Consumer be warned! Many matchmakers are buying fake consumer reviews to boost their online reputation and attract new clients.
It is a staple of consumer advice: Shop around and look to see who has the most reviews. Yet how much faith can you put in online reviews? Not a lot, it seems, when you take a hard look at them.
Fake consumer reviews have been around for a long time in the matchmaking world since most consumers do their shopping online. Online shopping prompted by the pandemic has increased the number of fake consumer reviews for matchmaking services across the nation.
Fake consumer reviews are present everywhere online – from social media to Google business profiles despite the attempts to stamp them out.
We spoke to George Cervantes – a celebrity matchmaker in Hollywood who has been around for over 12 years and knows that fake reviews are very common in the matchmaking world. Cervantes says that many matchmaking services will buy fake reviews to boost their reputation and make themselves be more successful than they really are and because of that, they attract more clients and sell more hefty memberships.
Fake reviews can be purchased on the black market for $20 to $30 dollars each which isn’t much considering that a matchmaking membership can sell for $10,000 according to Cervantes. The investment is low compared to the huge profit that can be made by the fake consumer reviews.
So, how can a potential client of a matchmaking service know that the company is legit? Cervantes says that prospective clients can play detective and look for reviews on all different channels and not just on one place. Cervantes suggest to look at Yelp as this is a place that is very hard to get fake reviews on.
Cervantes says that Yelp has a very strict algorithm that makes it almost impossible for fake reviews to be posted on the site. Cervantes says that the reviews found on Yelp are from real people who had real experiences with the company and you can trust those reviews.
Reviews on social medial platforms are usually fake as anyone can create a profile and write a review says Cervantes.
Cervantes suggest that prospective should always request a face-to-face meeting with the director or top matchmaker and to trust your gut instinct.
There is no denying that consumer reviews will be around, but with due diligence you can save yourself a headache from buying a membership to with wrong company.
