bad people write bad reviews

[CaptainCrunch]

Its the cost of the internet. While I'm sure there are negative and positive reviews that are accurate. There are bound to be fake good reviews and malicious negative reviews. the internet firmly puts power in the hands of people and allows them to get away with it with a certain level of anonymity. Frankly if review sites forced a verified link to your real name and your email address for example, these reviews wouldn't happen and you'd only get food reviews.


As a side I think it also comes down to this. If a company that I'm looking at has 90% good to great reviews and 10% bad reviews, i write it off to either a bad day or someone with an axe to grind. But if I see a pattern of a lot of bad reviews, then I take a look at the date stamps, if they're clustered there's a warning sign to me.


the oldest saying is that you can't make everyone happy all the time, there's no such thing as a truly flexible business model, just like you will rarely find an employee with a personality like a chameleon that can make everyone happy.


The internet empowers, and it super empowers the angry, ashamed and vindictive, that's the price you pay for a medium like this one.


This is what the internet is for, that and sharing midget cosplay king of thrones furry pron.

I mean at least if as a business you were given the information of the bad reviewer then you could review the reviewer, then it would be hilarious because pissing matches are obviously entertaining.


You're business sucks sir

Actually sir you suck, you were unreasonable and take a bath once in a while because three of my staff members thing that you smell like a rotten pound cake soaked in urine, oh and we called your wife and she thinks your penis is too small and you don't know how to use it right.

[GordonBlue]

I was online looking up aquarium/fish suppliers and there was one company that when there was a negative review, engaged with that person within a couple of days if not sooner.
I respected that they paid attention to the reviews and worked to find a resolution with each person.
I ended up going there as the business gave me the impression they cared about all their customer interactions.
(they also often thanked the people who left positive reviews, too)

I don't think I would have gone to them if they appeared to have ignored negative interactions.

plus you can often tell by the customer follow up response to the company which complaints are malicious and which have some merit.

that being said, I've not placed a negative online review. I usually if possible speak with a manager at the time or within a couple of days. better to give the company a chance to fix it before running to the internet.
. If they were jerks, I would probably then put something online.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

Unless it is a strong pattern.

To me that's the real value of a negative review. If a single person says a hotel sucks because the bathroom was a mess and they didn't get clean towels, I ignore it as a slip-up or one incompetent cleaner. If three people in the space of a year say the bathroom was a mess and they didn't get clean towels, I know the problem is systemic.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Sue them. Sue them all!


https://www.google.ca/search?rlz=1C1...active&ssui=on

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Sliver

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

I was only really interested in seeing if you operated something like a dog grooming 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.

Most people understand that bad things can happen during any business transaction and that some people just can’t be made happy. As long as the majority of your reviews are positive most people will assume that you provide a good service. It can be very tough to read a negative review about yourself or your business, all you can really do though is use that criticism to make improvements to your service to make sure the good reviews out number the bad.

(BTW welcome back)

[JohnnyB]

Such is the market. Everyone is dealing with the same conditions and it's unlikely that people are just choosing not to dine out at all or not to consume other products or services at all because some businesses got bad reviews, so the same amount of money will be in the market to compete for.

I would be more upset about fake positive reviews or negative competitor reviews that are used by some businesses to gain an advantage through misrepresentation, unless you also make use of those for your business. I can understand if you do, because it is a competitive market and review sites set the stage.

[Oling_Roachinen]

And just put in a clause that before entering your business they agree not to submit any bad reviews to the internet without a $350 fee.

https://gizmodo.com/former-hotel-own...r-p-1821514039

[killer_carlson]

What if the business is correct and the alleged customer's review is inappropriate? How should the business respond?

[topfiverecords]

Wait. I thought Sliver was banned. I guess he got his negative reviews removed.

[KTrain]

Sort of on topic: we had a client ask their customers to write reviews from within their story. The customer had some time waiting for the end of their service (something they visit them monthly for) and a huge majority of their customers agreed. They received a hundred or so positive Google reviews within a month doing this. All honest, real customer reviews.

Then Google removed almost them all. They removed them because most of the reviews came from people using their free wi-fi, so it looked they were from a single IP address. Something review scammers used to do.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Sliver

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

Yeah, but we're curious. Just put it in a quote box.

Most of the reviews I leave online are positive. The only bad ones I'll include will generally include a photo of what I'm annoyed about, and the only ones I can think of were food related (e.g. a place had gone downhill, or had substantially reduced the portions to the point where they're a joke). If you see the gripe and see the photo, you can decide for yourself whether or not you agree.

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).

