Fake Angie's List Review

[layoric]

Hey all - I have a fake Angie's List review. Contacted them over the phone several times. After a huge run-around, and several weeks of waiting, not getting called back, having conversations of we have no record of your call, how can I help you, I found out this:

• Fraud report supposedly checked
• No response from the 'member'
• With the above, the review STAYS

I stated adamantly that I NEVER dealt with this person, or any derivative of their name, but it doesn't matter. Their POLICY states that they already verified it once that they were here, so it is THEIR property, and it STAYS.

Rep. did change some part of the rating since it didn't supposedly count against me, but yeah, in the end it doesn't matter - I have 2 A's and an F. The fake review DID count against me before she changed it, bringing my score down, but now it shows a grade of A - though I would think on the consumer side it doesn't matter... 2 A's and an F.

They don't care, they won't remove it. I could put the company on some sort of donotinclude list, so it doesn't come up in searches and supposedly doesn't get any more reviews, but that sounds worse, like setting in stone and glazing the ratings down forever.

Does anyone know of any law or precedent to overturn it or get your company totally removed from the company for reviews and everything? I mean, I can have my number on a donotcall list, my number unlisted, etc., but for the business, anyone can post crap on a business website and bash you, then say, it's our policy that it stays until we or you die...

WTH?

 

[Rocco]

I think AL is going the way of the dinosaurs. Just not quickly enough. There are so many consumer reports of this exact thing happening. As far as laws, the only thing I can think of that could fix it would be a libel suit. However, it would be costly, and could only result in removing the listing. If they can prove they take steps to verify postings, then they are not liable for lies that are posted.

I like the idea of AL and Google+. However, the implementation of this type of site will always be crap until they hire a lot of staff to verify reviews.

 

[callthatgirl]

Long time ago, I was going to create www.angiesucksdotcom and I found it was ALREADY registered to Angieslist. (way to go Angie lol)

so if you check their registery info, you find this tidbit...

Registrant Name: Pat Myers
Registrant Organization: Angies List
Registrant Street: 1030 East Washington St.
Registrant City: Indianapolis
Registrant State/Province: IN
Registrant Postal Code: 46202
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.3176546651
Registrant Fax: +1.3178033951
Registrant Email: patm@angieslist.com

Do what I did, call that 317# and start telling them your story. PatM is a systems admin there. And he hated that I found his private cell phone online (oops, should have put that angieslistsucks on PRIVATE) haha. He will probably send to you someone else, but at least you will bypass the call center.

I just tried calling and got a vm, but the last time I got freaking hosed by AL, by calling him, I got to the VP of marketing and got my issue resolved.

Skip the call center morons.

 

[tom11011]

I think AL is going the way of the dinosaurs. Just not quickly enough. There are so many consumer reports of this exact thing happening. As far as laws, the only thing I can think of that could fix it would be a libel suit. However, it would be costly, and could only result in removing the listing. If they can prove they take steps to verify postings, then they are not liable for lies that are posted.

I like the idea of AL and Google+. However, the implementation of this type of site will always be crap until they hire a lot of staff to verify reviews.

Depends. Can you prove damages? If so, you would be looking at more than listing removal. Further, maybe have a look at their Terms of Service and any other agreement you entered into.

 

[Mercenary Roadie]

They are all like that. I had another tech post a fake complaint over on www.scambook.com in retaliation for being outed as having been busted for drug and drug peripherala possession several times in the last year and for not paying the people he hired.

Scambooks doesn't require a real name or any type of contact information and they consider any complaint to be real. I went and paid their blood money when they told me the complain would be removed if they couldn't verify it. They couldn't verify it, but they only marked it as resolved, so it still show up.

I'm getting ready to fill a scam complaint with my local DA and the State AG.

 

[SkySoftTech]

If Angie's List doesn't take corrective action I'd file a complaint with your State's AG and BBB. I read an article recently that the NY AG was targeting fake reviews and Angie's List in particular. It might take awhile for any action to be made, but at least you'll be highlighting the problem.