The story begins with KwikChex’s claims that some reviews of OTM in December showed “the odd pattern of gratuitously praising the OTM website itself, just a few weeks after their new website was launched” - plus the fact that over half the reviews were from first-time once-only posters.
In addition KwikChex alleges that there were “consistent semantics analytics issues and questionable terminology” and it claims that since December the reviews have turned back to being largely negative again.
A statement issued by the company quotes Chris Emmins, co-founder, saying: “There are many elements that have, in the past, provided initial indications of review manipulation/review fraud. We describe these as ‘tripping our alert systems’. In this instance, the major factor was an exceptional ‘spike’ in very positive reviews for OnTheMarket and which occurred primarily over a very short period in December 2021.”
He continues: “Between 9th December and 17th December 2021, this pattern changed dramatically. In just an eight-day period, forty-eight 5-star reviews were posted. In most instances when we see a sudden and intense spike of positive reviews following previous low volume majority-negative review posting it is a sign of either an intensive ‘service and review’ collection campaign or a sign that the ratings are being manipulated.”
Emmins goes on: “It is possible that OnTheMarket or an appointed representative sought to correct their previously very poor profile on the Trustpilot platform to coincide with the relaunch of their website. This may be conducted in a number of ways including those connected with the company asking people they know to write good reviews during December 2021.
“This cannot be confirmed by KwikChex and is an opinion based on the available evidence including the fact that, following the spike, the reviews submissions reverted to predominantly negative comments once again.”
Estate Agent Today has asked OTM for comment but has had no on the record response.
However, Trustpilot last evening issued a detailed and lengthy refutation of KwikChek’s allegations.
This said that KwikChex had been in touch prior to issuing its allegations to the media, and that Trustpilot investigated the claims thoroughly.
The review website’s statement says: “There was little evidence or ‘analysis’ provided to us by KwikChex to support these claims. In fact, we’d question the extent of any ‘alert systems’ the entity has in place to look deeply at possible misbehaviour on our platform. Upon further investigation, we currently have no evidence to suggest that OnTheMarket is contravening our guidelines.
“It is true that the business received a spike in positive reviews in December last year — this information can be seen publicly in the Business Transparency section of its review profile page on Trustpilot. This spike in positive reviews came at exactly the same time the business launched its new website, which was publicised on social media.
“As a review platform that is open to all, we allow consumers to review any genuine experience they have with a business at any time, and this includes experiences they have had while searching or browsing a website.
“Our systems analyse hundreds of data points to assess potential patterns of misbehaviour across millions of reviews and we have automated systems that flag unique patterns of behaviour to us. These data points provide extensive and detailed information that is vastly superior to the information that is available to someone on the outside looking at the reviews on our platform. Based on this information, we see no evidence to suggest there are fabricated reviews on this business’s page.”
Trustpilot says it also investigated the reviews activities of those individuals who wrote reviews on OTM.
Trustpilot says: “Reviewers responded to confirm that they had not been asked or incentivised to write reviews and did so on Trustpilot of their own fruition as they were aware of the platform. No reviews have ever been reported by the business, which remains a mix of both positive and negative reviews overall, with an overarching TrustScore of 3.8 out of 5.
“Our automated fraud and anomaly detection software and team of Content Integrity specialists continue to monitor the business’s activity on the platform and if we find any evidence of misuse or breaches of our guidelines we will take appropriate action.”
Separate to the issue concerning KwikChex and OnTheMarket, last month Trustpilot announced it was stepping up enforcement against companies - including those in the property sector - who repeatedly solicit fake or misleading online reviews.
It said it removed more than 2.2m fake reviews from its site last year, and has enhanced its automated fraud, enforcement and anomaly detection technologies which safeguard the platform from misuse.
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The recent surge in 5* reviews for another portal should have tripped their 'Alerts System'.
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