Your reputation is important for your business and that is the universal truth but at times, you might find yourself fighting with some adverse situations where your reputation at stake. Especially, the reviews on the websites like the Rip-off Report can prove to be lethal. Well, any bad reviews here on this is te can be having a serious impact on your business.
What’s tricky about the rip-off report?
When a report gets published on the rip-off site, you are in serious trouble because somehow Google loves to pull that report and throw it right at the top of the page. Well, they might have some valid reason. And then, you are going to struggle to remove a ripoff report from Google because even if you convince the original publisher of the review to take it off, the Rip Off site would not allow it.
Now, they have a definite valid reason for that because they think that if they allow that option of the removal, the brands will make the consumers submissive which is beyond their ethics. And they are somewhat right on the matter too.
The legality of the Rip-Off report:
You might think that it is not legal for the websites to carry the negative reviews about you on their website but according to Communications Decency Act., the websites are not responsible for the third party content on their website. For instance, if you make Facebook liable for anyone’s comment, then you will not have Facebook in the first place.
Dealing with the Rip-Off report:
First, you can place a rebuttal to the review that has the potentiality of harming your reputation but make sure that you use proper keywords so that the report does not get pulled by the Google easily because it might offer more content for indexing. In fact, the report is not going to go anywhere, all that you will have will be an answer or a response underneath the report.
Second, you can use Rip Off report’s corporate advocacy program that entails an investigation of the report to find out the veracity and later posting the positive comment underneath. But the original report will still remain there which is gruesome.
You can also use VIP arbitration program which almost the same as the advocacy program. In fact, in either of the cases, you have to pay money to the Rip-off.
Third, you can also hire ripoff report removal service that is expert in handling such issues. Well, they might be able to remove the report or bury it. In fact, burying seems to be better and convenient idea because removal might need you to take legal actions against the person who reported the review.
Of course, you cannot file a lawsuit against Google because they are huge and they can bombard you with some excellent lawyers who can finish the case in few hours.
The final words:
It is important that you understand the effects of the rip-off report, the legality behind it, and the challenges so that you can make the right decision to manage your reputation. Hence, make the informed decision.