Ideas for a nasty customer who gave us a bad review inaccurately

[Vodkacranberryplease]

Mumsnetters I'm begging asking for your help. I've got a small business and this banker type gave us a one star google review. That's a disaster and furthermore it's based on a lie. I'm confident he's not married (I hope so for her sake) or on mumsnet.

He contacted me too whining so I tore shreds off the team (well not really just said what the fuck?) and found out he ordered it weeks after he said he did, it was delivered on time, he wasn't there for the delivery so they had to go back and it was delivered by the time I responded to his message apologising offering him a credit and a refund if he wanted to cancel as he said it was going to be delivered September.

And I've looked at his reviews and they are all one star to local businesses who have often replied saying I'm what are you talking about we don't know you or there was no problem, so he has form.

He's finally replied to my second message saying my review reflects the poor service. What poor service? And he changed the review after he found out that he ordered it in June and it was delivered. So in other words tough luck I'm not taking it down even though I lied.

I'm furious! Google reviews make a big difference! And you can't get them taken down! What can I do? I actually want revenge (sorry but I do) but nothing he can pin on me. He has a financial business so I could get reviews for that done (not straight away though!) but what else?

Gutted and annoyed. People can be such arseholes. This is just pure spite. It affects my google rankings and we aren't one of those ones that gets a ton of fake reviews put up. All our real reviews are great!

Can you respond to Google reviews? If so I would highlight the fact that all his other reviews are bad, all of your other customers have left great reviews and the inconsistencies with dates. Be polite, but make him look unreliable.

As others have said, it's how the business replies that's key here. Very polite and very factual.

"We are so sorry to hear you are upset with our service. We endeavour to always dispatch orders within a reasonable amount of time. I see from your order on June 20th that it was delivered on June 25th following an initial attempted delivery on the specified delivery date of June 24th. Whilst this is within the delivery estimate timeframe, I can appreciate that 5 days is longer than you would prefer so we will be looking into seeing if we can speed up our delivery process in the future. Once again, we are sorry to hear you are dissatisfied but will endeavour to improve our processes"

It's gravelly but also makes sure that you have stated that you know he is talking bullshit and you are taking the responsibility for it to keep him happy.

Customers have too much freedom to leave a stinking review nowasays and managers should be aware of that!

An arsehole with an ego did this in my old job. Accused me of racism. I was thinking "what is the rule here, can i accept that as a proof?" and he stormed off and made a had review. It was obviously me who had been trying to process his application. I was devastated. That company gave everything i did the most negative interpretation possible. I am glad i dont work there any more but he gave my awful manager permission to fire me.

I would swap this negative with heaps of positive reviews. Encorage people to leave reviews by offering a returning discount if they do. I have one neg review on ebay which lasts a whole year. the woman ordered when I was away and had no wifi so I didn't get her order. I get its annoying but the best you can do is get heaps of poss reviews so this is lost in the noise.

That's great guys! So far that is my strategy! He's been messaging me and I've just sent an ultra polite answer back saying ' I understand how you being such a fuckwit you don't even know your order date and werent in to get your scheduled deliverY this could have happened.

I've been really nice But also said it wasn't fair message before last. He's messaging me on a SM platform and Ive explained the facts and he's not budging. My last message was very conciliatory and I'm planning on leaving it a few days as maybe he'll feel guilty (or pigs will fly) and he will take it down, if not I'll reply as suggested.

I think that those of us who read reviews get it - but it brings your rating down. We don't have millions of reviews and if your overall ranking isn't amazing google assumes you are shit and devalues you! Also at first glance you would see the four star and maybe go hmmm.

We had a one star review from a cold caller too and he just said terrible service blah blah and I couldn't get it removed!

That's why trustpilot is so good/bad. If you sign up with them then bad reviewers have to prove they are customers etc.

Anyway a big thank you to @WitchesGlove for a revenge idea!

I would love more please! Not big and not clever but it's been a tough year and it would be nice if really nasty people had bad things happen to them for once instead of just getting away with it!

@LirBan

Customers have too much freedom to leave a stinking review nowasays and managers should be aware of that!

An arsehole with an ego did this in my old job. Accused me of racism. I was thinking "what is the rule here, can i accept that as a proof?" and he stormed off and made a had review. It was obviously me who had been trying to process his application. I was devastated. That company gave everything i did the most negative interpretation possible. I am glad i dont work there any more but he gave my awful manager permission to fire me.

That’s awful!

