Handling negative review on Google Maps

[Anthony Brown]

What is the name of your state? New York

Someone posted a negative review for my business on Google Maps a year ago. He used a fake name to leave the post but I know who posted it and I avoided responding because the person who posted it is a lawyer. One of the things he accuses me of in the negative review is that I (according to him) don't respond to emails. This is a provable lie. I responded to every email he sent me. And I am tempted to respond to his review by posting the emails as my reply. However, if I post them I would want to post his ACTUAL name and since he is a personal injury attorney it seems to me I may be stumbling into a deliberately set trap. I open myself up to a kind of countersuit. After all, I don't have proof that he is the author of the negative review. And as the owner of a law firm he is in better position (at least financially) to sue me.

In reading what I have written here thus far I realize that I could redact his name from the emails but considering the pain his review has caused me I don't think I would find that at all satisfying. I feel the need to strike back. So, how to strike back without shooting myself in the foot?

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? New York

Someone posted a negative review for my business on Google Maps a year ago. He used a fake name to leave the post but I know who posted it and I avoided responding because the person who posted it is a lawyer. One of the things he accuses me of in the negative review is that I (according to him) don't respond to emails. This is a provable lie. I responded to every email he sent me. And I am tempted to respond to his review by posting the emails as my reply. However, if I post them I would want to post his ACTUAL name and since he is a personal injury attorney it seems to me I may be stumbling into a deliberately set trap. I open myself up to a kind of countersuit. After all, I don't have proof that he is the author of the negative review. And as the owner of a law firm he is in better position (at least financially) to sue me.

In reading what I have written here thus far I realize that I could redact his name from the emails but considering the pain his review has caused me I don't think I would find that at all satisfying. I feel the need to strike back. So, how to strike back with shooting myself in the foot?

Well, not by posting his emails. You can respond and defend yourself using the normal procedure, but you are going to need to be careful.

 

[adjusterjack]

So, how to strike back with shooting myself in the foot?

How about your don't. If that one review a year ago is so bloody detrimental to your business then you are a pretty poor businessman indeed. In the past year you should have been concentrating on getting positive reviews from more recent customers.

When I look at reviews I tend to ignore the few negatives when there's a large number of positives, especially when the negatives are old and written by aholes with a personal axe to grind.

In the past year how many positive reviews have you gotten?

 

[Zigner]

One of the things he accuses me of in the negative review is that I (according to him) don't respond to emails. This is a provable lie. I responded to every email he sent me.

You can't prove that you responded to every email he sent. You can only approve that you attempted to respond to every email you received. It's entirely possible that he sent emails that you didn't receive, and it's also possible that you sent replies that he didn't receive.

A diplomatic response to that assertion might be something along the lines of " I apologize if you didn't receive a reply to an email you may have sent. I attempt to respond to every email, but sometimes things don't go as planned, either on my end or for technical reasons."

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state? New York

Someone posted a negative review for my business on Google Maps a year ago. He used a fake name to leave the post but I know who posted it and I avoided responding because the person who posted it is a lawyer. One of the things he accuses me of in the negative review is that I (according to him) don't respond to emails. This is a provable lie. I responded to every email he sent me. And I am tempted to respond to his review by posting the emails as my reply. However, if I post them I would want to post his ACTUAL name and since he is a personal injury attorney it seems to me I may be stumbling into a deliberately set trap. I open myself up to a kind of countersuit. After all, I don't have proof that he is the author of the negative review. And as the owner of a law firm he is in better position (at least financially) to sue me.

In reading what I have written here thus far I realize that I could redact his name from the emails but considering the pain his review has caused me I don't think I would find that at all satisfying. I feel the need to strike back. So, how to strike back with shooting myself in the foot?

Negative reviews have been shown (in a Harvard study) to have a corresponding negative effect on the reputation of a business. That is why many businesses will respond to negative reviews where they are posted, to either correct false claims or offer to resolve legitimate claims.

It is NEVER recommended to further inflame a negative reviewer with a response or to post falsehoods (or unprovable statements) in response.

You have options. You can ask that the review site remove a false review (they probably won't), respond to the review with truth, offer to resolve an issue, or ignore the review. Ignoring a single negative review, especially if it appears among positive reviews, often can be best.

 

[not2cleverRed]

In reading what I have written here thus far I realize that I could redact his name from the emails but considering the pain his review has caused me I don't think I would find that at all satisfying. I feel the need to strike back. So, how to strike back with shooting myself in the foot?

So... What is your goal? To feel good or to overcome the negative review?

When I read reviews, if there is a negative review, I consider 2 factors: 1) does the negative review seem to be credible, and 2) if the business has responded, is their response one that I as a customer would find reasonable?

Responding over a year after the review was posted would be a red flag to me - it would indicate that you do not react to customer complaints in a timely fashion. You would be reinforcing the negative reviewer's narrative.

For future reference, it is better to respond to negative reviews quickly and overly politely. "Thank you [username] for your purchase. We regret that you are not happy, and that after answering your 35 emails and offering a partial refund that we have not been able to resolve the problem to your satisfaction."

