How about after TER supposedly checks the reviews for inconsistencies, and before they publish the review, they simply send a PM to the provider asking her if she recently saw this person without showing the provider the review's details.
Then, if the provider doesn't respond, let's say within 48 to 72 hours, the review is automatically posted. That would be a nice small courtesy for the provider that may help the battle of the fake reviews tremendously.-- Modified on 11/11/2017 2:59:30 PM
... is that many people don't make appointments using the TER handle or alias under which they wrote the review. Thus the provider may not know the author by the handle/alias on the review. Without the review details, the provider could report back to TER that they don't know that they saw this person. Then what happens?
And how about if the provider DOES recognize the reviewer's handle or alias but she thinks the session didn't go well and fears a negative review. It's possible she'd tell TER that this person didn't see her. Then who does TER believe? Alternately, the provider could pre-emptively contact the reviewer about the pending review and threaten him/her (blacklisting etc) if they post a negative review.
I'm not saying all providers will act this way. But based on what I've seen on TER over the years, I believe these scenarios are all plausible.
Many Providers don't know about TER. It wouldn't work in the case of Providers who aren't members of TER. Unless you mean that TER should find their contact info and send them a regular e-mail. So maybe just concede that you can only cover TER members with your suggestion. But Mr. Envelope also raises valid points.
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Lots of good ideas and good intentions. We just haven't found the right solution yet.
It doesn't matter if the providers are not VIP members or members at all. If the provider doesn't respond to a PM from TER in let's say 72 hours, then their review gets posted no matter what.
If the provider claims they have not seen the hobbyist because either the provider didn't bother to get a TER handle from the hobbyist upon screening (if they screened) or for any other reason (if the provider knows the review won't be a good one and therefore wants to claim she didn't see the hobbyist), and then if the hobbyist can prove he saw the provider by sending TER support staff a snippet of proof of communication between the two of them, then the provider gets her privileges of receiving a courtesy PM asking her if she saw any future hobbyist taken away for good.
I believe that would help the fake review situation that is currently being obviously abused by the hobbyists...because you see ... the twist to all of this is this:
Hobbyists get to have FREE VIP memberships by GIVING reviews ... WHETHER THEY ARE FAKE OR NOT
Providers NEVER get a FREE VIP membership ... even if they RECEIVE three or more reviews in a month ... WHY?
A reviewer has to spend tens of thousands of dollars a year in order to see enough providers to keep his VIP status without paying for it. That is hardly FREE.
If a provider is getting three or more reviews every month, she should be making bank and if she can't afford a lousy couple of hundred bucks a year she needs better money management skills.
Saved me some typing. 😊
I don't see anything in your review history that appear obviously fake. The scores are in line with what you've been getting, so that seems fair-ish at least. You have a slight decline in scores after about February 2017 (where you were a solid 8 overall), which is probably just your score normalizing.
From the text of your reviews it seems like you do a great job, but occasionally have trouble with time management. If that is indeed the case, it's certainly a point for improvement as some guys get real butt hurt about being late.
Sure the TER system is exploitable, and reviews can be faked. I don't think anyone using the site seriously believes anything to the contrary, so as long as the scores are just supporting your averages, what is the real problem? If anything it's just making you seem more popular and bumping your search results up to the top of people's searches. That's to your benefit.
Realistically, if a provider cares about their reviews, they'll police the fake reviews the best they can by making the reviewer prove they actually saw someone. It isn't like the current system is totally broken.