So Many Businesses Loading up on Fake Reviews, What's Your Take?

LunleadedFuel on 24/03/2023 - 10:50

I see so many businesses these days simply loading up on fake reviews. What's your take on this? Do you even trust reviews anymore?

I think those 5 golden stars have an irresistible conscious or unconscious impact on purchase decisions so this is a serious consumer issue. For businesses it seems to be a fake review arms race.

This epidemic seems to infecting every industry these days from restaurants, to services to ecommerce. I recently had a terrible experience with a solar company who had an overwhelming amount of 5 star reviews. When I made my displeasure apparent with a negative review, it promptly got buried under the avalanche of positive reviews they were pumping out.

Platform-based reviews like Google are equally susceptible to fakery but it gives the customer another false layer of assurance.

It seems to be a wild west out there and regulators are clearly too slow to respond.

What does the community think of this? Can you tell if a review is fake? Do you still buy from the business? Does your subconscious compel you to still do business with them?

Poll Options expired

  • 7
    I look at the rating, read and trust all reviews
  • 7
    I look at the rating, read and trust only reviews on sites like Google, Amazon, Product Review
  • 239
    I look at the rating and read but don't trust reviews
  • 2
    I look at the rating but don't read reviews
  • 6
    I don't look at the rating and don't read reviews
  • 6
    Reviews should be banned
General Discussion

Comments

    • Hangryuman on 27/03/2023 - 16:02
      +1

      disagree - vested interests, e.g. rival businesses often post negative reviews trying to destroy the competition

  • IM-Cheap on 26/03/2023 - 16:30

    I check most recent reviews and 3-4 star ones.

  • drprox on 26/03/2023 - 16:35

    post covid the one thing I've changed to my approach (which is just checking ave stars on google maps), is I sort reviews by newest. Plenty of places have had a big slide post covid, I suspect staff (or lack of) is a big part of this.

  • baskinghobo on 26/03/2023 - 16:39

    It's easy to spot fake reviews. They all sound very generic. I always read the 1 star reviews and if they have lots of thumbs up that's a red flag for me.

  • Dognosis on 26/03/2023 - 17:41

    I was just thinking something similar the other day:

    Are all those 'local business awards' fully legit or just covert marketing?

    I could be very wrong in my impression here but I'm always turned off by a business that has these plastered all over their website.

  • navegante88 on 26/03/2023 - 18:08

    I usually sort by recent, if the last 10 or so reviews are 1 star then I usually give it a miss.

  • jaimex2 on 26/03/2023 - 18:48

    No faster way to get ignored as a business than doing fake reviews and ratings.

    Its a one time trick.

  • cybapete on 26/03/2023 - 21:48

    i tend to dismiss the 5 star and 1 star reviews (sometimes businesses pay for bad reviews of the competition) and look at the other reviews trying to find trends
    if someone said their hotel room was filthy or their waiter was rude have others had a similar experience?
    i also look for any replies from company reps to see if they are trying to make amends or just using spin to defuse the situation

    as someone said above the fake reviews are usually easy to pick because they are so generic and vague

  • SpotTheOzzie on 26/03/2023 - 23:38
    +3

    My experience from a small business owner.

    I run Games Bandit and as of writing this message we average 4.8 stars. I have two reviews that are 1 star rated. One from a customer who, in my opinion, we didn't deserve the 1-star (you can read the review and make your own opinion) and another blank 1-star review that was from a competitor that we were able to back-trace the account. While we did report it with proof, google hasn't actioned anything. We also had another competitor give us a 1-star review that I personally didn't bother to do anything about it until it called out when it occurred to another store and was adjusted - you can see the backstory here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1080200975363162/permalink/3…

    All other reviews are 5-Star. I've been extremely humbled that since opening the business we have such a great customer base that they've shown us that type of love. I can confirm with sincerity that none of those reviews are paid for reviews; this becomes quite evident when you scroll through and see a number of customers provide photos of their product.

    My biggest advice to anyone starting a new business is that you should always strive to give your customers the best experience possible (the details matter) because people will remember. It's not easy, but you'll be rewarded. Also don't get caught up on the negative stuff. Remembering how I felt at my first negative review was a feeling of frustration and unjust, but there's always going to be someone who you'll never satisfy or make up a lie for a different motivation. If you're doing the right thing, you'll always come out on top.

