What to do about false bad tripadvisor review

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simon12

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I noticed this review of my micropub a month ish ago an have ignored it as I get in a bad mood thinking about it but I still keep getting in a bad mood about it anyway. So here's what happened a guy called Rob (who wrote the review) came in occasionally with various different people, he always drank cans of Westerham helles lager as he doesn't like anything else, for 6-8 weeks before the review he came in every Saturday with a guy called Steve who would always drink the strongest IPA they would always just stay for 1 drink. One Saturday Rob turns up asks for his usual can of Westerham lager a pack of nuts and says can he pay when Steve gets there and pay for his at the same time. Steve turn up a few mins. later but there not a very strong IPA on cask or keg but I suggest he might like Magic Rock cannonball in a can at £5 a can, he goes for it and when he sees its 330ml asks for 2. He then tries to pay but Rod insists and tells Steve he has already paid for his which he hasn't they are both trying to pay by card and Steve questions why its £15 and I explain Rob hasn't paid for his theres much confusion as they both try to pay but Rob does pay (and with hindsight must have not looked at the amount and was not expecting Steves 2 cans to be £5 each though Steve was aware). A week later they come in again and Rob says can I have a word then asks if its right the previous weeks bill was £15 I explain its £4 for the larger £1 for the nuts and 2 x £5 for the cans of double IPA, he asks how a 330ml can can be £5 I explain its got twice the ingredients and alcohol duty of a standard beer and that the price is written on the wall like everything else. He is obviously not happy and they both leave without buying a drink. Then his review reads:


Originally got invited to this extremely small beer serving place for a friend's birthday. Don't know what to call it . It's not a pub,not a bar or restaurant as they don't serve food. At any rate they have are selection of local ale, beer, and some wine. Super small inside, beer almost Always tasted off like perhaps a cleaning issue with the taps. The annoying thing the first visit was after several beers, the owner and bartender started charging more for the pints. One friend noticed this but didn't mention it till after the outing. Recently the same owner-bartender over charged us again. The novelty of the place soon wears off, it's tiny inside and cramped. And now the hygiene of the taps has become an issue. To top it off, the price of the beer can vary depending on whether or not or not you notice that you were overcharged. We won't be back. It's a good place to avoid. Really no upside. The only plus is that you can probably get a beer there and your wife won't find you. I'd give it a miss

So the lies are:
he tries to say I overcharge drunk people
beer tastes of due to the taps when hes only ever drank from a can
So should I either confront him directly about it (I know a few places he goes)
Ask Steve about it (he still comes in occasionally and I bump into him alot)
Mention it to a number of people I am friends with that know him (maybe not that well) in the hope someone has a word with him about it
Just respond to the review pointing out the truth and lies in it.
Just typing this has helped but any advice welcome.
 
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Well this Rob sounds like an arsehole after reading his reviews. (I saw the original link to the review before it was edited out).
Just respond to the review pointing out the truth and lies in it.
And mention it to Steve.
 
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@simon12
That guys is a major league C*NT! You get real jerks from time to time. I would say don't let it bother you but I would be unable to take my own advice.
What works is you professionally addressing the review and telling the truth. Whenever I see a place bashed online, and then see whomever attempting to make the situation right or providing the correct information, the negative post becomes that of an obvious jerk who would be unhappy if you gave him a $100 because it wasn't in $20s.
Edit: You can't let some douche bag fill the void about your place. You have to reveal the credibility of the source (which is zero), done so by pointing out the lies. Then you need to replace that with the truth, done so with photos and testimonials.
And you should sell nachos.
 
