sorry, kind of long post....
Typically I don't leave reviews, positive or negative, I know many things are kind of a gamble and I usually just live with the results and move on. Life is too short.
Occasionally, for excellent service, I will leave a positive review.
Up until 2 years ago I did all my lawn care/landscaping myself. Including fertilizing. A few years ago the Scotts (I used Jonathan Green products, but similar concept) fertilizer for my yard became more expensive than having someone else do it. So I hired a company and the results were great.
Since then I got a puppy and no longer wanted chemicals on my lawn, so I went with an organic, animal safe, small business in my area who had been aggressively advertising.
my yard normally looks perfect, like the fairway of a golf course. This year I feel like this new company got off to a bad start. They put the pre-emergent down two weeks too late (based on when I normally do it and the other company I used did it) and have been behind the 8-ball all season. I did mention this to them and they blew me off.
In early May when I had crab grass that I never have I reached out to them. They said "it's a bad year for weeds" - we'll take a look. they never did.
In mid-June I saw some broadleaf weeds that I never have (mixed in with the crab grass) and I contacted them and asked if they thought it was normal and just accpetable, and they said "it's a bad year for weeds" and left it at that.
I never have weeds or crab grass. My neighbors who don't pay for a lawn service to treat their grass do not have crab grass or weeds.
My bill for them is $1500 for the season because i pay for them to aerate, de-thatch, overseed and treat for mosquitoes and ticks. The 7-step lawn program cost ~$450 of that $1500 (my yard is a half acre basically).
Anyway, I was prepared to just move on and cut my losses and use someone else next year or get the organic fertilizer myself and do it myself.
but..they reached out to me in one of those email blasts and said "please help...we are a small business who relies on word of mouth and local reviews for our business to grow - please leave us a review" - Google, and two other places
I would normally ignore it, but I said F-it, let me reach out to them. I did and I said "are you sure you want me to leave a review? I have reached out to you twice about this weed issue and you can't seem to be bothered" (and I said more).
and they replied something like "we'll take a look" - my daughter was home said someone came by, didn't get out of their car and left. this was two weeks ago.
Now with the drought my lawn is just about done for the year. I don't have a tree on my property, so my yard just bakes in the sun all day. also it's why my pool is 90 degrees with no heater, so good and bad, but it means my lawn basically goes dormant sooner than most.
anyway, I know, first world problem and to be clear it's not a huge deal to me, but on principle I feel like I have to leave a bad review.
Would you?
If the answer is no, then leave a bad review and help save someone else their $1500.
Similar situation but different area. I have had bad feet for awhile now. When I was younger I had these inserts that were like walking on golf balls. My feet adjusted and felt great. However, after a shit load of years with them I developed plantar fasciitis. My feet have a shelf life on them. Lol. I can't walk around barefoot. I can't be on my feet too long unless I wear my Kurus.
Anyway, I booked a massage at this place that was recommended to me. I had to wait a month. I was so pumped to finally go there to see what they could do. I walk in and the receptionist is like Hi (insert different name here). I told her that wasn't my name and she looked confused. She sat me down and had me fill out a form. Then she was like are you sure you are not X. I said I am very sure.
They didn't book my session. I showed them the email confirmation. The woman just forgot to schedule it. Now she tells me I have to come back another time. I was annoyed. Then the masseuse comes out and starts arguing with me. I told her I had to wait for over a month to book this specific time and date. Why am I getting moved? I have the confirmation. There was no apology. There was no remorse for the fuck up. There was nothing being done other than to put the onus on me to reschedule. I was pissed.
I went to my car and wrote a review of exactly what happened. I then walked back inside to let both the secretary and masseuse know what I wrote. Again, still nothing. They were pissed at me for writing the review.
A few days later, the owner calls me up very apologetic. He tells me I can have a massage for free and come in when it was convenient for me. He also asked that I rethink my review. I told him if he was there that I never would have wrote the review. I was more pissed about the way the secretary and masseuse handled the situation. I told him all I did was book and appointment and show up. They were nasty and non-accomodating. I told him I wasn't looking to get anything free out of this, just a little humility and understanding would have been nice. I told him I am not taking it down and I al passing on the free massage. He understood.
Too many people are in positions of service where they just don't give a fuck if they piss off their customers.
Maybe try calling the owner again and explain everything that they haven't done. Say you are close ro writing a review of all of this but before you do you will give them another opportunity to make it right and earn a positive review.