Yeah, that's happened to me. Your response is much better than what I got, which was a shrug of the shoulders and a "sorry".

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

What if the business is correct and the alleged customer's review is inappropriate? How should the business respond?

Define inappropriate?


A review is an opinion piece.


Remember that there are two major sayings in the world of business


Perception is reality - If a customer perceives that you wronged him that's his reality and the basis of the review


the customer is always right - Though not true, its accepted, so if the customer feels wronged and can explain why then is that inappropriate?


On the other hand if the review is incorrect, if the facts that are stated are wrong and dishonest, and designed to intentionally harm your business or business/personal reputation with no basis in truth, then you can probably pursue legal action.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

What if the business is correct and the alleged customer's review is inappropriate? How should the business respond?

Totally. There's a surprising lack of compassion for the businesses and the humans that run them here. So many negative reviews are factually incorrect, embellished and can border on malicious. There is literally no recourse for the company aside from responding, but that doesn't affect the star rating.

[CaptainCrunch]

That's because you are the 1% crushing the downtroddened of the world with your evil corporationing

[killer_carlson]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Define inappropriate?


A review is an opinion piece.


Remember that there are two major sayings in the world of business


Perception is reality - If a customer perceives that you wronged him that's his reality and the basis of the review


the customer is always right - Though not true, its accepted, so if the customer feels wronged and can explain why then is that inappropriate?


On the other hand if the review is incorrect, if the facts that are stated are wrong and dishonest, and designed to intentionally harm your business or business/personal reputation with no basis in truth, then you can probably pursue legal action.

1. Never a customer
2. A competitor
3. A former customer who you stopped providing goods or services to for legitimate, valid and legal reasons

[dobbles]

What's the point of leaving reviews if they are all good?

Reading reviews online has revolutionized shopping and dining for me and I assume most. Knowing situations where I want a sure fire tested product or wanting something new and untested is part of the process. Finding the balance between best rated and best priced is how I spend my time browsing.

As mentioned above, if a consumer is doing their due diligence, they read the negative ratings to see if the issues were valid. If they are doing their due diligence, they relate the severity and amount of bad ratings to competitors. This all finally allows customers to actually hold companies responsible for their products and experiences. This is 100% a net positive for society and the negative reviews are part of that.

Certainly there is an issue with fake reviews and hopefully these platforms can crack down on them.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Yeah, but we're curious. Just put it in a quote box.

Most of the reviews I leave online are positive. The only bad ones I'll include will generally include a photo of what I'm annoyed about, and the only ones I can think of were food related (e.g. a place had gone downhill, or had substantially reduced the portions to the point where they're a joke). If you see the gripe and see the photo, you can decide for yourself whether or not you agree.

Yeah, that's happened to me. Your response is much better than what I got, which was a shrug of the shoulders and a "sorry".

No, he did get the equivalent of a shrug when he came here. I was out of the office with another customer through this whole process and wasn't involved. It was after I read his review and found out what happened that I tried to make amends.

[Northendzone]

i think you have to take on-line reviews with several grains of salt. the reality is that most companies have positive and negative reviews.

generally, people are more willing to write about the bad than the he good. also those that write bad reviews may be bad customers with unrealistic expectations like springs1.

generally i beleive that most businesses want to make you happy.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

The problem is that there is no balance. Some smaller businesses get shredded undeservedly, while others who are more savvy get away with terrible customer service because they are protected by the site.

Airbnb, yelp, etc are all heavily slanted in favour of the host/business and frequently ban users who leave bad reviews, delete bad reviews and only care about keeping the 4 and 5 star ratings for the businesses that pay them and make them money.

Airbnb is by far the worst at this given the fact that staying in the home (often with the host) in a different city and different country can make or break a vacation that cost thousands of dollars, not to mention the fact that safety is a major concern for certain travellers. Airbnb is well known for banning guests who leave negative feedback, no matter how legitimate, and deleting reviews to protect hosts.

There are some crazy people who try and hurt a business with their extreme reviews but I often don't trust them anyways (if they seem too crazy) and like someone mentioned, it goes a long way when a business responds and tries to make things right. I think it actually reflects poorly on the reviewer when they leave an unfairly negative.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

1. Never a customer
2. A competitor
3. A former customer who you stopped providing goods or services to for legiti

mate, valid and legal reasons

Yeah I agree with all of those things.


With never a customer and you can prove it, can you not lobby the review service?



A competitor - Sue them, also if you can prove it you should be able to lobby for the removal.



the third one, this is where you should be able to post the truth about that person ie we banned this individual because he didn't pay his bills/threatened a staff member with physical violence etc etc.