bad people write bad reviews

[Sliver]

I have to rant a little on the entitled trend of leaving permanent negative reviews for businesses.

Poor ratings cost businesses money and customers. In extreme cases it may be fair they can have an impact, but I also think there should be a time limit for how long a review should stay posted so the punishment doesn't grossly outweigh the crime.

While you have every right to voice your concerns on products or services you receive through online reviews, you're not obligated to just because an website gave you a soap box. They become a permanent record on the Internet and can cost businesses a lot of money while chipping away at goodwill. Review sites offer businesses no opportunity for redemption. There's no mediation process, and no way to alter the review through changed behaviour or services.

Instead of leaving a permanent negative review, I think you have these options:

• Accept that most people are doing the best they can and understand things can't always meet your expectations and no company can be expected to anticipate what your particular version of the perfect experience will be, let alone deliver on it.
• Try to resolve the issue directly with the business. Or don't. Is it really that important for you to lambaste a business because your meal took five minutes longer to get to your table than you expected? Move on, don't worry about it.
• If you must leave a review, put a time limit on it. Set a reminder in your phone to take down the review after three months or six months if you want to be a total dick.

You're not so awesome that you should anoint yourself judge, jury and executioner doling out permanent punishments to businesses. These reviews have an absolute impact on the bottom line of the company and the morale of the employees, and frankly, it's unlikely you have all the information required to fairly crucify a company.

If you have littered bad reviews around the Internet for various businesses, please consider taking them down. You've made your point.

Yelp, Google, etc. should automatically expire all reviews, good or bad, after a set amount of time.

[Johnny Makarov]

Bad thread.
1/5
Would not recommend.

[troutman]

How about fake good reviews?

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by troutman

How about fake good reviews?

Bad as well, but I think less harmful. What do you think?

[iggy_oi]

Can you post a link to the bad review you received?

[ricosuave]

But I asked for ranch dressing on the side, and ice water on two separate occasions!

[Locke]

Reviews are useful especially when you're buying something sight-unseen on Amazon or something, but they really should be taken with a grain of salt.

I do like sites that allow those being reviewed to offer their perspective on the transaction as well.

[CliffFletcher]

I don't have a problem with a bad rating/review if they include an explanation of why they had a bad experience. Then I can judge myself if it's something that would bother me as a customer.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Can you post a link to the bad review you received?

I'd rather not, but it's not a problem unique to my business.

I let negative reviews sit for a year and then I usually make contact with the customer and ask if there's anything we can do to change their opinion and to discuss reviews in general. Most people are super nice and will agree enough time has passed and that we served our punishment, which I always appreciate. Some disagree and there's not much I can do about it.

[OMG!WTF!]

As long as it's true I don't really see a problem with bad reviews. I think people can figure out when people are over reacting or when reviews are petty. It's also a great tool for developing business. A lot of businesses encourage reviews and offer perks if you review them, good or bad.



Why wait a year? Fix it right away.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I don't have a problem with a bad rating/review if they include an explanation of why they had a bad experience. Then I can judge myself if it's something that would bother me as a customer.

They're so often dishonest, though. I've had half a dozen bad reviews in the past decade and only on one that I would consider to be completely honest. His gripe is so legit and I still feel bad for how we kind of screwed him (he called ahead to see if we had a product, one of my staff said we did without checking, and he drove a long way to get here and we didn't have it). That was a couple years ago and his review has been viewed thousands of times. We've apologized, offered him free product, made a policy to physically check items before responding (which is kind of obvious, anyway), yet the review persists and makes it look like this is a problem the next guy could encounter. We should be able to shed that review at some point. The lesson has been learned loud and clear.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Bad as well, but I think less harmful. What do you think?

I think the good fake reviews are far more harmful.
Google just cleaned them up but Alberta used to be flooded with hundreds of fake garage door repair companies all with 5 star reviews.

Try fakespot.com for any product or service. The number of top hits that are full of fake reviews is pretty nuts.

