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

[Groucho]

I am fairly sure there is a cut off point when it is not acceptable to air personally grievances regarding employees and businesses on a public site.

Surely the only time to start a post to name and shame people or businesses publicly. should be as a last resort. For example when the company has not rectified the problem or to warn others of potential serious problems.

One recent example was a poster stating a group of local nursery workers were nearly all "thick as two short planks". Not only untrue but particularly personal and nasty. Other posters were defending the rights of the accuser because apparently everyone has a right to an opinion.

I personally think that these sorts of posts have no place on the internet.

Lastly, I wonder how some posters on here would feel if they were in a job that required customer contact, very often being paid low rates of pay and then finding yourself subject to humiliation on an internet site.

Or if you had started a small local business where 99% of your customers were happy but the one who wasn't plastered it all over the internet instead of speaking to the business owner first, thus potentially ruining the business.


Please can we think as a community before posting.


Disclaimer: I have no personal interest in any of the posts I have mentioned.

[clapset]

very well written argument. customer service is very subjective and can be very damaging to a small local business. It's easy to complain at big businesses (or local govt which I like to do) because at the end of the day there is normally no impact, but in a community like this one a poorly placed word about how you feel about a family shop can create all sorts of problems. Personally if I ever have an issue I let them know in person. normally decent businesses will listen and find a solution. if not and it was truly poor service there's no need to post on sites like this as they go out of business eventually anyway.

very few people post about what a great service they had - for instance I had dinner at the roundhouse recently and it was really pleasant ... there!

[Camille]

Spot on Groucho

[MGMidget]

The thread you mention had a lot of positive posts defending the nursery too. I agree that people should try to think carefully about the impact of what they say but I also don't think negative comments should be censured. We all benefit from hearing about others' experience, good or bad, and if a business gets criticised unfairly or a bad experience is unusual there is usually someone leaping to their defence or the business can respond themselves.

[Groucho]

How on earth do we all benefit from nasty comments like "most of the staff are as thick as two short planks".
It is irrelevant that there were lots of positive posts afterwards the vitriol had been written publicly for all to see. It benefits no one it was personal and nasty and unnecessary.


This is my point actually, sharing information for the greater good is one thing I don't believe telling everyone a "staff member was moody" tonight serves any purpose.


These workers live in our local community, I find it incredibly uncivilised.

[coldatchristmas]

I got into some trouble earlier this week for a post which was deemed a bit rude but it was unintentional so please don't misinterpret anything I write here as being less than positive.

I think the short answer is whenever we feel we have received rubbish service we should be able to post on here. I am not very good at complaining and as a customer don't feel I need to be. If I get good service I write about it, if I get back service I write about it.

However I do think you over estimate the damage that can be done. If a business has messed up all the owner has to do, and I assume we are talking about local small business owners, is to post an apology, invite everyone in for a cup of tea and then the relationship is even stronger.

It really isnt hard and I have seen a number of local businesses get a slating on here and then rebound with a great response, the we love them even more.

Don't forget, this local shop is losing sales right now because of (perceived) grumpy staff. Surely this feedback is actually doing them a favour? Of course that does assume that they react to it and communicate that they have reacted to it.

I feel this is a little bit of shoot the messenger.

If the service is poor lets not complain about the complaints, let's work together to make the service better for us all and by default our local community.

CAC

[Minnie]

Talk to the manager!

What one person perceives as a miserable member of staff another may not. Of after talking to the manager you get a poor response then possibly post your negative feedback.

I run a small business and I can't watch my staff 24/7. If somebody posted a really negative comment on here without speaking to me first I would be very upset.

Have you never had a bad day!?

[Groucho]

Coldatchristmas you say "However I do think you over estimate the damage that can be done"


I have to say categorically you are wrong here.


Firstly, relating to the personal style comments such as the nursery workers being thick, this must have caused personal upset. I am astounded that you feel these sorts of (inaccurate) personal opinions have a place anywhere public. Where do you stop, e.g. 'I went in to x restaurant and thought Jackie the waitress was really ugly?' Where do you draw the line. Local workers should not be subjected to these types of opinion.

Secondly, relating to small business. If you think bad word of mouth doesn't have a knock on effect for the business you are wrong. SOME people might be interested to read on to more positive [posts or attend coffee mornings to hear the businesses side but MOST people will just remember somewhere in their consciousness that it is a business to be avoided.

I can't remember the stats but it something along the lines of people being 20 times more likely to repeat a negative story than positive. All started by someone's inaccurate opinion on nappyvalley it could quickly lead to hundreds being misinformed.

I also think you are confusing factual information and opinion. If people feel they simply have to write on here it would better to write facts like the service was slow because it took an hour to receive our starter and there was a hair in the soup rather than the service at x is rubbish and the waitress was ugly.

[Hattie]

I have recently been very publicly savaged on NVN by a mum who, quite simply, didn't believe that the nice comments posted by my clients were genuine. She wrote that she was "100% certain" that the comments were written by me posing as a mum, praising myself. In response, not only did my mums (equally publicly) leap to my defence but, on the thread, I openly invited her to contact me for verification and the mums in questions would have been happy to speak to her - however she didn't bother. Fortunately NVN responded very professionally and positively, when I contacted them, pointing out that the comments were indeed genuine posts, but there will be mums out there who now would doubt the authenticity of the nice reviews. Writing such nasty comments about someone in other media is considered libellous. Tread softly and take up your complaint with the business/school/service in question before wreaking havoc on what is an otherwise very fair and useful site. If you are "not very good at complaining" then perhaps write a personal letter to the person with whom you are experiencing problems. The cuppa is a lovely suggestion too - written word can be so easily mis-inpterpreted. Let's all try to stay friends on NVN - after all, it is supposed to be a supportive site.

[coldatchristmas]

To be clear I am not saying that personal attacks are acceptable, it goes without saying that if you say person x is ugly or thick then that is wrong.

However I still don't understand why you think poor service or a shoddy customer experience should have some form of immunity.

If I get treated badly or rudely in a shop why can't I complain on here?

Is this from personal experience, as in are you a local business who has suffered? I just want to understand better your perspective.

Thanks

[coldatchristmas]

Hattie
Our responses crossed, I saw your posts mentioned, about the recommendations, and in those circumstances in was not about bad service but about perceived false promotion. Glad that got resolved

CAC

[Hattie]

Hi ColdatChristmas.

Thanks for that! I'm intrigued at your tag name! Would you like a fleecy blanket to keep you warm!

[livegreen]

Groucho,

Well said and I totally agree.
One negative post causes untold damage and often when the business owner comes on to reply or defend they can, without intention, add petrol to the fire causing more people to read the negative story.
All issue should be dealt with by the parties concerned before any public airing.

[coldatchristmas]

Oooooh so kind!

You see we all ARE nice to each other

[coldatchristmas]

This thread is so busy that my replies keep crossing.

Thank was aimed at Hattie