First of all: This article is not about users giving bad comments or reviews. But this is serious for businesses to know. We got this from out of nowhere that, anyone no matter, if they are related to the business or have done any deals with the business, and Google allows them to give a review without proper verification. Google My Business has not been looking into this area, and this might be a RED FLAG for businesses to use it.
The best part is we don't even know who this user "Lydia Koh" as if she has bought anything from us, visit our place and engage any of our services. If something bad happens, we should have sorted out the issue rather than placing her anger on the internet. Unless maybe she is a competitor, someone hired by a competitor to do this, someone who didn't get to purchase or engage any of our services due to some reason to leave such nasty review, or maybe it is someone we reject to work with because of bad attitude towards us, or she's a...
This username Lydia Koh visited the Google My Business and input Review. The reason for leaving 1 star because "Bad Service. Ownself review themself 5 star. Tells alot of about the company."
We think she referred to that review in 2014 when we got our first Google Plus, which is now Google My Business, and we are trying out that function review, but we cannot remove it. Everyone can see there are not many reviews for the past 7 years. It is really that bad, and the business would have ceased a long time ago.
By the way, will you rate yourself 1 star Ms Lydia Koh if you get a chance to do that?
Most of our customers send us feedback via email, SMS or call, and it is not in the public eyes because we felt it is not necessary.
Two weeks passed, we cannot get Lydia Koh to reply to us on the review. At the same time, we also shockingly found out that it is her First Contribution on Google Map (Well done, Google for not verifying the user). We contacted Google on this matter and this user, but Vishnu denied it from Google My Business Team, saying it's not against their policy.
So our conclusion on this matter is that Google My Business Review cannot be trusted as Google does not verify their users. Whatever policy they wrote for their Google My Business doesn't align with the fact & true of your business interest. Also, businesses should not use it as it is like playing with fire. This review left by Lydia Koh definitely falls under Spam and Fake Content / Off-Topic / Impersonation. She did not purchase anything from us, nor she visited our office, and she disappears.
Google will always be Google. No matter what you think about their product, they will try to protect it as if the problem is in your business, not theirs. (just like the Adwords click fraud we reported to them) (Google chrome incognito mode) (Duckduckgo vs Google) (Google listening) so many to be mention...
In Google the policy:
"Contributions to Google Maps should accurately represent the location in question. Where contributions distort truth, we will remove content. This includes reviews, photos, or videos not related to the location or business where they are tagged. If content is inaccurately placed on the map, or is associated with an incorrect listing, the contribution may be rejected."
Here's something to read about fake reviews:
- We are not the only one having this fake review issue
- There is more on google support
- Here's how to detail with fake negative reviews
Credits: Gif via Giphy
