Here at Mechanic Advisor, we pride ourselves on accurate mechanic shop information and real reviews by actual customers, for better or for worse. However, as with any review service, there will always be people trying to game the system in either direction. Some business owners will add a glowing review of their own business in an attempt to boost their ratings. Other times, a competitor or someone with a personal grudge will write a fake review slandering a business with a harsh made up story. We make every effort to delete fraudulent reviews, but here are some tips for spotting a fake review online:
1) It sounds like a commercial for the business - If you're reading a review it and it sounds like a marketing team put it together, chances are it's because they did. If there are three adjectives in a row praising a business as if written by a professional copywriter then take it with a grain of salt.
3) Too many personal details - When someone knows everything
about a business owner's personal life and decides to share it with the
world through a review, it does raise some red flags. A feuding family
member or disgruntled employee is more likely behind a review that
delves into a business owner's child support history or any other
information a regular customer wouldn't know.
2) No details at all - If a review is all praise without a single detail of the actual experience, then something is up. Not many people would bother to go to a website and go through the process of creating a profile to enter a review if they don't have some actual experience or story to share.
4) Multiple reviews with a similar user name - If Ray68Chevy and Ray69Chevy are both writing glowing reviews of the local auto body shop, there's a pretty good chance the review is fake. If the usernames seem to be very similar to one another, you can bet that it's the same person creating all of the reviews.
5) Multiple reviews within a short time frame - When you see three reviews out of five all filled out on the same date within the same half-hour time span, it's not very likely that it's a coincidence. Organic reviews will come flowing in over different days, weeks and months, while fake reviewers will come in and add a bunch at once trying to make a point and hoping that you won't notice.
