Reviews, business listings and ratings

What is happening

Within a fortnight a clinic or restaurant collects a dozen one-star reviews on the maps: similar wording, brand-new accounts, mentions of services that were never offered there. The rating drops, and the effect shows up at once in calls and bookings.

Someone changes the phone number and opening hours on the company's listing, or marks it "permanently closed". Customers ring the wrong number, and the owner cannot restore the details because the listing was never verified.

Former employees post on employer-review sites that staff are kept off the books and paid late. Candidates read this before interviews; and if the claims are untrue, they are no longer opinion but statements of fact that can be challenged.

What the law says

• A customer's review of a product or service is, as a rule, a value judgement. Under Article 152 of the Civil Code, what can be challenged are specific statements of fact, such as "they sell expired goods" or "they charged my card without consent", if they are untrue.
• Every platform has its own rules on reviews: no reviews from people who were never customers, no insults, no bulk posting to order. A complaint under those rules is usually the quickest tool, provided it points precisely to a breach of a specific rule.
• If a competitor is behind a wave of reviews, this may amount to unfair competition by discreditation under Federal Law No. 135-FZ of 26 July 2006 "On Protection of Competition" (the Competition Law). Evidence for the competition authority has to be gathered as carefully as for a court.
• The owner of an aggregator or maps service is not always liable for other people's reviews, but as the party able to remove them it is the natural addressee of a demand and may be joined to the proceedings if the dispute reaches court.
• Answering an attack with fake positive reviews is a mistake: they breach platform rules and, in certain circumstances, may themselves be treated as unfair competition under the Competition Law.

What we do

• We analyse the body of reviews: dates, accounts, repeated phrasing, references to non-existent services or branches, and any overlap with the company's disputes.
• We record the reviews and the listing's edit history with dated screenshots and, where the matter may reach court, a notarial inspection.
• We help the company verify its rights to its listings on maps and directories and restore the correct details.
• We prepare complaints to moderators argued under the specific platform's rules, rather than a stock "please remove, this is untrue".
• We draft public replies to reviews where removal is not possible but what future customers see still matters.
• Where a competitor or former employee can be traced, we prepare demands, a complaint to the competition authority or a claim.
• We help set up an internal routine: who monitors reviews, how quickly they respond and what they record.

What we will need from you

• A list of platforms and links to the listings for the company and its branches.
• Screenshots or an export of the disputed reviews with dates and, if you have it, the rating history.
• Data from your CRM or booking system showing whether the reviewer was actually a customer.
• Details of the company's platform accounts: who controls them and which email they are registered to.
• What you know about possible sources: disgruntled customers, dismissed staff, competitors who have opened nearby.