Why doesn’t the FPA check to make sure each reviewer really is a client of the company reviewed?

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Why doesn’t the Forex Peace Army check to make sure each reviewer or person posting in the forums is really is a client of the company reviewed?

It sounds like a great idea. Imagine how much more honest the forums and reviews would be if everyone who said "I'm a client of this company" had to prove it.

There are a number of reasons why it is not practical.

1. Many reviewers and forums members guard their privacy carefully, since quite a few bad companies have been known to make threats to take revenge on clients who leave bad reviews. Even positive reviews often come in using nicknames, pen names, or just a common first name.

2. If a company says the person who complained was never a client and the reviewer/forums member has a receipt or trading account statement, how would the FPA verify if the documents were real or fake? Without unlimited access the company’s current and past client records, the FPA would have no way to be certain who is telling the truth.

3. A company could easily create fake client documents to back up fake positive reviews and fake "What a great company!" posts in the forums. Many scam brokers would do this to give themselves hundreds of "certified client" 5 star reviews and glowing forums recommendations.

4. Poor service before a sale can form the basis for a review or forums complaint. Are companies supposed to keep a list of all pre-sales contacts and give the FPA unlimited access to it?

5. Sometimes a former client discovers the FPA reviews later and leaves a review. A company with no current clients from a specific country may have former clients from that country or former clients who moved. A current or former client could be traveling. This means that a statement from the company saying "We currently have no clients from Antarctica" doesn't prove that a review left from Antarctica is fake.


Where the FPA does ask for evidence of a client relationship is when a client opens a Problem thread in the Financial Companies Comparisons and Discussions folder and asks for assistance. Since these represent a small fraction of all complaints, the FPA can take the time to ask for verification of a client relationship.


If the FPA launched a full scale investigation into every review and forums complaint before approving it, reviews and posts could take weeks or months to be approved. It could easily cost over $100 to process a single review. Even with this effort, some fake reviews could slip through. Who would pay these costs? Companies or reviewers?

The FPA continues to upgrade review moderation over time. The Review Moderation Team has seen copies of many obvious fake reviews rejected by the FPA show up on other forex review sites. The FPA is convinced that the system used here to moderate reviews uses the most effective practical methods for catching fake reviews, both positive and negative. The system continues to be updated and made more effective over time.

The Forums Team is improving its methods to catch people who make multiple forums accounts without special permission in advance. Most are caught very quickly, but I want to see it happen faster. Like with reviews, these things get better over time.


Related Questions

Why does the FPA moderate reviews? CLICK HERE to find out why.

Are all of the reviews at the FPA real? CLICK HERE to learn more.

More Review Questions? CLICK HERE

More Company Rep Questions? CLICK HERE
 
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