{ FeedBlack }

Judged by TripAdvisor

admin — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 08:43:44 +0000

Brook Barn Country House in Oxfordshire has earned itself the highest reputation – one of the top places to stay in Oxfordshire on Trivago,

AA 5 stars – and a 97% ‘popularity ranking’ on TripAdvisor.

They have just asked KwikChex to help with a defamation issue on TripAdvisor.

5 days ago, a post appeared on their TripAdvisor profile. It wasn’t from a customer, but rather from someone that just dropped by and wanted a tour. They considered the manner of the owner a little on the brusque side – so went on to TripAdvisor when they got home and branded them as racists – and recommended that any ‘ ethnics’ stayed away.

Horrified, the owners contacted both the police and TripAdvisor. The police responded quickly and with great concern.

After considering the circumstances, TripAdvisor responded with an email that stated ‘We have looked at the review in question and determined that it does meet TripAdvisor’s listing criteria. Therefore, it will not be removed.’

Even a cursory glance at the post would determine that it is libellous as an accusation and has been made with no substance whatsoever.

By making an accusation of racism, the poster is inciting racial hatred, almost certainly contravening UK criminal laws.

TripAdvisor also stated in their email; ‘While we are unable to remove the review in question, we do respect and support your right to explain your perspective through our management response feature. This feature provides you with the opportunity to respond to the language of the review and tell your side of the story. Your management response will be attached to the respective review so that our members can read both perspectives.’

Whilst far from satisfied, the owners viewed it as essential that some type of response was made, so they used the suggested management response feature.

TripAdvisor have not published their response.

This case epitomises the issues at stake for business owners. There are thousands of such serious allegations on the site. All are unverified. TripAdvisor enable these to be published to a worldwide audience. They unilaterally, without verification, reject the submissions of the maligned business – even when offered evidence – or even as in this case, when it has been serious enough to report to the police.

This is not an isolated incident as the outline details / statistics of our submissions to TripAdvisor demonstrate. When dealing with the reputation of a business or individual, it is not acceptable to say that the majority of the reviews are OK. That is like saying that it is excusable to call someone a thief, a racist or an abuser as long as 300 others have said they are honest. If such accusations were made against a police officer or a judge, you would expect legal action to follow. Why should it be acceptable to permit it and protect the perpetrators because they are a restaurant, hotel or other business that counts on goodwill and reputation to earn a living?

In addition to the legal aspects, there is a burning question of ethics to be answered here. It is cases like this that are at the heart of what KwikChex are doing on behalf of our members and in our broader quest to see fundamental changes take place that protect decent citizens and which do not mislead the public.

(This case study was included in the article ‘KwikChex Update 21st Sep 2010 – Defamation Actions‘- to read the full article – click here)

Update to Brook Barn Case study 27/09/2010
Whilst Tripadvisor originally refused to remove the post in question, following extensive press coverage it has now been deleted.

Expert Lawyers Comment On KwikChex Action Against TripAdvisor

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:04:00 +0000

Whilst taking on major corporations is never easy, there are signs that even on the internet, they can’t get away with everything.

Expert online defamation lawyers commenting on the group defamation action being led by KwikChex against TripAdvisor know that in the USA in particular, it is difficult to get a result against ‘review’ and ‘feedback’ sites. But in this case, KwikChex is claiming that there have been abuses that fall outside of the normal defence of ‘user generated comment.’

In an article published by Beth Kormanik of Hotel Interactive.com, the following was stated:

Bill Hart, an attorney with the Manhattan firm Proskauer who specializes in technology issues, said situations similar to the “Hotel Horror” email could be in a “gray area” of the law. In general, sites cannot go beyond publishing user statements without giving up their immunity, he said. If they make conclusions from the reviews, it could be problematic.

and here is another from Jack Lerner, a professor at the University of Southern California Law School

‘The law would not protect sites that edit the substance of a user’s comment or that induce the content.‘

The KwikChex response to the article is “We already have what is the first truly robust defence system against this severe problem that affects both reputable businesses and consumers – but will be going far further – it is our belief that the mistakes that TripAdvisor have made undermine their integrity to such a degree that we can use them to leverage serious change. The fundamental issue is that we have proven you cannot trust TripAdvisor themselves to not produce damaging assertions unjustifiably against reputable businesses – so how can you trust anything else on their site at present? Or to put it another way – when the saint is caught sinning, all faith is lost.”

Link to the ‘Promote & Protect’ KwikChex All Rounders service for hotels and restaurants

Link to the article on Hotel Interactive.com

KwikChex Leads Defamation Action Against TripAdvisor

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:24:47 +0000

A group defamation action against TripAdvisor is being organised by online reputation and reassurance resource, KwikChex.com.

KwikChex statement:

Following a rapidly increasing number of enquiries from the hospitality industry about posts on TripAdvisor, which we investigated in detail, we have clearly established that there are a number of elements within the TripAdvisor business model that are seriously flawed and which should be corrected in order to avoid damaging the reputation of reputable businesses with false allegations and to prevent misrepresentation to consumers

Approaches to Trip Advisor by owners suffering allegations and misrepresentation and by KwikChex have been met with intransigence on the part of TripAdvisor.

