How not to handle owner feed back on negative reviews..

[Mikey P]

I hate to pick on a member here but..


The fact that Papa John has 175 Yelp reviews is simply amazing. 4.5 stars is great as well.


But lordy, when I read how he addressed his unhappy customers I can't believe anyone would call him.


http://www.yelp.com/biz/healthy-choice-carpet-cleaners-san-francisco?sort_by=rating_asc



I have to assume most Yelpers just don't look that far, or he actually is missing out on lots of new customers

 

[WillS]

I'm surprised none of the customers responded to that owners responses. Was reading through competitors Yelp reviews the other day and noticed customers responding to the owners responses and the reviews turned into a public argument basically. Def doesn't look good.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

I LOVE reading other companies reviews.. learn great ways of NOT doing something. Sometimes things happen.. lack of communication or whatever but what matters the most is how you handle it. Those are some bad reviews with some bad responses.. ouch..

 

[dealtimeman]

Sounds like he needs to raise his prices and weed out these complaining price shoppers.

BUT IN ALL FAIRNESS he has 1 or 2 complaints per year so that's not bad at all, it is impossible to please 100 percent of poeple.

 

[Mikey P]

His percentage of bad reviews is fine...his responses are not.

 

[bob vawter]

Ouch....im sure glad they didn't have Yelp 30 years ago....back in the $0.30 days...i was a real prick........

ya i know....go figger!

i once had this old Jewish lady chase me back to the truck cause i walked on her....she was showin' me her
Auschwitz tatoo numbers.... demanding that i give her a discount cuz she was in the Holocast............

 

[renegade_cowboy]

His percentage of bad reviews is fine...his responses are not.

I have to disagree with ya there and plus those bad reviews are pretty bad..

 

[FB7777]

Sounds like he needs to raise his prices and weed out these complaining price shoppers.

BUT IN ALL FAIRNESS he has 1 or 2 complaints per year so that's not bad at all, it is impossible to please 100 percent of poeple.

Totally agree, he should have kept the same composure on the late or no show complaints... Perhaps even offered a special discount for a "second chance"

Several of the complaints were phone related, don't know the size of his operation, but some people can be very difficult and quick to provide negative feedback.

The Internet is full of trolls

 

[Chris A]

Jesus every time I see guys with that attitude who have better businesses than mine it gives me hope for the future

 

[knoxclean]

http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671723650

 

[Mike Draper]

Hey Bawb, was that before the time of carpet cleaning machines? when they used a broom to sweep the carpet.

 

[tmdry]

Good Gawd on those responses, the best responses to clients is to take any emotional reasons out, give a close to neutral professional response, not a "you're lying, you're house if filthy!".

Imagine all the other "Yelpers" reading those replies...

 

[dealtimeman]

Yes but all the poeple with filthy houses will not call him because of the fear of posting on the internet that their house is filthy.

 

[Vivers]

He has so many great ones that these seem weird? But as said by other post you can't make everybody happy. Some of the responses are funny though. I personally have one that said we never returned her call that I just simply didn't respond to other then an email via Yelp to her myself.

The other one is a client who we refused to service anymore because each and every time she was short, nasty and never could be pleased no matter what you did. I simply think she just got upset when it came time to hire a different company because we got the review many months later.

Again, left no response but contacted her via email through Yelp.

 

[Steve Toburen]

His percentage of bad reviews is fine...his responses are not.

Yep. John could benefit from some of my personal rules for posting on the Internet. After all, the principles are the same:

1. Never post when you are angry.
2. Never post when you have been drinking heavily.
3. Never post anything you wouldn't mind your mom reading.
4. Never post anything that when you come across it six months later you say, "Ouch! Did I actually write that?"

NOTE: I'm not saying John's customers are angels. Much of what he says in his replies may actually be true. But it reminds me of the old story about wrestling with a pig in the mud...

Steve

PS Of course, if Mikey followed the 4 rules above he would never post anything. And this little playground we call Mikeysboard would never have come to be...

 

[Steve Lawrence]

Sounds like his machine needs a better muffler, too.

 

[WillS]

Those personal rules would be great for some customers to follow to. lol

 

[PrimaDonna]

Yes but all the poeple with filthy houses will not call him because of the fear of posting on the internet that their house is filthy.

Good...who wants those jobs anyway? Those are the people the want a miracle for little $.

Not that it is ok to publicly call someone out on the condition of their home, but I don't know a cleaner out there who wouldn't rather clean an decent or well kept carpet over one that has been trashed. Unless they are looking for some really good before and after pics to win a contest on Mikey's Board or unless they have a different pricing structure for very heavily soiled carpet that accounts for all the extra time it will take to get it clean.

 

[dealtimeman]

i agree and we do have a very different price structure for rat nastys. but for those customers that want to pay we will clean almost anything for the right price.

