Last Saturday we suggested that an apartment locator (a/k/a bedbug) by the name of Ginger Summers quit spamming Craigslist with thousands of repetitive ads.
We don’t expect to affect Ginger’s behavior – her bots have already posted 100s of ads before noon today, and nearly 1,000 yesterday – but hopefully we can convince you to avoid Rent Proactive and other apartment locators / bedbugs when you’re searching for your next apartment.
Ginger Summers is the Business Development Director for Rent Proactive and presumably, in that capacity, aware of and responsible for monitoring reviews at Yelp. She must be “beyond thrilled” that people who’ve never Yelped before felt impelled to join Yelp and tout the “exceptional service” her company delivers. Some samples:
Last Friday Regan R, who’d never Yelped before, felt compelled to tell the world about being “beyond thrilled” with Ginger’s company. Ginger’s company was “the best thing that ever happened” to Douglas M, and he also Yelped for the first time on February 17. Sonal P’s initial Yelp on January 31 touted the “exceptional service” he received (imagined?) from Ginger’s company. Last December 12, Joanne m wrote her first-ever Yelp review, noting that she was “beyond impressed” with Ginger’s company. On December 15, rob m wrote his first Yelp review, a one-liner on a restaurant, and then provided a glowing 5-star review of Ginger Summers.
Ginger’s probably not so thrilled with Jason S’ lengthy account of chasing Rent Proactive for months for a promised check.
Rent Proactive isn’t the only bedbug company to spam Craigslist and to be the subject of multiple suspicious reviews on Yelp. They may not even be the worst offender. Spreading lies and confusion is in a bedbug’s DNA and is often their entire DNA.
From Jason S’ account Rent Proactive has been successful in having negative reviews removed from Yelp. And those positive reviews: Ginger Summers, cut the crap on Yelp.
TIP: Mistrust all positive reviews of bedbugs on Yelp. There are veteran Yelpers who hire out to write positive reviews, and some of them are very adept at what they do. First-time Yelper isn’t a bullet-proof guide to whether a positive review is suspicious.
Landlords, management companies and real estate agents who want to help renters by making Craigslist more effective will find some practical, easy-to-follow tips in this YoChicago post.
Renters looking for their next place in downtown Chicago and Lincoln Park should visit our rental guides
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