5/17/2023 0 Comments Yelp business customer service![]() The same review also appeared on Google under the profile name Liliana Cris. ![]() 5 which is identical, word-for-word, to a Yelp review posted three days earlier by Samantha W. One example we found is Samuel Rogers and Joel Mitchell used the same pilfered profile photo of a young woman.ĭominic Connolly, who has a bikini-clad blonde as his profile picture, posted a Greencare review on Facebook on Dec. Many of their Facebook profiles have only a handful of friends, most of them foreign men. Here's how obvious some of the fake reviewers are. "To do something like that is extremely shady," Hove said. This demonstrates that consumers want to access all the information available to them in order to come to their own conclusions and inform spending decisions." Yelp also explains the platform has a separate section for reviews their "automated recommendation software cannot currently recommend."Īnd despite the Federal Trade Commission saying fake reviews are illegal under federal law, Yelp says, "A recent Material survey found that 79% of people say they would prefer to see all the reviews for a business or product, including those that a review platform believes are fake or less trustworthy. We do not have any record of them reporting potentially fake positive reviews." Yelp claims, "According to our records, Greencare Pool Builder has only contacted Yelp to dispute critical reviews and we have not received any correspondence from them since 2022. ![]() ![]() Reese said he's contacted Yelp and is waiting to hear back about why some of the fake reviews are still there. Yelp says, "We rely on reporting from our community of consumers and business owners, and we take these reports seriously." More than 200 reviews disappeared from the company's Yelp page and their rating went from four stars to three. They did after 13 Investigates started asking questions. "I can flag certain things and say that I don't agree with this particular review but I can't physically remove it." I've been calling Yelp and talking to them," Reese said. "We're still working on it and that's the other problem. Several customers had called Greencare out before 13 Investigates got involved, flagging some of the phony five-star reviews. Obviously, it doesn't look good because when it was brought to my attention, I wasn't aware of it," Reese said. "How do you think that makes you guys look," Channel 13's Darcy Spears asked. "I don't need anybody to post anything that's phony," Greencare owner John Reese said. Of the 107 Greencare reviews she analyzed, only four of the profiles were from Las Vegas. "Quite often, these rings are organized in countries like India, Bangladesh or Pakistan." She believes many of the fake reviews originate overseas. "As someone who's not a computer engineer, using just eyeballs and spreadsheets, what I'm able to find is just shocking," Dean said. "It's a pretty egregious case."ĭean analyzed 107 Greencare reviewers that were recommended by Yelp. "Greencare Pool Builder appeared on my radar in one of my other investigations," Dean said. She calls social media reviews on platforms like Yelp, Facebook and Google an ocean of disinformation. Kay Dean is a former federal criminal investigator turned digital detective who delved deep into online review fraud about five years ago after a bad personal experience with a doctor. Those five-star reviews simply didn't hold water. "They experienced a lot of the same problems: the lack of communication, the delays, the shoddy workmanship, things being left out of the contract, things being forgotten about," Hove said.Įverything seemed fine at first but when problems with the pool arose, Hove and several of his neighbors all went back online and noticed the same suspicious pattern. ![]() Hove is one of five homeowners in one North Las Vegas neighborhood who hired Greencare and they all told 13 Investigates similar stories. Hove's family paid a little over $63,000 for a small pool with spa-like features that act like a large hot tub. They're important especially when making a five-figure investment. "I think they're very important," Hove said. PART 2: Who's to blame for fake review fraud: bad business, big tech, or both? He was also drawn to Greencare Pool Builder's four-star status on Yelp and the company's many five-star reviews. "Out of all of them, Greencare seemed to be the best as far as price." "Just a poor experience all around."īefore deciding on a pool builder, he got quotes from six different companies. LAS VEGAS (KTNV) - The soothing sound of bubbles in Chris Hove's backyard is about the only peaceful part of his pool project. ![]()
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