Insisting that reviews be five star or nothing only makes Silver’s problems worse. If it were more normal to give 3 and 4 star reviews when it’s completely fair to do so, then a single review that’s less than five stars wouldn’t matter so dang much.
I think we all understand 3/5 doesn’t signify “good” and the people out there who don’t are the exception but also not worth worrying about. Those should basically be up to random chance, and affect the competition just as much as your own business.
I understand the system can create an unlucky few small businesses that might suffer from a bad review, but customers also can suffer from dishonest ratings of businesses. A lot of the reason people are searching for new business is that they’ve found themselves disappointed in their dealings with some fraudulently highly-rated competitor. If there was more focus on delivering quality value and other real business principles, then businesses wouldn’t have to be obsessed with their ratings bringing in nearly as many new customers from web searches.
I think FG’s situation seems like a case where it’s fair to leave a 3/5 review even he ended up getting what he wanted in the end. People’s’ time has value, their money has opportunity costs, and it’s not right to need to drag a business kicking and screaming into what they’re contractually obligated to do. Not to mention the guy was completely dishonest, rude and shady. Why should we worry about that person’s small business more than the next customer he rips off or jerks around?
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