Author Topic: Leaving An Online Review After Minimal Interaction  (Read 616 times)

Victoria

Leaving An Online Review After Minimal Interaction
« on: January 01, 2020, 09:03:21 pm »
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.

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pierrotlunaire0

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Re: Leaving An Online Review After Minimal Interaction
« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2020, 09:51:07 pm »
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.
I have enough lithium in my medicine cabinet to power three cars across a sizeable desert.  Which makes me officially...Three Cars Crazy
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Victoria

Re: Leaving An Online Review After Minimal Interaction
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2020, 10:00:16 pm »

The entire experience is open to review, hence the importance so many successful businesses place on initial impressions.

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.

Aleko

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Re: Leaving An Online Review After Minimal Interaction
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2020, 01:48:34 am »
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.
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Winterlight

Re: Leaving An Online Review After Minimal Interaction
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2020, 10:12:25 am »
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.
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Chez Miriam

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Re: Leaving An Online Review After Minimal Interaction
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2020, 11:45:35 am »
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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