Fake reviews push back Byron Bay restaurant launch
A new Byron Bay beachfront restaurant has received negative online Google reviews without even opening its doors.
Kiki on Byron was supposed to open its doors on Saturday 9 January 2021, but the review was posted on the Thursday night, two days before opening.
"This was an expensive disappointment. Very unprofessional staff who were very disorganised and obviously lacked communication skills," the review said.
"The opening was a reflection of the way in a which a poorly constructed business should run."
Owner of the restaurant, Ms Saphia Smereka has postponed the official public launch of the restaurant as she was too upset after receiving the first fake review.
"It was very upsetting to get this negative review, but heartbreaking considering we aren't even open yet — it was a clear attack," she said.
"I had a really bad sleep thinking, 'Who is this person trying to take my business down and why would they do such a horrible thing?'," she said.
That wasn’t the end of the bad reviews.
Three more were added over the weekend by "Jackie Peterson", "Samantha Blue" and "Kylie Heart" and all gave Ms Smereka's restaurant one-star ratings.
The ABC, which first reported the story checked the profiles of the "reviewers" and found none of them had an online presence, nor had they posted any prior reviews.
This points to the potential of people using aliases to sabotage Ms Smereka's business.
"Someone told me that Google reviews are permanent and there's no way you can get them deleted, so they can actually be devastating for a lot of small businesses," Ms Smereka said.
Smereka contacted Google Australia for help in this matter and was issued a statement instructing her to report the reviews, and saying it would look into the matter.
Google also stated it took the issue seriously and closely monitors content that violates its policies.
According to Google, it also provides easy ways for users to flag reviews, inappropriate content and misleading locations for removal.
Chris Lamont , New South Wales Small Business Commissioner has stated that the Commission could make representations to social media providers on behalf of aggrieved business owners.
"Platforms that do not remove reviews that are known to be fake are actually breaching the Competition and Consumer Act, so that is breaching the law if they do not remove known fake reviews that are on their platform," he said.
"It's good to know that the small business commissioner will represent me if nothing happens," Ms Smereka said.
The commissioner suggests responding to fake complaints or bad reviews in a rational, non-personal way.
"I think what the commissioner said is a good idea, just responding in a polite and professional way saying, 'Are you confused because we haven't opened?'," Ms Smereka said.
"The key I have learnt is just be friendly and not take it personally.
"I'm just learning to deal with any situation in a positive way."
Irit Jackson, 14th January 2021
