Solar Installers Warned As Fake Reviews Boom

SolarQuotes General Manager Trevor Glen has called on solar installers to build trust with customers through genuine reviews, amid new analysis showing a surge in searches related to buying fake testimonials.

In a speech at the Smart Energy South Australia 2026 event in Adelaide on Tuesday, Trevor said that SolarQuotes routinely rejects offers from businesses to create fake reviews, and told installers they should do the same so they don’t attract the wrong kind of attention from increasingly skeptical customers and the ACCC.

“We ourselves get offered the opportunity to buy fake reviews. Do not use those services – do not do it,” Trevor told the audience gathered at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

Why Are Fake Reviews Surging?

It comes as Google search analysis by AnyBusiness.com.au found searches for the term “buy fake reviews” soared 1,268% over the past year, with 21,000 people entering it into the search bar last month alone.

Customers are also increasingly conscious of the issue, with searches for “fake business reviews” up 1,026% year-on-year, with 68,000 monthly searches. This data covers searches related to all types of businesses, not just solar.

So-called ‘review farms’ get paid to generate large numbers of fake opinions by staff or AI chatbots, sowing falsehoods across review pages online.

Mary Tamvakologos, Managing Director at AnyBusiness.com.au, says fake reviews are becoming a huge trust issue for businesses of all stripes.

“We’ve reached the point where thousands of people are actively searching for ways to buy fake reviews every month, while even more people are trying to work out whether the reviews they’re reading are genuine. That’s a trust problem for every business … buying reviews is one of the biggest mistakes a business can make. Platforms such as Google are continually improving their systems for identifying suspicious review activity, and businesses caught manipulating reviews risk having them removed, losing customer trust and, in some cases, having their business profiles restricted,” she said.

Real Review Responses Build Trust

SolarQuotes General Manager Trevor Glen speaking at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Tuesday.

Fake or unanswered reviews are a top-three reason why installer applications to join the SolarQuotes network get rejected during the vetting process, Trevor told assembled Smart Energy attendees. SolarQuotes also maintains a comprehensive approach to screening out fake testimonials from our own portal of solar installer and product reviews.

Trevor added that taking an authentic and responsive approach to customer feedback represents an opportunity to build trust, urging installers to respond to every review, especially the bad ones – in a calm and professional manner, of course.

“Respond to every single review. It doesn’t matter if it is a bad review or a good review. Good review – you can say ‘thanks, we really appreciate you being a customer’. If it is a bad review, ‘look, we made a mistake’ – be honest, be transparent,” he said.

To see how installers respond to negative experiences, readers can filter SolarQuotes reviews to only include 1-star ratings.

Trevor said it was a good idea to encourage customers to leave a review after the job is done. But getting family and staff to leave reviews is a no-no however, and evidence an installer offered customers money to take a bad review down is an instant disqualifier during the SolarQuotes vetting process.

Fake Images And Fake Claims

Responsivity to real reviews is one of the six visible signals by which installers can build trust with customers and make it through the SolarQuotes vetting process, Trevor said. The others are:

• Following up – answer customer calls, give quick replies, keep customers updated and stay in touch once the deposit is paid;
• Showing real work – use real photos of your work on your website, not AI images and stock photos of workers in hard hats that most installers don’t actually wear on the job;
• Making honest claims – only make claims you can back up, don’t give inflated job counts, or say your business with an easily checkable two-year-old ABN has been around for 20 years.
• Being trustworthy with money – ask for a reasonable deposit of around 10%, include clear, itemised pricing and a plain-English warranty.
• Having a verifiable presence – Maintain a real, verifiable address, a proper business email, an easily findable licence and ABN, and a consistent name across platforms.

Installers should avoid putting on their website what we call “Harry Hard Hat” stock images – show your real work instead.

How Can You Spot A Fake Review?

Here are some red flags the SolarQuotes team keeps an eye out for when screening reviews:

• Large numbers of low-detail reviews – lots of one-word responses are a red flag.
• Significant numbers of reviews all posted at the same time – how many installs did this company do in one day?
• Wildly over-the-top praise – a quality solar install can make people happy, but it should not be one of the greatest moments in a reviewer’s life.

Fake reviews are often glowing five-star verdicts, but watch out for the inverse as well. Fake negative reviews are also an issue – whether paid for by a company wanting to undermine a competitor, or a vindictive customer creating multiple profiles.

For real solar reviews from real Australian homeowners, browse SolarQuotes’ review portal for installers, solar panels, home batteries, home EV chargers, hot water heat pumps and air conditioners.