RTL Nieuws reports that people are regularly approached by the food delivery service, Thuisbezorgd, and asked to remove negative reviews of restaurants in return for refunds.
Previously, Thuisbezorgd had denied that this behaviour happened on a large scale. Last week, a Twitter user reported that he had been offered a full refund of a sushi order if he would take down his three-star review of the restaurant. After this was made public, spokesperson for Thuisbezorgd, Joris Wilton, insisted that this was “an exception” and that “it is also important for [Thuisbezorgd] that consumers can rely on reviews.”
Multiple people had the same experience
However, when RTL Nieuws reported on the incident, lots of their readers came forward with similar stories. Dozens of people reported that they had been approached by the website to take down reviews that gave a restaurant less than four stars. Whether it was down to the greasiness of the food or the time it took to arrive, it seemed like the response of Thuisbezorgd was uniform: get the review removed.
Restaurants ask Thuisbezorgd to do this
Thuisbezorgd itself is not necessarily fully to blame here: according to its statement, it will only undertake such an action when the restaurant owners contact them. Some of the people interviewed by RTL Nieuws mentioned that they were emailed or called by restaurant owners first, and only later received official emails from the website itself. But in any case, what this means is that reviews on Thuisbezorgd are not necessarily trustworthy. So maybe check out some other apps for food delivery in the Netherlands if you’re craving something low-effort this evening!
So, if you’re getting delivery this evening, be wary! Have you ever had an experience like this?
Feature image: mohamed_hassan/Pixabay.
I just received a phone call from a restaurant I ordered from to delete my 2-star review. I’ve been ordering from that restaurant on regular basis and the quality has gone down drastically so I felt the review was well deserved. I presume Thuisbezorgd stopped calling customers, so now restaurants have to do it themselves. To receive a phone call like that sounds actually quite threatening…