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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:
bruffin · 18/07/2020 14:56

Joe Lycett did a great expose on Trustpilot

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 18/07/2020 18:29

Some of the most recent 5-star reviews do seem rather over-effusive - like you'd cured their PFB of a horrible disease rather than just picked a few random items off a shelf and put them in the post.

One of them mentions lockdown, which I suppose still kind of applies, but all the shops are open for you to go out and buy stuff yourself now anyway. Their main market seems to be pre-schoolers, so it's not even like the schools being closed would make much difference to the little ones.

Even if you can't or don't want to go out to the shops, there are any number of craft or toy websites (or even just Amazon) where you can choose things that you as a parent know that your own child will like, rather than paying top whack for pot luck - most of them will offer dynamic suggestions for 'complementary' items based on what you choose anyway.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 18/07/2020 18:32

Never known Trustpilot request an order number if you write a good review but write a bad one and the company can get it taken down.

That's a very good point. If it's meant to be a community - and clearly aimed at assuring consumer confidence, why can the companies dispute bad reviews but potential customers can't question ones that sound suspiciously over-egged?

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 18/07/2020 18:46

One recent reviewer says "I also like the way the company follows up on your order".

Don't get on his wrong side, though - wouldn't want 'up' being substituted for another preposition entirely Grin

FinlandFlag · 18/07/2020 23:46

Oh Dan is so reading this! Maybe he will get some tips on replying to negative feedback

ArriettyJones · 18/07/2020 23:53

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

He’s still trying the “we are a small family business so you are mean to be negative” wheedling, though

I still maintain that they aren't that small a business if they're selling a minimum of 9,000 packs every month (he boasts states a figure of thousands a week). 300 every single day, even if they worked 7 days a week. That's hardly 'Mom & Pop business' territory, is it?

You can't play the 'thousands of happy customers every week' card and the 'small family business' card at the same time, IMHO.

That’s a very good point.
Justajot · 19/07/2020 00:36

This reminds me of the school that occasionally has threads on MN like swiss cheese due to the threats they use to get posts removed. It just makes them look a bit odd.

lifesalongsong · 19/07/2020 08:21

@FinlandFlag

Oh Dan is so reading this! Maybe he will get some tips on replying to negative feedback
If he is reading (and I'm sure he must be) his take away from this thread should be that by trying to remove a long dead and buried honest review that probably would never have been seen by anyone again he's caused this thread which has run for multiple days with thousands of potential customers seeing how he treats anyone who dares to not fawn over the product.

Way to go Dan Smile

MinorArcana · 19/07/2020 09:23

The really ironic bit was, that I read the original thread, and I thought the way the company had dealt with OP’s complaint was good, OP seemed satisfied with the company’s response in her final post on the thread.

The original thread certainly wouldn’t have put me off ordering from them.
The OTT responses to the poor reviews on Trustpilot are putting me off though.

Soubriquet · 19/07/2020 09:26

@MinorArcana

The really ironic bit was, that I read the original thread, and I thought the way the company had dealt with OP’s complaint was good, OP seemed satisfied with the company’s response in her final post on the thread.

The original thread certainly wouldn’t have put me off ordering from them.
The OTT responses to the poor reviews on Trustpilot are putting me off though.

Exactly!!
TicketToTheWrongFilm · 19/07/2020 11:49

minorarcana that’s exactly right.

The way you handle a complaint can be a
way to make a customer happier and more loyal than if they’d never had an issue in the first place.

lifesalongsong · 19/07/2020 13:39

@TicketToTheWrongFilm

minorarcana that’s exactly right.

The way you handle a complaint can be a
way to make a customer happier and more loyal than if they’d never had an issue in the first place.

I've heard that satisfaction ratings from customers who have had a resolved complaint to be higher than from those who have had a trouble-free experience.

Not saying it's scientifically proven but it certainly seems plausible

MulticolourMophead · 19/07/2020 14:24

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

He’s still trying the “we are a small family business so you are mean to be negative” wheedling, though

I still maintain that they aren't that small a business if they're selling a minimum of 9,000 packs every month (he boasts states a figure of thousands a week). 300 every single day, even if they worked 7 days a week. That's hardly 'Mom & Pop business' territory, is it?

You can't play the 'thousands of happy customers every week' card and the 'small family business' card at the same time, IMHO.