We are particularly concerned about the extent to which TripAdvisor proactively influences consumers – which falls way outside any defence of ‘User Generated Content’. The number of extremely serious allegations from posters unverified as even being customers is also worrying. These are not reviews on service, quality of food or ambiance – they are unsafe and often unfounded accusations of criminality and personal injury for which there appears no evidence whatsoever. Whilst we have some concerns about other online ‘feedback resources’, we have never seen anything such as this in terms of volume, severity and the influence being wielded by the publisher. It is particularly serious for many of the smaller, independent businesses being affected. Other aspects of the operation also appear to actively discriminate against particular businesses – and this is exacerbated by the prolific use of ‘trusted source’ phraseology.

The action is included within our specific service for hotels and restaurants, which focuses on promoting and protecting reputable businesses. We started with 120 business owners, but the number affected even at the most severe level is tens f thousands, so we believe that the final figure we will be assisting is going to be very substantial indeed. We do hope that TripAdvisor, like other businesses we are dealing with that publish online feedback, will take on board the fact that corrections to their current operating procedures are necessary, but have taken legal counsel in preparation for a class action if required.

Details of the case against TripAdvisor can be found on this link to KwikChex

And details of the full Promote & Protect service for hotels and restaurants can be found here

Greenwood Blog – Scam Alerts – London and UK Holiday Apartments!

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:22:40 +0000

Scam Alerts – London and UK Holiday Apartments!

Greenwood Serviced Apartments is seeing more cases of people seeking rented apartments in London and the UK being defrauded. It seems that the Gumtree website in particular is being used to rip off holidaymakers, who pay their money in advance and then turn up to find no accommodation exists.

This is a problem all over the world – and The Daily Mail newspaper in the UK, recently published a story telling how one conman is thought to have stolen over £250,000 over the last 4 years by taking money for non-existent holiday homes.

Check thoroughly who you are dealing with – be particularly careful if you see a ‘bargain’ on a site such as Gumtree that only has a mobile number (starting with 07) for contact.

As we have said in our Apartment Rental Guide, you can take more care by checking credentials, such as those we display on our website – including the KwikChex.com seals, which show that our business profile and our accreditations have been verified – click here to see them.

KwikChex featured on BBC Radio 4

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:17:33 +0000

KwikChex featured on BBC Radio 4’s ‘You and Yours’ – consumer affairs programme (30/07/10)

Note: KwikChex features at 38 minutes into the programme (through to 43 minutes) – use the sliding bar to jump forward to this time if you prefer.

Google Responds To KwikChex On Fake Reviews

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:34:53 +0000

Following the broadcast of the BBC TV Click report on fake reviews, which featured KwikChex.com, KwikChex can report that Google have made a very positive response.

Faster reporting by KwikChex has now been made possible and dialogue has been opened up with a view to making longer term improvements regarding spam, rogue reviews and the quality of reviews on Google Maps.

KwikChex has responded initially by providing information to Google, including the methods they use for authentication and the process and benefits of authenticate accreditation – all aimed at the effective promotion and protection of reputable businesses and the improvement of consumer reassurance and protection.

BBC TV Reports On KwikChex Fake Review Campaign

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:10:02 +0000

A special report on BBC TV highlights the problems facing businesses and consumers because of inadequate checks by website review publishers.

A campaign started by the online reassurance and reputation resource, KwikChex.com, has been the subject of a BBC TV report. The BBC’s flagship technology programme, ‘Click’ produced a special report which highlighted how reputable and blameless businesses are being attacked and defamed online on resources such as Google Maps Reviews.

The programme featured one particular case that had been flagged to the BBC by KwikChex – the story of a particularly nasty attack on UK business, Cream Photography – which spiralled into an assault on over 150 photographic and wedding supply companies across the UK. It highlighted how the maligned businesses were struggling to have what was an obvious and vicious spam attack removed from the Google resource.

A KwikChex spokesperson said: “Having the BBC on board will help publicise this serious problem – and we are pleased to have been able to contribute so significantly to the content of the programme. We have been able to help many businesses to restore and enhance their online reputation, including some of those in the Cream Photography case, but the problem is huge and the participation of the media is vital – in fact, even though the BBC have been in contact with Google and they have responded by saying they ‘have software in place to automatically detect spam reviews’, we are just about to submit reports to them about the Cream Photography case, because we have found a dozen businesses that are still suffering from these particular reviews – months after the initial alarm was raised to Google.”

He added: our job is actually to enhance and promote trusted, reputable businesses on the worldwide web – but we are certainly not going to drop the ball on this subject until online review publishers improve their resources to better protect decent businesses and to provide a higher degree of truthfulness to consumers.”

