RipOffReport.com is a website which stylizes itself as a consumer advocacy group “run by consumers for consumers” but it’s practice of permitting a defamatory statements to remain on its website has been described by Florida’s Court of Appeals as “appalling”. There is no real verification of the user or the claims they levy against others. Anyone with a keyboard and internet connection can log on to the website and make any claim they wish. Using this site a competitor can target their competition with untruthful claims to sully their reputation; a disgruntled employee can make posts targeting their former employer’s family and posting misleading or personal information.

When the victim reaches out to Rip Off Report, they are told the site refuses to vet, let alone remove the content. Often victims are told that for a hefty fee, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, the site will investigate and allow them to respond. Essentially this “review site” exists to exploit a loophole in the laws designed to protect legitimate content providers like Google, YouTube or Facebook from being held liable for the content posted by their users, and then seeks to profit from the victims.

“The business practices of Xcentric, as presented by the evidence before this Court, are appalling. Xcentric appears to pride itself on having created a forum for defamation. No checks are in place to ensure that only reliable information is publicized. Xcentric retains no general counsel to determine whether its users are availing themselves of its services for the purpose of tortious or illegal conduct. Even when, as here, a user regrets what she has posted and takes every effort to retract it, Xcentric refuses to allow it. Moreover, Xcentric insists in its brief that its policy is never to remove a post. It will not entertain any scenario in which, despite the clear damage that a defamatory or illegal post would continue to cause so long as it remains on the website, Xcentric would remove an offending post.”

-Florida Court of Appeals Judge

Websites such Consumer Affairs show negative review after negative review regarding RipOffReport’s practice of seeking money from victims of defamation.

The Better Business Bureau shows the Rip Off Report maintains an F rating.

Sadly, many years ago Sparrow Exteriors was targeted by a competitor, Preston M Carter, who used RipOffReport and other review sites to damage our reputation. Our President, his family and extended family were also targeted. This competitor posted the names and ages of our owner’s young children as well as their home address, placing them in danger and levied some pretty strong allegations.

Each site was contacted and each investigated the posts, and concluding the posts were false they removed them. However, RipOffReport.com refused to remove the post but they did agree to redact some of the more vile aspects targeting our owner’s young children, all while encouraging us to pay them a sizeable amount to respond. Seeing this as exploitative we declined.

Instead, Sparrow Exteriors and its President, Warren McGrew, took Mr. Carter to the Superior Court of Cherokee County. The Court ruled that the comments made by Preston M Carter in his RipOffReport post were an invasion of privacy and defamatory as a matter of law. The Court also implemented a Permanent Stalking Ex Parte Protective Order against Mr. Carter, barring him from future communication, close proximity or any such postings.

Sadly, this one negative review posted by a non-customer and competitor has done serious harm to our reputation. RipOffRerport continually updates its algorithm to ensure its content stays on page one of most search results. So while this false review is four years old at the time of this writing, it continues to do harm to our brand and reputation. In an effort to set the record straight and shed the light of day on what transpired and what the ultimate outcome was, we are attaching the Court Order here for all to see.

Click the image below to enlarge and view the entire Court Order.

As of the time of this posting Sparrow Exteriors is in its 8^th year in business and has maintained an impeccable reputation. We encourage anyone considering us to see our real reviews, written by real clients on sites such as Google, Facebook, Yelp, Kudzu & To Your Success.

Sparrow Exteriors maintains an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, has been voted “Best of Atlanta” multiple years by Kudzu subscribers, voted “Best of Atlanta” by Expertise subscribers, has won the National Project of the Year Award and our work is featured in manufacturer Brochures and our company is preferred and listed on numerous manufacturer websites as a trusted and reliable installer.