One of the oldest, now almost only and definitely biggest, search engine started out as just that, a search engine. Their mantra was simple: “don’t be evil”. Somewhere along the road that mantra must have gone missing.

Writing a review of any company on there is really easy: find that company on the map and publish your review. I do that in one of two cases. If my experience with the company was absolutely abysmal, or if it was to die for stellar, I’ll take the time to rate that company. Mediocre or average user experience doesn’t warrant a review. I believe most regular folks are like me. They write reviews when they are sorely disappointed, or when they are thrilled about a product/service. I really don’t think average users go through the trouble of making up shit just to discredit an honest company. Up until now I trusted the reviews on that big search engine, good or bad. Not anymore, though.

Here’s what happened:

Thirtythree months ago we bought a used car at a local dealership. The car itself was good. The process of buying that car, however, took us a full two months from signing the purchase agreement and paying until we finally had the vehicle and all the wheels for it. The whole ordeal was an unbelieveable sharade! We talked to five different people at the dealership on the phone daily. We even involved the car manufacturer’s customer service. After the transaction was finally done I sat down and wrote the review. Just to warn others, and to get that load off of my chest. At that point I did what I should’ve done before we even looked at the car – I read reviews. The company had a 2.7 rating out of over a hundred reviews. At least that made me feel a little better. I wasn’t just me. It was simply their MO after the old owner had retired and some bigger chain had bought them up.

Fast forward to today. A few days ago now I received an email from the “don’t be evil” search engine. They tell me that this company requested my review to be taken down for violation of terms. They claim “defamation”. Meaning they say I’m committing libel to hurt their business. Why would I do that? Now, if I want my review to stand, I have to waste my time and money to find witnesses, documentation, go to court……. almost three years after the transaction. Why would I do that?

Out of curiosity I looked up the current reviews and rating for that company. They supposedly stand at 4.8 stars right now with a lot less individual ratings – cleaned up all old, negative reviews. There are services offering to do that for a fee – not a high fee either.

Maybe I should open up a business: let me take down your bad reviews for you, I’ll charge like $50 only in case of success. Then I’ll focus on one star reviews older than two years and simply claim “defamation”. Bingo! Don’t just go for the big sites with your clean-up, less known rating sites may still give you away. Funny thing is that this particular company’s own website shows a 3.3 out of 5 customer satisfaction rating. Go figure.