Seeing the 'Moving company from Florida' triggered me. I was scammed by a moving company from Florida in 2020, and I did a deep dive to look into them and I found huge networks of moving companies, scammers, & reviewers, all in cahoots.
I actually managed to get one company's fake reviews removed from google maps, bringing them from a 4.8+ to a 1.x overnight. Within a few months they were back to > 4, but the owners had sold the company and started a new one.
It's insane how deep this goes. At best it's done by companies that want to cheat the system by getting an unfairly good review, but at its worst it's used to trick users into a false sense of confidence so that they can be scammed.
Moving companies, locksmiths, plumbers, tow trucks. These businesses all have certain things in common:
1) They work in business sectors which you usually only need rarely, so there's no need to build customer loyalty.
2) But when you do need help from one of these businesses, you need it now. There's little room for a customer to negotiate or shop around.
3) As a result, online advertisements and reviews for these businesses are an utter cesspool. There are very few honest reviews, and it's common for "local" business listings to actually connect you with brokers.
Same with tow trucks. Trying to find a tow truck on your own is a HUGE mess. Finding a tow company in the area invariably leads to some sort of "virtual tow truck call center" that takes a bunch of money and subcontracts out to actual tow truck drivers.
My solution was to pay for the roadside assistance via my car insurance and call them to sort things out.
Now emergency plumbers - same mess, but I haven't figured out a solution for that.
Same with locksmiths. Where there's clients in need of emergency services, there are always grifters willing to take advantage of desperation.
(Use AAA for tows and vehicle lockouts, never a locksmith you find on your own.)
Unlike roadside assistance (which works), the one thing I can tell you not to do for emergency plumbers is trust a home warranty service like American Home Shield. These sorts of "services" pay contractors subpar and flat rates, which deprioritizes your claims and incentivizes corner-cutting. They will not deliver miracles like finding you a plumber on Thanksgiving.
I actually managed to get one company's fake reviews removed from google maps, bringing them from a 4.8+ to a 1.x overnight. Within a few months they were back to > 4, but the owners had sold the company and started a new one.
It's insane how deep this goes. At best it's done by companies that want to cheat the system by getting an unfairly good review, but at its worst it's used to trick users into a false sense of confidence so that they can be scammed.