Opening the Floodgates

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Opening the Floodgates Posted Friday, May 14, 2010 by Sheryl Bilbrey The BBB of San Diego has a one-star rating on Yelp. We frustrated someone. Imagine that. Their singular report accounts for an overall nasty presentation of our BBB on Yelp. Now I have to have the debate that so many businesses have. Do I respond online? Will it help? Shouldn’t consumers have an accurate and fair picture of what is going on here? I don’t even know who the consumer or business complaining is, so I am generally responding to everyone and anyone who would have this complaint by responding online. I’m not exactly sure what to do. Does that make you feel better? I personally really value the services provided by the tremendous variety of online social networking sites. And yet, as a very engaged member of the consumer and businesses community, I certainly get an occasional earful about a posting or the resulting review. In this new online world, businesses are challenged with when/how to respond and what to say. Without knowing for sure who the individual is, the company really doesn’t have the opportunity to “make it right.” And my experience is that most businesses want to. I’ve also reached the conclusion, after many years of observation, that there are bad consumers just like there are bad businesses. There are consumers who will use any means available to get something they don’t deserve. They will even use the BBB. I’ve heard from businesses that if they “engage” these types of consumers online, they just seem to open a floodgate of fury, with the inability to find resolution. It’s just a fight. That’s not healthy for anyone. So we’ve reached the conclusion that we want to continue to promote resolution. That can only be done when we have the opportunity to communicate directly. Our statement on Yelp is now “The Better Business Bureau of San Diego has a standing policy not to engage with or reply to third party opinions without first receiving written notice substantiating certification of industry expert status. It is our hope to protect all involved against unaccredited claims and campaigns designed to cause harm or devalue to brands that otherwise stand as leaders in our community.” If you have any issues with us, I hope you’ll call me. We will be so happy to work it out.

Posted Friday, May 14, 2010

by Sheryl Bilbrey

The BBB of San Diego has a one-star rating on Yelp. We frustrated someone. Imagine that. Their singular report accounts for an overall nasty presentation of our BBB on Yelp. Now I have to have the debate that so many businesses have. Do I respond online? Will it help? Shouldn’t consumers have an accurate and fair picture of what is going on here? I don’t even know who the consumer or business complaining is, so I am generally responding to everyone and anyone who would have this complaint by responding online. I’m not exactly sure what to do.

Does that make you feel better? I personally really value the services provided by the tremendous variety of online social networking sites. And yet, as a very engaged member of the consumer and businesses community, I certainly get an occasional earful about a posting or the resulting review. In this new online world, businesses are challenged with when/how to respond and what to say. Without knowing for sure who the individual is, the company really doesn’t have the opportunity to “make it right.” And my experience is that most businesses want to.

I’ve also reached the conclusion, after many years of observation, that there are bad consumers just like there are bad businesses. There are consumers who will use any means available to get something they don’t deserve. They will even use the BBB. I’ve heard from businesses that if they “engage” these types of consumers online, they just seem to open a floodgate of fury, with the inability to find resolution. It’s just a fight. That’s not healthy for anyone.

So we’ve reached the conclusion that we want to continue to promote resolution. That can only be done when we have the opportunity to communicate directly. Our statement on Yelp is now “The Better Business Bureau of San Diego has a standing policy not to engage with or reply to third party opinions without first receiving written notice substantiating certification of industry expert status. It is our hope to protect all involved against unaccredited claims and campaigns designed to cause harm or devalue to brands that otherwise stand as leaders in our community.”

If you have any issues with us, I hope you’ll call me. We will be so happy to work it out.

Comments

Sheryl, Good post on a big issue. I agree with the statement made by the Better Business Bureau. Unless a consumer is willing to be put their name and legitimate email address on a a complaint it should not be taken seriously. Gregg Cantor Murray Lampert Construction www.murraylampert.com www.murraylampert.com/wordpress www.homeremodelingbootcamp.com

Comment By Gregg Cantor At 7/19/2010 11:54 AM

I agree with your approach. You can post publically on the review site that you want to hear more about it and then take the resolution part offline. It is still good to know what people are saying about you, but you always have the choice of how to respond.

Comment By Robin Witt At 5/14/2010 5:04 PM

Unfortunately, it is impossible to counter an online, public complaint when the complainant doesn't site any specifics. We did get into a back and forth with a merchant on a website forum. They had confused our business website with someone else who hada similar domain name. From the tone of their postings, it was obvious this person was extremely upset. However, we did think it was important to clear the record and defend our name and our business. We laid out proof that the website in question was not ours. Edward Orysiek San Diego Merchant Services, inc.

Comment By Edward At 5/14/2010 4:54 PM