    • Hangryuman on 27/03/2023 - 14:50

      sounds like an auto repair shop guy who nearly had a nervous breakdown when I didn't give him a 5-star and I told him I give 3-star for ordinary expected service - he basically begged me to change it to 5-star

      when I told him many 5-star reviews are fake, he said 'my only fake review is from my wife' - OK dream-believer - keep on believin' - whatever works for you.

      if you're gonna stake your feelings of well-being on reading anonymous reviews written by complete strangers, then I'm sorry about that, but I can tell you the most powerful advertising is word of mouth, not from advertising

      that said - Games Bandit ? I'm not a gamer so don't know if the whole tiny universe of gamer communications revolves around reading online reviews - if so, good luck to you - I'm kinda sorry about that too - enjoy …

      just please don't get real guns and come out of your basement bedroom with ideas of getting on the front page news … urgh.

      • rambao9 on 27/03/2023 - 23:54
        +1

        Are you the guy that leaves 3-star reviews that go along the lines of
        ‘Food and service was great!’ for elcheapo restaurants because the experience was ‘great or normal’ and not extraordinary?

        I’ve always found it a mystery seeing stuff like the above so kinda curious what’s the reason for stuff like that.

        I get everyone has different standards for what they perceive as a 5 star experience but leaving a 3 star review is practically a negative review for any business and tbh you’re better off not leaving anything…

        Just putting it out there, no offence intended.

        • whatgift on 28/03/2023 - 10:21

          Yeah I agree - from working in places that get reviewed, it should be 5 stars unless there is a specifically negative point to the experience.

      • DASHCAM NOW DUDE on 28/03/2023 - 19:55

        ordinary expected service

        That's 5 stars! Job done, didn't get ripped off.

  • ofey on 27/03/2023 - 08:45
    +1

    I don't use reviews. I don't look at awards.
    For e.g. do any of you follow through to find out how some restaurants, mechanics or builders "win" awards ?
    Most of them "win" because they're part of some industry association.
    It's a self nomination, self award situation.
    Get 20 of your closest friends and family to put in reviews of your business and grow a following.
    Unfortunate state of affairs.

  • Herbse on 27/03/2023 - 12:56

    Do you have some examples of businesses using fake reviews?

    I review a lot of places on Google and read review on almost everywhere I go and can't say I've noticed a place that has been using obviously fake reviews.

    For places like restaurants, if the reviews are simple one word or no words then yea could be fake but if theres lots that's detailed and have pictures then it's most likely real reviews.

    The enthusiasm and engagement makes real review obvious. I can't say I've seen a restaurant with a high rating but simple, possibly fake reviews.

    • Hangryuman on 27/03/2023 - 14:42

      'I can't say I've seen a restaurant with a high rating but simple, possibly fake reviews'

      OK then try checking google maps reviews for expensive restaurants, especially those with a view - like waterside locations or high-rise or rotating restaurants

      then if I see the first page of reviews are all 5-star - I stop reading there and will avoid that place.

      the joke these days is where I see 5-star and 1-star reviews, and someone purporting to be the owner then replies to each review saying like 'wow thank you for your great review' or 'sorry please contact us so we can make it better' - at which point I'm chuckling to myself as I default to assuming 5-star and 1-star reviews are fake !

      Today I read about AI generating believable text so in future not only will reviews be fake, but they're more likely to sound totally plausible - e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/mar/26/could-a-c…

  • Hangryuman on 27/03/2023 - 14:29

    if and when I get to read an honest review, I would 'definitely recommend it to everybody' !!!

  • s1Lence on 27/03/2023 - 23:37

    i find it pretty easy to spot fake reviews but im the kinda guy who researches for hours over the course of days/weeks before buying anything lol
    i especially despise youtubers who "review" things but are basically just salesmen trying to sell you the item, they're the worst of the lot

  • iDroid on 28/03/2023 - 08:35

    Only look at negative reviews - ignore the positive reviews.

  • suchan on 28/03/2023 - 09:37

    Sharing one of my review method: One thing about restaurants that I also pay attention when reading reviews are usually the names of the reviewers.

    I largely ignore or just gloss over reviews given if they have English sounding names (John, Karen, George) and pay more attention to the more Asian sounding names. Sounds racist I know, but please let me explain.

    The reason is the food Asians been eating since young tend to "train" their tongue to be more sensitive to taste. I'm Asian myself and I chuckle whenever I read (genuine) reviews about restaurants I've been to (with average / below average food) that says their food are great / amazing.

    Or, on the flipside, I would enjoy food from a particular restaurant and I baulk when I saw some of the horrible reviews.

    In short, I trust reviews from fellow Asians more than I do others. Think of it like, durian smells great to most Asian but terrible to others.

  • brandt on 04/04/2023 - 09:47
    +1

    Honest reviews are declining in Australia. Courts have been entertaining defamation suits based on facebook comments and google reviews.. so people have been reluctant to speak their mind. Then there are entire operations like Ratemyagent where the scale goes from Amazing to God like.. its hard to trust online reviews.

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