 

[WillS]

There is really only so much you can do with a customer that wants a miracle when their carpet hasn't been cleaned in 3 years and is in horrible shape. We recommend after cleaning it the first time with us, to keep bringing it back to life, or at least keep it decent, book them 2 months out. Than 4 months out. Than 6 months out. If they are willing to do it that is... Otherwise they know that it will cost them a lot more $ like the first time they had to have it cleaned being so dirty.

 

[Papa John]

When a business gets a bad review the owner may feel under attack and not respond in the best manner. on some of the reviews I took my techs side and defended him--- when in fact I should have disciplined the tech and "Kissed the ass of the custy".
some of the reviews are not even our customers and that is why they were filtered. The tech that got some of those reviews regrets how he acted and is now getting 5 star reviews.

I have gotten better at responding to reviews. Most of those replies where my very first replies to bad reviews. I have gotten older and wiser. I have also gotten jobs BECAUSE of how I respond to my reviews.. And business has been booming-- That is why I'm not on MB that much. But I'm back on "vacation" at my home in Thailand so I now have time to be here with you wonderful people. I haven't read the entire thread yet-- But the money in my bank and my Fantastic life that anyone would envy will sooth any ribbing you guys dish out.

Bad reviews and yelp lets a business owner know If they need to step up their game. My techs take pride in their work. My techs now know that good reviews mean more work for them. and bad reviews cost them money.

 

[Mikey P]

Take it easy on those girls John, Jesus is watching.

 

[dealtimeman]

Oh my!

 

[Papa John]

Take it easy on those girls John, Jesus is watching.

LOL.. yes he is!

But honestly we come across some interesting people here in the land of "Fruit Loops" & "Granola" aka San Francisco-- But I love IT! Sometimes I think our business would be a great Reality Show. Maybe MB or I can start thread about some of our stories and encourage others to post their stories too?

I did a quick search on Yelp in about 20 major cities and discovered HCCC (my biz) has the most reviews of any CC in those areas-- so maybe in the entire USA?
It seems to be really hard to get AND keep reviews on Yelp---Mikey-- It sucks that so many of your 5 star reviews got filtered!

 

[Louis]

The response on the reviews makes it seems like the owner is bipolar or needs anger management. Someone would hunt you down for a response like that around here. I guess they are a little more diplomatic in your hood.

 

[Papa John]

My goal at the time was to shame her into removing her review.. Opps! that didn't work.. Live n Learn.... I was wrong.. but here is some more info on that client... let just keep this between us..haha.
-----every thing im about to say she posted about on yelp so it is public info----
Her husband had left her the night before the cleaning so she wasn't in the best of moods... The Tech Had an attitude when people would question his quality of work-- he has improved greatly.. and deeply regrets how he behaved with this client. The custy was docked her Elite status on yelp for violating their rules and she was barred from posting on there blog for a short time-- she was talking porno-dirty on yelp..
2 of the bad reviews were written by other carpet cleaners posing at customers...
Keep in mind Mikey only posted the bad reviews and none of the great ones... you can't please everyone.
The one about the noise I really wish I had paid more attention too...It was a warning sign cuz about a month later my blower blew up!

 

[Bee Busy]

Oh man!! Brutal... I have to say, it must be tough trying to please folks in San Fransicko

 

[Mikey P]

Keep in mind Mikey only posted the bad reviews and none of the great ones... you can't please everyone.

come on, I linked to your whole page.

 

[Papa John]

come on, I linked to your whole page.

You are correct I was wrong. Its just that you put the listing as Ranking from 1 stars-- from worst to better.. I've never seen my page like that and IF WAS Aweful and Painful!!

I Sincerely Do want to Thank You for this Post-- Even though I've had darn near insomnia the past two days.. haha.

It caused me to reflect on some of these incidences. I felt I needed to try to reconnect with some of these reviewers and try to make amends with those that deserve it. I wont be making peace with the Carpet cleaners hacks who were posing as yelp reviewers-- (How do I know this---Yelp is in SF and I know a lot of people). I'll mark That up as a win for me cuz I guess they cant compete honestly.

Anyway, Two of the reviewers seem to have move away and haven't been on yelp in over 10months or more. Today I removed my unprofessional and horrible response linked to Sharon's Review, Sent her my deepest apologies and told her that her review actually Helped to make the Tech who served her a better man and employee -- Both the Tech and I deeply regret How we handled the situation-- And Its on our "Wall of Shame" as a reminder to be better..

Oh and as for the Girls here in Thailand-- I don't touch them any more because I've been married for almost 4 years now. Besides-- I'm deep in the boonies among the rice fields and there's nothing like that here.. But If any of you would like a fun filled tour of Bangkok PM me. Ill return to Thailand again in Oct. & Dec or January.

All My Best-- And Thank you for making me Better,
Papa John

 

[Mikey P]

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