Since your account is a throwaway, could you name these companies? I'd like to avoid them if possible
Reddit, for example, has shown us a pitfall of this. People seem to want to believe the "side" of the story they first heard, and take it up like it was the truth, sometimes almost militantly.
One mitigation, in face of a prevalence of poor critical thinking, (when evidence can't stand alone), is to at least require an accuser to stake some reputation behind it. Not use a throwaway/anonymous.
Related idea is the right to confront your accuser.
Not a throwaway. I did initially plan to name companies but I fear I would be banned if I did so. However, if others are noticing bad agents too, I would assume this is a problem that the HN mods would like to see addressed, making them more open to solutions that dont get me banned