The Blazing Donkey in Ham, Sandwich, Kent

**curlywurly**

Congratulations on pursuing this and winning . Not sure if you have looked at tripadvisor lately but there are quite a few excellent recent reviews. They are primarily by people who are making their first ever contribution, and who write a short review in one paragraph.... smells of fake reviews to me...!

frannyann

**curlywurly** wrote: »

Congratulations on pursuing this and winning . Not sure if you have looked at tripadvisor lately but there are quite a few excellent recent reviews. They are primarily by people who are making their first ever contribution, and who write a short review in one paragraph.... smells of fake reviews to me...!

And those of us who check Trip Advisor regularly will notice the tone and dates of those 'favourable' reviews and treat them with the caution they deserve :cool:

beks

Well, I didn't even notice that this thread had been resurrected until I googled The Blazing Donkey (after seeing a two page spread in the local paper).

I concur and believe the new reviews are all fake or in the least, they have been submitted by the proprieters friends and family. I received an email today from trip advisor (as a response to my email to them) to say that my post (nearly identical to the one on this thread) had been removed but they were 'unable' to give me the reasons why. It does make me question the vailidity of that site.

I stand by all my statements of the blazing donkey, they ruined our wedding and are continuing to do the same to others.

[Deleted User]

And of course, as a user of tripadvisor you can report a suspicious review if you spot patterns emerging in the one-off flyby reviewers. I'm sure TA have the tech nous to find out IP's & email domains etc etc.

beks

But if these posts have been posted by 'friends' of the proprieter and are false that way, there is nothing you can do.
I have reported the fact to trip advisor that there are only positive reviews after such a stretch of negative ones (and only after the proprieter complained and threatened legal action), yet they are unable to prove anything and neither am I? The fact that they removed my one post, goes to show it is not necessarily everything it seems.

marleyboy

The trouble with Tripadvisor, is all it takes is someone to say "remove that post", and its gone. I noted this familiar pattern with other unscrupulous companies where negative reviews are all over the place, yet for some strange reason Tripadvisor will only have praises for them.

Its why I trust MSE well over Tripadvisor on anything.

kentcouple

Hi Beks and all

I am glad I am not the only one that has been suspicious about the recent good reviews.

One thing that annoys me is that many of these reviews say to ignore the negative reviews! (Well of course they would if our hunches are right). Everyone is entitled to their opinion and having had my wedding day at The Dog Inn (one of his hotels) tainted by the same kind of treatment, I wouldn't want it to happen to anyone else. That's why I left my review. Fine, take a chance on a meal out but not on your wedding (or funeral... there is a terrible review for The Dog Inn).

I guess the truth always outs in the end but I think it's good this thread is active - it is probably an easier way of airing views than TA.

Spartacus_Mills

There are still 41 terrible reviews on Tripadvisor and 8 poor ones.

kentcouple

and a fair few more since the weekend!

beks

kentcouple wrote: »

and a fair few more since the weekend!

Indeed, and those ones do not look like they have been made up (what they say are hardly things that could be imagined unless you had actually experienced it), unlike the positive ones. The truth will out in the end and word will spread about what awful experiences people have had. Kentcouple, I read up about the dog inn too - it looks like the owner really does not care how he treats brides and grooms and doesnt seem to care if he ruins peoples weddings. The thing is, we are not a minority and there are many others. I would so love to know how many times he has been taken to court ... it would make interesting reading. Its a shame that information is not in the public domain.