When is it acceptable to air your complaints publicly? Post Reply

[SFMC]

I think it is perfectly reasonable to complain about customer service on a public site. I think it is one thing to genuinely complain about treatment - pure slander or a personal, vicious attack is another matter altogether.
Twitter, google reviews, qype, yelp, NVN, Mumsnet, to whatever forum this is the reality of doing business today - whatever business you run.
Word of mouth is powerful and word of mouth can make or break you as a business, musician, artist, whatever it may be these days.
Businesses should be savvy to this.I think we are all intelligent enough to read a post and decide if it is a personal, unreasonable moan versus a genuine complaint.
And when something crosses the line at least this forum is monitored and administered well and users very active and committed to responding.

I don't think people should not feel censored or intimidated to discuss their opinions about all aspect of things in their community. Businesses in any case should be able to respond publicly.

I do think that customer service in the UK is actually rather bad. But agree that it just make sense if you have received bad service to bring the matter to the attention of the manager and see if the business does something about it.

Somehow in Canada, USA where workers earn even less minimum wage - at times appalling minimum wage - (but granted rely on tips!) businesses, workers and managers seem to be able to maintain a really high standard of customer care. All I'm suggesting is that there is no excuse for bad service.... even if you can't watch your employees 24/7.

Unfortunately with the internet you do get a lot of trolls, trash talk, flaming, bullying whatever you wanna call it. It has opened a whole new can of worms and get ugly.

[clapset]

I believe you said you had a terrible lunch at some restaurant called gazette and wrote boycott !!!, you got a response from the owner saying he was chocked. What did you do?

What do you do for a living other than clearly picket restaurants? Are you in some form of union for quality restaurants? My point being did you tell this forum about your experience and why it was bad or did you shout boycott!!!

I suppose the word boycott is not a personal vicious attack in your mind?

The flying picket

[Hattie]

Supergirl: translation.

To say that someone is as "Thick as two short planks" means that they are really, REALLY stupid/extremely unintellingent.

[supergirl]

Thanks a lot Hattie!
That s my new word for today... Mind you extremely annoying people, i know a good one now! (i m joking of course!)

[SFMC]

I didn't write a review about a restaurant. I replied in response to someone else posting about her bad experience and I said I experienced some similar bad service. It was a restaurant I tried and decided to never to go back to again as it was so appalling.

And in answer to your question yes I tend to avoid restaurants or businesses that have bad service or bad food. I chimed into a rather heated debate about the OP as I thought she was being treated totally unfairly and was getting some unfair responses (which started to question her parenting ability!).

Generally I can see how the tone of a post can get misread on a forum.I did once post a very flippant offhand comment (again same thread as above) which I then removed as I realized it was unfair and uncalled for.

However, I think my post above simply responded to the OP's question and I threw in my opinion about whether or not it is acceptable to air complaints publicly. I didn't personally attack anyone else's response.
I'm not sure why you are jumping all over me. Can't people put their viewpoints on this forum without getting personally attacked?

[clapset]

1000 apologies for confusing you - you hit the nail on the head. You didn't write it and these boards get confusing.

Still who wrote boycott? And as we are confused did they mean Geoff Boycott?

Net result - I'm of the opinion that I chose to make my own mind up about service and don't listen to anyone else. Invariably why would you listen to someone else what makes them the aribter of good taste ... because they live in Nappy Valley Net world.

[supergirl]

I know i m going slightly off road now but for the record, i went to the Gazette on the River (not far from the hrliport). We were 3 adults and 4 kids between 20 months and almost 4yrs. We had the best time.
They gave us the table where children can draw on, they talked to them and us, i had one of the best tartare ever (raw meat) and nice wine
I ve never been to the one jn Balham but i am so glad i havent takrn the criticisms to the letter (slthough we went without a buggy) and went there. Quite high on my like list of french restaurants in london (the best one being Le Boudin Blanc on Shrpherds Market... This one, it s like being at home when my mum cooks... home is calling now!!!)

[Groucho]

SFMC in regards to your comment;
"Twitter, google reviews, qype, yelp, NVN, Mumsnet, to whatever forum this is the reality of doing business today - whatever business you run."

Obviously this is true but unlike the giant high street chains our local independents do not have time or finance to hire a social media team or person who can be the PR social media manipulator.

That is the reality of running a small independent, you can't run the business and be checking twitter and facebook et al. every 5 seconds updating the businesses electronic face.



My initial question was where do we draw the line?

I think if people try to think as community and with normal human compassion when sharing positive and negative experiences of local businesses the site would be a lot more informative. Businesses aren't the enemy, they are a part of the community and should be treated as such.

If we ask ourselves the question, would I want my friends to know I have vilified this business or person publicly? If the answer is no you possibly shouldn't do it.

[supergirl]

And to add on Groucho's post, for some local businesses here you can meet the owner at the schoolgates, playgroup, activities, etc. local business = local people, more often than not.

[SFMC]

Thanks for the response Clapset and I totally agree about not relying on others being arbiters of taste.

This post does bring up some good and hard questions and has made me rethink my own judgements and stance with regards to local independent businesses (I've only a literally had only one or two bad experiences over the years so that is saying something).

It is a difficult situation as it is so easy to blow off steam on a public forum (yes I'm guilty too! ) and really what I would personally like to see more of in Earlsfield is a nicer high street with great independent shops and restaurants (and more of them please!). So agree that it can be damaging to small business when it is not justified. I imagine there are only a few instances when it might be appropriate to publicly complain.

So this making me rethink things a bit... thanks ladies!

And to continue off topic I recommend for rustic and romantic French try La Poule au Pot in Pimlico! Nice for a romantic special occasions.

[clapset]

I'm certainly not the barometer of taste. I love the kebab shop next to B At One ... the Vietnamese outside Clapham Junction ... but also love places like Yatachua and Salt yard in town ... it all depends on the mood!

[supergirl]

Oh i passed La Poule au Pot the other day and was wondering...

Tell me, is it as good as it looks like? Oh i m home sick now.... I def should stop talking about food!

[SFMC]

Supergirl - yes it is!!!!
I had a quiche starter there and it was soooooo good I told my husband I didn't think I could eat quiche ever again as it had ruined all regular quiche! (somehow that made sense to me in my intoxicated on good food state!).

Though I did eat there over 2 years ago now. Can't wait for a special occasion to go back. Drool.

[marypoppins]

People can't spend all day everyday in case someone says something about them. They don't have time. So therefore they wouldn't know it had been said and couldn't correct it. If you must post negatively make sure the people concerned are aware - not everyone is on nappy valley

[Groucho]

"Please, let's not sanitise NVN so that we feel that we can only post that something "is amazing" etc."


Clearly no-one is saying that people should only write that something is amazing.

I think if posters read the sentiment of this thread it is really about people thinking before they post. It's about writing negative reviews constructively and thinking whether it's just a personal gripe or in the public interest. It's about not having knee jerk reactions which end in personally insulting local workers.

Lastly, it's about leading by example for our children's sake as far as the internet is concerned by putting the shoe on the other foot and thinking of the wider long term consequences.