Topic: Our competitors’ leasing agents are being asked to post negative reviews for properties nearby to make our ratings suffer.

I need advice. We just got 2 horrid 1-star reviews that are fake. (We know this because both "residents" posted 5-star reviews for our competitor down the street at the same time.) How do we address this? Clearly, their leasing agents are being asked to post negative reviews for properties nearby to make our ratings suffer. Is it worth an on-site visit to their property? Has anyone else experienced this? It's so LOW! Their property was just sold in the past year and has new management.

My job is to respond to reviews and I usually just say something like "We would really love the opportunity to address your concerns with you, however, we were unable to find anyone by your name as a resident or visitor of our community in our computer system. It's possible you have confused us with a different community but feel free to contact our manager who would like very much to speak with you."

great response!

I did that but I am so upset. I can’t believe our neighbors would stoop so low!

I also reported the reviews on google. I don’t know how long that takes to get resolved.

Google is so large it takes an act of congress to get them to move on stuff like this. Unfortunately, I wouldn't hold my breath. Best bet is to respond appropriately as described by Robin above.

the more people that flag it the better. What are you selecting as the reason for flagging it?

They don't really have a fitting selection. I did "conflict of interest."

I love Robin Leasing’s response. I have been at my community for over 20 years and I can tell you exactly who is writing a negative review. They either have been evicted, problems with family or friends or owe a ton of money for damages. There really isn’t anything you can do to stop negative reviews. What I have found works well is to ask your happy current non troublemaking, follow the rules, pays rent on time residents, I have quite a few that are 10+ years with us, to write a review for us. I don’t steer them in any direction and if they have an issue, it can be addressed. 99% of the reviews we get from current residents are positive. Property Management is a lot like the restaurant business, which I worked in for a number of years also. People tend to point out the negative far more often than the positive. Respond like Robin did and see if there really is a problem, fix it if it needs fixing and move on. You can’t let it get under your skin but you can’t ignore it either. Good luck

It's not that I want to stop legit bad reviews, just the fake ones from people who don't actually live with us. The two people on google that gave us the bad reviews supposedly "live" at this other complex. All their 5 star reviews have been in the last 2 weeks, created by one person using several names. They bombed all the same companies with 1 star reviews and gave 5 stars to all the same companies. It's really bizarre that a leasing office would do this. If the reviews are legit, all of their residents use the same Bail Bonds office since they are all giving one bail bonds company great reviews as well. :)But it could be worse, these people went to our other competitors and said they have bed bugs/employees are sexually harassing residents. At least they didn't say that in ours. Every day is interesting, at least.

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about fake ones. I have had former unhappy residents write reviews that are out & out lies but I can’t do anything about it. It’s sad that giving a community several bad reviews is what makes these type of people happy. What comes around goes around. If this is what they are concentrating on, they obviously aren’t too concerned about their community and it will show.

Not sure about comps posting bad reviews but on site staff giving 5 star reviews to the communities they work at is out of control. Typically if you see 10 5 star reviews in a row where in the first sentence they rave how great the office is it’s all fake. Some companies encourage these fake reviews and even pay employees for them.

Robin's solution is spot on. I know it's hard to read those reviews, but really think about their motives, they can't stand on their own merit.

This is true. They have been on the news this year because the residents aren't getting any repairs fixed.

The truth ALWAYS wins!!

No ! It is not worth it to make the visit, this has happened to me on several occasions. The problem is you are doing something right . Most readers take what is said with a grain of salt.

Take them a pizza. Introduce yourself and pick up their floor plans. Find out what they have most available and let them know you’ll send anyone you’re unable to help to their property. Kill em with kindness.

I have addressed similar situations of bad competitive behavior via intervention/mediation by the local apt association in my case they helped out but not guaranteed to stick their neck out in yours.

If it’s a property managed by a large PM, I would certainly let them know of the bad behavior by the local people. Not sure any self-Respecting PM would care to do that.

It it’s an independent owner, I would contact owner and explain situation. If not responsive I would go in to explain how much we all have to loose if we escalera this to a spamming/doxing situation. That would stoop you to their level, but sometimes you retaliate with a bigger stick.

Lastly maybe a letter from your legal Dpt. (Or lawyer cousin)

ApartmentSEO is a Google Premier Partner, we offer reputation mgmt and can help take out some of the guesswork with Google and reviews. Would love to share info.

I wouldn’t sweat it, it’s just part of the industry.

Respond publicly as Robin suggested - her response was perfect!!!

THEN, report the fake review (you probaly have already) to the site (yelp, apartment ratings, etc)

THEN, I would screenshot the fake report & report the fake reporter to his/her corporate office!!!!!

We talked about how to reply, and I think the recommendation was awesome. Now, maybe it's time for your manager to go meet the new manager. Take some cookies and welcome them to the neighborhood. Take your floorpans with a pricing sheet. Offer assistance if they need it. Wouldn't mention the negative review, just be friendly.

I address them by name and situation and have my corporate office let me know

Very unprofessional

Hey Lauren this happened to me as well. You do know Apartments.com have people that call on a regular basis that act like they are interest in apartments, correct? Even if you are not signed up to market with them.

See if you can "hide" the bad reviews.

There are reputation management companies out there that can also help. www.reputationmanagement.com/blog/how-to-remove-google-reviews/