I left a legitimate 1 star review (on the site that rhymes with help) for someone who worked in our home and we had to have the work re done to sell the house. The owner absolutely lost it. Claims he tried to track me down through other places that I have reviewed, tried finding someone with my name through tax records and is threatening to have his lawyer run down my IP address (not even sure if that’s possible but it sounds scary). I don’t use the common version of my name on this site even though I have a common name - in this day and age I’d rather not be too easy to identify. What would you do ? I can take the review down, reply or leave his rant up as the last thing people see. Most of my reviews are between the 3 - 5 star range.
I don’t know. I try to not leave low reviews unless there is some reason I really want to warn others away since people could just have an off day and also because people’s livelihoods depend on reviews. What you describe is scary behavior. I would probably not want to further engage him but I would save all documentation so you can go to the police if necessary or defend yourself if you were sued. Honestly, if I thought I would get sued over a low review, I don’t have time for that in life and I might consider taking down the review, but I wonder if that might make you look ‘guilty’ of posting a false review legally. Good luck.
Contact Help with a Y and let them know about the situation. I’m sure that isn’t acceptable.
Contact the review website and report this. This kind of behavior is NOT acceptable. Yes, people’s livelihoods depend on reviews and yes, everyone does an off day here and there, But, if you do a poor job, you do put yourself at risk of getting bad reviews. Part of being in business is being able to handle bad reviews. That said, I do think people leave bad reviews with a tone that is very rude or in some cases the customer was the jerk and just has a grudge against the business, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. I think the owner is thin-skinned and I would definitely keep documentation.
I agree with @natty1988 and @Lindagaf . Contact the website as a first step and see what their policy is and how they will respond to the owner’s behavior. If they take no responsibility, then you need to come back to the other choices.
This shows up on Judge Judy all the time, usually a countersuit from defendant who got a bad review. She asks “Do you advertise on facebook, etc.?” When they say yes, she then says well then your customers have a right to rate their work and dismisses their case.
As long as the review deals with the quality of their work and does not attack their character or make accusations of illegal activity, we have the right to rate their performance. In other words, you can call someone a lousy housepainter, but can’t call them a child molester w/o evidence.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: It’s OK to write Yelp.
@MADad very true. I do think customers are well within their rights to leave critical reviews. That said, I do think some people leave reviews that are just rude. Using obscenities doesn’t fix the problem. Giving constructive criticism can be helpful.