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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Complaint about a zombie post of mine

329 replies

Chefwifelife · 15/07/2020 19:06

I had an email from MN report team today to inform me that a post of mine from June 2019 has been reported as possible libel for defamation.

I’ve read the post several times and stand by the post as honest. I’ve informed MN that I don’t want the post deleted.

I can see today that several of the posts by other members on the thread have been deleted.

I was intrigued if there were similar posts on Mumsnet so Googled this company and found that a few days ago there quite an unpleasant exchange on Trust Pilot with a customer who had left a negative review about them.

AIBU to stand by my original (ancient) post or should I just be done with it and delete it? I don’t want to feel bullied into removing an honest post asking for others experiences.

Has anyone been in this situation?

FYI MN have been great throughout.

OP posts:
Fairybatman · 16/07/2020 10:24

It’s a shame when companies don’t understand that a certain level of negative review is OK and to be expected. You cannot please everyone all the time.

I pay for more attention to how companies respond to negative reviews than to the actual review, as it’s a good indicator or how they will behave if it’s a problem.

Having now read through the Trustpilot reviews and responses I would never use this company. The reviews didn’t put me off but the responses absolutely would.

TicketToTheWrongFilm · 16/07/2020 10:26

change their thinking because meds are just a crutch

Completely and utterly off-topic user, but this phrase/concept irritates me no end when it comes to psychiatric meds. I mean, they give 'just a crutch' to people with foot/leg/hip injuries while they're recovering, don't they? Nobody says, "Well just hobble around without it in the meantime because it's just a crutch." Grin

Anyway, as you were!

bruffin · 16/07/2020 10:27

Has the companies name even been mentioned in OPs reviews?

NewNewt · 16/07/2020 10:28

Totally agree with you user157, though in fairness, I really dont think the doctors at my GP get involved (and are very good), the reviews and pathetic responses in my case were published by the practice manager who, I am assuming, is part of the admin staff.

The partners who make all the money are of course doctors though, you're right! They should be managing the reputation, training and professionalism of their gatekeeper receptionists, who have no medical training yet spout medical opinions and expect you to discuss your medical issues in public with them.

MinorArcana · 16/07/2020 10:30

@bruffin OP mentions the company’s name in the title of her original thread.

bruffin · 16/07/2020 10:32

OOPs i just realised that, but to be honest it was not in capitals and the words are split so just looked generic to me

NewNewt · 16/07/2020 10:33

I pay for more attention to how companies respond to negative reviews than to the actual review, as it’s a good indicator or how they will behave if it’s a problem

Absolutely this for me. Every company has occasional lapses, bad days, new staff who don't work out, stressful days when the system goes down etc etc. A speedy, apologetic reply and quickly putting things right is fine by me and I never discount somewhere that has the odd bad review when they've responded appropriately. Equally there are bad customers who complain unreasonably so I would never expect a company to have universally good reviews, in fact I'd be suspicious. For me its about the overall ratios of good and bad and how professionally they respond to the bad ones, their fault or not.

sqirrelfriends · 16/07/2020 10:38

I looked up the post, definitely not libel. If it was then so would any non-positive thing said about a company.

I did think of using them and decided Instead to put something together myself, I'm glad I did.

EnterNight · 16/07/2020 10:38

Trust pilot are utterly weak and bow to pressure fat too easily.
I’ve left two poor reviews on there.

First company claimed to TP I’d bought nothing from them and it was malicious. I had to prove to TP I had for them to reinstate the review but I wondered how many they managed to get deleted this way because people couldn’t be bothered.

The second was as company I wanted samples from. Paid £1.60 for six samples. One turned up. They didn’t answer my emails at all and I was completely ignored on every platform so left an honest review stating if they couldn’t actually send the samples then i had no faith in them getting the product right.
Immediately removed again as they claimed the samples were sent third party. Pointed out to TP that might be the case but I paid my money to them and it was them who were ignoring me and again, reinstated.

Then of course there was the whole Ocado debacle last month where they were letting consumers in who had not been able to get shopping slots and immediately directing them to TP to leave five star reviews.

I now tend to google around forums for honest opinions or look at comments on the company Facebook.

bruffin · 16/07/2020 10:59

Then of course there was the whole Ocado debacle last month where they were letting consumers in who had not been able to get shopping slots and immediately directing them to TP to leave five star reviews.
I dont think that was the case. There was just a general please give us a nice review on TP, because by the time that TP banner was up i had been able to get into ocado for weeks. There were some really dodgy reviews on TP for ocado that didnt really seem fair at the time. I was asked by TP why i had put a review up and i told them what had happened. TP also asked me about a bad review i gave for a windows company who objected to my review, but they reinstated it in the end.
I do think that they should be a bit clearly about the company asking for bad reviews to be removed as the company mentioned in this post seems to be actively getting rid of bad reviews which should not be allowed, especially as there seems to be so many of them.

