Needless to say, my boss isn't taking this review very well and has plans to send a cease and desist letter to them because their review is pretty much libel at this point. They wrote the review in point form, listing out all the issues they faced during the renovation and as I was looking through them, I can't help but feel like my colleague was painted in this horrible light and being completely maligned by them.
A lot of the points that were brought up by the clients were issues they brought upon themselves because they did not pay up in time, they did not follow my colleague's schedule, they failed to inform my colleague about changes they decided to make midway through the renovation, they focus so much on the bad things but conveniently left out all the goodwill discount my colleague gave them, the many times she closed one eye when they said they didn't have enough money to pay the installment but begged for the renovation works to proceed anyway, there were SO MANY things that were done as a favor for them during the renovation and this is how they choose repay my colleague.
Near the end of the renovation, my colleague was already starting to get really suspicious of the clients, they were clearly trying to squirm their way out of having the pay the final amount by trying to look for issues, and when they failed to find any that would actually stick, they resorted to the negative review detailing their extremely one sided experience. I was actually already expecting them to leave a bad review, so that did not really come as a huge shock to me, but I was not expecting this issue to potentially lead to a court case.
My company has responded to the review with a generic...
"We would like to apologize for your bad experience with us and will investigate into this matter."
... to which the clients actually wrote back with...
"Thanks for responding to our review, we hope you will investigate this matter and update us with your findings ASAP."
....this is probably what they are feeling like right now, all gleeful that their review was received loud and clear from our end, thinking that my company will try and "make things right" by offering them some form of compensation. But we are not and I am really looking forward to their reaction when they realize that my company isn't one to be trifled with.
I actually came across one blogger who also did something similar to the Interior Design company she hired, except hers was worst because she was documenting the entire process on her blog, it was like a series of reviews targeting the company and did not bother to censor the company name because in her head, I guess she thinks she is doing a favor for everyone by trying to warn others to avoid that particular company.
At first, most of her issues were valid, but as the renovation went on, she started to nitpick on every single thing, she would post pictures of her toilet tiles and complaint about them being scratched, but then there wouldn't be a single noticeable scratch found in the pictures, she also posted a picture of her newly installed window and called out the worker for not doing a good job because they did not peel off the protection sheet on the window panels. She could have literally done that herself in less than 10 seconds, but she chose not to and demanded the company to send their workers down to peel it for her.
The last post she shared about her renovation was about how angry she was that the company decided to respond to her myriad of negative post about them by sending her a lawyer letter, I mean what were you expecting? You wrote multiple blog post slandering the company's name and you think they won't bite back? A company's online reputation is extremely important in this day and age, unless they are in the wrong, no way they will just let this matter slide. I am not sure if the lawsuit happened or if she settled everything with the design firm behind the scenes, but she has since censored out the company's name in all her post and instead left a....
"PM me for the company's name."
...PLEASE! The company should be PM-ing everyone in the industry your name instead! If the Interior Designer is at fault, then any reputable company will fire that designer and try and settle the issue with the client privately, the fact that the company, which is a pretty reputable company from my own research, decided to side with their designer and send the client a lawyer's letter just goes to show who is actually the one giving the problem.
No comments:
Post a Comment