check came through with a lot of issues that needed immediate replacement, and we decided that while we were still interested in the car, we weren't as interested as we thought we were. On our end, we were still happy to negotiate pricing, but didn't tell them that, instead asking for our deposit back, which they then didn't do.

      • BOGOF on 29/06/2021 - 10:26

        Did you receive a printed/written receipt? is there any mention of refunds on that receipt?

        • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 10:48

          That's a fair point - I'm not 100% sure, as I was at work when the deposit was taken, so I'm not sure if she got anything written. Either way at the end of the day we got it all sorted with the dealership, but I just don't want this to happen to others if they can avoid it

      • bobbified on 29/06/2021 - 10:29
        +4

        We saw a car we thought we liked, and put a deposit on it to hold it for a few days while we made up our mind

        There's the problem - Never put a deposit on anything unless you're sure you want it. Even if you are entitled to get your deposit back for whatever reason, the dealer will never make it easy. The money is better off in your pocket until you're absolutely sure.

        • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 10:47
          +1

          Yeah, we know that now. We've had luck at other dealerships and in the past for getting it back, but didn't think it would be that hard! We ended up getting it all sorted in the end, but the way they treated us was shit, and we want to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else

          • hothed on 29/06/2021 - 11:13
            +4

            @Opaquer: So you've renegged on other car purchases in the past also?

            A deposit is a commitment to buy, not "to hold for a few days while we make up our mind".

            • trankillity on 30/06/2021 - 09:52

              @hothed: A deposit is not a commitment to buy at all. It is an expression of interest to buy. That expression of interest can be revoked.

              There are often ramifications for this, but it's usually just retention of a percentage of the deposit.

          • Muzeeb on 29/06/2021 - 11:16
            +1

            @Opaquer:

            We've had luck at other dealerships and in the past for getting it back,

            Like plural?

            • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 12:36

              @Muzeeb: @hothed I may be using the wrong word. I've gone to car dealerships before who have asked for a small amount to hold the car against anyone else buying it, with the knowledge that it's fully refundable if I choose to not go with the car. One dealership even took the car off their website while I decided about buying it, and when I decided not to put the ad back up.

              When it's happened in the past, they've called it a deposit, so that's what I've been calling it all this time, but perhaps there's another word for it that's less ambiguous? Sorry for the confusion - nothing malicious or deceitful about it, just a miscommunication in words

  • MaximusPrime on 29/06/2021 - 12:21
    +2

    I thought the whole point of a deposit is if you change your mind, you only take a small calculated financial hit, thus loosing the deposit. What is the point of giving a deposit if they have to refund you when you change your mind. It beats the whole purpose of a deposit.

    • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 12:40

      See above comment - I may have been using the wrong word? In the past I've had car dealerships let me put down a small amount of refundable money to hold the car against other people buying it. The idea is that that is fully refundable in case you decide you don't actually want the car. As far as I thought, it was always called a deposit and so that what I've been calling it

  • pegaxs on 29/06/2021 - 12:38
    +2

    So, you denied the dealer an opportunity to sell the vehicle while you went off for a few days to "decided" if you wanted to buy it and you want to give them bad feedback. (And you have done this multiple times?)

    This is why sometimes I think businesses need to be able to leave reviews for customers.

    • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 12:47

      I think the deposit is a misunderstanding, though the dealership said they would be happy to refund our deposit and didn't. Regardless, that wasn't the only reason we wanted to leave a bad review. The mechanical check that came back had a few things wrong - one of the major thing being that the brake pads needed immediate replacing, as the brake pads were well below the legal limit. The dealership said that it was within their roadworthy parameters and good for a few thousand more kms, and that they don't see it as an issue.

      As for the deposit (again, see above comments as I may have misused the word) - the issue is that when we spoke to the dealership and asked for the money back (which they told us was fully refundable if we decide to not get the car), they said they would do it. It was Friday afternoon, and quite late, and they said the people who do that had left for the day, but the guy I was speaking to (the manager) said he would send an email to that department and follow up with the girls in the office to get the refund happening for us first thing Monday. The following Thursday, we still hadn't received the money, and when we called, we were told that they hadn't done it yet and may not end up doing it, despite the manager telling us he would oversee it happening.

      There were a handful of smaller things, but those were the main things that annoyed us about the place

      • Big Trev on 30/06/2021 - 07:47

        Notwithstanding whether or not they said the deposit is refundable, if you're not buying a car because the brake pads are close to needing replacement then maybe the used car market isn't for you. They are literally a consumable.

        • Opaquer on 30/06/2021 - 08:21
          +1

          I know that - that's not what I was saying. Used cars I've had in the past have had issues like low brake pads/engine issues when I bought them, and when I got the car I went and got it fixed.

          What I was saying is that the mechanic said the brake pads needed immediate replacing as they were under the legal limit. They gave us their report with what was wrong and how much it would take to fix everything. We took it to the dealership to let them know, and they looked at the mechanic report and said that it was wrong and the brake pads were fine for a few thousand more kms. There were about $1,000 worth of things the mechanic said needed to be fixed about the car, but the dealership said nothing was actually wrong with the car - their words were that it was perfectly fine and nothing needed to be done to the car to fix it up.

