Called me and asked me to take down bad review

[TotalTired]

Just has a slightly intimidating call, disguised as finding out more facts, regarding a very honest review I wrote for my dentist which involved my kids. An incident happened yesterday and I wrote about it. I mentioned a lot of positives along with the incident.

practice manager just called me saying they will speak to the person. She then said will I please take it down as it doesn’t look good on the clinic. I told her it was 100% the truth and I stand by it. She said she wants me to take it down as it affects the surgery, I told her I will think about it.

aibu - take it down - yes
not being unreasonable don’t take down - no

Oh my god! Okay here it is:

Receptionist was very aggressive to my already nervous 5 year old. She shouted at her when she was crying about going into the dentist. Told her to be quiet. Dentist was amazing as he calmed her down and she got her check up. My advice was to ignore the rude and moody receptionist. She was vile. Almost all negative reviews on there are about her. My advice was also for the parents not to worry as the dentist is amazing and will calm down nervous patients.

seriously what’s the WTF comment? How rude.

Was it the receptionist that called you?

The office manager agreeed the receptionist does lack certain social graces but said it makes it look like a unfriendly family clinic as there have been others saying the same. The receptionist seems to hate kids

It really depends what the issue was and the way in which you described it.

For example, if you said something like (eg) 'Dental treatment was fine but the dentist kept saying how pretty my child was and I just found him creepy, call it mother's instinct but I think we just know when something isn't right and you can't be too careful these days where grooming is concerned' the practice would certainly have a point because it's an unfounded and potentially defamatory, harmful comment that isn't based in fact. But if your issue was more like 'Treatment all good, but my child is nervous about having her teeth examined and the dentist shouted at her when she cried' then fair enough to leave it up.

So did you address this with the surgery prior to posting the review?

Sorry I’m getting more worked up. I’ll just check the overall numbers and not respond anymore as it’s a small issue that’s gonna be turned into a mountain. I just want to know whether to keep it up or take die . It’s 100% the truth but clinic worried about their reputation. I’m taking my kids out of there anyway so makes no difference to me.

*down not die lol! That will be extreme reaction 😁

Ah, just seen your update! Weirdly actually quite similar to my second example!

I don't think you need to take down that review. They need to address the issue rather than apparently pretending it doesn't exist. If their receptionist shouts at nervous kids, they are not the family-friendly practice they think they are.

Sounds like your kids were running round making a nuisance of themselves and were told to sit down?
How else would she demonstrate that she "hates kids"?

Omg! So Every review you read has been addressed before posting! Where do u read your reviews? Review is exactly that - your experience of a service / product

She was crying as was worried! How nasty are u.

That’s the whole point of a review isn’t it? To effect the place, positive or negative, and to inform potential customers either way. YANBU.

Hopefully your comment will make the practice manager actually deal with their rude aggressive receptionist rather than just agree she is rude and several patients have complained

Thank you! At least there’s one reasonable person here.

Thank you.

I think you should stand by your review. I had a bad experience at the dentist at similar age to your daughter and I hated going to the dentist after that for many many years. It can be very traumatising. I think you have done the right thing warning parents and the receptionist needs to learn to be sympathetic to small distressed children or frankly find a new job to which she is better suited! Stick by your honest review OP!

I would take it down and give them a chance to resolve it - and then if I had the same experience again I would post but not give them another chance.

If there are other reviews saying the same thing about this member of staff though then it sounds like their resolution process is falling on deaf ears. Is the receptionist related to one of the dentists, perhaps? We left our last practice for the same reason - the receptionist was married to the dentist and he wasn't about to be dismissed for his behaviour any time soon.

They need to tell the receptionist that their behaviour has been noted on more than one occasion by more than one patient and that they have one last chance to improve or they'll be let go.
The receptionist is the public face of the dental surgery. If the dental surgery can't get that bit right, even for nervous patients, then I wouldn't want to go there. I want the entire experience to be a calm one and that doesn't sound like it happens in this particular practice.

I'd leave that comment up to be honest. If they change the receptionist to a new one, or if the current one improves their 'bedside' manner, then I might consider removing it but only then.

I'm broadly in this camp. It's not a consumers job to manage businesses. If something complaint worthy happened, its OK to say it.

If you're taking your kids out anyway, I'd add to the review that you received an inappropriate call confirming that you weren't the only complainer, and asking you to take down your comments as they affect the clinic's image.

Their attitude is disgusting. Nobody who can't treat an anxious small child with a bit of humanity should be working in a customer-facing role, and multiple complaints about the receptionist's manner should have resulted in immediate action. We are too tolerant of shitty behaviour and poor service in this country.

You are totally within your rights to mention something this serious!

People like this don't seem to understand how reviews actually work.

I don't know what the point of reviews are if people are only allowed to be positive. Surely it defeats the object and makes them useless?

And it is bloody family unfriendly if someone there is yelling at kids! He needs to fix THAT, not try to stop people talking about it.

I have to say I’m with you OP. They need to deal with their receptionist’s behaviour but seem to want to brush it under the carpet. Maybe they find her difficult to deal with themselves. I wouldn’t take it down. You’re not damaging their reputation at all if you also gave positives about the dental service - that’s the main reason for going after all. They are damaging their own reputation by enabling the ‘face’ of their practice and first point of call on the phone to behave in an inappropriate manner.