Reputation.com, formerly known as ReputationDefender.com, is a service which claims to protect your online reputation from bad reviews and negative comments. Today we’ll take a closer look at this service, and ask for reader reviews.
How it works
Reputation.com is a web service that specializes in safeguarding the online reputation of clients, which can be an individual or a business. In short, the site relies heavily on burying or suppressing negative content by creating positive content designed to rank higher in search results. As their website stated in early 2013:
Our publishing team will create custom profiles and other content for you or your business to build a positive online presence, and our expert reputation advisers will work with you to push down or suppress any negative content that shows up high in your search results.
They also offer monitoring and alerts for anything negative that appears online, as well as other personal and business solutions.
Reputation.com Commercial
Below is a Reputation.com commercial that was airing nationally at the end of December 2014:
Reputation.com’s Own Reputation
A Google search for “Reputation.com reviews” in January of 2015 reveals three negative results in the first page of Google. In April of 2013 when we first wrote an article on Reputation.com, page 1 of a Google search for “Reputation.com reviews” displayed four websites with negative information about the company in the top ten results.
- This complaint from Ripoff Report
- Reputation.com Reviews from Glass Door. 71 employee reviews give it an overall grade of 66% (3.8 out of 5 stars)
- Reputation.com review – it is a scam from Pissed Consumer with two pages of negative reviews.
Perhaps most disturbing are some of the outrageous claims levied against Reputation.com on Ripoff Report which have gone unanswered. Surely a company dedicated to protecting reputations would want to at least respond to claims of blackmail, fraud, and deception. It stands to reason that Reputation.com is aware of these negative reviews, since they are in the business of suppressing them.
In an ironic twist, there are several complaints on Ripoff Report by users who were unhappy with Reputation.com for being unable to suppress complaints about them that appeared on Ripoff Report.
Additionally, Account Killer, the website that aids users in deleting online accounts, notes that there is no standard way for members of Reputation.com to delete their accounts: “There’s no way to delete your account manually. Quite strange for this privacy related web service!” However, they do provide a phone number for cancellations that is listed on the Reputation.com website, “From their page: You may cancel your membership by contacting our cancellation department at 650-381-2973.”
In all fairness, though, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating for Reputation.com is A+. The company has been accredited with the BBB since 3/30/2009, and has received 20 complaints over the past 3 years. This is a very small number of complaints considering the amount of people who have likely used Reputation.com
Price
Much has changed with Reputation.com since we first published a review of the website in April of 2013. As of this revision in January of 2015, the prices have increased considerably.
Reputation.com now charges according to the severity of the problem and how much positive web content needs to be created to outweigh negative content.
Below is a breakdown of their pricing according to the severity of the problem:
- Moderately High – $3000
- High – $5000
- Very High – $7,500
- Extremely High – $10,000
- Extremely High – $15,000
Each of these packages includes a “Reputation Adviser” team, a custom content strategy, and routine update reports.
In 2007, a Bloomberg article mentioned a $10,000 price tag for premium service, “For executives there’s a new, $10,000 premium service from ReputationDefender.com that can promote the info you want and suppress the news you don’t.“
In early 2013, Reputation.com made the following statements about their pricing, yet these comments no longer appear on their website:
A word about our pricing.
Frankly, we’d love to use one-size-fits-all pricing, but every problem is unique. Basically, there are four factors that determine the cost and complexity of fixing a problem:
How high the unwanted content ranks in search engines,
The authority of the website containing the content,
The online popularity of your name, and
The total number of other people who have your same name.
Protecting the Bad Guys?
One obvious question that comes up here is the idea that Reputation.com may be protecting those who rightly deserve a bad reputation. We have all had a bad experience which prompted us to go online and warn others about poor service and/or shady business practices. Are we to assume that these shady businesses can hire Reputation.com to suppress genuine complaints?
Patented Technology?
Some have questioned whether Reputation.com actually has “patented technology” as claimed. We were able to find a patent labeled “Identifying and changing personal information” dated November 2011. It isn’t clear how well this patented technology works, or if it is able to adjust to changing algorithms by search engines.
Bottom Line
Reputation.com is a website that protects the internet reputation of its clientele for a price. Given that the website has a negative standing on some easily findable webpages, one might think they should put more effort into repairing their own reputation if they want to prove they can deliver results. Their lack of response to some damning accusations may be unsettling to some potential customers.
Your Turn
Have you used Reputation.com? Let us hear of your experience in the comments below.
Updated January 8, 2015
Originally published April 2013
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