Being in the retail and service business, I knew it was only a matter of time before we got a less than favorable online review. I mean, you can’t win them all, right? I should start out by saying that I don’t put too much stock in “user reviews,” as everyone has an opinion, BUT as a consumer myself I often read what my fellow humans have to say about places that I’m planning on patronizing. Although I can’t recall a specific place that I didn’t wind-up going to based on negative reviews, I know it’s happened. Of course it’s also happened that I have gone to a place despite negative reviews, and that I have tried out a new place based on positive reviews. I have also left both positive and negative online reviews of several establishments after my experiences. So, whether I want to admit it or not, reviews matter…to someone.

These days anyone can leave a review that can impact your business in a negative way. In the not too distant past, a nice restaurant for example, would get reviewed by a food critic maybe once every other year. Critics often had to operate in secrecy, using fake names, even disguises so they could have a candid experience, and report back their expert opinions, usually in print in the local paper about a week later. These days, however, you’ll see multiple people pulling out phones and taking pictures of their food, leaving reviews on various sites in real-time. On the whole, I think this is great as it keeps owner/operators on their toes to ensure that they’re executing as best they can all the time, turning everyone into VIP customers. But how do you handle a bad review? Fortunately, most “review platforms” offer a response field for the business to reply, if they choose to do so. I’ve read quite a few reviews and their responses over the years, and the “business’ response” has always seemed overly soft and conciliatory. Of course I understand why…as a business, you want to turn around a customer’s negative experience so they a) come back, b) won’t continue to badmouth you to all their friends for perhaps forever, which as we all know can have a spider-web effect that can reach a lot of people, and in the case of online reviews, thousands or millions of people instantly.

The first negative review we got was from a customer on ring sizing. This review was posted on a generic, auto-generated Facebook account (our business, but not our Facebook page, as we hadn’t created one yet). After I set-up our official Facebook page, and transferred all the data off the generic one, I could reply to the review, which was left a little over a year earlier, and before my time with the company. I responded in a soft, conciliatory tone and offered the gentleman some store credit if he ever wanted to give us another chance. Never heard from him again. Oh well, I thought, I tried.

The second came in May 2018. Another issue with ring sizing. Because I was online everyday building out our website inventory, I noticed the post immediately (again on Facebook), and was able to communicate with the customer in real-time. I was apologetic and empathized with the customer’s frustration, but also gave the technical reasons why the repair wound up costing more than the estimate. After some back and forth, and based on a picture of the piece she sent me, I had her come back in so we could take care of her…turned out her ring was a fake from China, which was only evident after the plating had worn off. We gave her a great deal on a real Sterling silver ring, and she not only changed her 1-star of us to 5, but also deleted her most bellicose comments. See, people are reasonable…well, most of the time.

The third came a few days ago, this time on Google Reviews. Our current “review status” is 4.3 stars (out of 5), which is comprised of five 5-star reviews, and one 2-star review. With Frankfort being a small town, and with only 6 total reviews, I thought I had better open the negative 2-star review and see if I could resolve the situation in a positive way. However, as soon as I read her comment, I knew there would not be a resolution, so I decided to take a different route and stand-up to this customer’s opinion. I replaced soft and conciliatory with snark, pointed out a terminology error, and suggested she downgrade the 2-star rating she gave us to 1-star, which was more reflective of her comment. Guess what? She replied! And took my suggestion and downgraded us to 1-star! This is the first time I’ve ever kind of celebrated a negative review, and it honestly put a smile on my face…well, maybe more of a smirk. Here’s the exchange (or you can view it on Google: https://www.google.com/search?q=wooldridge+jewelers&oq=woo&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j0j69i60j69i61l2.5298j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 ):

Jenn Blitzer: It's a pawn shop for crooks who need to sell stolen jewelry for quick smelting.

My response: LOL, Jenn. We've been here 27 years, we're not a pawn shop, and we don't "quickly smelt" anything. Also, "smelting" isn't correct terminology, but I wouldn't expect proper grammar from an absurdly opinionated, unfounded comment such as yours. You should downgrade us to 1 star, Jenn.

Jenn’s update: *Update..star dually downgraded to one for the snarky response. OH and as far as the grammar is concerned: smelt1 /smelt/ Learn to pronounce verb extract (metal) from its ore by a process involving heating and melting. "tin smelting"

My update: *Update: Now that you know the definition of "smelt," and are acting like you're "educating" jewelry professionals with combined experience over 30 yrs, how much "extracting precious metal from its ore" do you think we do? And yes, I would expect snark when you post a comment such as yours. You are not welcome at this establishment, and we love that your idiocy is on display for all to see.

Who knows what set Jenn off, but after her initial comment, I couldn’t care less. You see, on a public or private forum, one can assert their opinions, but that does not mean one is then free from replies, criticisms, or rebuttals of said opinions. Overall, I felt that Jenn’s public assessment of our business was rude, incorrect, and out of line; I don’t think that business owners and operators should have to remain conciliatory in the face of this type of garbage. However, now that I’ve been on the receiving end of a negative review, I will make a mental note to do better myself if I feel the urge to leave a negative comment on a business in the future. By doing “better” I mean that I will likely employ some things I’ve thought about during the process of writing this blog.

First, I won’t leave a review directly after a negative experience…I’ll let the emotionality of the situation die down before I say something based on “feelings.” Second, perhaps I’ll call the business and speak with a human being that can resolve or make-better my perceived negative experience. After all, most people want to be reasonable, and I can always leave a positive or negative review after the conversation, as opposed to the passive-aggressive approach our “smelter in-chief” displayed above. Third, I’ll make sure my claims are substantiated and not just baseless assertions, so I won’t look like a fool that has too much time on their hands. And finally, if I must leave a negative comment, I’ll also attempt to leave constructive criticism with specific examples, hopefully to the benefit of future readers, and the business.

As I said in the beginning, I think reviews are valuable to the person reading them, and are often the only assessment someone has when checking out a place they’ve never been. They’re also valuable for the business, if the business is keeping up with what their patrons are saying. In the fast-paced world of retail, travel and services, people have many options on where to spend their hard-earned money. Let’s all try to keep in mind, however, that relaying a negative experience for others that come after you can have a beneficial effect for the reader, but a detrimental effect for the business. Sometimes the detrimental effect is well-deserved, and in these cases your negative review will likely not be the only one that’s been posted. I would encourage those leaving negative reviews to consider the above examples, and to remember that on the other end of their review is a business that supports real people that often work hard, and dedicate much of their lives to the success of the business. Negative reviews are sometimes necessary, but only really effective if you explain your experience with enough detail so that it will actually effect the change you would want.

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