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#Post#: 44556--------------------------------------------------
Leaving An Online Review After Minimal Interaction
By: Victoria Date: January 1, 2020, 9:03 pm
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I have had a couple of bad experiences with separate businesses
that make me wonder if it's ever appropriate to leave a review
without having actually utilized their services.
In the first case, I called to inquire about a type of medical
testing that I wanted to be done. No one answered, and there was
no business voicemail set up. The woman who called me back (I
didn't leave a message) was incredibly frazzled, and began with
"Yeah, did I miss a call from you?" I set up the test anyway,
and had to remind her two or three times over the course of the
conversation the dates and times that we had agreed on. At one
point she said "We used to do [more expensive test] but we don't
offer that anymore" and I became quite alarmed when I asked what
the difference was and she blithely said "It's more expensive
but it's much more accurate, you know, pros and cons..." She
took down my information (which took a long time, because she
was also incredibly hard of hearing) but I never received any
sort of email confirmation that we had spoken, or that I had an
appointment scheduled. After thinking it over and deciding that
I didn't have confidence in her, I emailed to cancel three days
beforehand and still had no reply. All in all it was an
incredibly odd experience.
The second business was a language learning institute. I had to
submit an email inquiry to receive any pricing (already
annoying) and received a call from them in the middle of the
work day. The receptionist smacking gum over the phone began
with "This is [language place], you wanted to learn [language]?"
When I told her that it wasn't a good time for me since I was
driving and asked her to call me back in an hour, she became
combative, sighed heavily, and said "I'm off in an hour, are you
sure you can't talk now?" I replied "I'm still driving, so yes,
I'm sure." This stumped her and I had to suggest a different
day, and then negotiate a time slot. I never received a call at
the expected time, which leads me to think that she expected me
to call her instead of the other way around.
Normally I wouldn't review somewhere online unless I'd actually
used the place in question, but these two places got under my
skin more than a little bit so I'm curious as to what other
people have to say.
#Post#: 44561--------------------------------------------------
Re: Leaving An Online Review After Minimal Interaction
By: pierrotlunaire0 Date: January 1, 2020, 9:51 pm
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Hell, yes! Leave those reviews with the exact details you have
just described. As a prospective customer, this is the kind of
information I need to know before dealing with them.
Say that in either example, you persisted, and you eventually
received the service you sought and were very happy. Still you
had to jump through hoops and do the work that they should be
doing. And the lack of professionalism is a potential bright red
flag.
This is factual, and it is very important. Several years ago, I
had breast cancer, and I see several doctors throughout the year
for follow up. My surgeon is outstanding, but the office staff
at her practice is not. (Not the nurses, but the people who
actually set appointments). I left a review that said exactly
that: Dr. K is superlative, but it may take more than one
attempt to make an appointment, and you might be forced to
reschedule because (for example - most recent glitch) the
scheduler put me down for an office visit on a Monday, which is
strictly supposed to be for surgeries. In my review, I indicated
that I felt the annoyance of dealing with the miscommunications,
etc., was worth it. But at least potential patients know.
The entire experience is open to review, hence the importance so
many successful businesses place on initial impressions.
#Post#: 44563--------------------------------------------------
Re: Leaving An Online Review After Minimal Interaction
By: Victoria Date: January 1, 2020, 10:00 pm
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[quote author=pierrotlunaire0 link=topic=1464.msg44561#msg44561
date=1577937067]
The entire experience is open to review, hence the importance so
many successful businesses place on initial impressions.
[/quote]
Thanks for your reply! I think that's what's more precisely
what's bugging me-I haven't actually had the full "experience,"
just the first part, so all anyone would see would be my
negative review of the first part of the experience.
#Post#: 44567--------------------------------------------------
Re: Leaving An Online Review After Minimal Interaction
By: Aleko Date: January 2, 2020, 1:48 am
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I agree 100% with PierrotLunaire. If your experience with these
entities amounts to 'I have no idea if what these people do is
good or not, because I was so put off by their badly-designed
application procedure and their incompetent and annoying
representatives that I didn't pursue it', that's valuable
information for others.
#Post#: 44577--------------------------------------------------
Re: Leaving An Online Review After Minimal Interaction
By: Winterlight Date: January 2, 2020, 10:12 am
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I think those reviews are valuable, because I want to know if
I'm going to spend thirty minutes trying to get to the
scheduler, or if their receptionist has a habit of hanging up on
people, or if the staff can't be bothered to remember who
they're talking to. Life is too short to deal with that
nonsense.
#Post#: 44723--------------------------------------------------
Re: Leaving An Online Review After Minimal Interaction
By: Chez Miriam Date: January 3, 2020, 11:45 am
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There's so much choice out there, and easily available over the
web, so I would see it as a kindness to others to help them
avoiding the wasted time you lost before giving up on those
companies.
I will now only buy from a website that touts PayPal
front-and-centre, and if I have to email for a price list,
<you*> better believe I will only be doing that after I've
wasted another couple of hours trying to find the <thing>
elsewhere and couldn't.
* Business owners: you lose such a lot of custom by having
poorly-designed websites and "hidden pricing".
I only stick with it if I can't find a single alternative
supplier.
With the language school, surely the principle aim is to improve
communication, so that would irk me from the off!
I once called a hypnotherapist who snapped down the phone "I'll
call you back!" and slammed down the phone. Yeah, good luck
with that, as I have a withheld number. She could have said
"oh, I'm so sorry, I'm having a crisis; could you call back
later/tomorrow?", and I would have called back. But as I felt
we wouldn't be able to establish any kind of professional
rapport [I don't like being snapped at], I just went to the
next-closest name on my list.
He worked out of my gym, so it worked well for me, as I always
fitted a session in the pool in before seeing him. :D
Had this happened recently, I would leave a review; nobody
deserves to have their head bitten off for the "sin" of trying
to make an appointment with a professional!
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