And good points Robbie, I'll reach out again one last time and see how they respond, though like I said at this point, we have a pretty serious drought (in MA at least not sure about the rest of the northeast) and a complete outdoor water ban, so my grass will be dead soon, but at least I would want them to act like they care.
And good points Robbie, I'll reach out again one last time and see how they respond, though like I said at this point, we have a pretty serious drought (in MA at least not sure about the rest of the northeast) and a complete outdoor water ban, so my grass will be dead soon, but at least I would want them to act like they care.
That is really what it comes down to, right? Just show you give a shit. Driving up in a car and not getting out isn't good enough.
Worst experience ever.
Not sure I would stick with "organic" fertilizers either.
The tab:
We brought our own wine (corkage was $45) and ordered 2 drinks, $23 martini and a glass of 15 year old Macallan Scotch for $45 (BTW, It was my birthday so price was no object).
We ordered an appetizer for $26 and split New Zealand Elk for $78. We ordered extra sides of Portabella Fries for $18 and Grilled Brussel Sprouts for $17 which we also split.(starting to add up, yes?).
It was a long dinner as it tends to be in this place so when the waiter came over and asked if we wanted desert we said we would split one along with 2 cappuccinos.
Then we waited and waited and waited. No desert, no coffee, no waiter. There were only 2 other couples in the place so he wasn't busy.
After a long wait we were ready to leave and skip the desert and the waiter finally shows up. He has the check in his hand and asks if there was anything else we wanted? I said we never got the desert or coffee, but we were now tired and just skip it. He apologized profusely and said he would adjust the tab to make up for it. I said just be sure the desert or coffee was not on it.
He came back with the adjusted tab and my wife paid it (my birthday remember) without looking since this is a no tipping restaurant. I took the copy of the tab for my records and would look at it later.
When I got home the total bill with (.5% tax and a 20% service charge included) was $173 (!?).
As you can see that's way to low. Turns out that the waiter not only took off the charge for the desert and coffee, but also took off the charges for the appetizer, the corkage AND my Scotch. Do the math. Lots of bucks.
Sooo, the next day I get the usual email from the restaurant asking to post a review of my experience. This is a tough one for sure. Do I say the service was so bad he gave away the place? This is a new one for me.
The tab:
We brought our own wine (corkage was $45) and ordered 2 drinks, $23 martini and a glass of 15 year old Macallan Scotch for $45 (BTW, It was my birthday so price was no object).
We ordered an appetizer for $26 and split New Zealand Elk for $78. We ordered extra sides of Portabella Fries for $18 and Grilled Brussel Sprouts for $17 which we also split.(starting to add up, yes?).
It was a long dinner as it tends to be in this place so when the waiter came over and asked if we wanted desert we said we would split one along with 2 cappuccinos.
Then we waited and waited and waited. No desert, no coffee, no waiter. There were only 2 other couples in the place so he wasn't busy.
After a long wait we were ready to leave and skip the desert and the waiter finally shows up. He has the check in his hand and asks if there was anything else we wanted? I said we never got the desert or coffee, but we were now tired and just skip it. He apologized profusely and said he would adjust the tab to make up for it. I said just be sure the desert or coffee was not on it.
He came back with the adjusted tab and my wife paid it (my birthday remember) without looking since this is a no tipping restaurant. I took the copy of the tab for my records and would look at it later.
When I got home the total bill with (.5% tax and a 20% service charge included) was $173 (!?).
As you can see that's way to low. Turns out that the waiter not only took off the charge for the desert and coffee, but also took off the charges for the appetizer, the corkage AND my Scotch. Do the math. Lots of bucks.
Sooo, the next day I get the usual email from the restaurant asking to post a review of my experience. This is a tough one for sure. Do I say the service was so bad he gave away the place? This is a new one for me.
That was nice of the restaurant to handle it the way they did.
The tab:
We brought our own wine (corkage was $45) and ordered 2 drinks, $23 martini and a glass of 15 year old Macallan Scotch for $45 (BTW, It was my birthday so price was no object).
We ordered an appetizer for $26 and split New Zealand Elk for $78. We ordered extra sides of Portabella Fries for $18 and Grilled Brussel Sprouts for $17 which we also split.(starting to add up, yes?).
It was a long dinner as it tends to be in this place so when the waiter came over and asked if we wanted desert we said we would split one along with 2 cappuccinos.
Then we waited and waited and waited. No desert, no coffee, no waiter. There were only 2 other couples in the place so he wasn't busy.