Dan, if you're reading this, I strongly suggest you go and get someone with proper marketing and communications expertise. At several thousand packs a week, you surely can afford this.

Someone with a proper marketing background would be aghast at the actions your company is taking: spurious "good" reviews, attempting to bully people, and so on.

The companies I buy from don't always have super glowing reviews. But what they do have is the right attitude to those reviews that aren't good. They attempt to fix things by communication with the customer. They show how they've put things right, eg replacement, refund, etc. I always read the poor reviews to see how a company tries to rectify any issues, because no one is perfect and mistakes can happen.

In this case, the original review was balanced and showed how your company worked with the customer, the OP, to put it right.

And now? You've wiped away the good vibe that other people will get from seeing the reasonable way you worked with the OP originally. Threatening legal action over an honest review has put me off ever using your company. And it's clear I am far from the only one.

OutOfHours · 19/07/2020 16:48

Wow, Ive seen fake reviews before, but never that many on one business, shocking

scoobyloulou · 20/07/2020 22:03

I know of somewhere that was going to make a huge order of this for a huge number of kids....

Well they won't be placing that order now is all I'm going to say Blush

Director of that place has a lot to learn from reading this thread BiscuitBiscuitBiscuit

scoobyloulou · 20/07/2020 22:08

@AHF1975 ..... lol

Goodness me, there's suddenly a suspicious number of absolutely glowing reviews for this company popping up on TP. Wonder why that might be?!

Jammy dodgers all round eh ?! BlushBiscuitBlushBiscuit

Hmmmm Hmm

HouchinBawbags · 20/07/2020 22:50

Those recent glowing reviews speak volumes for that company.

Not in a good way though.

The timing and sheer number of them make them feel as genuine as an out of the blue "catch up" message coming from an old ex classmate from 20 years ago who just happens to be "making thousands a week" from Herballife on Facebook. Hmm

TicketToTheWrongFilm · 21/07/2020 07:45

So many long reviews with run-on sentences and no paragraph breaks Hmm

GinDaddyRedux · 21/07/2020 08:09

@TicketToTheWrongFilm

So many long reviews with run-on sentences and no paragraph breaks Hmm
Sounds like a fair few of the crowd on here then Grin
Zilla1 · 21/07/2020 08:10

Why do some of the reviews feel like they were written by the Mr Angry character in Pixar Inside Out's Riley's head, just on the verge of exploding?

To be fair, I don't think all the positive reviews are fake.

PMSL at some of the entirely authentic reviews though. My life has been transformed, my child loves this more than everything in their life. COVID has given me another opportunity to buy this small, family run companies' great, fabulous products rather than just for my holidays. You might be able to buy similar products at marginally lower prices if you spent hours and hours and your time was worthless.....

lifesalongsong · 21/07/2020 08:28

Interesting how many of those reviewers have never reviewed anything else.

Maybe that explains how impressed they are by the products, they've never actually bought anything else to be able to judge good value or what's available out there.

They also seem to attract a very specific demographic of effusive and well educated Hmm

Zilla1 · 21/07/2020 08:32

lifesalong, perhaps they'll post their positive reviews of reassuringly expensive hand sanitiser next. So pleased COVID has given me more opportunity to buy and use hand sanitiser. You might be able to source hand sanitise marginally more cheaply but it won't be as good and you'll have to spend hours and hours.......

BringMeTea · 21/07/2020 08:37

Yeah, the fake rave reviews are a massive own goal. Clown. Grin

MinorArcana · 21/07/2020 11:42

Bit harsh to assume they’re all fake reviews.

Maybe they’ve followed Ocado’s example and asked customers to leave reviews on Trustpilot? That would also explain reviews by reviewers who’ve never reviewed anything else on there.

Zilla1 · 21/07/2020 13:03

I don't think all the positive reviews are fake, nor that every review written in the same voice and style with relatively long, similar content are all fake. It's not impossible that every positive post is authentic and each from a separate reviewer, even the ones who posted for a single time.

Someone might think it's odd there don't seem to be as many reviews from happy buyers in the style of other TP and Amazon reviews for other products that tend to just be short and say 'great'. 'It worked' and so on.

IME, most positive reviews are short and the negative ones are long, giving details of what went wrong.

Perhaps there will now be short positive reviews from new buyers who may also begin to review other products? Who knows?