provide a way to flag obviously fake feedback
I posted a review once for an apartment complex that was an absolute nightmare to live in, so I get emails every time a new review is posted. After months of mostly negative reviews, there are all of a sudden four positive reviews posted this week - five-star reviews without a single complaint! This seems EXTREMELY suspicious to me - pretty flagrant "ballot-stuffing" by the management - but there doesn't appear to be any way of flagging them as likely false. You can flag it as "removeable" but that's the closest you can get. A flag for "sock puppet" would be great.
This feature exists on the site. There is a “report” link next to each review and options are provided to categorize it.
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Naaman Adcock commented
I live in a place like this called Advenir on Addison in Dallas Tx, I have posted pictures, close to 50 but every now and then I check and see my pictures are no longer displayed. I had even post emails and flyers of management running contest for good reviews. I think it's simple if the company is not paying, you can post your review, but as soon as the company starts paying, those reviews or photos start disappearing.
I also love the fake reviews that start out I just moved in and the management is great and knowledgeable and maintenance personnel is great and timely. They go on to say that their apartment was perfect and I just want to ask how they met all the maintenance personnel and know there timely if their apartment was so great. -
Anonymous commented
Just realized this exact thing is going on in my community, Point at Fort Lee in NJ. Each fake review sounds like text from their website. They are so blatant about it. I posted about how their reviews are fake on the page, and within minutes another fake review was posted so that mine wasn't first anymore. So sleazy.
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Anonymous commented
The same happened with my complex. There are three positive reviews in short period of time. Great thing is I believe consumers recognize company written reviews.
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Monica commented
There is one complex I have lived in that this also happened in. I found out the front office was paying residences a few hundred dollars to go on and write positive reviews so they would be "legitimate" reviewers. I agree something should be done about this!
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Anonymous commented
The timbers at vintage in Arlington wa formerly twin ponds apartments in Arlington wa changed their name because they are so terrible. I tried to post a review on Facebook and it wouldn't allow me to post it yet there are a bunch of glowing reviews. What a joke.
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joan commented
If tenants would put pictures of how the apartments really are, there could be no recourse for the apartment complex to say anything. The old saying is a picture is worth a thousand words.
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Bob commented
The Domain at Bennett Farms in Zionsville Indiana had terrible reviews when I moved out about 25% rating now I look at their ratings and the have over and 80% come on no way!! Plus Over half of the reviews were made in the past 3 months and some even in the same day!! There is some thing extremely fishy about it... Completely BOGUS!!!
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joan commented
survey companies
I have just found out from a neighbor after seeing an e-mail she received that my apartment complex has been offering a $500 debit card drawing and a quarterly drawing for a debit card for tenants to give good reviews and then the survey company is then posting them on Apartment ratings, with the name as "VERIFIED RESIDENT". And if she would like to write a review, that any other review she has written on Apartment Ratings will be overwritten by their review. I have read most of these reviews and a majority of them are very embellished and not true. How come one tenant can only have one review, but these survey companies can post all they want to raise the Apt complexes ratings. This complex went from a 36% at the end of September to an 81% now. So if anyone is reading this these ratings are a bunch of bull.
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Dan commented
Check out www.aptamigo.com. No way to post a review with just a first name and email, which has made spam next to impossible. If you're interested and/or moving to Chicago, check it out!
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bob commented
I was accused by the manager of my complex of writing a bad review and I did no such thing, he even pulled your web page and started reading the bad reviews, about him and the staff in the office.
He did this while i was in his office. I can prove it to him that I did NOT write any review, and when the time comes I will. Like they say a PICTURE is worth a thousand words, well I have over 25,000 words when the time comes. -
NuckyT commented
I am not going to go by the apartment reviews anymore. Too many of them have become the staff making the reviews or the staff offering a little money to new residents to write good reviews. I have made the mistake of renting apartments online without seeing them, moving long distance, and I have yet to find one apartment that is really good. Some have no air conditioning nor central heat, some are really old run down places charging super high rents due to being near the Silicon Valley in CA. It's all a sales pitch. From now on, I need to go and look at the places, not listen to any reviews and not move into a place without seeing it. There are a lot of bad apartment complexes out there. Most of the time, you will find one or two with good reviews and 50 with bad reviews. Also, the management gets really mad at me if I post a realistic review. Some of the places I moved into were sooooo bad I got out on the 30 day guarantee and I posted reviews stating what the places are really like, and the managers give me a really bad time saying it will hurt their business. They never say that what I have posted is not true, they are simply mad I told the truth. Apartments are a lousy way to live. I'm burned out on apartments and apartment reviews, revolving door management, them getting mad when I post a review.
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Anonymous commented
That's ok. My apt complex i can't even find doing a search!
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Drew commented
The issue here I believe is that ApartmentRatings has paid services they offer to apartment managers, and therefore, it's in ApartmentRatings' best interest to let the management companies post fake reviews. I agree with another user that mentioned that IP addresses are easy enough to use in determining whether it is the management company posting the reviews, a company that posts dozens of reviews on behalf of a management company, or a resident that posts a single review. Still, that's something ApartmentRatings probably wouldn't want to do.
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Dmitri commented
could not agree more. after my mediocre review (not slamming the place but pointing out legit. issues) a slew of reviews and comments went up. All mentioning a neighborhood pool party that recently happened. Also, part of my review mentioned the turnover at the leasing office. Shortly after a review that was left prior to mine received an "update" from a "resident" who addressed my statement of the turnover rate. The update said that only one leasing agent left and it was due to a pregnancy and she was replaced with a temporary employee. No way i believe that a resident would have such detailed knowledge of the situation. It was clearly an employee of the complex.
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Kristin commented
I just moved out of an apt that never had more than a 1-2 star review. 5 months ago a new property manager came on an consistently every 3 weeks there's a new 5-star review! It's amazing! The reviews consistently says how wonderful the management is..go figure! Yet all are 'resident verified'... How does this happen exactly? My one bad review wasn't 'resident verified' and I was actually a resident! I know for a fact that management is writing their reviews!!
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Anonymous commented
You guys really need to figure out a way to filter who are actually renters and how are the owners and managers that are boosting positive feedback by directly posting it themselves....
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anonymous commented
Deerwood Meadows in Greensboro, NC has a string of obviously fake reviews to boost the rating ranging from 11/12-1/14.. Some reviews even appear in the same day. Flagging false feedback needs to happen for this website.
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Lara commented
This is what I was trying to flag, I thought I would be able to add comments before submitting but all I could say was "other" so I assume apartmentratings will be confused about what I was flagging.... I posted a negative review of 5301 Chicago Ave Minneapolis MN and then years later someone called "getrealistic" (read: the landlord) wrote a response saying how I was just ranting. When I responded to them they deleted their response and now there is a 5 star review posted. It's so obviously the landlord it's ridiculous.
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Anonymous commented
Why is it still under review after all this time...It's great idea and it makes your site much more dependable. If someone flags it with suspicion of fake review then let the individual prove that they don't work for or was given something of value to post review. You have the ability to see what IPS address the comments come from.
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ch commented
I agree I was harassed by management, stating that they only allow positive comments and then next thing a perfect post- which is so not the situation!