By Pierre Zarokian from Reputation Stars

Ripoff Report has begun offering a program designed to help businesses deal with complaints they have received called the Corporate Advocacy Program. This sounds great, but it offers no removal and no protection from future complaints. It amounts to a bandage and an extremely expensive one at that. When your business is listed on Ripoff Report, the last thing you should do is pay them for a chance at “resolving” the situation. Instead, try some of these tips.

The Legal Approach

If you have a default judgment in your favor, you absolutely should not pay Ripoff Report. In these situations, which are quite rare, you can make a legal request to Ripoff Report to have the posting removed. Ripoff Report may still claim protection under the Communications Decency Act, and that could mean your legal expenses were all for nothing.

The legal approach is a sound, but expensive, strategy with no real promise of a positive outcome.

Corporate Advocacy Program

Paying Ripoff Report to resolve one complaint offers no protection. Your posting will remain online, and your brand will be seen publicly responding to the claim, so if the response is not worded carefully you may suffer even further consequences. Rather than grant validity to Ripoff Report, try managing your brand’s reputation.

There are steps you can take, including customer outreach and social media monitoring, that allow you to hone in the biggest influencers in your community. Instead of arguing with someone online, and paying thousands of dollars to do so, prove to the public that you and your brand have value and integrity. Manage your search presence, increase your customer base and grow your business with reputation management.

Article was written by Pierre Zarokian from Reputation Stars. Reputation Stars provides reputation management and Ripoff Report Post Removal Services.