MILWAUKEE — It is always great to get free meals, but some are doing it at the expense of restaurant owners. People have coined it "Restaurant Extortion," which happens when a customer writes a bad review just to get a free meal.
TMJ4 News spoke to the owner of The Packing House on Layton Ave. in Milwaukee. He believes countless fake reviews have been written about his 48-year-old family business. TMJ4 News reached out to the major online review sites he mentioned, and one is already taking action.
"They walk out and they're in the parking lot going 'Oh my God, this was the worst experience ever.' you message them and say, 'Why didn't you say anything when you were here," Packing House owner Chris Wiken said.
The stakes are higher than ever for Wiken. With more than 40 employees depending on his customers for their livelihood, he takes online reviews seriously.
"There are reviews on there that are over 20 years old," he said. "They never go away."
He has seen some that look suspicious taken down, including one on Yelp earlier this year.
"They literally said we have entrees that we don't serve," Wiken said. "They were talking about a restaurant in Illinois. Most of the time, they really want a gift card is what they want. I'll send that $150 gift card. I mean, what other choice do I have?"
Marquette's Associate Professor Erik Ugland teaches media law. He says filing a libel defamation case is futile.
"We often say in defamation cases, even when you win, you lose with time and expense," Ugland said.
TMJ4 News took the restaurant owner's claims to Google, Yelp and TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor did acknowledge reviews flagged by Wiken just last month.
"We were able to make additional removals of reviews we believe were submitted by a single user in an attempt to gain a refund for their dining experience," TripAdvisor said.
Yelp tells TMJ4 News they investigate all flagged content seriously. Last year, they removed more than 200,000 flagged reviews across their entire site.
Representatives also say they take every flagged review seriously and go through a rigorous review process.
Google's business guidelines say it doesn't get involved when businesses and customers disagree about facts. Ugland believes it may be time to change.
"Reputation certainly matters and maybe we need to modify the laws in some cases to give them some recourse," Ugland said.
Next time you write a review, remember it sticks with the company forever.
