How to Remove Fake Reviews from Angi.com

Negative reviews on Angi.com can have a significant impact on the reputation of contractors, home improvement agencies, and local businesses. If you have found yourself in this situation, it is important to know how to remove a review from Angi.com.

Removing a review from Angi.com can be a difficult process, but it is possible. Follow these steps to get a fake review removed:

1. Familiarize yourself with Angi.com’s review Community Guidelines,
2. Reach out to the reviewer and ask them to remove the review,
3. Flag and dispute the review (for Angi.com ‘Pro’ subscriptions),
4. Work with a defamation attorney to send a cease and desist letter or pursue legal action to obtain a court order to remove the content.

As an internet defamation law firm, we are well-versed in helping businesses and individuals protect their online reputations. We have extensive experience dealing with negative and fake reviews on platforms like Angi.com and can provide actionable advice on how to remove them. We can also assist with negotiation with the reviewer or pursue legal action against the reviewer for defamation or false statements.

In this article, we will discuss how to remove a review from Angi.com and restore your online image.

What is Angi.com (Formerly Angie’s List)?

Angi.com is the largest digital marketplace for home services. In 2020, over 240,000 businesses used Angi to connect with customers, and more than 32 million projects were requested in over 500 categories.

Angi.com provides a platform for users to search for contractors who can provide paid home improvement services. It also serves as a comprehensive database of reviews for local services, including but not limited to the following:

• Plumbing,
• Landscaping,
• Electrical work,
• Painting,
• HVAC,
• Roofing.

Angi.com enables users to input information about their home improvement needs and then receive personalized solutions that match their requirements. Users can compare quotes from various service providers and read reviews from previous customers before making a decision.

Each business on Angi.com has a detailed profile that includes ratings based on overall score, price, professionalism, punctuality, quality, and responsiveness. Customers can leave reviews and upload photos to provide a complete picture of their experience with a particular service provider. This allows other users to make informed decisions based on the experiences of past customers.

Why Did Angie’s List Change Their Name to Angi?

The decision to change the name from Angie’s List to Angi was to reflect the company’s ownership of other housing-related services, including HomeAdvisor and Handy. While the Angie’s List brand was known and trusted, the name no longer accurately represented the company’s expanded offerings beyond a list of reviewed service providers.

The company has evolved to offer a platform that not only helps customers find and review contractors but also book and pay for their services. Angi’s revenue primarily comes from home service professionals who advertise on Angi Ads or Angi Leads, but homeowners can also pay for yearly membership for access to special discounts and coupons.

How Does Angi Work For Consumers & Businesses?

Angi.com works as a digital marketplace that helps consumers find reliable and top-rated service providers in their local area for free but also offers paid premium plans for additional features.

Businesses can create a profile for free, but many opt to pay for advertising to increase visibility and generate leads. For those that pay for advertising, Angi acts as an additional sales team for businesses in the home improvement or repair services industry. The platform offers over 700 categories, including highly specific sub-categories such as “GE dryer repair.”

Is Having a Good Reputation on Angi Important?

Maintaining a positive reputation on Angi is crucial for any business operating in the home services industry. Positive reviews and ratings not only serve as a backlink to your website but also help build trust with potential customers.

With so many options available to consumers, having a strong online reputation can be the deciding factor in choosing a service provider. Customers are more likely to choose a business with glowing reviews over one with negative feedback or no reviews at all.

Understanding Angie’s List Rating Criteria

Before listing your business on Angi, it is important to understand the rating criteria used by the platform to evaluate businesses.

What is Angi’s Rating Criteria?

Angi uses a 1 to 5-star rating system based on customer reviews to help individuals make informed hiring decisions, with five stars representing the best quality and service. Reviews cover various factors, including price, quality, responsiveness, punctuality, and professionalism.

The platform also has a Membership Bill of Rights to ensure honest reviews and policies for all members, with reviews checked to prevent fraudulent activity. However, defamatory reviews can still occur, and the review system has faced criticism.

Does Angi Allow For Biased or Anonymous Reviews?

Angi prohibits biased reviews by prohibiting companies to rate themselves and by ensuring that consumers are not affiliated with or in competition with the business for which they are providing feedback.

Additionally, anonymous comments are not allowed on the platform to preserve the integrity of the feedback.

How Does Angi Resolve Disputes Between Customers & Businesses?

Angi provides a free Complaint Resolution Process exclusively for its members who have submitted a report with a grade of C (3 stars or less) or worse for home, health, or auto services that occurred within the past twelve months and have made an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the issue.

