1 reviews | Active since May 2016

15 Nov 2022, 07:48

Hellopeter is now just an advertising platform for businesses

Hellopeter is not what it used to be, it used to be a place where consumers reviewed business, good and bad. Not anymore. Now its become a business, for paying businesses.

I recently reported a business to hellopeter that had received 61 reviews in 16 months, with 54 of these 1-star reviews. The same company then received 58 reviews in 3 days, 54 of which were 5 stars. Quite a turnaround from pathetic business in 3 days? Now even a child could see that this is suspicious. The company jumped from one of the worse insurers to top 5% on hellopeter. I reported this to hellopeter who responded that they can't see ANYTHING suspicious with this, and it looks normal to them. SERIOUSLY? Well quite simply, the company is a paying customer on Hellopeter, and that's what really matters with the "new hello peter" since it was sold a few years ago. You are no longer a platform where people can go and look at a business before engaging them. Off course I expect a lame generic response from hellopeter, if they don't just delete the reviews,

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Replies (4)
Hellopeter
Hellopeter's reply15 Nov 2022, 09:27
Official
Hi Henning. Thanks for sharing your concerns with us. Hellopeter is now a balanced online review platform. We're currently at 50% positive and 50% negative reviews. We’re always trying to find new ways to make review collection easier for customers and businesses alike. We're continually rolling out new features to help businesses actively collect reviews through sending out review invites to their recent customers. Therefore, it's entirely possible for a business to go from zero to many reviews in a short period of time, as is the case with the reviews you flagged. It’s also possible for new reviewers to sign up and leave their first review on Hellopeter as a result of a push by the business in question. We assure you that as part of our ongoing efforts to keep Hellopeter South Africa's number one trusted online review platform, we use a combination of manual verification checks and advanced software to detect any unusual review activity or suspicious activity on our platform. I hope this bring further clarity. Kind regards, the Hellopeter Team
's update15 Nov 2022, 09:50
Reviewer Update
Yes its possible for a customer to get many reviews in a short period of time, but the fact that the 50% positive came in 3 days and the 50% negative over 16 months, does not bother you? SERIOUSLY THAT SEEMS LEGIT?
Surely if there is a "balance" then the balance should be spread over time. I'm telling you that I have NO DOUBT, that 35 reviews on one day, all good (5 star), except for ONE person that also thinks it fishy, is *******. You know it's nonsense. You are supporting your paying customers here.
Hellopeter
Hellopeter's reply15 Nov 2022, 10:12
Official
Hi Henning. As explained, the business has now actively started collecting reviews. What that means is that in the past - they didn't collect reviews, which is why they only received 61 reviews in 16 months. So, now that they are collecting reviews, this means they could have many positive reviews in one day as they sent out review invites to their customers they have dealt with encouraging them to write reviews. Kind regards, the Hellopeter Team
's update15 Nov 2022, 10:40
Reviewer Update
All good, in one day. Not one of those customers they sent the invites had anything bad to say? But before that, nobody had anything good to say about them.
Either way, even if they solicited people to write good reviews, it still gives your site ZERO credibility as a review platform. The results are contrived for paying customers, in one way or another. Be it with **** reviews or soliciting customers to write good reviews. Go and look at other review platforms, where the results are not influenced by the customer or the "review platform host". You will see a grim tale for this company. The actual story. You are now missing the point of your own website. Regards Henning Boshoff.