Internet Reviews Are the Bathroom Wall Writings of the Past

As far back as I can remember I would find meaningless yet entertaining writings on bathroom walls.  Who could have known that these were the predecessors to what we now call Internet Reviews.  I'm sure all of you have read Internet Reviews at one time or another and I really wonder who is actually finding them helpful.  To get an understanding of why I compare them to the mindless writings on bathroom walls, I invite you to review First Rate Property Management's Reviews.  What I would like you to do is go to GOOGLE, and type in the search words, "Boise Property Management."  Most likely we will be the first or second business listing on the first page.  Those on top are pay per click ads.  Once you find our listing, please click on Reviews and feel free to read them.  For one, you will find that every poor review was posted by an alleged past tenant.  I say alleged because in most cases we cannot find a tenant by the name of the person posting the review, nor can we find any data within our system that corroborates their story.  In some cases, I think it is a situation of mistaken identity, meaning they posted the review to FRPM, but were writing about another company.  But some of the reviews are so outlandish, I honestly can't figure out how they came about.  Really, who is to say they aren't posted from a competitor hoping to discredit us, hoping it helps them.  GOOGLE has proven that they have no method or process to ensure that reviews are legit and accurate.  In fact, my colleagues from California have stated that reviews on some sites have run companies out of business.  Based on what?  In my opinion, these reviews are about as valid as me calling some number on the bathroom wall thinking I will find true love.

Ok, I think I have totally discredited the negative reviews.  Most are fictitious and those that may actually be related to an actual experience are likely from a disgruntled tenant who was appropriately charged for damages upon their exit.  Now let's look at the positive reviews.  I know that most of those are factual because in most cases, those people let us know how happy they were and that they wanted to share it with the world by posting to the internet.  So there is another difference.  Legitimate reviews are preceded with communications to us, prior to posting to the internet.  If the "Nay Sayers" actually wanted a resolution, we know they too would also contact us and work for a solution.

Regardless, until these internet companies take an actual interest in ensuring reviews are real and legitimate and internet users quit relying on what they may innocently believe to be reality, internet reviews can pose a serious issue.  For example, a prospective tenant of one of our properties may read the reviews and decide to look elsewhere.  Now that isn't a problem with prospective owners, as we have no negative reviews from owners.  But it is a concern about prospective tenants.  In order to find the best tenants possible, we need to appeal to as many as possible.  So, if you would like to help and have had a positive experience with us, we ask you to do a couple of things.  Please use your favorite search engine, such as Google, and click if you found the review to be helpful or not.  That hopefully will help discredit the fictitious reviews.  Next, if you believe our service is noteworthy, we invite you to post a review using the below instructions.  If going through all the hoops necessary to post a review is troublesome, please feel free to email me at Tony@FRPMrentals.com.

Steps to Write a Review for First Rate Property Management

1. Go to the link(s) below and click on "Write a Review."
2. Depending on the site, you will need to create an account if you do not already have one. (Clicking on Write a Review will inform you to either create an account or sign in if you already have an account).
3. Once signed in, write the text of your review, select a rating and click submit.

Theses links take you directly to a page to write a review:

• Google - Google Places
• Yahoo - Yahoo Places
• Yelp - Yelp
• Yellow Pages - Yellow Pages