The process involves assigning a case manager to work with both parties to find a mutually agreeable resolution, and the member has the power to determine whether the resolution meets their needs or not. Angi does not get involved with complaints that have led to litigation or have been ruled on by appropriate governing bodies, and health-related complainants must be willing to sign a HIPAA waiver.

How Trustworthy Are Angi.com’s Reviews?

While Angi has measures in place to prevent biased or anonymous reviews and offers a complaint resolution process for members, there have been reports and criticisms that have called into question the trustworthiness of Angi’s reviews. These include allegations of aggressive sales tactics, a pay-to-play structure, and the potential for fake or manipulated reviews.

Reports of Aggressive Sales Tactics

There have been multiple reports of aggressive sales tactics by Angi.com’s sales representatives. After signing up for a free account, many users receive persistent phone calls and text messages from salespeople trying to convince them to pay for advertising contracts.

Some professionals have reported being promised a high ROI, only to be disappointed with little to no results after paying $300+ per month. When attempting to cancel, they are met with multiple barriers, such as the salesman being on “vacation,” and are often told about a 35% early cancellation fee that was not disclosed earlier. Numerous complaints on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) suggest that this is a common pattern.

Pay-to-Play Structure

Angi’s business model includes a pay-to-play structure, where companies can pay to appear higher in search results, potentially compromising the validity of Angi’s list sorting system.

While it is possible to list a business for free, the listing may be buried under paid listings. This practice is not uncommon among online directories, as even platforms like Yelp have made it increasingly difficult to achieve results without paying for premium placement.

Only Business Advertisers Are Recommended as “Top-Rated Pros”

According to a 2019 study by the Consumer Federation, Angie’s List recommends only business advertisers as “top-rated pros,” which does not necessarily mean they provide the best service. These recommendations are given to consumer members who express interest in a particular service, request recommendations from the Support Center, or receive emailed ads.

However, the study found that these recommended companies often have few reviews, and lower grades than other A-rated companies in the service category, and there is no disclosure that they are advertisers. This lack of transparency may mislead consumers into believing these recommendations are based on merit.

Angi May Favor Advertisers

According to the same Consumer Federation study, Angi may display a preference for advertisers. This bias is manifested in how the ratings and comments are collected and utilized by Angi. The grades given to a specific business are heavily influenced by the ratings and comments provided by its customers.

To help advertisers secure positive ratings and comments, Angi.com reaches out to a list of past customers provided by the advertiser. However, advertisers are likely to submit only the names of customers who they believe were satisfied with their services, leaving out dissatisfied customers who may have given negative feedback.

If a negative rating or comment does get submitted, Angi offers to contact the customer and mediate a resolution, with the potential for the submission of a revised rating and comment. This means that businesses that do not advertise on Angie’s List are more likely to have negative ratings on their listing, all other factors being equal. Consumers who are familiar with Angi.com can take steps to mitigate this bias, but most consumers are not aware of this issue and are therefore vulnerable to biased ratings.

Only Angie’s List Members Can Affect Your Review Grade

The impact of a business’s reviews on Angie’s List is limited to members of the platform. In other words, only reviews from members of Angi.com will influence a business’s rating. This means that if a business is not attracting the majority of its customers through Angie’s List, the reviews they receive from non-members will not be factored into its rating.

Even if a business has numerous positive reviews from non-members, a negative review from an Angi member has the potential to significantly lower their grade and ultimately result in a loss of customers.

How to Remove Fake Reviews From Angi.com

Removing reviews from Angi.com can be a challenging task for businesses. In the sections that follow, we will provide insights on various methods, both legal and non-legal, which you can use to address and potentially remove false or defamatory reviews from the platform.

What Non-Legal Actions Can Businesses Take to Remove Reviews From Angi.com?

Learn How to Spot Fake Reviews on Angi.com

To spot fake reviews, a business should first consult its records and cross-reference them with the reviewer’s information. If you cannot find a matching customer, consider this a red flag.

You should also investigate signs of suspicious accounts, such as profiles lacking detail or review activity that appears to be overly favorable to a particular business.

Additionally, analyzing the review’s timing and language can help determine if it is genuine or not. For example, if you see several 1-star reviews in a short time frame, this could indicate an organized attack against your business.

Understand Angi Review Community Guidelines

It is essential to understand Angi’s Community Guidelines when addressing reviews on the platform. Specifically, Angi encourages reviewers to offer an accurate description of their project experience and avoid submitting reviews that may be considered defamatory or abusive, along with helpful tips and insights.

Additionally, the guidelines stress the importance of using family-friendly language, making accurate statements, staying relevant to the project at hand, and respecting individuals’ privacy by not disclosing any private information.

Ask Reviewer to Remove the Review

In certain instances, businesses can request that the reviewer removes their negative review from Angi. However, typically, it is the responsibility of the reviewer to edit or remove their own review.

