Is it logical to say that a company with zero number of complaints is the most successful and that a company like Appstar with their handful of Appstar Financial complaints is a failure? Are online reviews the best gauge on how well a company performs and delivers services to its clients?
One company in New Jersey believed that no bad online reviews meant it was doing an excellent job. He found a way to do this without duping anyone or preventing any review from going online. The business owner, Doug of a car repair shop decided to ask every customer that came through his doors to submit a review. Once a negative review came up, he would call that customer and try to find out how he could resolve the problem amicably. To make a long story short, in all cases, every negative review was resolved and the customers posted a new positive review. Now it seems that Google will only allow one review per person on the same page and the later review would usurp the earlier one so by fixing the problem, Doug actually reaches his goal of zero negative complaints while being able to work on internal problems with staff and the delivery of his services. It’s an extremely simply way of looking at online criticism but the point is, being able to deal with it and allowing it to be posted.
Discerning Fake Online Reviews
One of the biggest problems with online reviews is that they can be planted or fake. In the case of companies who are accused of spamming or misleading their customers, it could be the truth or a set-up. Researchers from USC, Dartmouth, and Yale did a study on online reviews and discovered that there are businesses that post fake reviews for three reasons:
1. Increase their web site ranking
2. Destroy the competition
3. Find out the truth from their real customers
Ideally, it’s the 3rd reason that should prevail but with competition being so stiff, oftentimes, online feedback is posted to damage the reputation of competitors or give a false sense of stability and good customer relations. In the recent Appstar scam and the Appstar Financial job scam, some of the complaints seem to border on fury and intent to destroy a 10 year old finance company for reasons not very clearly stated. Many admit to not reading the details of the contract and never really explained how the problem started. This doesn't mean the complaints were fake, just not completely credible in some cases. There is probably some truth to some of the complaints and it could have been capitalized on by others.
How To Deal With Complaints and Angry Customers
It’s very hard to appease a disgruntled and emotional person. One would have to calm him or her down by listening first, instead of trying to reason with him. Here are some ways to deal with negative online reviews and to find out whether they are real or not
• Contact the person who gave the review if possible. Most sincere customers would be willing to give contact details rather than stay anonymous. These are people who want resolution and would be willing to discuss the problem
• Learn to differentiate “cheap talk” with real problems by focusing more on legitimate complaints such as lack of response or a problem with a promotional deal, etc.
• Learn to listen. Don’t be condescending
• Don’t make commitment until after you have checked the facts, history of the case, and details of the transaction
• Don’t leave anyone hanging after you promise to get back to them. Even if there isn’t an update, let them know the status of their complaint. Keep in touch with them
Again we go back to the Appstar Financial complaints as an example of how a number of complaints duplicated or not, can be fixed. It’s not how many problems a company faces but how it deals with the problems. Last heard about Appstar Financial is that they are doing fine and even got an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. This must mean that they are doing fine and have resolved the bumps that usually come with running a business.
There are other companies that share a similar story with Appstar. One comes to mind, the global beverage giant, Coca Cola. In 2003, they faced one of their biggest problems with a claim that their drinks contained abnormal amounts of insecticides and pesticides like carcinogen cadmium. Coke investigated and found that the groundwater in one of their plants was slightly polluted. They showed through scientific evidence of no malicious actions and were cleared by government agencies.
Another case was Toyota media circus 2 years ago. It involved accusations later proven false of a problem with car acceleration that led to the death of 50 people. After NASA and the US Transportation released its statement to the effect that Toyota did not have a problem with its electronics; and after Toyota lost over $5.5 billion because of the false claims, they were cleared.
Even more bizarre is the case of a woman claiming to have found a severed finger in a Wendy’s chili bowl. After the brouhaha was over and the woman was found guilty, Wendy’s sales dropped by 1% which equals a loss of approximately $21 million.