          Later on in the dealings, they did admit things were wrong with the car - including the brake pads, and ended up agreeing with the mechanic report (of course saying they could get it done cheaper as dealerships do, but even then it was about $700 instead of $1,000), but not after denying it to our faces with a mechanic report that said otherwise - that's what we were annoyed about

          • Big Trev on 30/06/2021 - 08:45

            @Opaquer: Fair enough. I haven't figured out yet though whether you got the money back from the deposit, did you? If so, I wouldn't worry about the review, and just get on with your lives.

            • Opaquer on 30/06/2021 - 09:04

              @Big Trev: The thing with the review though is that every part of their dealings with us has been absolutely terrible - and that's what we want to warn others about. That's why I'm trying to make sure the review gets out there

              We shouldn't have to argue about what the facts about the car were - all the things that needed fixing according to the mechanic, and everything else we had to deal with. Of course it's a used car dealership and some are shady to begin with, but trying to tell us the car was perfect when the mechanic report said otherwise is just an outright lie - especially since they ended up admitting it later on, and that's what we want to warn people about before they have to go through what we went through.

              That is, if the Google review every turns up - which from what others have said further down, it may not :(

  • Blue Cat on 29/06/2021 - 12:52
    +1

    I am pretty sure some businesses have hidden my bad reviews, but all of my "good" reviews always stay up.

    I had my tyres replaced at one tyre shop, they scratched my rims, but they said store policy is they are not responsible for any damages to the rims while replacing the tyres. They actually had a printed sign. Didn't want to proceed further as I was having a bad day and trouble might not be worth it for my shitbox, but I was still bummed as I really took care to keep my rims nice and undamaged, and they just DGAF.

    Of course, that review (with photos!) never publicly appeared on Google Reviews…

    • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 12:53
      +1

      Ouch, that's not fun :(

      It sucks if that's the case, because you don't want anything like that to happen to anyone else who comes along next :(

      Hope you ended up finding a new place to get the tyres done properly!

      • Blue Cat on 29/06/2021 - 13:02
        +1

        Didn't need to change tyres again since then, but I might need at the end of this year. I will definitely look somewhere else, even if it costs a bit more.

        This time, however, I will be taking photos before giving them the keys and after receiving the keys back, so they can't give me BS saying "oh it was like that from the start :)"

        • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 13:07
          +1

          Great thinking! Hopefully you won't need it, but better to have it and not need it than the other way around!

  • belongsinforums on 29/06/2021 - 14:46
    +1

    Definitely. Left a review on a business where the owner threatened me. The review never showed up.

    • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 14:47

      Damn - that's not a good sign :(. Can you still see the review when you log in to your account?

      • belongsinforums on 29/06/2021 - 14:53
        +1

        Good question. Didn't check. That was a few years ago. The review never showed up publicly - that I'm sure of.

        • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 14:55

          That's a shame. I really hope there isn't a way to hide it - that seems super annoying and wrong!

  • Sleeqb7 on 29/06/2021 - 16:57
    +1

    The short answer is no.

    Businesses can report and/or flag reviews that fall into different categories (Spam, conflict of interest, not this business, etc) and the report is reviewed and may or may not be taken down.
    So they can't hide or delete them, but they can report them in the hopes that Google sides with them and removes it. Same with identifying information. If you named a sales person, for example, that would usually be grounds for the review to get removed.

    The moment a review is placed, the business gets notified about it, so potentially it was reported and removed before it was ever live.

    • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 17:07

      Ah, I did name some sales people in the review, as I had different conversations with different people throughout the time and was just trying to clarify it - maybe that's why it's not there yet?

      If it does end up getting removed through Google's process, maybe I'll try make a less specific review just so people know for future reference!

  • SlavOz on 29/06/2021 - 18:03
    +1

    Almost every review you see online is controlled by the business. Facebook, Google, Product Review etc make their money by allowing businesses to manipulate the results to seem more favourable. In some cases, review websites (or reviewers) can even be sued for defamation for not taking down negative reviews.

    • Opaquer on 29/06/2021 - 18:09

      Well that's just crap!

    • Never Pay RRP on 30/06/2021 - 13:40

      Almost every review you see online is controlled by the business.

      So how do you explain any negative reviews that do appear on these review sites.
      I've had negative reviews I posted appear, and have had owners respond, so it's not like they weren't aware, or didn't care

      • SlavOz on 30/06/2021 - 13:49

        Because to get them removed, you need to go through a lot of legal threats, or play nice with the review sites (more specifically, you need to PAY nice).

        For most businesses, this is either unaffordable or uneconomical. Woolies and Coles don't care about negative reviews. It's more of an issue in certain industries where products are deemed to be the same, eg - insurance.

  • User210686 on 30/06/2021 - 12:46

    I've got the same experience with Google reviews. A negative review I left for an auto parts business hasn't shown up even though I can see it on my review history. They already have enough bad reviews , so it's not like they care or so I had assumed. Another bad review was left for a hair salon but that's gone too. I'm sure I have more ghosted negative reviews. I generally don't trust a series of good reviews left in a short amount of space for any business by people who don't have many review counts.

