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?

It’s worth contacting the owner first - especially small business as they rely on repeat customers. I know many business owners that would happily refund, offer a free meal, try to give you a better experience because they rely on keeping their customers happy

Do you not think leaving negative reviews damage business 🫠

Do you want to answer my questions?

Public duty 🤣🤣🤣
You really do live in a different world to the rest of us!

Many of us on the thread (along with the general population) are not turned away by a business that has received a negative review. We are able to detect when someone is having an unjustified rant and we are also capable of factoring the business’s response to negativity into our decision making.

I can say quite confidently I wouldnt be visiting any business you run because of the way you conduct yourself, not the reviews

Individual customers bear no responsibility for keeping businesses afloat. None whatsoever. If a service is paid for and is below the expected standard, then the customer is right to leave an honest review. If a business owner doesn't like that, then it's up to them what they do about it; they can take the feedback on board and buck their ideas up, or they can whine and retaliate and say it's not fair. None of which is the customer's concern.

There's no other logical way to run a system of reviews. This nonsense of customers being obliged to pussyfoot around contacting people personally and giving time to rectify mistakes that should never have been made, "be kind" and not give an honest appraisal - it makes a mockery of the whole process. It's corrupt and helps nobody. If you run a business and you get a shit review, be a grown-up and sort out the issues.

Question - as there was only one. No I don’t.

I note you didn’t answer mine either but something tells me you wouldn’t care anyway.

Oh, you don't. Shocking!

My friend got a 1 star review because no one picked the telephone up so they could book in.

They were closed. Opening times were on website - also automated booking system on website. See my post up thread.

Customer is not always right. People are wankers.

Of course there are unreasonable reviewers, that's life. Either you trust new customers to use their judgement or you remove your service from reviewing platforms 🤷🏻‍♀️

Certainly not a reason to tell the vast majority of good-faith reviewers that it's somehow immoral to leave a frank review. It isn't.

I left a poor review for a restaurant I went to with my mum. We were really disappointed by the food and had a view into the kitchen from our table. A lot of the food was being brought in using large containers and I didn’t think a lot of it was being prepared on site. Also I could actually cook a better meal than the one I received. A meal that should naturally have been gluten free wasn’t and that because they were using cheaper ingredients. The meal was in London near Marylebone and wasn’t cheap either. The restaurant wanted to contact me to talk about the review (in response to my tripadvisor post) but I refused as I had said everything I needed to in the restaurant at the time.

It depends
If it's something they could have fixed and you didn't say anything at the time maybe that's a bit unfair.
But letting too many people in to safely enjoy what you've paid for.... nah i would just leave a review.
I also think how the business responds to reviews says a lot

Then this will stand out amongst decent reviews.
I'm a one to one tutor and i once had a parent that i had to drop as they were unreliable with picking up and with paying. They threatened to leave a bad review. I said go ahead. They didn't. In over 14 years I've not had a single bad review. It would have stood out a mile.

I had such a bad meal at a restaurant recently that I left a review without raising it first.

I'd never normally do that, but I had a piece of steak that was visibly full of gristle, genuinely looked like a dog had been at it at the edges, and was grey in colour. No kitchen of any standard would or should have sent it out and I frankly didn't trust them with any sort of remedy.

They had a whine at the review, saying I should have raised it at the time, but had absolutely nothing to say about the dreadful food in the first place!

It isn’t “actually the same” at all, unless the company being reviewed pays its staff less when they receive bad reviews - and that would be on the company, not the customers. Why are you trying to make this ridiculous analogy?

Every time you review a business negatively you turn potential customers away

For someone who is so big on opinion vs fact, why are you stating this as fact when it’s impossible to do so? And more importantly, why are you STILL refusing to acknowledge that the quality of the product and the service is the focus of any negative review? You’re trying to put the onus on reviewers and to absolve the businesses of any blame.

Thank you for all the replies, and to everyone who shared their experiences, definitely a range of opinions! I agree that for a one off issue like a fly in your soup you’d be better off dealing with it at the time but, as several posters have pointed out, there’s nothing the venue could do to rectify the situation when we were there in this case.

Thank you @newfire for the alternative recommendation I will check it out next year (and you were correct on the location)

Thank you @ShowmetheBotox for the character assassination; the problem wasn’t that the car park was full it’s that the cars were packed in so tightly and the staff directing people into and out of spaces were pushy, cavalier and not very observant. I saw two separate ‘near misses’ where people were nearly hit by (admittedly slow moving) cars while I was there. I don’t think that’s a “pathetic” concern.

Thank you @Labyrinthian for your insight (you are also correct about the location) it’s such a shame if they’re actually approachable that they came across so poorly in how they dealt with the tiny number of negative reviews

I think it's fine to leave an honest review! I've complained to two places recently and both have just brushed off my complaint like it was nothing - so I'll be going straight to Google in future.

Well obviously the customer is not always right. Assuming your friend responded to that review to say Your call wasn’t answered because we were not open on x day Our opening times are on our website and you can also book online at any time. Look forward to welcoming you in the future,

Anyone reading that would think clearly the customer is an idiot but that business owner obviously cares enough to check reviews and respond politely and it’s also highlighted to everyone that you can book online.

My friend got a 1 star review because no one picked the telephone up so they could book in. They were closed. Opening times were on website - also automated booking system on website. See my post up thread.

But did the answering machine message clearly state that they were closed and to use the website booking system instead?