The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened an investigation into funeral operator Dignity over potential breaches of consumer protection law, as part of a wider crackdown on misleading online reviews.<\/p>\n
The probe, launched on 26 March 2026, will examine whether the Sutton Coldfield company encouraged staff to post positive reviews about its crematoria services, potentially distorting customer feedback available to the public.<\/p>\n
Dignity is one of five companies currently under investigation, alongside Autotrader, Just Eat, Feefo and Pasta Evangelists.<\/p>\n
Across these cases, the CMA is examining whether businesses have taken sufficient steps to prevent fake or misleading reviews. This includes concerns around suppressed negative feedback, inflated ratings and incentives offered in exchange for positive reviews.<\/p>\n
The Dignity case is currently in its initial phase, with the CMA gathering evidence and engaging with the company.<\/p>\n
This stage is expected to run through to September 2026, when an update will be provided. No findings have been made at this stage, and it should not be assumed that consumer protection law has been breached.<\/p>\n
The investigations follow the introduction of enhanced enforcement powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, enabling the CMA to take direct action without court proceedings and impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover for breaches.<\/p>\n
Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA said: \u201cFake reviews strike at the heart of consumer trust, with many of us worrying about misleading content when looking at reviews online. With household budgets under pressure, people need to know they\u2019re getting genuine information \u2013 not reviews or star ratings that have been manipulated to push them towards the wrong choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve given businesses the time to get things right. Now we\u2019re deploying our new powers to tackle some of the most harmful practices head on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The CMA said the latest action brings the total number of businesses under review for potential breaches linked to online reviews to 14, highlighting increased regulatory focus on transparency in digital marketplaces.<\/p>\n
Consumer group Which? has previously reported that 89% of people rely on online reviews when researching products or services, underlining the commercial importance of ensuring feedback is accurate and trustworthy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sutton Coldfield firm among five companies under investigation as regulator steps up scrutiny of online review practices<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":266702,"featured_media":2109988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120902],"coauthors":[127717],"class_list":["post-2109987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal","tag-greater-birmingham","tag-top-story"],"yoast_head":"\n