You want potential customers to know that you are easy to work with, and imply that the complainer might just be an unreasonable loon..

 

[quincy]

The Vienna Tourism Board and the Snowbird Ski Resort both used their negative reviews in humorous ad campaigns.

For example, The Vienna Tourism Board used the words of one-star negative reviews (e.g., "Borrring! One star!") against scenic photos of people enjoying Vienna.

Responding with the company's positive attributes can work to deflect criticism.

 

[quincy]

If you want to attempt to remove the negative review, here is a link to Google Maps "support" on how to do it:

https://support.google.com/maps/answer/6230175?co=GENIE.Platform=Desktop&hl=en

 

[zddoodah]

I am tempted to respond to his review by posting the emails as my reply. However, if I post them I would want to post his ACTUAL name and since he is a personal injury attorney it seems to me I may be stumbling into a deliberately set trap. I open myself up to a kind of countersuit.

Countersuit? You'd have to sue him for him to file a countersuit against you.

how to strike back with shooting myself in the foot?

Honestly, your post doesn't raise any legal issue. You have not indicated anything untrue in the review, other than the bit about you not responding to emails, which wouldn't give rise to a legal claim. If you don't post anything factually false, then you have no risk of being sued successfully.

Beyond that, this is a business decision about how to deal with someone who sounds like a troll. You can also contact Google to see if they'll take down the review if you provide your "proof" that the review is factually false.

 

[quincy]

Because an "anonymous" individual left the negative review, you would need to positively identify the reviewer before personally addressing the individual by name or publishing emails from a named individual. Wrongly attributing a negative review to an individual can, alone, spawn a lawsuit.

 

[Anthony Brown]

Because an "anonymous" individual left the negative review, you would need to positively identify the reviewer before personally addressing the individual by name or publishing emails from a named individual. Wrongly attributing a negative review to an individual can, alone, spawn a lawsuit.

Right. And my understanding is that the only way to get this information is to file suit and subpoena the records from Google. BTW, to the several posters who suggest asking Google to take the review down, I have asked twice. So, I would say in answer to @not2cleverRed that my goal is to have the post removed. And posting the reviewer's emails to me where he throws his wife under the bus and asks me to please continue working with him I thought would be embarrassing enough for him to consider taking down his post if I would do the same.

 

[Zigner]

Right. And my understanding is that the only way to get this information is to file suit and subpoena the records from Google. BTW, to the several posters who suggest asking Google to take the review down, I have asked twice. So, I would say in answer to @not2cleverRed that my goal is to have the post removed. And posting the reviewer's emails to me where he throws his wife under the bus and asks me to please continue working with him I thought would be embarrassing enough for him to consider taking down his post if I would do the same.

Incredibly unwise. Please reconsider.
If I saw a business do that, I'd quickly move on to the next company. There's no way I would do business with you if that is how you handle customer complaints and reviews.

 

[quincy]

Right. And my understanding is that the only way to get this information is to file suit and subpoena the records from Google. BTW, to the several posters who suggest asking Google to take the review down, I have asked twice. So, I would say in answer to @not2cleverRed that my goal is to have the post removed. And posting the reviewer's emails to me where he throws his wife under the bus and asks me to please continue working with him I thought would be embarrassing enough for him to consider taking down his post if I would do the same.

What demonstrable harm has your business suffered as result of the negative review?

Without demonstrable and substantial damages, you do not have enough to support a court's issuance of a subpoena to Google to unmask the writer of the review - and you would not have enough to support a lawsuit.

You have far better options available to you than a lawsuit.

 

[Taxing Matters]

So, I would say in answer to @not2cleverRed that my goal is to have the post removed. And posting the reviewer's emails to me where he throws his wife under the bus and asks me to please continue working with him I thought would be embarrassing enough for him to consider taking down his post if I would do the same.

Bad idea. First, if it turns out you are wrong about who posted that review you open yourself up to possible defamation claims by the lawyer. Second, revealing communications between you and your (former) lawyer is a bad idea because you essentially waive the attorney-client privilege that applies to those communications. And third, my reaction to that is the same as Zigner's -- seeing you respond that way would turn me off to your business even faster than that anonymous bad review. Don't trash your customers online because then those thinking of being your customers will see that and think you may do that to them, too, and they'll steer far away from you.

 

[Anthony Brown]

Bad idea. First, if it turns out you are wrong about who posted that review you open yourself up to possible defamation claims by the lawyer. Second, revealing communications between you and your (former) lawyer is a bad idea because you essentially waive the attorney-client privilege that applies to those communications. And third, my reaction to that is the same as Zigner's -- seeing you respond that way would turn me off to your business even faster than that anonymous bad review. Don't trash your customers online because then those thinking of being your customers will see that and think you may do that to them, too, and they'll steer far away from you.

I am not a client of this lawyer. He WAS a client of mine. I told him to take his business elsewhere. He responded by trashing me on Google. Clear?