{"id":17716,"date":"2015-02-27T20:09:28","date_gmt":"2015-02-28T00:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?p=17716"},"modified":"2015-03-01T13:41:34","modified_gmt":"2015-03-01T17:41:34","slug":"ftc-to-amerifreight-failure-to-disclose-review-incentives-against-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/27\/ftc-to-amerifreight-failure-to-disclose-review-incentives-against-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"FTC to Amerifreight – Failure to Disclose Review Incentives Against the Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update<\/b>: it would appear that Amerifreight’s Google listing has been taken down. <\/p>\n

The FTC has, for the first time, successfully sued a company for incenting on line reviews and not declaring this material connection.<\/p>\n

According to Google reviewer mb2970s:<\/p>\n

\"mb1970s\"\/<\/p>\n

\n
mb1970s<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

7 months ago<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
I was moving from Nashville to Albuquerque. This is the third time that I have ever transported a vehicle (previously with two other companies). <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Pros:
\n1. Vehicle arrived safely without any damage or items stolen (although that is more of a comment re: the carrier).
\n2. Vehicle was picked up within the 1-15 day window agreed to.
\n3. Vehicle was delivered in a timely fashion.<\/p>\n

Cons:
\n1. Prior to choosing this company, I called twice, left a voicemail message, and emailed the customer service rep without a response. I was once told that the customer service rep was at lunch and would call me back in an hour. I called back over two hours later, and the rep did not know that I had called. Based on the reviews, I went ahead and used them anyway.
\n2. The quoted price was based on giving a “fair review” on two websites. If you don’t leave a review, they’ll add $50 to your quote, which would be $50 more than any other company quoted me (including several that had a carrier immediately available when I spoke to them … however, I kept with Amerifreight based on their online reviews).
\n3. The customer service rep gave me very little information up front, and after we got off the phone sent me an email with multiple items that I had to fill out before they would start looking for a carrier. I was not told about the need to fill out these forms before they would start looking, so I’m glad I read through the forms immediately.
\n4. One of the forms states that your chances of getting a carrier quickly is greatly increased if you say that they can charge you up to $200 more to book a carrier without calling you first. They state that they will try to keep from doing this.
\n5. When I was called with a carrier available, it was for $250 more than quoted (after the $50 discount for writing a review).
\n6. I’m having to write this review in order to get a discount that brings my costs to the same as other carriers offered. The other carriers were quoting me based on immediately available carriers (not estimates\/quotes).
\n7. When I asked about the student discount, I was told not to bother because it basically just drops the amount that they’ll list your vehicle for (hence less likely to ship … and will likely have to raise the price anyway). I think this is deceptive advertising.
\n8. When I received an email reminding me about this review, there was a long paragraph about how I should leave a 5-star review if at all possible because it would effect how the customer service rep was compensated.<\/p>\n

Summary:
\nWhile this company transported my car safely and in the window requested, I’ve had better experiences with other companies that cost less (even during high auto transport seasons). I will not use Amerifreight again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Today The FTC announced<\/a> an agreement with Amerifreight that they will cease the practice:<\/span><\/div>\n
\n

AmeriFreight, an automobile shipment broker based in Peachtree City, Georgia, has agreed to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission<\/a>that will halt the company\u2019s allegedly deceptive practice of touting online customer reviews, while failing to disclose that the reviewers were compensated with discounts and incentives.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The FTC\u2019s complaint marks the first time the agency has charged a company with misrepresenting online reviews by failing to disclose that it gave cash discounts to customers to post the reviews.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies must make it clear when they have paid their customers to write online reviews,\u201d said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC\u2019s Bureau of Consumer Protection. \u201cIf they fail to do that \u2013 as AmeriFreight did \u2013 then they\u2019re deceiving consumers, plain and simple.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

AmeriFreight is an automobile shipment broker that arranges the shipment of consumers\u2019 cars through third-party freight carriers. Its website touted that the company had \u201cmore highly ranked ratings and reviews than any other company in the automotive transportation business.\u201d As part of its advertising, it encouraged consumers to \u201cGoogle us \u2018bbb top rated car shipping.\u2019 You don\u2019t have to believe us, our consumers say it all.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
Amerifreight currently<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
 has 540 reviews at Google and 21 at Yelp. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

The settlement is significant in being the first time that the FTC has inserted itself into the local review space. While there was no monetary settlement, Amerifreight did agree to cease and desist and agree to 20 years of oversight to prevent future abuses.<\/p>\n

This action was a long time coming but makes it clear that incentives are inappropriate country wide.<\/p>\n

It is though amazing to me what so many folks are willing to do for $50. Hardly reinforces my faith in humanity.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0757.PNG\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update: it would appear that Amerifreight’s Google listing has been taken down.  The FTC has, for the first time, successfully sued a company for incenting on line reviews and not declaring this material connection. According to Google reviewer mb2970s: mb1970s   7 months ago I was moving from Nashville to Albuquerque. This is the third …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-plus","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17716"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17722,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17716\/revisions\/17722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}