To think if you’re not happy with a service you’re free to post a review without raising it with the vendor?

[PumpkinPatchMismatch]

I went pumpkin picking at the weekend. The place we went to was posting on social media the day before about having expanded their capacity and released extra last minute tickets. When we got there the car park was so full I felt it was unsafe and the whole venue was packed, there was very little to see, the farm animals for the children to look at were clearly fed up and hiding away and all the ‘extras’ seemed very expensive. I wouldn’t go back but didn’t leave a review.

I’ve just seen tonight that the business has posted on social media today about how they have had “heavy criticism on our online reviews… Please message us first before you take to Google… please be kind before posting online.”

As far as I can see they have a total of three one star reviews from yesterday with similar criticisms to what I experienced. Since they posted they’ve had an “outpouring of support” on social media in which their supporters are mentioning “online trolls” and how they “cannot believe people would do this” and numerous positive Google reviews in the past hour.

AIBU to think that if people have a bad experience they’re allowed to leave a negative review without consulting the vendor? And to think the business is cynically using a small number of negative but factual reviews to rile up their online supporters to get positive comments, reviews, shares etc?

As someone said, it depends

But this vendor was selling tickets so they knew full well it would be packed so should have planned logistics accordingly. The reviews are valid because they already knew crowd numbers based on tickets sold.

they could have just said we take the reviews and board and will try and address the situation rather than play the sympathy card.

I think the problem with a lot of small businesses is that the owners take criticism very personally; it’s “their baby” and any knock at the business is a knock at them (hence the “be kind” crap).

In the end these people are doing themselves no favours. A business can never be a success if its owners cannot separate the personal from the professional. If you only want people to say lovely things about what you do, you need to make sure you’re 100% on top of everything - either that or stick to doing things on a hobby or voluntary basis.

“Does the customer care?” should always be the mantra. A small business owner might have to work really really hard for long hours, skip holidays, “put their heart and soul” into making it a success - but none of these things are relevant to the customer. They’re not your mates - they’re paying for a service.

Yes, going by what the OP has said, I think the poor reviews are deserved in this case. They seem to think reviews exist as a form of promotion

YANBU. In this instance for example, what could they have done to solve the issue… Gone back in time and been less greedy? Revoked some of the tickets you’d already sold? Given you a free ticket to go back and enjoy their oversubscribed event to further compound the issue?

No. Reviews are there to help other consumers make informed choices. If the event organisers don’t like the reviews then they can make changes to their future events, but that doesn’t improve on the experience already had by previous customers.

It depends, something wrong with food in the cafe, but otherwise excellent. Speak to staff see if it can be resolved.

Over full car park,massive queues, a charge on everything despite paying an entry fee. That's not a mistake it's providing a sub par experience. And charging for it.

As long as a review is fair the onus is on the provider to up their gain.

I'm fed up with this too. Reviews are for other potential customers, not for the business.
I do believe it's important to make a review balanced and fair, especially for a small or new business, but this isn't enough to placate some of them. Recently I posted a review saying that the ambiance and decor of a restaurant were lovely, the staff were friendly and the meat dish was delicious, BUT the veggie option was quite dry and could have done with some kind of sauce. I gave 4/5 stars.
The owners were furious that I'd abused them and wanted me to take it down!

I think I know which farm this is, and I would recommend the Seven Sisters for a future pumpkin pick which is far less busy and over promoted/under delivering. Assuming this is BF in the north west.

I totally agree, that is the whole point of reviews, that you should write a true and accurate account of your experience. But I would also encourage consistently writing reviews on positive experiences not just negative so that people can take a balanced view.

How do you propose they could have put things right on the day? The OP paid for a specific experience which was ruined by the company becoming greedy and selling tickets beyond their capacity. The experience is already ruined at this point. People don't want a discounted subsequent visit when this is happened as this means spending more money to benefit.

I agree with your comment in a situation such as food not being of certain standard at a restaurant - let them know at the time and give them a chance to fix it.

In this case, OP and anyone else upset by overcrowding were completely entitled to be annoyed and let others know

Why does everything these days need a review, it’s mind numbing & tedious. We bought something last week from electrical store & before we got home there was a message, how did we do? I just delete them now We walked into store & bought a new kettle, what else can you put or even why

tbh that would tempt me to post my own (honest) bad review op!

