Dave Mountford, of the Boat Inn in Cromford, Derbyshire, logged on to the website after a local alerted him to “five lousy reviews” that had been posted underneath the name of his pub.
Mistake
He read the negative feedback but concluded that the descriptions in terms of location, drinks prices and food offer did not match his venue and contacted TripAdvisor to voice his concerns.
He told them he believed that the reviews were mistakenly left for a similarly named pub located three miles away.
TripAdvisor promptly removed four of the posts but the fifth, posted on 11 April, remains.
Investigation
James Kay, a TripAdvisor spokesman, insisted the site investigates all reports of reviews posted in error.
“Four of the reviews were removed from the Boat Inn’s listing following investigation,” he told the Publican's Morning Advertiser. “In the case of the fifth review our investigation found no clear evidence to suggest the review related to an experience at another restaurant.
“With more than 100 million reviews and opinions, growing at over 70 contributions a minute, on more than 2.7 million businesses around the world, TripAdvisor provides an incredibly rich and up-to-date source of insight to help travellers plan and have the perfect trip. It’s not possible for us to fact-check all this content.”
'Wrong pub'
However, Mountford says that the remaining damning review makes reference to a car park, a facility his pub does not have.
The review, entitled “such a shame”, branded the meal “terrible” and said: “Even our dog turned his nose up at the state of the chips.”
"This is simply not our pub," Mountford argued. "We don’t have a car park and you cannot ‘pass’ our pub as it’s up a very quiet side road, unable to be seen from the road.
"I’ve done everything I can to get this review challenged and they’re doing nothing."
Mountford added he had tried to contact the person who left the review but they are not accepting messages.
Have you had problems with reviews on TripAdvisor? If so, send an email to Ellie Bothwell