An article about the BBC report is on the Click website

and the full programme can be watched on the internet in the UK on the BBC iPlayer - click here

Or use a Google video search – bbc click fake google reviews

KwikChex launches ‘Google Maps Reviews – Improve Or Remove’ Campaign

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:59:44 +0000

KwikChex has launched a campaign to help tackle the problems created by rogue posters using Google Map Reviews. Many reputable businesses are being attacked online by fake, malicious and unfair reviews – and then they experience severe difficulties in getting them removed or even responding effectively to them, which is resulting in financial losses in many cases. The map reviews are also being used by dishonest businesses and scammers posting fake good reviews to dupe consumers.

It is just too easy to abuse the Google Review system and too difficult for most businesses to resolve and although KwikChex has been very successful in removing fake reviews for members and Google have sped up their responses to KwikChex fake review reports, the real solution required is for Google to make improvements that help authenticate reviews. If they can’t get more honesty into the system then the only way that reputable businesses and consumers can be better protected is for Google to withdraw their own review resource completely.

A KwikChex spokesperson said “Whilst we have been able to help businesses with this problem, it is not fair that they are having to pay to address flaws that Google are responsible for. We would rather be focusing on our core services, which are authenticating and promoting reputable businesses.”

The campaign has been set up on Google Groups and is called Google Maps Review – Improve Or Remove. Businesses wishing to join can visit KwikChex.com, click on ‘Fake Reviews’ and link to the campaign.

Or click here to go directly to the campaign group

1 million results for ‘incompetent vets’

admin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:20:39 +0000

Vets are starting to realise that online reviews are now hugely significant in search engine results. Just entering the phrase ‘incompetent vets’ into Google returns over 1 million results – and some of the information we have discovered in online searches is extremely aggressive and very high profile in search engines.- there are almost no moderation controls imposed, and they pull in results from many other sites and attach themselves to the location & profile of the review target. In addition there are a growing number of ’specialist’ review sites that focus entirely on the veterinary profession. Some sites are set up with the specific intent to destroy the reputation of a veterinary practice.

Examples of ‘ this vet killed my dog’ type postings are everywhere on the web, as are many other serious allegations. KwikChex found many effective campaigns against individual vets and practices – that is people using multiple review sites and Google maps solely in order to damage the practice. When this is done effectively, the vet’s online profile is seen as extremely untrustworthy.

True or False?

That’s the problem – whilst there are many with legitimate complaints, particularly of negligence, who may well have been frustrated by not being able to use the official ‘regulator’, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), or the courts to take action, there are also a very large number of fake and malicious reviews against reputable practitioners – and the public simply can’t tell the difference. What’s more, even a good vet is bound to have someone complain about them at some time, but even if they have an almost perfect satisfaction rate, a single aggrieved person can undo that in the space of about an hour on the worldwide web.

Reputation Enhancement, Protection & Promotion

KwikChex provides the solutions that enable reputable businesses to turn significant reputation threats into exceptional, reputation-based promotion.

KwikChex accreditation is an immediate promotion and defence tool. Members have the resources to monitor, manage and promote their reputation. They are able to use KwikChex independently authenticated reviews and testimonials on their websites and on review sites. They can remove and invalidate fake and malicious reviews – and reduce the risk of complaints at source, using the KwikChex Reputation Manual.

The public are better protected too – with access to reviews and information that they can trust and a robust and effective complaints and concerns process.

Google Removes Fake Review In Response To Latest Report From KwikChex

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:33:12 +0000

One of the worst examples yet of a fake and malicious review on Google Maps has been rapidly removed after KwikChex verified the facts.

Storm Photography of Colchester in the UK had a malicious review posted on Google maps a month ago (16th Feb) and had not managed to have it deleted.

At first glance the review appeared to have come from another photography business in Crewe, Cheshire.

In fact, this company, Cream Wedding Photography was an even bigger victim of malicious Google Review posting.

KwikChex had verified that both businesses are reputable. A third party mounted a campaign which makes it appear that Cream were posting insults and spam on photographers websites across the UK. Cream have published the facts on their website www.creamphoto.co.uk in a bid to protect their own reputation.

KwikChex sent an independent verification report to Google and the offending review in this case was removed 10 minutes later.

We would like to thank Google on this occasion for their rapid response and urge them to continue responding to our authenticated notifications in this way.

Update on Google Map Review issues

Google state that they take these issues seriously and we are seeing evidence that this is the case. KwikChex will continue to provide independently authenticated reports to Google – and to offer to provide solutions.

We are also aware that they appear to have some more complex problems when it comes to removing reviews pulled in to Google Maps from third party sites. it seems that even when successfully removed from the original site, Google’s search system has difficulties in purging the result, and the offending reviews are therefore staying live on Google. This explanation is not much comfort to reputable businesses that are having their businesses damaged, but we understand that Google are aware of it and working on the problem.

We would urge people to continue to notify us us of fake and malicious reviews.

Join our facebook campaign ‘Web of Lies’ to rid the web of fake and malicious online reviews – Click here