The list of things the OP states in their OP should not have been issues and should have been dealt with before!

A review should just be what you liked and didn't, so future customers can make an informed choice.
Personally I'd not slate somewhere if a "shit happens" type of problem arose. But it's not their first day - they know how many people they can fit to give a decent experience for everyone.

If you'd complained on the day the #BeKind crew will be along to tell you off when it wasn't the staff member's fault. So that leaves write a letter/email when you don't necessarily even want a personal response. You just want to inform other people what it's like.

Having said which you should write a balanced review, not just one outlining the bad. It is tough on businesses when they get a ton of bad reviews so I'd potentially try not to pile on. Especially if I want them to keep going.

Do they want you to contact them first if it's a lovely review?

Probably not.
Therefore I think it's fine to leave an honest review in this instance.

Can't just be full of the good reviews.

I think there are instances its right to contact the person/company 1st, to see if they can resolve an issue e.g. broken or wrong item.

I prefer truthful reviews. I ordered something on Ebay that was super past the delivery window and left a negative review- they kept messaging saying they'll give me £1 to remove the negative rating, no thanks.

@PumpkinPatchMismatch People that do this are proper cunts. They should at least give the business owner a chance to make good.

But they would rather damage a business as they are petty & nasty.

People invest so much time and effort in to making a business work for their families and along comes an arsehole actively seeking to damage a business because the car pack was full or something equally pathetic.

Its fucking pumpkin picking - some where the kids can get dirty not always gonna be the Instagram ‘experience’ people are obsessed with.

My friend got a one star review on Google. Apparently it was because they were ringing and ringing all day to book an appointment and no one picked up. They were closed. If the person had bothered to check the times when they were actually open it might have worked out better. When you give some one a very low review on review sites it takes about seven or more - 5 five star reviews to bring it back up again. It does a lot of damage to peoples businesses - so please - give the owner an opportunity to make it good.

Given the wording you use I think I know the pumpkin patch you went to - a family farm where the dad died last year and his two daughters have taken over running it, and expanding the events side to try make a living. They are young women trying to make a living in a tough agri industry and expand the farm into areas it traditionally didn't offer. In this case I'd try to give my feedback privately (I know one of the girls and they are very approachable) - but I work with small business and honestly a few poor online reviews can ruin a new business in a way reviewers don't always comprehend. It is very easy to post a bad review (and I understand you can feel entitled to do so) but it's really good for small business to give them a chance or address things personally. I think it's the same with cafes/ restaurants also.

You sounds blooming delightful you've called the OP 4 different names and completely missed the point that reviews are a person's opinion. If a business only wants positive review then they should probably not be in business.

You're free to do what you want but it makes you a twat.

Be an adult, if you aren't happy say something. If you still aren't happy with how they handle it then leave a bad review.

Most of that review was subjective.

car park looked full - might have been at capacity but still safe. Do you not go in Asda because the car park is full?

Busy venue - yeah it’s half term and people want to pick pumpkins

extras were expensive - again subjective

I think if something went wrong that ruined the product or service, that should be sent to the business first to offer them a way to make it right or recompense. To correct a mistake, if you will.

However, if the product or service was delivered, as planned by the business, then regardless of what you think you should be free to state your opinion about it online as a review.

Newsflash: Reviews are subjective!!!🙄
If I was looking to go somewhere and found a review saying extras were expensive, it would make me look into the cost of the extras before I go and decide if they were expensive to me.
Likewise, if I saw the review said school holidays are busy and I am planning to go another time with my preschooler, I would disregard the review.
Doesn't make that person's experience any less valid

'Be kind' and 'trolls', jeez, the Instagram generation have very little resilience with honest feedback

No I’ve not missed the point. Damaging someone’s business for pettiness and a moment of self righteousness is horrible.

Review if the owner said ‘fuck you don’t come back’ when you had tried to address it with them or something really bad happened. Not over petty shit.

Most small business owners would happy to fix it because they actually want repeat customers and to make their buisness better by improving.

AND business owners go in to business to put food on the table for their families - unfortunately you can’t please everyone and people are pretty fucking difficult and highly strung these days despite wanting to pay the absolute bare minimum

I work in the feedback industry (and have done so for the past 10+ years). That's the whole point of reviews!

If they don't like them well that's the lesson for them to learn, to offer the experience that was advertised.