Auto Dealer Monthly, February 2014

ON THE POINT income and time on the job and at residence for customers In years past if one of your employees got caught falsifying a credit application you simply paid the car off apologized to the lender and moved on Times have changed In case you havent heard powerbooking has been a federal crime since 2010 As I write this the FTC is investigating dealerships nationwide for false advertising and noncompliance Th ey have leveled charges against nine dealerships and there are surely more to come From the smallest infraction of failing to post a newly mandated window sticker on a used car 11000 per occurrence to more serious violations of consumer credit and protection regulations Its a safe bet that without a comprehensive audit no dealer can be 100 up on everything they need to do to protect their businesses YELPING BACK AT YELP Hurray In a recent court decision that is going to dramatically alter the retail landscape the Virginia Court of Appeals has ruled that Yelp Inc must divulge the names of seven reviewers who anonymously trashed the reputation of a carpet cleaning business on Yelp com Th at opens the door for the business owners to sue their detractors Th e court upheld a lower court ruling which found that if the commenters were not actually customers they were making false claims which are not protected by the First Amendment Th is is huge Now bear in my mind that what I am writing here is strongly infl uenced by my intense dislike for Yelp and their practices In my opinion Yelp is out of control I believe their business model is not social media but social blackmail I applaud the courts for making Yelp and by extension Ripoff Report and other so called review sites to identify the dealership reputation assassins and professional haters they cover for Its time for these characters to come out from behind their screen names and accept responsibility I think well start to fi nd that the negative reviews oft en come from competitors and other people with hidden agendas Th ey should be fair game for defamation lawsuits right Apparently not everyone agrees As Th e Washington Times fi rst reported every journalistic whiner in the world has issued a statement or fi led an amicus brief in support of Yelp and their courageous campaign to preserve free speech Th e Washington Post is among them as well as Gannett Company Inc the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the American Society of News Editors and yes even Th e Washington Times themselves 12 AUTO DEALER MONTHLY FEBRUARY 2014 Dealers let me ask you this question Do you ever get the feeling that your positive reviews seem to disappear when you fail to advertise on these sites In November I spoke at an Internet sales conference in Los Angeles One of the other speakers was in the midst of a presentation on reputation management when an audience member spoke up He said he felt Yelp reviews cant be trusted and that only dealers who paid for their services were made to look good He said he had seen good reviews diminished or deleted for nonpayment Hes not alone Many dealers have told me that positive legitimate reviews from actual Your customers have every right to post reviews both positive and negative about their experience at your dealership The same is true of anonymous posters but that may soon change A state court has ordered Yelp to reveal the identities of seven people who posted negative reviews about a Virginia carpet cleaning business noting that false claims are not protected speech under the First Amendment happy customers have simply disappeared from review sites One told me he now only solicits reviews from active Yelpers because those reviews tend to stick If hes right that means your customer has to be active on the site for their review to carry any weight If Im right review sites are lightning rods for negative reviews from dissatisfi ed customers If were both right a dealerships reputation can suffer unduly if its happy customers dont have time to build up equity on review sites Yelp is starting to sound like an appropriate description Same for Ripoff Report Th e URL for TrashARespectableBusiness com must have already been taken Still not buying it How about the fact that a cottage industry has sprung up around the notion that third party companies can supposedly remove negative reports from these sites if you can prove them to be fraudulent Do you ever get the feeling youre caught in the middle of an extortion racket Well thats my take on it Bear in mind these opinions are my own Im just exercising my right to free speech Th ink of these writings as my negative review of Yelp Im playing by their ISTOCKPHOTO COM JAKUBZAK rules so Im sure they would have no complaints about me saying whatever I think especially since I did what they require none of their alleged reviewers to do I put my name on it Well thats it for another month As always I am always pleased and excited to hear from you Please share this article and comment on the blogs You can fi nd me on Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn and even Google Please call me write me or comment here Always glad to hear from you whether you agree with me or not ISTOCKPHOTO COM LOUOATES Comprehensive legal audits by qualifi ed experts are expensive but not as expensive as the fi nes and prison sentences some dealers are facing for powerbooking and other offenses that were once regarded as acceptable business practices