RipOff Report is a popular consumer complaint site that hosts thousands of reports about alleged scams, ripoffs and poor service. They also benefit from a love affair with Google, and as such Rip Off Report is likely to rank well for branded searches.
This puts many business owners in a difficult predicament. What do you do when a RipOff Report is filed about your company?
On one hand, consumer review and complaint sites are giving a voice to the customer and holding businesses accountable. With over 80% of offline purchases now influenced by online research, having a clean reputation is essential. When businesses are held to a higher standard, the customer benefits, right?
But what if the reviews are faked? What happens when "customers" are really competitors, or disgruntled employees, or ex-boyfriends? You get the picture. Sadly, RipOff Report makes no effort to validate the claims made by their users. A disclaimer is posted, but you can judge for yourself whether or not a disclaimer balances the effect of headline like:
"RipOff Report: Acme Inc. Is A Scam - Don't Buy Their Widgets"
So what do you do? You can participate in a "program" RipOff Report offers where they offer to investigate for a sizable fee, ostensibly to ensure the company is a quality partner. Other people turn to third-party agencies that promise to defeat RipOff Report by suppressing their pages in the search rankings.
