Anyone who owns a local business is aware of the power of negative customer reviews. Properly managing these reviews on platforms like Google My Business is vital. But it is not always easy. If we add to this that anyone can comment on your business, without having to be your client, it makes it a much more complex process. In this way, reviewing a business becomes a powerful tool that can seriously damage the online reputation of a local business.
That’s what happened to Dr. Warwick Nettle, a Sydney-based surgeon who rejected a patient after consulting with her former surgeon, who warned him of the risks of operating on her.
Following the rejection, Catherine Cruse, the scorned patient, published two reviews that lowered Dr. Nettle’s Google ranking from 5 stars to 3.5. And for the next eight months she dedicated herself to posting fake reviews on various reputable online sites across the web.
These publications included references to the surgeon calling him “the devil himself”, and calling his work “inhumane medical care”, “abuse of power” or himself a “compulsive liar”. He even published a review with false images of alleged failed surgeries of the doctor.
Sentenced to pay $ 450,000
Judge Michael Wigney of the federal court in Sydney ruled that the smear campaign of Catherine Cruse’s false reviews caused “extreme” damage to both the surgeon’s mental and emotional state and to her previous “impeccable” reputation. The judge ruled that the reviews were calculated to “inflict maximum damage” on the surgeon’s professional reputation. And, therefore, he condemned her to pay 450,000 Australian dollars (just over € 275,000) in damages. The court order includes costs and a permanent ban on Cruse from posting any more false libelous reviews.
The cost of regaining online reputation
All fake reviews have been removed, except for two from third-party websites. Hosted on libelous review websites, their operators demand exorbitant amounts from those who wish to remove adverse comments.
It is difficult to quantify the damage of fake reviews, although in this case an Australian court has done so. But the truth is that these defamatory reviews do not only affect local businesses. They also affect consumers.
Font: The Guardian