REVIEWS
In my humble opinion a review should be first and foremost honest. It should be written with the intent of notifying others of both the good and bad of a business. A review should never be used as a personal attack, never use a persons name, or a tool to intimate the business into giving you money, breaking their rules and procedures or bullying them to get what you want.
The definition of the word REVIEW- a formal assessment or examination of something with the possibility or intention of instituting change if necessary.
The definition of the word HONESTY- free from fraud or deception : legitimate, truthful; genuine, real; humble, plain — honest in a sentence.
The definition of the word BULLY- use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants:
With the evolution of Social Media most if not all small businesses that are service related are terrified of the “REVIEW” threat. Yes there are people that are sane and honest. They write reviews with the intent of just relating their experiences.
I can tell you that its really difficult to get people to actually write a legitimate review at all. Most people are really busy and they move on. They may tell you over and over how much they loved you and your business but when they leave its over and you never hear from them.
Then you have the person that I believe have serious issues. They are dishonest and rude. You can tell who they are pretty quickly. They begin right away asking for things that are unreasonable. When you cannot do what they want they decide to go online and write a bad review to try and hurt you. You do not know this person and have never done anything to them at all but their mission is to hurt you.
An example is : Yesterday, on Sunday morning, I had an email asking me for pricing and availability for my venue. I sent it immediately. Then I left and went to church. I also had lunch and did some shopping. It was a pleasant Sunday. I had no tours on this day and had just planned to get things done that I needed.
When I cam home there was a second email from this person. They said that they wanted to drop in at 6:00 PM. It was near 4:00 PM at this time. I wrote back right away and told them “no, you need to schedule an appointment for a tour”. I went home and began cooking Sunday dinner.
Next, I got a phone call from the same people. They said that they really wanted to come by because they were in “the area” already and it was convenient for them. I again said that I couldn't but I would schedule a tour the following weekend anytime they wanted.
The female said that they would be in New York and couldn't come next weekend. Then they wanted to come at night during the week. I told them OK until they said the earliest time they could come would make the tour in the dark. I explained that we were not even officially open yet and had all the lights down for the winter. They wouldn't be back up until May when we would be open.
Then they wanted to know why I couldn't do the tour in the dark anyway. I also explained that it was an insurance liability issue too. They went on again about they really wanted to make a decision so that they didn't keep the other venues hanging. They were adamant about doing this literally now, even tonight .
They said that they had toured 4 venues today. I asked who they toured and they would not tell me. They went on again about trying to get here now and I finally said “ I am afraid that this isn't going to work out”. I wished them luck and hung up. I then went to the computer soon after and sent them an email telling them that I was sorry that I couldn't help them but here were some other venues that may be able to help them, I wished them luck.
Very soon after that they went to Facebook and gave me a one star review. So the moral of this story is we can tour anyone that we want. We can choose to not sign the venue over to someone that is not a good fit and that we would never be able to please. I will gladly accept the one star review rather than have some people here all day.
Finally, exercise the same courtesy. What I mean by that is go into their Facebook. Rate them, tell your story to their friends, family and people that they are going to do business with. Let other vendors know what type of person they are. It would be nice to know up front if you want these people. We do not need to allow bullies to hurt us and take it. There's that old saying “Whats good for the Goose is good for the Gander”.
