We use them all the time — Yelp, Tripadvisor, the BBB — websites that post reviews by customers, clients and patients of all sorts of companies and health care providers. But can we trust these reviews? Are the websites that post them taking steps to assure they are legit? “No and no,” says Kay Dean of San Jose, Calif., a former criminal investigator in the U.
S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General. Dean’s bad experience with a health care provider with glowing reviews led her on a journey into the expansive realm of fake online reviews.
“I no longer put an ounce of trust in any online review site,” she says. She is the founder of Fake Review Watch , which she says is on the side of consumers and honest businesses and attempts to show the issues that major review platforms have with fake reviews. Subscribe to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Be a smarter, better informed investor.
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail. Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail. Personal experience led to her investigation About seven years ago, Dean used stellar reviews she saw on Yelp and Google to select a medical care provider.
“The experience turned out to be the exact opposite of what was claimed on the platforms, leaving me suspicious about these reviews I had relied on. And so, dr.
