Just got this email.
How do you work around companies like this.
Hello,
We improve your online reputation and customer reviews like no other company does. Five star reviews (atleast 8-10 reviews per month) are published for Robert Young’s Montreal-Home-Inspection-Services Inc. on review websites like Google, Facebook, BBB and other sites of your choice. From the very first month you can see a quantifiable change. For our selected subscribers, we have dropped our prices from $249 to $149 for a very limited period. We will manage and improve your overall online reputation for just $149 per month and there is NO CONTRACT! Accounts created under this offer will remain at $149/month for their lifetime.
You don’t, you just ignore it. The only value to any online reviews are the business’ that have lots of negative reviews. It is an indicator who to stay away from. Other than that there are many ways to game the review systems to create nothing but glowing reviews. Online reviews are mostly junk and fodder anymore!
Afternoon, Emmanuel.
Hard to ignore when your competitors jump from 5 reviews to 300 in one year and they grab market share while doing it. If you saw there website you would certainly wonder.
I disagree. I had some well worded reviews that helped me get a steady stream calls time and time again. They even lead journalist to my door for interviews.
I thought I heard somewhere that Google will be cracking down on false reviews from venders. The penalties will be stiff. There will be open Google castrations on there websites. “This Website used false/fake reviews. Would you trust someone that did this”
Hard to make a jump like that unless you can walk on water or game the review system. Since no Inspector, or other business for that matter, can walk on water then it is obvious what is occurring at least to anyone thinking about it.
As for grabbing the market share they are drawing on consumers who rely to heavily on reviews. Eventually the Inspectors will garner bad reviews on sites they can’t control and it will cool their jets.
Google is only one of so many review sites out there and quite frankly I very infrequently even see reviews on Google. Not sure how Google thinks they can change much on their site without killing actual reviews along with the fake ones?
I do not work off of reviews. Instead 99% of my work is from referrals as well as people I have helped in one way or another. As a result I don’t become a slave to review sites and don’t give them a thought.
I block them every time, they are just scammers anyways, especially if they are sending with a gmail.com email. If not go to their domain and do a whois search. See who owns the domain, how long it’s been active. Then go to their Google listing and check their reviews. If they can do what they say, then their own reviews should show it.
Lastly check their domain score, if it’s not at least 85 then they obviously can’t do what they say.
I would only want to get a review from a customer who used my services. I would not want friends like you posting fake reviews because that would not be right. That’s almost as bad as buying reviews.
I have 376 google reviews as of today, and it took me many years to get that number, which is less than 10% of customers posting a google review. I don’t beg for reviews, they can post one if they are into that sort of thing. It’s up to them.
So far the few people who have had an issue, have contacted me directly and we came up with a resolution they were happy with. Nobody left me a bad review yet. Eventually it is bound to happen I suppose, because you can’t avoid crazy customers forever in this business. Also, I’m human and I accept that I make mistakes like anyone.
Another equally sleazy option to get yourself some questionable online reviews is to provide shorter inspections and shorter reports than all of your competitors (sarcasm). Afterwards, ask the real estate agents to leave you a review. They’ll surely oblige and you’ll make their referral list!
Afternoon, Adam. Hope to find you well.
Bit of a story, Adam. Please excuse me.
Adam, I am not kidding when I say I watched several of my competitors add tens and then hundreds of Google reviews, so I went to look at them closely.
One website was subpar at best.
The Mock inspection reports were under 40 pages.
One used a lot of SEO catch phrases I used on my website. I even called him up to say, you are crossing the line. One of you links lead back to my website and I did not give you permission.
Once a job was canceled within 24 hours. No worries. I went to the inspection anyway to see whom it was. There he was a big as life, with a crowd of Asians surrounding as he tried to narrate raker joint masonry.
The client came up to me asking, “What are you doing here Mr. Young?” You said you could not come at 08:00 AM. I replied, I must not have received your cancelation by email and excused myself. I just wanted to see this individual in person.
If that is how you feel you must earn market share I feel sorry for you but more so, I feel sorry for the clients that trusted them.
Duty to the Public
The InterNACHI® member shall abide by the Code of Ethics and substantially follow the InterNACHI® Standards of Practice.
The InterNACHI® member shall not engage in any practices that could be damaging to the public or bring discredit to the home inspection industry.
The InterNACHI® member shall be fair, honest and impartial, and act in good faith in dealing with the public.
The InterNACHI® member shall be truthful regarding the member’s services and qualifications.
