Reading reviews saved me from a $9k bathroom nightmare in Austin

Last spring I hired a tile guy off a referral from my neighbor. He seemed solid, talked a good game about waterproofing, but I didn't check any contractor review sites first. Big mistake. Three weeks in he ghosted me after leaving the shower pan tilted wrong. I had to rip out half the work and shell out 4 grand to a different crew just to fix the slope. Now I swear by reading at least 10 recent reviews for anyone touching plumbing or electrical. I also cross-check the bad ones for patterns, like complaints about showing up late or leaving messes. Has anyone else gotten burned by skipping the review research on a big job, or do you have a trick for spotting fake five-star posts?