Hi Simon

I agree with the responses above .. personally, when looking on TripAdvisor, I find establishments that have had negative reviews but then responded to them professionally and positively MORE attractive than those with only positive reviews ... so long as there are still a majority of positive reviews, anyway :?:

The "trap" you must be careful not to fall into, is being "dragged down to his level" and ending up looking like an ar$ehole yourself ... establishments where the owners have responded with smart-ar$ed comments to negative reviews, end up looking LESS attractive, I feel ... to that end you might not want to concentrate on "putting right" his lies, instead take the "moral high ground" and although this may end up looking very "corporate" and auto-response-ey, you might want to take the route that simply goes something like

"I'm sorry to hear you were not delighted with your recent visit to <name of micro-pub>, the prices of our products are clearly posted and we have since explained and itemised to you the costs of the products you felt you were overcharged for on your last visit, but if you would like to revisit anytime I would be happy to explain once again what you ordered and how you were correctly charged the total amount.
We are very proud of the quality and range of our cask and keg beers here at <name of micro-pub> and take feedback around sanitation very seriously and so, whilst we have had no similar feedback from any of our other customers, we have reviewed our sanitation procedures and look forward to welcoming you on your next visit."
I think if I were to see something like that under the review you added into your OP, I'd assume the negative review was posted by an ar$ehole (quite possibly the landlord of the pub up the street who's pi$$ed off at you taking his customers) and applaud you for your professionalism :?:

Cheers, PhilB

P.S. You may also want to mention to a few of your regulars how that negative review has upset you, with a bit of luck some of them will go on and give you some majorly positive feedback to compensate athumb..
 
Post a link to this thread in your reply then potential customers can see you are upset by his lies and you are not the type of person to overcharge or run a dirty bar.
 
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I agree with PhilBrew, any smart arsed answering back makes it look like you have something to hide, try to be as professional as you can and don't take what some knob has written untruthfully (even though I probably would) to heart.
 
I too agree with PhilBrew and would use his words if he deems that ok. I too always read between the lines on any bad/not so good reviews as there are always those people who like to put people down for no apparent or small minor issues( his being the price of a can of beer which at £5 a can) is not too expensive for a retail outlet as if they do not make a profit they will soon close.Some people expect supermarket prices all the time. I drink in Leeds with my wife 3 or 4 times a year and do not expect the usual wetherspoon prices I normally pay as I go around the craft pubs and pay upto £7 a pint and it does not spoil my enjoyment as I can appreciate the reason why it is so
 
I agree with what everyone else says. I've never been on trip advisor but can compare your situation to when we've had someone who is unhappy with service with a home brew company and complain about it here on the forum and the company makes the effort to reply personally. It always makes the company seem professional and look as if they care about customers. People take customer service extremely serious, and if you reply to the guy's review in a serious, courteous and professional manner (if I was me, I'd just copy and paste philbrews response as it's so good), it'll make the guy writing the review out to be the **** he his. Again as others have said, people are well able to read between the lines
 
My wife runs a small business which she is fanatical about and gives it 200% all day every day..doing a bad job or cutting corners simply doesn't exist in her world
She will still get,on very rare occasions some nutter posting utter lies and nonesense about what has or hasnt happened...these people are professional complainers and fantasists who think the world revolves around them,they're owed something and want an "apology" for something or other or a freebie.
I'd reply with what was suggested earlier and completely leave it at that. Your good reviews will totally overshadow this and people will see it as such. It is upsetting when this happens but don't dwell on it.
 
First you should state that you know the person who wrote this review and then answer each criticism with a rebuttal. But I certainly would not say that 'sanitation procedures have been reviewed'. That implies that something was wrong in the first place. Far better to say what you do as a positive statement, and stand by that. And I would possibly bring in the fact that the reviewer always drank from a can on his several visits so how would he be in a position to judge pipe cleanliness, or words to that effect.
 
I would think that less is more in terms of a reply. If you go into every point it may seem like you need to defend your position.
Stick to the most salient points. Such as;

As this gentleman has visited us several times and only drinks from commercial cans I do not understand the basis of his complaint. I am sorry the gentleman had a problem paying for his drink after consuming several, as prices are clearly displayed.

But that's just my way of doing things.
 
I would definitely reply, but do it professionally without any accusation or abuse. Explain exactly what happened and tell everyone about your many happy customers who return again-and-again. You've clearly never knowingly over-charged anyone in your life, so make that very clear.

