Brightview Cleaning Services in LA Mesa currently has a 4.9 Google rating. Should you trust those ratings? Brightview Cleaning Services is offering one customer $100 to remove their Google review.
This act violates Google’s TOS.
We do not allow merchants to:
Offer incentives – such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services – in exchange for posting any review or revision or removal of a negative review.
Has Brightview Cleaning Services done this in the past with others who left negative reviews? The business has only two other negative reviews. One review raises another red flag. In the review, they wrote, “I believe they outsource the cleaners.” As it turns out, Brightview Cleaning Services is a referral service. This makes their Google Business Profile ineligible. Google doesn’t allow lead-generation businesses to have a maps listing.
Google has the following restrictions and qualifications for Business Profiles:
To qualify for a Business Profile on Google, a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours.
For example, the following businesses are not eligible for a Business Profile:
- An ongoing service, class, or meeting at a location that you don’t own or have the authority to represent.
- Lead generation agents or companies.
- Brands, organizations, artists, and other online-only businesses.
- Rental or for-sale properties such as vacation homes, model homes, or vacant apartments.
Brightview Cleaning Services clearly states on the bottom of the website, “We are a referral agency.” They use the address of a business willing to rent out an office for a day or to receive mail. Needless to say, this address is also ineligible for a GBP. This business is not registered with the California Secretary of State, and San Diego has no DBA on record.
To recap, the address is a real office location; I can’t confirm they are registered online anywhere; they may have a city license; they are offering money to remove negative reviews; and they are subcontracting the work. You have no idea who is coming to your home or if you can trust the reviews.
Needless to say, Brightview Cleaning Services won’t be on Google much longer. I am going to report their GBP to Google for removal. They will be hard-pressed to get reinstated once they’re suspended. Hopefully, they don’t come back or start under a different business name.