After a long wait we were ready to leave and skip the desert and the waiter finally shows up. He has the check in his hand and asks if there was anything else we wanted? I said we never got the desert or coffee, but we were now tired and just skip it. He apologized profusely and said he would adjust the tab to make up for it. I said just be sure the desert or coffee was not on it.
He came back with the adjusted tab and my wife paid it (my birthday remember) without looking since this is a no tipping restaurant. I took the copy of the tab for my records and would look at it later.
When I got home the total bill with (.5% tax and a 20% service charge included) was $173 (!?).
As you can see that's way to low. Turns out that the waiter not only took off the charge for the desert and coffee, but also took off the charges for the appetizer, the corkage AND my Scotch. Do the math. Lots of bucks.
Sooo, the next day I get the usual email from the restaurant asking to post a review of my experience. This is a tough one for sure. Do I say the service was so bad he gave away the place? This is a new one for me.
Best case they they send you a medium Pepsi to compensate you.
LOL.
Helps me be less whiney lol
Personally, I have never written a bad review in my life. I wouldn't begrudge someone from doing it, but you are hurting someones business when the problem could be with the people that work for the owner. Especially in 2022 where the whole working world is upside down. Nobody can find workers and if you do, they are usually crappy and you can't fire them because then you'd have nobody. Its a really tough time for business owners right now, there is an attack in this country on small businesses.
And good points Robbie, I'll reach out again one last time and see how they respond, though like I said at this point, we have a pretty serious drought (in MA at least not sure about the rest of the northeast) and a complete outdoor water ban, so my grass will be dead soon, but at least I would want them to act like they care.
I was a manager then owner of a lawn care company on Li. I’ve seen this type of service and strived to insure customer satisfaction. If you were able to maintain a golf course lawn they should have been more than able to to so as well. Bad year for weed…maybe but you paid! Not to have weeds nor excuses. Just be aware…if you decide to cancel (a wise man would) send it written and certified additional let them know that they are no longer allowed on your property and would consider it trespass. Not to mention they don’t have the right to apply any chemical on your lawn without written permission. . If not they’ll auto renew “by mistake” then you’ll come home one spring day (AFTER you fertilized your lawn ) to an invoice in the door, then collection calls. Don’t worry dormant lawns come back… you may need to spot seed. Additionally, NEVER allow anyone to thatch and seed your lawn in the spring! You’re activating dormant seeds in the soil which they then fertilized. Thus your new problem of weeds and crabgrass..
I would say go Green but this is our Blue site so Go BlueGrass!
Good luck!
That may change after last week. I booked a townhouse through VRBO in the historic district of Savannah GA and stayed there last Fri and Sat. When getting into bed Fri night, my wife noticed several long hairs on the sheets, pretty much exactly where you might expect them if someone had slept in it and not washed the sheets. Pretty disgusting, but it was pretty late at night, so we all put t shirts around the pillow cases and tried to sleep.
I contacted the prop mgr the next day and she assured me the sheets had been washed and the hairs just clung on due to static electricity. My wife is very smart and has also been doing laundry for our family of four for quite a few yrs and has never seen that.
As I told the prop mgr., clean sheets is a bare minimum expectation.
My GF tried an organic approach against our dog's fleas. She planted mint everywhere and followed all these other suggestions from some organic blog.
Dog was covered in fleas. After three weeks of getting bitten. I got the Capstone and Flea Away. Put in the food and three days later no fleas.
So, I if i reviewed the company, I would point out that in your case their approach was completely ineffective. Not that they are a bad company
Personally, I have never written a bad review in my life. I wouldn't begrudge someone from doing it, but you are hurting someones business when the problem could be with the people that work for the owner. Especially in 2022 where the whole working world is upside down. Nobody can find workers and if you do, they are usually crappy and you can't fire them because then you'd have nobody. Its a really tough time for business owners right now, there is an attack in this country on small businesses.
pijas gave them a few chances to make it right and they blew him off. Now they want to do the right thing when their balls are in a vice? Sorry, too late.
...
Sooo, the next day I get the usual email from the restaurant asking to post a review of my experience. This is a tough one for sure. Do I say the service was so bad he gave away the place? This is a new one for me.
I'm usually too lazy to write reviews, but when I read them I appreciate hearing things that don't make everything seem perfect or disastrous. If you were happy with most of your experience and felt like writing a review, I'd focus on the good and mention "an honest service mistake" (or something along those lines) "that they more than made up for in the end." No need for details in this case, IMO.
Makes the reviewer and the establishment sound like real people to me, and therefore the review more meaningful.
