To hate the way social media has become a tool to blackmail businesses

[Misscromwellrocks]

I have just been reading a thread where someone managing a holiday let business is afraid to withhold a deposit from a couple who left the place like a pigsty because they might put negative reviews on line.

I often hear of restaurant staff afraid to approach unruly families for the same reason.

AIBU to find this a pretty worrying development that can ruin small businesses or make it very difficult to run them properly, and to also not understand why people who weren't there and don't know the facts are happy to join in with the chorus of disapproval and insult slinging?

Or just reflecting wider life?

I did mention the culture of Britain as a whole. But there is no law on the internet at all. Little in Britain as a whole, but none on the web. I think it will have to re-establish eventually. We'll probably see more countries taking Russia's and China's route. Eventually. It's all very well talking about freedom, but humans have always discovered that living in groups means giving some of that up.

The example you give is not a good one

The business had easy ways to handle that and chose not to.

When people rant a lot about one company on any platform, you can tell it’s a rant.

The thing that needs addressing is putting staff names on without their permission - a Google of my name and place of work would bring up results for a negative review from some people I asked to quieten down in the bar and stop swearing, at which point they turned on me swearing and shouting about TA and FB. Neither site would remove the review, it was responded to with what actually happened, but I still had to put up with a lot of "Oh you're the bar maid that throws people out" I didn't throw anyone out, and I wasn't rude either, but they were hearing something they didn't want to (and other guests had complained) but none of that mattered when it hit social media.
Just because I'm in hospitality doesn't mean I'm not entitled to some privacy. When the review was current (it's pages back now thankfully) I actually had people goading me.
Great for any future employer that Google's me isn't it.

I think that the number of businesses providing poor service is a lot higher than the number of customers leaving unfair reviews.

As a consumer i like to think i take reviews with a bit of a pinch of salt. A couple of bad reviews over time i ignore if the majority are good. The ones i take notice of are common themes, eg food hygiene, illness. Numbers of these comments and i avoid.
A few comments saying staff rude or unhelpful i can safely ignore as it is usually someone with an axe to grind

I think it can be both a good and a bad thing.
For example...
You may go to a restaurant and have a lovely meal and great service, but a review might state that the food was terrible and the service was dreadful.
I've read some reviews that have genuinely had me scratching my head, particularly for hotels where the reviewer has actually blamed the hotel for it raining 🤔
I tend to take the good and the bad reviews, mix them together and come up with an average.
If I've had bad service or food I tend to take it up with the manager there and then rather than leave a review.
If I've had a good experience then yes, I will leave a complimentary review.
I can't see what's to be gained by going home and leaving a bad review rather than taking it up with the manager at the time.
If your complaint isn't dealt with to your satisfaction, there are other avenues that you can go down for a satisfactory outcome without resorting to online reports.

I don't think it's a bad example @Autumnrose, it's one you see coming up over and over from worried business owners. And whike lots of people are intelligent enough to read between the lines of an unfair review, lots aren't and will happily join in with indignantly slamming the business and calling for it to ve boycotted.

I meant to add that I recently had an issue with a grocery order that I had delivered from a large supermarket.
I immediately phoned the customer service, politely explained the problem and it was resolved after going round the houses somewhat.
Should I have jumped online and left a bad review instead? What would be the point? Silly.

I've read some reviews that have genuinely had me scratching my head, particularly for hotels where the reviewer has actually blamed the hotel for it raining

Ah hotel reviews, i've read plenty where people have given a crap rating because their flight was delayed/their luggage didn't arrive/the coach from the airport took too long/it rained/the island had a power cut/they'd been bitten by mosquitos/it was too humid - none of which have sod all to do with the place they are reviewing.

My favourite one was someone giving a beautiful hotel in the Caribbean a low rating because there was a slight slope on the beach from the sea, and they would have preferred it to be flat 🤦‍♀️

I've read some reviews that have genuinely had me scratching my head, particularly for hotels where the reviewer has actually blamed the hotel for it raining

There is an all time favourite on "Local Papers full of Angry People" FB site where a woman complained there were "too many Spanish people" in her hotel in Spain asking why they couldn't "go somewhere else" ....

It’s increasingly difficult to be able to decide on the efficacy of any review these days, either good or bad. It’s said that good reviews can be faked and are unrealistic and that bad reviewers are often hoping for something free as a result of their review.

I have left bad reviews before when service/food or whatever has not been good enough. What I wrote was factual. Small business or not the service they provided wasn’t good enough so why shouldn’t I leave the review??

They took my money so I should be happy with the service. In a world of reviews I don’t know why business think they can get away with being a bit crap

Amazon reviews aren't too bad - they at least have a "verified purchase" flag so you can have a bit more confidence.

The problem is then having to wade through the idiots who tell you they're giving it one star because "it was left next door" and other useless information.

YANBU my husband had some absolute twats in the venue the other day but didn't want to piss them off because he'd had a drunk group removed the night before and they'd all jumped on social media giving bad reviews and he didn't want the place to get anymore.

So they got a full refund on their entire meals that they said weren't good enough. That they had all eaten.

I am on the fence. I think it's good that businesses are held to account more these days because I have seen a huge improvement in customer service in recent years and I'm sure this might be related.

On the other hand, vindictive customers looking for freebies are a problem. I think how the business responds is key to the whole thing.

Sometimes on Trip Advisor or Facebook you'll see businesses who can't cope with even the most minor piece of constructive criticism. That's far more off-putting than a bad review would have been.

YANBU

The company I work for had some issues with one particular customer slating them in every relevant online forum/Facebook group or page they could find.

Totally unfair and unwarranted and untrue

They’d ordered a very bespoke item from us in very questionable colours. We’d tried very politely to put them off as we knew it would look awful. They were adamant so we very clearly explained several times that we don’t refund on bespoke items unless faulty. As predicted, when it was delivered they hated it and demanded a refund. As per our Ts & Cs, we refused a refund on a bespoke item (we will on our standard range, but not bespoke).

They massively kicked off and slated us everywhere they could - most people were supportive, but a few (mostly our competitors) joined it.

We have an amazing reputation and brilliant reviews and it doesn’t seem to have done any damage but it was really stressful and worrying

I think giving a bad review for genuinely bad service that a company has refused to resolve is absolutely fine and has hopefully made some companies up their game and realise that they can't treat their customers like dirt.

However there are other people who just see it as a way to stamp their foot and kick off if they don't get their own way, are asked to show consideration for others, or have asked for something that is impossible to deliver.

It's that spiteful approach, heedless of the damage they could be doing to someone's livelihood that I find disturbing.