Dealing with difficult customers is a daily struggle for many employees in the service industry. And while there might be fewer jerks in smaller towns where everyone knows everyone, these places still have some.
However, home supply and maintenance store worker and Reddit user NotTheGoldenChild616 is taking none of their nonsense. In a recent post on r/pettyrevenge, they detailed how they got back at a rude couple who refused to wait in line and demanded immediate attention.
This employee couldn't sit still after they saw their store was being trashed online for made-up reasons
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
So they told everyone what really happened
Image credits: Engin Akyurt (not the actual photo)
Image source: NotTheGoldenChild616
It sounds like the payback, which probably resulted in a damaged reputation among the locals, was well earned
Image credits: Elisa Ventur (not the actual photo)
Roy Dekel, who is the CEO of SetSchedule, an American software company specializing in big data and AI technologies, agrees that whether a business is doing well or not, it will still find bad reviews from all sorts of people.
According to Dekel, those who find themselves trying to redeem a product or service from what seems to be an unfair judgment should:
- Be polite and respectful at all times. "Good manners go both ways," he explained on Entrepreneur. "When responding politely and courteously to bad reviews, other potential customers will notice how professional your company is and take their chances on doing business with you instead of taking theirs elsewhere."
- Respond quickly. "If someone leaves feedback about an issue they had while using one of your products/services online through social media channels like Twitter or Facebook, then reach out immediately to not only resolve any issues but also to avoid having additional problems such as further complaints being made against you because others might think there isn't any way for someone else experiencing similar issues to get help from those responsible for creating said product/service."
So by explaining what actually happened during the encounter in a timely and civil manner, NotTheGoldenChild616 did virtually all that they could in a situation like this.
Some businesses encounter unwarranted negative reviews even on a large scale as well
Image credits: John Schnobrich (not the actual photo)
A standalone example like this might not sound like a huge deal. But fake negative reviews come in abundance, too.
Take Cameron Woodsum, for instance. He owns a bill reduction company called Bill Slasher.
In early 2018, Woodsum launched a Google Adwords campaign targeting the leading competitor in the space, Billshark. When people looked up “Billshark,” they found Bill Slasher's advert at the top of the search results.
Of course, Billshark wasn't happy. Within 12 hours of launching that campaign, the Bill Slasher Facebook page was flooded with 1-star reviews. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that they came from Billshark's executive team, employees, and their family members. Even the CEO's wife played her part.
As a result, Woodsum’s company's rating average plummeted from 4.9 to 2.5, and he ended up with a full-fledged crisis on his hands.
Woodsum tried reporting the reviews but Facebook didn’t reply to his requests.
"It's definitely an area where Facebook could improve," said Jenny Biller, a freelance social media strategist who specializes in Facebook management.
"Some larger Facebook advertisers have direct access to Facebook support,” Biller explained. "But people that don’t advertise on Facebook might have the hardest time getting fake reviews taken care of since they don’t have that option."
Zero tolerance for people who resort to these practices also allows us to trust online reviews. Every spiteful client who goes out of their way to damage a business instead of treating them accordingly to how they operate makes it much harder for us to know if someone's rating represents the quality of their products and services. Kudos to NotTheGoldenChild616 for doing the right thing.
People supported the author of the post for standing up for their employer and the worker gave more details about the conflict
Sadly, those who have worked in the service industry know this type of customer all too well