Here is a scan of one of the top hits on Amazon for iphone cables

https://www.fakespot.com/product/wsc...re-black-white

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

I think the good fake reviews are far more harmful.
Google just cleaned them up but Alberta used to be flooded with hundreds of fake garage door repair companies all with 5 star reviews.

Try fakespot.com for any product or service. The number of top hits that are full of fake reviews is pretty nuts.

Here is a scan of one of the top hits on Amazon for iphone cables

https://www.fakespot.com/product/wsc...re-black-white

I'm coming at it from the perspective of a legitimate business owner. Malicious/dishounest/permanent bad reviews affect me way more than fake positive reviews for an iPhone cable.

[KTrain]

You have to respond to bad reviews on places like Google, Facebook, etc. You can't let a one sided review tell the story of your company.

It also shows that you're an engaged business. I've seen numerous negative reviews and I tend to side with the businesses when I see they've responded to a bad review. Even if the business are in the wrong, it shows they're willing to make things right.

Also, all you can do is drown out those negative reviews with more positive reviews. It's OK to ask the customers you've had positive experiences with to leave reviews.

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I let negative reviews sit for a year and then I usually make contact with the customer and ask if there's anything we can do to change their opinion and to discuss reviews in general. Most people are super nice and will agree enough time has passed and that we served our punishment, which I always appreciate. Some disagree and there's not much I can do about it.

Waiting a year is a bad idea. That's potentially thousands of people reading the bad review without your side of the story.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I'm coming at it from the perspective of a legitimate business owner. Malicious/dishounest/permanent bad reviews affect me way more than fake positive reviews for an iPhone cable.

They just undermine the entire system. I generally write off bad reviews if the company has responded though. Unless it is a strong pattern.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by KTrain

You have to respond to bad reviews on places like Google, Facebook, etc. You can't let a one sided review tell the story of your company.

It also shows that you're an engaged business. I've seen numerous negative reviews and I tend to side with the businesses when I see they've responded to a bad review. Even if the business are in the wrong, it shows they're willing to make things right.

Also, all you can do is drown out those negative reviews with more positive reviews. It's OK to ask the customers you've had positive experiences with to leave reviews.

Yes, I respond instantaneously to bad reviews, but that doesn't solve the problem. It can give perspective, but the overall star rating is unaffected by a response.

I should ask for more positive reviews, though. I know most of our customers are very happy with our work.

[psicodude]

I don't really agree with you. I love that businesses are now being held accountable for their crappy products or service. The power has somewhat shifted over to the consumer and it's nice to see good businesses flourish and bad ones fail.

That being said, I've seen online reviews being abused. My brother owns a business and his competitor had all of his buddies write bad Google reviews. There wasn't much my brother could do about it other than reply to the review with a "We don't have any record of you being a customer and believe this review is fake". I agree that businesses need some sort of recourse here.

[Krovikan]

99% of my reviews are good reviews, 3-5 stars, anything 3 or 4 has text to go along with it.

My 1 or 2 stars are only given to truly horrendous services or products. I take them down after a while, two will stay up forever though.

1. Adrenalease - Over promised deliveries, missed several shipment dates. Then got angry at customers who asked for updates claiming that we were horrible people, and not supporting a Canadian company. To top it off, for the price point of the product when I finally got it, the quality was horrible.

2. A local barbershop, they were down a barber, so they were backed up and didn't take appointments. I waited for 2 houts, then when my spot was up they called up their buddy that walked in 30min after me.

I also disagree that there is no redemption from bad reviews, if your business has a bunch of bad reviews from years ago, but everything is positive since then I personally will think you've improved. But maybe, I'm unique it looking at review timeline versus just the score.


Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by KTrain

Waiting a year is a bad idea. That's potentially thousands of people reading the bad review without your side of the story.

I wasn't clear. I respond right away publicly. A year later I will initiate direct contact with the goal of convincing them to remove the view based on the amount of time the review has been up.

Most people are receptive at that time to removing the review. They're not pissed off anymore, for one, and they typically concede that there is no need to carry a grudge against a small business. I've actually had some really nice conversations with customers on this topic when I touch base with them.

I think the conversations I have that lead to removal of bad reviews could not take place the day after the review is written.