Just don't stoop to his level.
 
TA page HERE

I don't think you have anything to worry about all the other reviews are excellent and its obvious this guy has an axe to grind, if you regularly overcharged customers i am sure there would be a lot more negative reviews posted.

I wouldn't reply saying he only had canned beer as he is going to say you are lying, maybe something along the lines of -


I'm sorry to hear you were not delighted with your recent visit the prices of our products are clearly posted if you and your friends thought you had been overcharged you should have brought it to our attention at the time giving us the opportunity to reimburse you had there been a discrepancy.
We are very proud of the quality and range of our cask and keg beers and as we have had no negative feedback about the quality of our beers we are at a loss as to why your review suggests they all tasted off.
 
Rebutt his points accurately and politely, with minimal wordiness.

For what it's worth I often review stuff I may visit negatively, as in look at the negative views, but to be honest the griping ones, or unfair ones often stick out as just that, and his one clearly does.
I often ignore one-off negative reviews, and only usually pay attention if there's several that mention the same thing.

Reading your trip advisor review as a whole would make me want to visit for sure were I in the area. Actually I may be in the area on Saturday come to think of it! Might well drop in!
 
@simon12 Sadly it happens m8. I have to be stopped from replying,, she just says you can't please all of them, move on!,, Some of them are just so vindictive and silly. As mentioned above they stick out and It reflects negatively on them not you. @PhilBrew 's response is great IMHO and others support this approach. Still smarts though doesn't it? those ill informed judges are a symptom of our hyper critical bickering society sadly. A lack of empathy for others is a popular sad developing symptom of our world,,,,:oops:
 
Or go with PhilBrew but don't mention review your sanitation, just state that you clean every 2 weeks, or between casks whatever you do and that nobody has complained about the sanitation before
 
I would add some photos to the page to show your clearly displayed prices and to show that it is not somebody's pokey front room like he is describing, from what I can see on google maps it is a double shop front on the high street and is hardly small at all
 
Thanks to all for your rational advise, unfortunately the more I read the more I just want to have him killed or something but here's my attempt at a reply I have copy and pasted the review to make it easier to see the context without scrolling up and down. I feel I need to make it clear the review is false and a lie on the 2 main issues without just stating he's a liar

Originally got invited to this extremely small beer serving place for a friend's birthday. Don't know what to call it . It's not a pub,not a bar or restaurant as they don't serve food. At any rate they have are selection of local ale, beer, and some wine. Super small inside, beer almost Always tasted off like perhaps a cleaning issue with the taps. The annoying thing the first visit was after several beers, the owner and bartender started charging more for the pints. One friend noticed this but didn't mention it till after the outing. Recently the same owner-bartender over charged us again. The novelty of the place soon wears off, it's tiny inside and cramped. And now the hygiene of the taps has become an issue. To top it off, the price of the beer can vary depending on whether or not or not you notice that you were overcharged. We won't be back. It's a good place to avoid. Really no upside. The only plus is that you can probably get a beer there and your wife won't find you. I'd give it a miss

Thank you for pointing out our great range of local cask ales. You came in to question why 3 cans and 1 pack of nuts cost £15 the week before, I explained 1 can cost £4 2 cost £5 each and the nuts were £1, you then questioned why a 330ml can cost £5 and I explained how a double IPA has about double the ingredients and alcohol duty of a standard beer and explained how the price is clearly marked on the wall. You obviously feel I have done you wrong which I would not want of anyone rightly or wrongly. If you want me to explain further I would be happy to and offer you a £15 round for free. But I take the accusation I have ever overcharged anyone personally as it has no basis in reality, all my prices are very clear om blackboards around the walls that you cannot miss and my till has buttons with the same prices on. I suggest in future you when you but someone else a drink you check how much it is 1st. As for the taps they are soaked in line cleaner after every use and I serve with gravity straight from the cask so there are no lines to clean but since you only drink cans of larger you would not know anyway.

So what do you think?
 
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