Helps me be less whiney lol
I really like this rule.
My GF tried an organic approach against our dog's fleas. She planted mint everywhere and followed all these other suggestions from some organic blog.
Dog was covered in fleas. After three weeks of getting bitten. I got the Capstone and Flea Away. Put in the food and three days later no fleas.
So, I if i reviewed the company, I would point out that in your case their approach was completely ineffective. Not that they are a bad company
I'm no expert, bought my house 2 years ago last summer season I hired this company to spray for mosquitos and it did nothing. I decided to spray this summer myself with this plant based organic Mighty Mint spray and its awesome. Smells pretty good to like mint. Have barely seen them. I spray the whole property every 2 weeks or so. It's not cheap like $25 a bottle but a lot cheaper than using a service. I use a bottle each time. Can't speak as much for the lawn stuff though.
Any business that is soliciting reviews knows the value and likely the risks.
With my home, if a small business does a bad job, I just call it a day and never use them again. It’s almost never worth the hassle. If a company isn’t very good at what they do, asking them to do it twice has never worked out for me.
Not leaving a review is the equivalent of a bad review in the grand scheme of things. Leaving a bad review is a little something extra.
Stan, in your case they did the right thing. So, I wouldn't leave a bad review, I may leave no review, but that's up to you.
I have another local business I work - I get my sheds from them. I have two big sheds from Reed's Ferry. A New Hampshire company. Their website is very easy to use, to price out and build sheds to spec. They get your order and work with you on the build/delivery and they basically build the shed on your property with all pre-cut pieces, etc.
the sheds are guaranteed for life. So after about 8 years one of the sheds settled a little and the door spring lock wouldn't easily lock and unlock - I called and asked them how I could fix it - they had someone at my house within 24 hours and they re-leveled the whole shed. works perfectly.
I had a minor addition I wanted - my bigger shed has a loft, I called them and simply asked if they had the measurements, etc. to add a loft for the smaller one and they said if I pay for parts they'd come by add build the loft at no charge for the labor.
If I ever need a shed again or if anyone ever asks for a recommendation I have zero hesitation to recommend them.
good service should be a low bar businesses strive for in running a business, especially a small business.
As you can see that's way to low. Turns out that the waiter not only took off the charge for the desert and coffee, but also took off the charges for the appetizer, the corkage AND my Scotch. Do the math. Lots of bucks.
Sooo, the next day I get the usual email from the restaurant asking to post a review of my experience. This is a tough one for sure. Do I say the service was so bad he gave away the place? This is a new one for me.
LoL, post a great review, make sure they know it's yours, and let the good times roll in the future!
They seem to be concentrating on volume, not providing a good customer experience and people should know that.
Personally, I have never written a bad review in my life. I wouldn't begrudge someone from doing it, but you are hurting someones business when the problem could be with the people that work for the owner. Especially in 2022 where the whole working world is upside down. Nobody can find workers and if you do, they are usually crappy and you can't fire them because then you'd have nobody. Its a really tough time for business owners right now, there is an attack in this country on small businesses.
Quote:
as someone who's business relies on reviews(most do these days). Nothing makes me more upset than when someone writes a bad review without giving me a chance to make it right first. I will always make it right even if it's outside of the scope of what I should do. I always tell people, if you are unhappy, please let me know first and give me a chance to fix it. If I don't then it's on me.
Personally, I have never written a bad review in my life. I wouldn't begrudge someone from doing it, but you are hurting someones business when the problem could be with the people that work for the owner. Especially in 2022 where the whole working world is upside down. Nobody can find workers and if you do, they are usually crappy and you can't fire them because then you'd have nobody. Its a really tough time for business owners right now, there is an attack in this country on small businesses.
But, doesn't it seem as if he gave them ample opportunity to make it right, including speaking to the owner. The business did not make it right. As someone pointed out earlier, they seem far more intent on grabbing the next new customer than doing what they were paid to do for their existing customers.
Yes, I think he gave them every opportunity to do the right thing.
As for this particular scenario when you switch from chemicals to natural you are going to take a lot longer to see results, likely a few years. So you have to factor that in before getting too upset.
I am kind of a lawn perfectionist, so it's not like my house looks like a vacant lot, but it doesn't meet my expectations and their response didn't make it better.
I will give them a final chance to at least pretend they care and then figure out if I leave a review or not. I'm sure they'll survive if I do.
The above is something I’d never do but people do it and if you are going to do it, you should have the record of events handy.