Reputation Changer: Complaints From Consumers Are Corrosive to Online Reputation

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwire – Aug 27, 2012) – The Better Business Bureau serves an invaluable role in today’s consumer culture, providing individuals with needed cautions and protections against illegitimate or disreputable businesses. While the work done by the BBB is generally helpful for the consumer, however, it is not always beneficial to business owners. This is particularly true of BBB locations that place consumer complaints on their websites, something that could ruin a company’s online reputation. More and more BBB offices are heading down this road, with Cleveland emerging as the latest city to announce that it will include the full test of consumer complaints on its website. In light of these trends, more and more businesses are turning to the reputation repair services of companies like Reputation Changer.

At Reputation Changer, complaints and negative reviews are taken seriously, as the company seeks to suppress them on behalf of its corporate clients, ultimately helping portray those businesses in the best light possible. The company has responded to the recent Cleveland BBB announcement with a statement to the press. “The Better Business Bureau is not the enemy, and in fact, it does some tremendous and invaluable services, protecting consumers from things like fraud or simply shoddy service,” says the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Cliff Stein. “However, the very nature of consumer reviews dictates that they are not always accurate or trustworthy, and having them displayed on a BBB website can prove deeply damaging to businesses of all shapes and sizes.”

Stein explains that, even on the Better Business Bureau website, consumer complaints are not always what they appear. “At Reputation Changer, complaints are taken with a grain of salt, quite frankly,” he affirms. “The reason for this is that the Internet provides a way for people to say whatever they want, about whichever company they want — which means that these complaints are not necessarily based in fact.”

The Reputation Changer CEO offers some examples. “A consumer might complain about a company’s customer service when maybe it was the consumer who was simply having a bad day,” Stein suggests. “These complaints may not come from consumers at all, but perhaps from business competitors, or disgruntled former employees.”

Better Business Bureau complaints, whether accurate or inaccurate, can have corrosive effects on a company’s brand reputation. “We have had companies come to us who have had tremendous reputation problems, all stemming from a BBB complaint,” Stein remarks. “Let’s say someone Googles the name of your company, and the very first listing that appears is a BBB complaint, accusing you of having terrible service or of being dishonest in your dealings. That’s obviously going to lead to fewer customers, and ultimately to lost sales.”

Stein says that between complaints posted to BBB sites and reviews posted to sites like Yelp.com, business owners face many reputation threats in the Age of Google. The good news, according to the Reputation Changer executive, is that his company offers services that can help. “We cannot erase a BBB complaint, but we can work with a client to produce a lot of positive, brand-enhancing content,” he explains. “That positive content ultimately serves as a counterweight to the negatives.”

Reputation Changer’s complaint suppression services have won them innumerable corporate clients, ranging from Fortune 500 brands to start-up companies. “Our passion is for giving business owners some control over how their brands are portrayed on the Internet,” Stein concludes. “We want to help each client’s brand stand out as a brand of choice among consumers.”

ABOUT:

Reputation Changer is the #1 reputation management agency in the world. Ever since its 2009 foundation, the company has been heralded for its innovation in online reputation defense. The company was founded by a team of direct response marketing and SEO professionals, now joined by a devoted team of copywriters, account executives, Web designers, and social media experts. Reputation Changer is founded on the premise that individuals and corporations deserve to have some control over how they are presented on the Internet. Reputation Changer has provided its services to medical practices and legal firms, Fortune 500 companies and small businesses, elected officials and private citizens.

2012-08-27 03:56:33

Source: http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=1694386&sourceType=3