We have the same type of FB page in my township, and I borrow my husband's FB account to access it, my only interaction with that website. Anyway, it's been wonderful since we moved here, just like you. Every so often, someone will start restaurant threads, and I've gotten some great recommendations. I have not yet had a clunker, but I think I'd do as you did, and just send a private message with my reason.I'd be hesitant to be negative publicly, tho.

I've used Yelp for restaurants, but never sent in a review. But I always look at the negative reviews that are often ridiculous, one star for "The place was closed when we got there" things like that.

If I have a problem I tell the company. I state that if it were my business I would want to know where the weak links are. I also tell them what I did like. Usually they are receptive and seem to genuinely want to be a great company. If I get a negative reaction (almost never) or a wishy washy response I would seriously consider leaving a bad review.

I think you handled that exactly right Jojoco. Some companies hire subs , they know where you live.

I had two windows put in that required some construction. The very beginning and through the first phase was above a score of 10 on a scale of 1 - 10. Very fantastic crew. The last part was done by a lazy sloppy pig who I think was actually raised in a barn. They had subbed him. I raved about the beginning crew to management but explained why they shouldn’t ever again use that sub. I then made it clear I didn’t want that guy to know I was the one to complain as he lived not far in the same town.

Reviews written honestly can be helpful all around. I have never had to write a bad review fortunately.

I guess we have been lucky, have not had to leave a negative about our local businesses.

I will leave a positive comment if a small, local restaurant pleases us. If they disappoint, I stay quiet.

(pssst...I don’t use my real name for Amazon reviews, Positive or negative.)

Jojo, we have a similar group. They are a great resource, aren’t they? And like you, we rarely post negatives. But when you see “I’m pm’ing you”, it’s a red flag. So the next time I need that service, I might message the person who pm’ed the first person, to find out the scoop, if it was regarding someone I might have considered.

A big thing in our group is, post local resources whenever possible. and since we know that the business owners/operators are likely ”6 degrees of separation” from us, or less, we tend to be more discreet.

I’m always happy to see a whole bunch of “omg, XYZ is the BEST” responses. We have really kept quite a few businesses busy, I’ll bet!

Last week, I had a negative experience with a local printing business. I did initially post a negative yelp review (I have a yelp account but don't use my real name). I found an alternative source for the printing--a local UPS shop that could do it on very short notice and made next to nothing on my order. But the young woman who helped me was lovely, receptive, and treated me like her best customer.

I decided to remove my bad yelp review for the original printer and instead wrote a positive review for the second one. It was a matter of focusing on the good, I guess. But I do find negative reviews helpful at time, and struggle with what responsibility I have in informing others of negative experiences.

I've posted two negative Google reviews. One for a local nail salon where the owner tries to stick people with "cancellation fees" of $40 if you call even well ahead of time to so much as change to another day. I objected, so she walked it back to $25 for me, but remained hateful about the whole thing. Surprise surprise, I didn't pay her a "cancellation fee", but found a new salon instead. The other negative review was for a taxi company in a town in England where our driver had an obvious anger issue and proceeded to shout at my elderly mother over an innocent question that he chose to perceive as an affront and then left us (two women and a child) stranded miles from our accommodation. We felt truly unsafe following the encounter with him, and I felt others had a right to know. The nail salon thing just ticked me off, but I also felt others had a right to know about the owner's "make it up as she goes policy", which was just absolutely ridiculous. That said, I post positive reviews too -- many more than the two negative ones.

I posted a scathing review of a KIA dealership near me that tried to sell me a car off the lot as new without disclosing that it had 5,000 miles on it. (Executive demo with the huge window sticker still on it.) I only found out about the miles when I idly asked how many miles were on it when we were filling out paperwork to buy it. Not only that, but the initial paperwork stated it only had 5 miles on it. In addition to the bad Yelp review, I also sent a letter to the president of KIA North America. My dh was this close to calling the police and reporting attempted fraud.

I had no qualms in slamming them. But that's the worst case scenario.

We also have a similar group and I’ve found a few good trades people that way. However, I hired a landscaper that had good reviews there and he was pretty bad. I did not write a negative review because I am likely to turn into him again but I did do the dreaded “ sending a pm” when he was recommended., and followed up.

I did give a really bad and well-deserved review on Yelp to a local plumbing supply showroom. The woman I dealt with there had a horrible attitude and looked down her nose at people. She screwed up the order for the fixtures for my bathroom. The first order I caught and was able to change. I then left a vm asking her to call me to go over the rest of the order for accuracy. She never did and ordered the wrong faucet for my new sink. By the time I caught that mistake, the granite had been drilled to accommodate the wrong faucet. I called and blasted her over the phone. She half heartedly offered to pay for new granite but that would have held up the process for another two weeks. I told what I thought of her and wrote an horrible Yelp review.

I really dont don’t like to hurt someone’s business but if they are really bad, it’s only fair to save others from your fate. Maybe it will give them the incentive to improve.

I like to think that I’m a fair minded person with reasonable expectations. If I’ve hit a limit with the way a company has treated me, I will post about my experience. The few times that I posted my beef here in the forum, I actually received a response from the company and was able to resolve the issue. And, in all fairness I will post about the response as well.

My biggest pet peeve is when I email or leave a message and the company never calls me back. My DH is not well and last year he was physically unable to clean our driveway. When we realized our dilemma I emailed the closest company to our house, explained our situation and ask if someone could call to discuss their services. All I got was crickets and it really irked me. We live rurally, so it’s not like I had a lot of options. After a week with a snow bound 150 foot driveway and no response, I posted a review on Google and said that I would have loved to have had the opportunity to use their services, but they never responded to my email.

It took literally 10 minutes, for them to post a response saying they weren’t ignoring me, they were just busy, to which I responded, but you’re not too busy to respond to my review. It really irked me.

So even when the offending business offers to make right--the poor review is posted. What is the point of them; just to hurt their business or get satisfaction? EVERYONE has a bad day. EVERYONE. It is very frustrating to be on the other end of a bad day FOR SURE..but if your review is about one experience and not a pattern of poor business practices most often when people read them you are the one that comes off crabby and picky. Those that got responses from the company and are feeling they were now treated well really should add that post script, IMHO.

Reviews have to be read with the proverbial grain of salt, but are valuable tools for allowing consumers to see where patterns of poor service or product emerge. There are some businesses out there that are well deserving of poor reviews with behavior that consistently goes beyond the scope of "a bad day." I want to be able to gauge which ones they are most likely to be, so am glad we are able to read reviews.

"So even when the offending business offers to make right--the poor review is posted. What is the point of them; just to hurt their business or get satisfaction?"

I've got over 400 online reviews over nearly 13 years on HomeAdvisor. I wouldn't pull a poor review even if I could. They are internet gold. A proper response adds a credibility that cannot be matched by someone with all 5 stars.

Potential customers will flip past most of the 4 and 5 star reviews but will stop at nearly every 1 or 2. When I arrive on jobs, I've had customers ask "Joe, what was with the lady with the caulk job anyway?" and take my side. My kinda customer and I could never have sorted her out without knowing her sense of fair play by reading my response to a poor review.