I would definitely find out where that person works now, and write awful reviews about them.

Depending on what type of work he does, also send an anonymous complaint to the professional body in his industry.

My friend had an absolutely evil review that was extremely inflammatory. It could have resulted in her shop being targeted. Basically it was a review saying they were a disabled couple with a service dog. They accused friend of being nasty to them for their disability and that she had screamed at them to get their fucking mutt out of her shop, forcibly grabbing the poor, frail customer and her husband, throwing them out and slamming the door on their little service dog causing it an injury.

It was completely false and she had the cctv to prove it which the review site accepted eventually and removed it. (Unfortunately it took a very long time to do that and she was forced to reply with the truth). They had actually come in with a dog (pet not service) which she adored and fawned over, had a nice chat with them and her shop assistant and they left. After reading the review and doing research before replying, she had discovered that they had recently set up a new shop in the very same niche market as my friend.

She mentioned this on the review reply.

Had she not put a factual, detailed reply her shop could have been targeted far more than it was by social media (where they had also posted that nasty review). People who had never been there were calling her animal abuser and disability bitch etc.

Sometimes a reply is required, but never ever be rude etc.

Disablist butch **

For fucks sake autocorrect, bitch. Lol

Wow that is dark. This guy is just your bog standard entitled bully. He thinks he's a bit of a high flyer and he thinks he's untouchable. He's the second one we have had a problem with. Unfortunately some people are just insane. I would never leave a review like that unless someone had been seriously awful, and I mean seriously, and often go out of my way to leave nice reviews for small businesses as I know no one bothers.

But oh I really do want to take him down a peg or two. From afar.

When I read reviews about a company, I find it most reassuring when I see that the business has reached out to the individual (on Trustpilot or on their FB page) with a pleasant, approachable manner, rather than getting into an online debate. And like others have said: 1 poor review will not counteract many positive ones.

His review was very detailed and totally wrong. I contacted him super nicely (replied to him) and then he got it delivered realises he was wrong and changed it to a very non specific no provable one. So this is very deliberate indeed.

You can ignore or reply with the factual details of the transaction.

The one thing I hate is when companies reply that the reviewer should reach out to customer service. Customers know how to reach the business, they don’t need to be told, and as a reader of reviews it makes me
Wonder if I have a problem and reach out to customer service, will I be ignored, because of course I would reach out before writing my review. So if the company responds to a review with a contact request, I assume it means they ignore customer problems unless they make the company look bad online.

Happy for you to PM me, I run a sightly bigger business and this happens (sorry) fact of life when people want money off or back or are just plain nuts.

Your response needs to reflect the reality as people are used to reading through the stupid reviews.

Your response needs to be along the lines:
"Thank you very much for your review. I have investigated and your delivery was placed on 1st XXXX, our e-mail stated Xdays delivery and it was delivered to your address on the 5th Day. I have spoken to you and you now understand this"

Then get one or two friends to put up positive reviews.

Are you sure you can't remove Google reviews? A review about my d's school (one star but entirely factual) was removed. It shows as still there when logged in, but logout and it's been removed. That's why I'll never trust reviews for schools or much else online now.

This also happens with other public bodies (e.g. hospitals), people I know have shown me reviews they made which were later deleted (and didn't appear to violate Google's terms & conditions).

I found this.

How to flag a Google review for Removal
For reviews that violate Google’s terms of service:

1. Open Google Maps and Search for your business location.
2. Click to view all of your business reviews. Select “All Reviews”.
3. Click the three dots in the top right corner of the review you wish to remove and select “Flag as inappropriate”
4. Fill out the ‘Report a Policy Violation’ form and submit.

(From this website: www.chatmeter.com/blog/9-violations-that-allow-businesses-to-remove-negative-google-reviews/ )

It probably doesn't fall under Google violations but might be worth a try.

The posters who said there is always one asshole out there are correct.

I sell unique items and one customer bought a product which was discovered broken in storage. I offered them a good open ended discount off anything else in my shop plus free shipping. They could have come back in 3 or 6 months and got a great deal on something really expensive. Instead they responded with a one star review which made no mention of my offer,

I reponded politely to the review that I was sorry we were unable to supply the original product, but explaining how we had done our best to make amends. There was no way we could supply an identical product as all our merchandise are one offs. Other sellers on the platform blocked the customer when they saw the review, so the customer has only harmed themself.