In situations where a negative review is the result of a miscommunication or error on the part of the business, responding to the consumer and working toward a resolution can potentially lead the reviewer to revise their review.

It is important to note that responding to a review could potentially draw more attention to the negative review and make it more challenging to ultimately remove.

Flag & Dispute the Review

Angi offers a couple of mechanisms to flag and dispute reviews, including the ability for ‘Pro’ members to flag reviews and built-in mechanisms to identify and flag fake reviews. When a dispute occurs between a customer and a business, the rating can be held in pending status until a resolution is found, but the platform does not take responsibility for any claims, damages, or losses that may result from using the platform.

If you think a negative review was mistakenly attributed to your business because of Angi’s mistake, you can contact a Support Specialist by starting a new chat during business hours.

Legal Action Businesses Can Take to Remove Reviews From Angi.com

The importance of online reviews in shaping a business’s reputation cannot be overstated. However, negative reviews that are false or defamatory can have a significant impact on a business’s success. When dealing with negative reviews on Angi, it is essential to understand what legal options are available.

In some cases, flagging a review to the platform may not be sufficient to have it removed. In such cases, businesses or contractors can take legal action to address the matter. However, it is crucial to note that legal action should be the last resort – because it can be time-consuming and costly.

If you already have a significant number of positive reviews, one negative review may not be damaging to your overall rating. Thus, it may not be worthwhile to pursue legal action to remove it. But, if the review makes serious allegations such as discrimination or unlawful activity, it could seriously harm your reputation. In such cases, it is advisable to consult a lawyer to discuss the options available.

You may be able to resolve the issue by working with an experienced defamation attorney to send a cease and desist letter or file a defamation lawsuit. Filing a defamation lawsuit may be an effective way to obtain a court order to remove the content and recover damages for harm to your reputation and lost business.

Can You Sue Angi.com For a Fake Review?

In general, it is not possible to sue Angi.com for a fake review. This is because Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects websites like Angi from being held liable for content posted by third parties on their platform.

However, it may be possible to take legal action against the person who posted the fake review, particularly if it contains false statements that harm you or your business’s reputation.

For further reading, please see our comprehensive articles answering if you can sue for a bad review and explaining how to file a lawsuit over a bad review.

Is it Possible to Remove an Entire Business Listing From Angi?

Removing an entire business listing can be a complicated process, and there is no quick and easy solution to do so. However, there are a few options available to try.

One option is to send an account closure request through the Angi contact form. This form allows you to request the closure of your account and provides a space for you to provide feedback regarding your experience with the platform.

Another option is to send Angi an email expressing your request to remove your business listing from their platform. Be sure to include your business’s name and any relevant information to help expedite the process.

You can also try calling Angi’s customer service team directly. This will give you the opportunity to speak to a representative who can guide you through the process of removing your business listing.

How Can Defamation Attorneys Remove Fake Content From Angi?

If you have been the target of fake content on Angi, you may be wondering what legal options are available to you. In almost all cases, a defamation lawsuit must be brought against the individual who left the review.

It is essential to note that not all negative reviews are worth taking action on, especially if they are true. Pursuing legal action against a reviewer without proper justification can lead to a countersuit or further unwanted attention being drawn to the matter (this is commonly referred to as the ‘Streisand Effect’).

However, in situations where the review could seriously harm your reputation, filing a defamation lawsuit against the reviewer may be the best course of action. This may be the case when the reviewer appears to be leaving multiple reviews or when the review contains serious allegations like criminal activity, sexual assault or harassment, or discrimination.

Even if you are unable to track down the actual identity of a defamer, an experienced internet defamation attorney can help you file a John Doe lawsuit to uncover the defamer’s identity. This will allow you to take legal action against the responsible party and seek removal of the false content.

For further reading, please see our comprehensive guide explaining how to identify and unmask anonymous posters.

We Can Help Your Business Remove Fake Online Reviews

At Minc Law, we understand the devastating effects fake online reviews can have on your business. However, filing a defamation lawsuit is not always the right course of action to resolve your matter, so we recommend reaching out to an experienced internet defamation attorney to help advise you on navigating the removal process and explore alternative claims.

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“We were under pressure to resolve an unfavorable Yelp review. Our Minc team was empathetic, efficient and got the job done quickly. We now have a lifeline when an on-line review becomes problematic. Many thanks to our wonderful team!”

Ellen A.

July 13, 2021

If your business is the target of fake reviews on Angi.com and you would like to explore your removal options, reach out to schedule your no-obligation defamation case evaluation by calling us at (216) 373-7706, speaking with a Chat representative, or filling out our online contact form.