02.24.08

Are Internet Professional Reviews Useful or Just Vehicles For Slander?

Posted in Just A Thought at 7:50 am

I looked up my dentist’s phone number on the Internet a while back and saw with great surprise that there was a review that claimed she rushed through her patients, held them down and ran an office with numerous children crying in it.  (It was so bad that I was looking for the line where the receptionist rattled chains just to frighten children.) The review author claimed such a litany of problems on her supposed visit that you knew it was a fake.

I complained to the site that they had a fake review and they came back with a letter saying it didn’t violate their policies so they wouldn’t remove it. They were right! It didn’t matter how obviously false a review was – if a competitor doesn’t sign it, it would be fine. 

GREAT Policy – & a real winner for making sure your site reviews are useful.

Of course I cruised a number of dentist review sites. There must be a whole cabal of dentists that are officers in their local dentist associations and run their practices to terrorize children. Little Shop of Horrors must have had it right about dentists. Not only that, most dentists have no activity at all and then  5 really good reviews in a 3-day period.  No collusion I’m sure.

Don’t believe everything you read is getting more true every day.

&FYI – I found my dentist because the dentist most frequently mentioned as the best in  NYC in Upper Eastside and Upper Westside playgrounds was someone with a tiny waiting room in lower Manhattan.  Fifteen years and three kids later I can say I heard a child sniveling twice.  Once was after a young man had the bad sense to have a skateboard accident the Friday afternoon of a major holiday weekend and Dr. Jackson was the only dentist that would squeeze in the hour plus visit. (Just the day everyone in the waiting room wanted to be late – but all I could think about was how glad I was that it wasn’t my kid in the chair and at least I wasn’t going to hunt all over the city when we had an emergency.)  The other time, a parent, clearly very fearful of dentists, brought in her child for their first visit.  The child was obviously terrorized & the parent made it worse every time  she opened her mouth.  Jackson played with the child the whole visit (4-8 minutes) – the walls are covered in cool toys – and never took out dental equipment.  The child left, without her dental exam, but with a bag of loot and memories of a dental visit that will make it much easier the next time.

Dr. Jackson is just a very caring person that wants to kids to have the best possible dental care without charging the highest prices in NYC. (She’s not cheap but she by no means is the most expensive.) She certainly doesn’t deserve to be slandered by a false review.