The delivery platform and pasta brand are two of five businesses being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), along with Autotrader, customer feedback platform Feefo, and funeral services provider Dignity.
Just Eat has come under scrutiny for whether its ratings system has inflated certain restaurants’ and grocers’ star ratings, giving consumers a potentially misleading picture of quality when choosing where to order.
Pasta Evangelists is being investigated over claims that its customers were offered discounts on future orders in exchange for leaving five-star reviews on delivery apps, without this being disclosed.
While the CMA is investigating these businesses, it says it has not reached any conclusions about whether consumer law has been broken. If any infringements of law are discovered, it can issue fines of up to 10% of global turnover.
“Fake reviews strike at the heart of consumer trust – with many of us worrying about misleading content when looking at reviews online,” says Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA.
“With household budgets under pressure, people need to know they’re getting genuine information – not reviews or star-ratings that have been manipulated to push them towards the wrong choice.
“We’ve given businesses the time to get things right. Now we’re deploying our new powers to tackle some of the most harmful practices head on.”
The CMA is due to update on these investigations in September.