Over the past three years we have earned the title of the best butcher shop in South Florida and one of the best ones in the country (there is some good competition out there).
Our quality is not only reflected on the close to 4,000 product reviews we have but also on our scores in Google Business, Yelp and other review platforms.
However, over the past few weeks we have started to see 1 star reviews flood our google business page. When we see a bad review, we immediately try to figure out what went wrong, because lets be honest EVERYONE makes mistakes... but we always make it right. But what we found is that none of the names or emails associated with these reviews were actual customers. Moreover, these profiles have been review bombing other business across the US, Germany and Australia.
Here are some examples:
Here is the thing, Laurence never ordered anything from us. Laurence has never reviewed another business in Florida but she has review bombed reviews in Canada and Portugal.
Not a customer, and if anything our Prime looks like Wagyu. He has left 1 star reviews to business all across the US and Europe. Not a single check-in, no social media, no other activities. Moreover, reviewed the same places as Bosco Greg below... all 1 star as well.
We do not sell "boxes". Has been reported by other business owners in Germany for fake reviews. Yet the reviews are still there.
(1) Never ordered from us, never left us a positive review (2) We use UPS for cross-country shipping and (3) We are very rarely late and when we do we notify customers. We do all of our own deliveries within our delivery areas. (4) Reviews the SAME places with 1 star that Westnile Nile reviewed above.
As more and more 1 star reviews came in we realized we were under attack from an unknown entity who wants to damage our reputation. The first thing we did was flag the reviews and open a case... but so far google has refused to help. In fact, their answer was "try to get 5 star reviews from customers to balance this out".
We did, via Instagram and a few of our beautiful customers posted reviews. But we do not like to solicit reviews and lets be real... 5 and 1 averages to 3 and at Meat N' Bone we are not shooting for "3".
Our "google reputation" dropped from 4.8 to 4.2 in a week, and it will continue to drop. What's our concern? This is what this same company or group of people did to a business in california
IF THEY ARE FAKE, WHY IS GOOGLE NOT REMOVING THEM?
Here is the thing, these reviews have text... they are clearly from someone who has explored what we do... they are also trickling in (1 or 2 a day) so at a first glance they look "real". However, once you review the profiles you can tell they are fake:
- All accounts have few reviews, most of them 1 star.
- Reviews all over the world: Australia, Germany, USA, Canada, Portugal, Israel and different states.
- Who reviews an AC company or a dog sitter in a different state? Reviews dont make sense
- Most replies claim the reviews are fake
- These accounts have no check-ins, no pictures, no other google interactions. There is no social media associated with them.
- NONE of these are customers.
We actually have shared a google sheet where we are tracking these reviews. You can see the document here. The google team has not even opened our spreadsheet and they take up to a week to even reply to an email. But well, I guess this is what happens when you outsource your customer service to India.
Google could learn something from Meat N' Bone, we reply to all emails, texts and calls ver, very quickly.
OK... SO WHAT NOW?
So we are not asking our customers to do anything, but we want our customers and prospects to be aware. Meat N' Bone continues delivering the BEST quality of beef at the best prices (for the quality we sell).
Our service is unparalleled, we take care of our customers from A to Z and the few times we do screw up... we fix it.
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