WIBU to leave a terrible review for a company that hasn’t actually worked for us

[Mincepiethief]

WIBU to leave a terrible review for this business? They haven’t actually done work for us so maybe it’s not fair, but they have been an absolute pain in the bum!
To be clear, we wanted to get a new fence and gate installed and contacted multiple
companies. This company has great reviews and photos of good work, so when they asked to come out today between 9 and 9.30am to measure and give a quote, I changed my work schedule to make it possible. Not a huge deal but not ideal. They didn’t turn up at 9, or 9.30, or 10, or… you get the idea. I messaged at 10 and at 10.30 ask if they were still coming. No response. At 1 I sent another message saying I was disappointed, and got a message back saying “if you would like to go elsewhere please feel free too (sic)” “M* is very professional”

Obviously we won’t be asking these very unprofessional people to do the work. My question is, WIBU to leave them a very negative review even though they haven’t actually done the work? They’ve wasted our time and wasted my money booking time off though!

You have had experience of this company even if you never got work done - as long as your review gives a true reflection of your experience with this company then that’s fair and valid!

People will want to know they don’t bother showing up to booked appointments for quotes and deserve to see reviews of that so they can make an informed decision about whether to use them!

No I wouldn't leave a bad review, it's frustrating yes but just draw a line and move on.

I'd leave an honest review, might save people booking time off work it they are happy to not even turn up to quote!

Yes of course leave them a review. Other customers would want to know an appt was booked and they never turned up.

I left a review once for a cafe where i went to have breakfast with my friend and my 7 month old. We were the only people there, but they wouldn’t let my baby sit in her pushchair but also couldn’t provide a suitable enough high chair. So i left before ordering and went elsewhere, and left a review.

I don’t understand why the responses to threads like this are always full of “you can’t leave a bad review, it’s mean and will hurt a small business”. What the hell is the point of review sites at all, then?! It’s like there’s a whole set of unspoken rules, and you’re not supposed to be honest, and businesses shouldn’t have to face up to reality and improve. Maybe it’s because I’m autistic and don’t trust or understand these systems within systems, but it seems insane to me that it’s somehow wrong to use the mechanism provided to give an honest appraisal.

Yes, leave the review. You were prevented from using them by their own antics.

You can leave an honest review, if that’s what you mean by very negative. It’s good to be cool and factual and strip any emotion out of a review.

Before WFH was standard so a bit of a pain, I arranged to work from home to let a plumber in. No show but with an excuse so we tried again. Another day, same thing. I left a review to the effect that he clearly didn't value my or DH's time.
Some time later I got a notification that 100 people had read my Google review, which did give me some satisfaction. Pissing people about like that is so rude, even if loads of trades think it's fine.

I’ve had a few tradespeople mess me about like this so I would definitely appreciate an honest and factual review. If they had apologised I would have let it go, but their response is so dismissive and disrespectful of your time.

Leave the review for sure. Tradesmen who turn up when they say are like gold dust! I’ve taken 3 days off work before for plumbing work that needed doing. Couldn’t leave them to get on with it because of the dogs and they never showed up!! It’s the number 1 thing I want with a tradesman good communication!

We’re wanting some work done on the house. We’ve contacted about 15 different companies. About 10 of those have responded and looked at the job and 4 have provided a quote. Two of them we liked, but their quotes were twice as much as we could afford. We accepted the quote from one company, but they’ve no gone radio silence, don’t answer the phone and don’t respond to messages.

I also think that some companies refuse to show a review if it’s less than positive, which defeats the whole purpose of reviewing.

Just leave a review saying never turned up to do quote

no need for more than that any big drama tagged on just undervalues the review