From Florida Realtors
A problematic website that appeared to post fake reviews of Realtors – most of them negative — apparently has been taken down.
If a Realtor contacted the website, realtor-complaints.com, he was told that his negative review would be removed for a fee. According to Stacey Moncrieff, an associate editor with NAR’s Real Estate Today magazine, a number of factors seemed to suggest that website owners faked the reviews, such as similarly worded negative comments applied to more than one Realtor.
Once the website came to the attention of Florida Realtors and other state associations, the National Association of Realtors took on the issue, working to stop the review website based, in part, on misuse of NAR’s trademark.
“The NAR legal department responded to our concerns and immediately took steps,” says Florida Realtors’ Vice President and General Counsel Margy Grant. “I believe their quick action led to this website’s deactivation. This is great news for Realtors.”
The future of the website address is unclear, however. Moncrieff says she understood the website address had been sold and planned to relaunch May 1. However, even that message has now been taken down.
Grant, however, also signaled a warning. “Members should continue to report any kind of scam,” she says. “This kind of behavior tends to repeat itself with efforts by copycats who think they see an easy way to make money. If a website owner asks for money to remove a negative review, consider that a red flag.”