I wonder if they are using one of those companies that adverters they can "repair your online presence"?

bruffin · 16/07/2020 11:01

@NewNewt

I pay for more attention to how companies respond to negative reviews than to the actual review, as it’s a good indicator or how they will behave if it’s a problem

Absolutely this for me. Every company has occasional lapses, bad days, new staff who don't work out, stressful days when the system goes down etc etc. A speedy, apologetic reply and quickly putting things right is fine by me and I never discount somewhere that has the odd bad review when they've responded appropriately. Equally there are bad customers who complain unreasonably so I would never expect a company to have universally good reviews, in fact I'd be suspicious. For me its about the overall ratios of good and bad and how professionally they respond to the bad ones, their fault or not.

Thats what i look for as well
LinemanForTheCounty · 16/07/2020 11:10

I am now far too interested in this, but I googled them and found a few interviews with them, then googled the name of one of the joint founders and he is former professional poker player with lots of results re his poker playing stats and information.

EnterNight · 16/07/2020 11:12

I dont think that was the case. There was just a general please give us a nice review on TP

TP disagreed.

www.chargedretail.co.uk/2020/05/07/trustpilot-has-asked-ocado-to-make-changes-after-it-received-3500-5-star-reviews-in-6-days/

Interestingly there was a MN thread about TP removing negative reviews for Ocado. Even more interesting is that thread no longer exists, as if Ocado/TP contacted MN and asked for it to be taken down? Fortunately, there is always a cache...

<a class="break-all" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:dL4f6a3LLb8J:www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3390317-Trustpilot-have-removed-all-negative-comments-re-Ocado%3Fpg%3D2+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=safari" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:dL4f6a3LLb8J:www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3390317-Trustpilot-have-removed-all-negative-comments-re-Ocado%3Fpg%3D2+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=safari

bruffin · 16/07/2020 11:23

Your link doesnt say what you said at all EnterNight. Trust pilot also said Ocado was not breaking any rules, just asked them to remove the banner until after the delivery

EnterNight · 16/07/2020 11:43

@bruffin

Your link doesnt say what you said at all EnterNight. Trust pilot also said Ocado was not breaking any rules, just asked them to remove the banner until after the delivery
A Trustpilot spokesperson said that it had asked Ocado to change the timing of this pop-up until after they had received their delivery in order to give a “more holistic view”

Thus implying that by pushing customers, who had finally been successful at placing a shop, to leave a TP review they were skewing the system.
And 3,500 positive reviews suddenly appearing pushing its score from 38 to 62% positive would reflect that it was a sneaky tactic.

bruffin · 16/07/2020 11:50

But they were suddenly opening slots to get reviews which is what you implied.They were also not offering any rewards to give good reviews which is what trust pilot asked me if they were doing that

bruffin · 16/07/2020 12:01

@bruffin

But they were suddenly opening slots to get reviews which is what you implied.They were also not offering any rewards to give good reviews which is what trust pilot asked me if they were doing that
but they were not suddenly opening slots to get reviews which is what you implied.
EnterNight · 16/07/2020 12:20

@bruffin

But they were suddenly opening slots to get reviews which is what you implied.They were also not offering any rewards to give good reviews which is what trust pilot asked me if they were doing that
The TP banner coincided with emails to customers telling them they could now book deliveries. There have been several huge threads on here from dozens on MN Ocado customers who couldn't get slots for months, then suddenly had an email offering them slots with the TP pop up at the end.

Obviously it could all be completely coincidental that lots of people were offered slots out of the blue just as the TP banner appeared.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 16/07/2020 12:37

Wow, interesting to note that all of the less than positive reviews on trustpilot have now been reported and being reviewed - so we can't see them or the responses!

When they say 'reviewed', do they actually mean 'deleted but technically not deleted? I can think of another website that frequently takes threads down 'while we review' or 'look behind the scenes', but (and I may be mistaken) I've never noticed a single one being re-instated once the reviewing has been completed and it passes muster.

It's a bit of a conundrum as we have no way of knowing if the blurred-out reviews are genuine negative reviews that the business is trying to suppress - and thus we should consider them as a red flag against the company; or if they are trolls/competitors/serial complainers trying to maliciously damage their business - in which case the company is clearly a victim and shouldn't have it held against them.

stayathomegardener · 16/07/2020 13:01

But they are used by members of the royal family...
Must be brilliant 🙄

bruffin · 16/07/2020 13:35

EnterNIght

No, they were getting themselves sorted out, and asked for reviews at the time. It was not like they said here you can have a slot , give us a review, then took those options away after. It wasnt a freebee. Nobody ws forced to give a good review to get a slot

EnterNight · 16/07/2020 13:44

@bruffin

EnterNIght

No, they were getting themselves sorted out, and asked for reviews at the time. It was not like they said here you can have a slot , give us a review, then took those options away after. It wasnt a freebee. Nobody ws forced to give a good review to get a slot

You see it your way and I, Trust Pilot and several thousand others will see it as incentivised reviewing. I'm not engaging any further with you as this is just derailing OP's thread.
VettiyaIruken · 16/07/2020 14:24

Well, that's them added to my avoid list. I refuse to deal with bully boys.

Soubriquet · 16/07/2020 14:36

@stayathomegardener

But they are used by members of the royal family... Must be brilliant 🙄
Yeah...I can’t see the duchess of Cambridge spending £20 on plastic tat and sticker books..
MinorArcana · 16/07/2020 15:38

@Soubriquet it was Princess Eugenie who used them for the bridesmaids and pageboys at her wedding.

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