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!

Tbh unless there a LOT of bad reviews, I ignore all one star reviews as being reliable. They always strike was being written by competitors or being complete loons who have no life other than to make up stupid reviews.
Take a few days before replying. What you write would tell me more about your company than the original review.

I never give 5 star ratings.

If everybody does/did that, then before long, you'd have to disregard the 4-star reviews as well, as they would become the 'new' de facto improbably high rating; then eventually , 3 stars would go the same way. It seems very sad if somebody can take a great effort and pride themselves in offering perfect service/products and then the very highest 'mark' they can possibly get is 80%. You wouldn't be at all happy if your child got 20 out of 20 spellings correct in a test and the teacher said "That was quite good - I'm going to give you 80%".

You need a very thick skin when dealing with the general public. Most people are great, even when things go wrong, others not so much. Be factual and neutral when you respond to any criticism.

I run a holiday let business and I come across some fairly challenging individuals on a weekly basis. One type of negative review that I will never understand is reviews for location, clearly I can’t uproot a property and place it closer to the beach or wherever a guest wants it. Then more recently there was a guy who wanted to extend his stay by a few nights, he wanted the additional nights for free. I politely declined, he then left a scathing review accusing me of being greedy. Then we had another group who overstayed checkout by 3 hours, when asked to return to the property to collect their belongings, they returned pissed in beds, damaged furniture, therefore forfeited their deposit and yet they had the audacity to leave a 1* review.

OP, I don't have any legal ideas for you I am afraid, but I can state that when I read reviews, I always look at the general trend , so whilst I understand your google standing might not be quite as good, that in itself would not put me off ordering from you. I am intrigued to know what you sell that is so niche, is it anything mners would use? Because if so, maybe some would buy your product as a result of this thread and then leave you great reviews.
Anyway, I have dealt with three companies this week. One, a small business will be getting a 5 ⭐ review because of how quickly they resolved an issue with my order. The others, two massive, national companies on the other hand, have been appalling. So one is having an email to the CEO and the other is going to be sent to the relevant ombudsman.

@amiascrazyastheysay

Get your family and friends to leave as many real 5 star reviews on your service as you can.

Fake reviews I go elsewhere. regardless of how excellent they appear to be. Like time wasters, fake writers aren't always that smart and leave tells in their FB.

Depending on the type of industry this can completely destroy the product even with a change of name.
Every industry will have forum space somewhere with people talking about that whatever.

Many companies on Amazon also buy reviews. I've been offered alsorts for free if I will give 5 star ratings. Those things do reflect my review of the product I have purchased and mentioned the deal the company offers. Used to be rife on eBay several years ago.

I've also read 5 and think why did they give them 5, I would have given them a lot less because of all the issues stated.

When there's been a bad review and then there's a sudden surge of 4*+ reviews, I go elsewhere.

OP in the kindest way, you are giving this way too much headspace. It's one bad review. Just respond with a short factual message and move on.

Spend the energy you are wasting on this one review into getting your review strategy sorted so you are ready with responses for next time (because there will be a next time!) and start actively building up positive reviews.

I have looked after the online reputation of companies as part of my job and can tell you that Google is highly unlikely to take the review down, so for your own sake you need to let this go or you're going to drive yourself mad with it.

Forget about revenge and maybe do something nice for the team you 'tore a strip off' before finding out the facts. They will be telling family and friends how awful you are to work with if you don't put this right - and their review of your company will be believed way more than a daft online 1-star review.

Politely say "we do appreciate reviews when they are factual but unfortunately yours, like many of your other's, is malicious. You quote your item did not arrive but you ordered on this date and item was delivered well within time. Unfortunately, we keep scrupulous records of when orders are made and fraudulent attempts to claim a refund will be ignored.
We hope our actual reviews will show we are a company that our customers love"
Shame the fucker.
And sorry I'm a bitch, I would be signing up for loads of accounts and making his company look shit across every Fucking review place going.
What a wanker totally trying to scam you.

if I read a response like @LadyofTheManners then I would think the bad review was justified.

OP in the kindest way, you are giving this way too much headspace. It's one bad review. Just respond with a short factual message and move on.

It's not just a case of OP obsessing over a small blot in her copyboook, though - that one malicious review has seriously impacted her business rankings and is affecting her business. It's a bit like a terrible busker taking up a spot right outside your shop and blocking your doorway - deterring some people from wanting to come in at all and also making it more difficult for those who definitely do still want to come in to be able to do so.

@ittooshallpass wrong on every count. I gave it the headspace of putting this thread on and responding to posts. Replied to his messages to me. Sent a couple of emails to all asking what was going on and reminding them yet again that we need to be asking customers for reviews and be ultra careful on the phone as a one star review on google is a disaster. Then got on with my week/weekend.

The team are saying nothing of the sort. I can't cope with the number of people who want to work for us (advertising currently) and our reputation within the industry is excellent and most staff long standing. People leave because they are moving away. One because he couldn't stand my bow departed business partner.

@LadyofTheManners ha. That is the review I would LOVE to give but it would be business suicide to do so!

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll @Swooningmonkey @ScorpioSphinxInACalicoDress yes it's certainly tricky and of course I keep forgetting that our reviews are also read by people with businesses! I wouldn't be in the holiday let's business for anything, how awful! I guess because we operate at the top end of our market we at least avoid some of the chancers - but then we get quite a few entitled types! People were lovely and reasonable over Covid but the second lockdown ended went quite mad. Like they just expected we would have everything operating as normal. We did but our suppliers certainly didn't.

@Erictheavocado I wouldn't have the brass neck

Anyway glad most people see a one star review and think 'nutter'. I'm the same tbh. Our google ranking is where if someone searches a product or brand where we come up in results. Poor reviews result in you being shunted down the page or even into the next page. So it's kind of a big deal. Plus the google profile is the one on the main page when you search a company,

But I've noticed his review (whixh is the most recent) isn't one of the ones showing immediately so wonder if their algorithm has discounted his one somehow as he only gives one star reviews many of which are clearly malicious!

Anyway we need more so the team need to start emailing their customers and asking, or better yet I need to set something automatic up. But I have a big list of things to do so it would be nice if I hadn't had to do it right this second.

@pinkbalconyrailing

if I read a response like *@LadyofTheManners* then I would think the bad review was justified.

Why?

He has written other false reviews. She is correcting his bullshit.

Or should she just leave it to destroy the business she built up because he was after scamming a freebie and got caught?

Totally agree — it’s infuriating how some people abuse reviews to try and manipulate businesses. That’s actually exactly why I built VisibleFeedback.com.

It lets real customers leave private feedback first, so issues can be handled before they explode online — and it helps filter out the trolls, scammers, and rage-posters trying to game the system. I was tired of bending over backwards for bad actors while silent customers just disappeared.

This kind of crap is why business owners need to protect their reputation proactively, not just play defense.