Interesting review: the owner sends an email and offers money

[Zdenek Horak]

Hi,
I accidentally stumbled on this review
https://goo.gl/maps/hHfnxCaHt3ZoUotu8
places Autoškola NOBE and their reviews can be affected due to the reward of money.

how would you solve it?

 

[djbaxter]

English version:

WARNING: Autoškola NOBE manipulates ratings! Do NOT chose this company based on the positive reviews. This company has been caught cheating by offering cash for positive reviews. There is evidence in the photo. This company has been cheating for a long time. That is why you can NOT believe all the positive reviews you read about Autoškola NOBE. Autoškola NOBE is in violation of the policy for Small Businesses owners from Google and other internet review websites.

 

[johnlavapie_SEO]

I've been through this situation before. Competitor is giving a card after every order that says:

Thank you for being sweet! Happy with our services? Review us on Google or Facebook for a chance to win a $500 gift card.

So I messaged @GoogleMyBiz on twitter. This is what they said:

Thanks for reporting the violation! We do not allow businesses to incentivize customers for positive reviews. We've escalated this over to our specialists for further review. Please note that because this is not an account in which you have access to, we won't be able to further update you on the case. If you have any further questions or concerns, please send us a message.

They've messaged me twice after asking for more details.

Did they do anything with it? I am not sure. Was the competitor suspended? Nope.

 

[Zdenek Horak]

the owner's answer is also interesting:

Thank you for your opinion, but each client can evaluate positively and negatively. The discount on the exam fee is only a motivation for our students to be interested in writing an evaluation. The reward for writing reviews is common in most companies that work with reference marketing. And the accusation that we are manipulating ratings is really possible on the verge of the law. I would also like to add that if we provided bad services, we would have bad evaluations from many more students. Students would write this after graduating from driving school. At the branch in Prague, we make 200 drivers a month, I guarantee our boys personally and we are a family that has been in the industry for over 30 years. This accusation is rather a misunderstanding of the thank you email after completing the course. Thanks anyway for your feedback. Yours Patrik from NOBE (feel free to call me, we can talk about it)

 

[Contractor]

I didn’t think there was anything wrong with incentivizing someone to leave a review. I thought the problem is only if the incentive is to leave a positive review.

 

[johnlavapie_SEO]

Here are Google's guidelines on reviews: Format Specific Criteria - Maps User Contributed Content Policy Help

• Don’t offer or accept money in exchange for reviews.
• Don’t solicit reviews from customers in bulk.

It is definitely wrong in Google's eyes. Also, if it is wrong or not regardless of what Google thinks - it is still wrong in my opinion. If the company is choosing the winner from the people who left reviews - you would think that they will only choose people who left a 5-star review. As a part of that contest, you will think that scenario and leave a 5-star review just to win that contest. So it still influences people in leaving more 5-stars.