I write books and sometimes look at my Amazon reviews and just laugh. Some people miss the mark so spectacularly that it is clear that they are just a bit dim. I NEVER reply though (although once, when an American had berated me for not knowing how to spell a word that was key throughout the novel when I'd spelled it absolutely correctly for an ENGLISH person, I got a friend to reply...). Low stars are horrible but, as a pp said, they just go to show that all the reviews aren't posted by family and friends!

I agree with all those saying that a very very factual, unemotional reply from the business owner is quite enough to make a duplicitous poster look like a dick. I rely hugely on reviews as a consumer and one bad review amongst loads of good ones, complete with a business owner reply that’s very professional, wouldn’t cause me concern at all.

Also agree that you should sleep on it before acting. Write your reply, sleep on it, get someone else to look at it and then post it. Karma will serve your revenge - genuinely, people like that don’t make it through life happy.

"Can you respond to Google reviews? If so I would highlight the fact that all his other reviews are bad, all of your other customers have left great reviews..."

Oh no, NEVER do that, it's unprofessional. It's just like when people complain to their partners about something that's upset them and they get a "well, non of my exes complained when I did/said XYZ" (i.e. you're wrong, I'm right). Dealing with bad reviews needs a non emotional and very professional approach to limit damage. Anything else can cast the company in a bad light.

You have his address, you don’t necessarily have to respond on the actual review!

I think if you were to respond something like “I’m sorry we weren’t able to meet your expectations for this order.” Then blacklist his address and send round to every single other local business.

Contact them (google) and dispute the accuracy. You could also contact him and ask him to reconsider given that he was mistaken about the facts. If all that doesn't work, employ his services and give him a terrible review!

Sometimes customers just know that that bad review is by a professional complainer

I've had an apeshit 1 star google review - I got my other customers to refer to the person and say how wrong they were. I ended up not feeding the troll (I had nothing to apologise for), I got more reviews and anyone looking through the reviews could see why that person was batshit.

He used your company, left an inaccurate review, you responded to this under the review letting others know of the actual facts?

Why are you still bothering to engage with him?

As a customer I don't ignore 4 star reviews. 5 stars isn't the be all and end all. Although some of the 5 star reviews or extremely cringe worthy when it comes to how fabulous the place was. Or mentions of spectacular views about the product that make it seem like a work of art (a standard dull dustpan)

Oh and Trust pilot, so much for the verified posters. I've seen fights break out on there about forum reviews 🤣Either using their forum names all trolling under other member names.

I read Google reviews and one bad one wouldn't put me off at all

I always look at 1, 2 & 3 star reviews when making a purchasing decision. If people have taken the time to give a sensible reason or two as to why they weren't happy, that carries a lot more weight, but so, so many poor reviews are left by idiots, malicious people or, more usually, malicious idiots.

Some enjoy the 'power' they think they have, some are looking for freebies, some may have similar businesses and want to damage yours. Also, you have the people leaving glowing reviews in what they've written but oddly only given one star, those who bought it for a present for somebody else and so don't feel able to give 5 stars (but don't have the common sense to not leave a review at all, not having used it) and there are always those whose expectations are not based in reality - the £10 'compact sandwich toaster' is NOT "Absolutely useless and not fit for purpose" just because you tried to grill a whole side of gammon in it and forced the lid closed.

Definitely make use of any right to reply and be overly PA polite in such a way as anybody with half a brain will see exactly who the unreasonable one is. A 1-star review making false claims that you take the time to quickly and politely respond to and show to be false is actually worth more than a 5-star one - it's just poo when bots rank you based on the stars alone.

If you decide to reply, remember you're replying to your future customers - not him.

DH and I were going on touring holiday a few years ago and decided to find a small hotel in particular area. The hotel had very good through to middle of the road reviews - which you expect and you can read between the lines. But they had one, one star review. The owner's reply literally ripped the customer to shreds. We didn't book there. Why? Because if I do have a complaint, say the shower's not cleaned properly, I want to be able to speak to someone without having my head blown off. I had no idea if the review was false or not, but her reply wasn't. It was unprofessional and childish and I didn't want to spend my money with someone like that.

I've seen plenty of one star reviews with excellent replies, explaining the situation and what was done. I can then read between the lines. I've often put my business with people who have had the odd one star review because their reply was professional and explained what had happened. So the customer seems unreasonable.

I run a small on line business and, personally, I wouldn't waste my time on revenge on a complaining customer. My best revenge is to improve, make money and move on. I'm too busy with my good customers to worry about one idiot.