    TripAdvisor is worse when it comes to censoring customer reviews, so I stopped using TA 5-6 years ago. On the other hand, I don't know if Facebook removes bad reviews because I haven't posted many but a few I left are still visible.

    • Opaquer on 30/06/2021 - 13:36

      That's so infuriating. I had a look at the dealership again today and noticed, just like you said, that they've only had a long series of 5 star reviews for the past 8 months, with one 2 star review about 4 months ago out of ~30 reviews. Seems a bit iffy if you ask me

  • Never Pay RRP on 30/06/2021 - 13:50
    +1

    A couple of things to consider (which may or may not be related to your review):
    * If there is defamatory language used the review site may view it as too risky to post
    * If there is abusive or inappropriate language
    * Any privacy related concerns

    Basically if the review site deems that there is a legal risk to them, or if anything contravenes any of their policies, they won't post.

    If you really feel strongly about it, try to cut down your review to the basics, with no information that might be deemed inappropriate, and see if that gets through.

    As a test of your theory, you could have your SO just post a 1 star review with no comments, and see if that shows up. It would be awful if the review site suppressed that.

    • Opaquer on 30/06/2021 - 14:48

      So the review site was Google, which might explain why they're taking this so strictly. For bad language, there was none - just strong feelings of how I felt they had let us down, but nothing abusive or inappropriate - just strong wording like "I absolutely cannot recommend not taking your business here" etc.

      As for the last point, I did mention the salesman's name - so perhaps that could be it? Though in having a look at the other reviews, people say good things with names of salespeople quite often and that stays? Maybe they don't want it when it's bad news.

      If I find that the review gets knocked back or officially deleted, I'll make sure to give it another shot - especially if I change it to 1 star with no comments, then edit to have the comments

  • iCandy on 30/06/2021 - 13:57
    +1

    You’re talking about a holding deposit, as opposed to a deposit. You have to be very specific on the holding deposit receipt to say it is subject to a vehicle inspection satisfactory to the buyer and/or buyer obtaining finance from (eg) ANZ Bank. Then you MIGHT get a holding deposit returned. When I was 17 I lost a holding deposit because I specified it was “subject to finance” and the car yard said they could have gotten me finance with their high interest rate financier.

    • Opaquer on 30/06/2021 - 14:38

      Ahhhh - my bad. In hindsight, I have actually heard that before, but most places I feel called it a deposit, and it would explain why every dealership I've done that "deposit" at has been happy with returning it if the mechanical check doesn't go through.

      In this case, the car was subject to mechanical checks etc.

      Thanks for the clarification - I'll update my original post now!

  • HeWhoKnows on 30/06/2021 - 15:36

    OP should not put up bad reviews just to get back at a business.
    It appears that OP made the mistake, not the business
    Hence Its possible the business can take action against OP for damages
    If in doubt I suggest OP deletes the review.

    • Opaquer on 30/06/2021 - 15:51

      I'm not trying to get back at the business. They treated me badly, lied about things, and didn't do what they said they were going to do. The review reflects that accurately and factually. I don't say anything bad about the business - only the truth about what happened, and that I recommend others to not deal with the business if they can help it

  • Overclocked91 on 05/07/2021 - 07:21

    You placed a deposit, so in turn, they are unable to sell that car if someone else literally walks in when you leave and wants that car. They have lost that sale. So, they are holding the car for you subject to passing a mechanical inspection or whatever you agreed on. They are not holding the car so you can "make up your mind or whatever" then stuff the dealership around for a few days while you go searching for other cars. That's not how it works.

    • Opaquer on 05/07/2021 - 10:38
      +1

      That's not what I said happened. As iCandy helped clarify, it was a holding deposit (I mistakenly said it was a normal deposit to begin with as I didn't realise there was a difference in terminology, but upon checking everything out, it was a holding deposit), which - in the dealership's words - allowed us to put the money down to keep the car from being sold to others while we checked out a few things about the car. One of the things we wanted to get done was the mechanical check - and if we were happy with it and all the other conditions listed on the hold, we would then take it, otherwise we would get our money back. These were all conditions that the dealership told us about, and I wasn't forcing any terms on them. After the mechanical check came back with all the things wrong with the car - everything were things that could be fixed with enough money - but the thing we weren't happy about was the dealership looking at the mechanical report and saying it's wrong, and that the car is in perfect condition.

      When we decided we wanted our deposit back (within the terms of the holding deposit), the guy at the dealership we were talking to (who also happened to be the manager) said it was no issue, and would get done first thing Monday morning, but then didn't. When I was speaking to them about getting the deposit back, they didn't try to argue me out of it or try to give me back less, or tell me it's suddenly a non-refundable deposit - their words were that they would get it sorted for us Monday morning when the office girls were back. When we went to call on Wednesday about it to make sure it was all sorted, the girls in the office didn't have any notification about it, and there was no record anywhere in their system about a refund for us. This is why I wanted to leave a bad review for them - not because I changed my mind and stuffed them around, but because in just about every step of the process we went through, they were full of lies and deceit, and I want others to know what they're getting in to before they go there

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