In all 3 cases, the Appstar scam, Toyota electronics, and Wendy’s chili the lesson to be learned is that companies with integrity will face their problems head-on confident that in the end, they will be vindicated.
One company in New Jersey believed that no bad online reviews meant it was doing an excellent job. He found a way to do this without duping anyone or preventing any review from going online. The business owner, Doug of a car repair shop decided to ask every customer that came through his doors to submit a review. Once a negative review came up, he would call that customer and try to find out how he could resolve the problem amicably. To make a long story short, in all cases, every negative review was resolved and the customers posted a new positive review. Now it seems that Google will only allow one review per person on the same page and the later review would usurp the earlier one so by fixing the problem, Doug actually reaches his goal of zero negative complaints while being able to work on internal problems with staff and the delivery of his services. It’s an extremely simply way of looking at online criticism but the point is, being able to deal with it and allowing it to be posted.
Discerning Fake Online Reviews
One of the biggest problems with online reviews is that they can be planted or fake. In the case of companies who are accused of spamming or misleading their customers, it could be the truth or a set-up. Researchers from USC, Dartmouth, and Yale did a study on online reviews and discovered that there are businesses that post fake reviews for three reasons:
1. Increase their web site ranking
2. Destroy the competition
3. Find out the truth from their real customers
Ideally, it’s the 3rd reason that should prevail but with competition being so stiff, oftentimes, online feedback is posted to damage the reputation of competitors or give a false sense of stability and good customer relations. In the recent Appstar scam and the Appstar Financial job scam, some of the complaints seem to border on fury and intent to destroy a 10 year old finance company for reasons not very clearly stated. Many admit to not reading the details of the contract and never really explained how the problem started. This doesn't mean the complaints were fake, just not completely credible in some cases. There is probably some truth to some of the complaints and it could have been capitalized on by others.
How To Deal With Complaints and Angry Customers
It’s very hard to appease a disgruntled and emotional person. One would have to calm him or her down by listening first, instead of trying to reason with him. Here are some ways to deal with negative online reviews and to find out whether they are real or not
• Contact the person who gave the review if possible. Most sincere customers would be willing to give contact details rather than stay anonymous. These are people who want resolution and would be willing to discuss the problem
• Learn to differentiate “cheap talk” with real problems by focusing more on legitimate complaints such as lack of response or a problem with a promotional deal, etc.
• Learn to listen. Don’t be condescending
• Don’t make commitment until after you have checked the facts, history of the case, and details of the transaction
• Don’t leave anyone hanging after you promise to get back to them. Even if there isn’t an update, let them know the status of their complaint. Keep in touch with them
Again we go back to the Appstar Financial complaints as an example of how a number of complaints duplicated or not, can be fixed. It’s not how many problems a company faces but how it deals with the problems. Last heard about Appstar Financial is that they are doing fine and even got an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. This must mean that they are doing fine and have resolved the bumps that usually come with running a business.
There are other companies that share a similar story with Appstar. One comes to mind, the global beverage giant, Coca Cola. In 2003, they faced one of their biggest problems with a claim that their drinks contained abnormal amounts of insecticides and pesticides like carcinogen cadmium. Coke investigated and found that the groundwater in one of their plants was slightly polluted. They showed through scientific evidence of no malicious actions and were cleared by government agencies.
Another case was Toyota media circus 2 years ago. It involved accusations later proven false of a problem with car acceleration that led to the death of 50 people. After NASA and the US Transportation released its statement to the effect that Toyota did not have a problem with its electronics; and after Toyota lost over $5.5 billion because of the false claims, they were cleared.
Even more bizarre is the case of a woman claiming to have found a severed finger in a Wendy’s chili bowl. After the brouhaha was over and the woman was found guilty, Wendy’s sales dropped by 1% which equals a loss of approximately $21 million.
In all 3 cases, the Appstar scam, Toyota electronics, and Wendy’s chili the lesson to be learned is that companies with integrity will face their problems head-on confident that in the end, they will be vindicated.