Aussie businesses claim customers are using review site to ‘extort’ them

COMPANIES say some customers are using this website to bleed Aussie businesses dry by using it to “blackmail” them for better deals.

AN online presence for businesses has become an important part of attracting new customers and building credibility.

If someone is thinking about giving their business to a certain company, the first thing they usually do is search them online.

There are numerous websites set up to allow people to give their opinion on any business or service they desire, so it’s extremely important to businesses that clients have positive experiences because one negative review can cost them a new customer.

A balance of positive and negative reviews is normal, but there is one website that dozens of Aussie businesses claim is running them into the ground by thriving off bad reviews.

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Product Review is one of the largest review platforms used by Australians and allows users to comment on a business and give it a star rating out of five.

At face value it seems like any other review site, but there are claims that it is rife with fake reviews from anonymous users and that the website is not doing enough to investigate and remove them.

Businesses claim they are unable to connect bad reviews from anonymous accounts with any customers they have had. Picture: Product Review/Supplied

Sam*, who runs a business installing security screens in Sydney, says that customers know how important reviews are and use it against them.

“There have been a couple of reviews that, in my assessment, have been completely untrue. They are from anonymous accounts and I have been unable to link the complaint to any we had previously received,” he told news.com.au.

“We are quite big on customer service and some people have basically been using the product review system to try and extort money from us by threatening bad reviews.”

Businesses can be put up on product review without their knowledge, with Sam saying he didn’t even realise their company was on there until a customer asked him about some comments that they had read.

“Most of the negative ones were from people who hadn’t been happy with a quote we had given them so they took out their frustration on the product review page,” he said.

A business’s product review rating is often one of the first things that comes up when you search it. Picture: Product Review/Supplied

“Others were from people who had bought a product and then damaged it and threatened us with bad reviews if we didn’t replace it.”

There were other complaints that had already been resolved with the customer but could not be deleted or updated to reflect that, but a Product Review spokesman told news.com.au that it is up to the reviewer to update the review.

“We don’t know for a fact if the issue has been resolved so we leave this in the hands of the reviewer,” he said.

“Businesses are also not able to selectively offer incentives in exchange for the submission of positive reviews or the removal/editing of negative reviews as this behaviour be considered misleading and against our Posting Guidelines.”

The spokesman also said that any claims of blackmail by business owners are “thoroughly investigated”.

“If sufficient evidence is provided we would not publish the review,” the spokesman said.

“It’s not always easy for us to arbitrate factual disputes between consumers and businesses but we have a zero-tolerance approach to any forms of blackmail.”

Up until recently businesses had to pay a $49.95 subscription to Product Review just so they could respond to complaints.

This led to a number of users claiming that Product Review encourages negative reviews so businesses are forced to respond.

It is now free for businesses to respond but if they want any more control over managing their page, like the ability to privately message users or link to and promote their website, they have to pay.

“People don’t read positive reviews, they read the negative ones and Product Review knows that’s how they attract people to their website,” Sam said.

“If it was all positive reviews then businesses would have less reason to pay them to interact with users on that platform.”

A lot of five star reviews with no negative ones is a warning sign that the reviews may not be genuine. Picture: Product Review/Supplied

A Product Review spokesman said while their main goal is to ensure all reviews are by genuine customers, the procedures they use to enforce this can impact the number of positive reviews.

“Businesses can request to have all the reviews submitted for their Product Review listing require a proof of purchase document,” he said.

“However, this tends to naturally decrease the number of positive reviews submitted as happy customers are less likely to upload a proof of purchase document in the review submission process.”

But it’s not just Sam who says he is being impacted by this review site. Online content removalist Brendon McAlpine said his business was dealing with more than 60 Aussie businesses who claimed they were being bled dry by these tactics.

Internet Removals specialises in getting potentially illegal or harmful content off the internet, and an increasing amount of businesses are turning to them claiming their personal queries are being ignored Product Review.

The review website’s spokesman said that they respond to all “reasonable requests” though there are businesses who want all negative reviews removed, even ones from clearly genuine customers.

“We listen and respond to all feedback provided by business owners and accommodate all reasonable requests,” he said.

“However, some businesses simply want to remove negative reviews by any means possible and in these instances, we will always be fighting for the consumers to have their voice heard.”

One of the other common issues these businesses have is that their logos are being used without permission.

Mr McAlpine said the use of such protected trademark images could amount to a breach of Australia’s intellectual property laws.

“The use is commercial in nature as the site makes money from click revenue and advertising,” he said.

Another gripe among customers is that users can earn a $20 gift voucher for writing reviews, which some believe encourages people to write fake reviews just for the money.

Misleading reviews aren’t always negative either, with some businesses accessing the services to increase their star rating, adding to complaints that false reviews are easily getting through Product Reviews authentication process.

An extreme imbalance of negative to positive reviews can be a red flag. Picture: Product Review/Supplied

With more businesses coming to them for help Internet Removals has teamed up with Shine Lawyers who will look into the rights that businesses have in this type of situation.

“Shine Lawyers is working in combination with Internet Removals and a number of their clients to investigate and pursue all legal rights and options available to them against Product Review.com,” Shine Lawyers’ Defamation Practice Leader Peter Coggins said in a statement.

Mr McAlpine said they have had some success in getting Product Review to remove content, but other requests are ignored.

“We understand that we are on an opposite side of the fence to them; we are trying to remove their content while they are obviously trying to keep it,” he said.

“This is why we are working with Shine Lawyers to open a communication channel between our two organisations.”

It is becoming a trend for consumers to turn to review sites instead of dealing with the business directly and this can be devastating for businesses.

“I think what we have to recognise in Australia is that any big review site like Product Review is a real concern for businesses,” Mr McAlpine said.

“There are a lot of genuine reviews on there but what we want to do is highlight the increasing number of views that businesses report are unfair and often blatantly false.”

HOW TO SPOT FAKE REVIEWS

• Genuine reviews will be a mix of positive and negative rather than one extreme.
• If all competitors in a certain industry have more negative reviews and there is one with hundreds of five star reviews that is a red flag.
• Look at a number of review platforms and compare the comments. If one page has a lot of negative reviews that are inconsistent with others they could be fake.
• Keep in mind the ability for businesses to advertise on a site may compromise integrity.

*Name changed for privacy reasons.