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bad nestie business (poll)
i'm posting this here rather than the general board because it seems like all of the nestie business owners are on this board...
i love supporting nestie businesses. afterall, it was the support of many nesties (then knotties) that helped me get my own business up and running back in '05. and it can be a great find to us, as consumers, to support new nestie businesses who offer us nesties a free/discounted glimpse of their business.
but what about when the glimpse is an ugly one?
i know of several austin nesties who have supported another nestie business by being guinea pigs, but have had horrible results when it comes to those nesties' business practices. for example, emails aren't returned or the product isn't delivered on time (not even close), or the quality is subpar. what, if anything, should the guinea pigs do?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: bad nestie business (poll)
I need an other!
I don't know about posting a review specifically to call out a business owner, but I would definitely let the business owner know that I was unhappy, I would NOT recommend them to others, and if someone posted looking for advice about using the business, I would have to tell them my experience.
As for posting a negative review, I don't know how that chimes with the TOS, but maybe you could post on Yelp or Citysearch so it would be less personal.
I'd just hate to lose a long time Bump/Nest contributor because she wasn't the greatest business owner and posting negative reviews seems a little like a call out for something not specifically Nest-related.
I've been struggling with this. I recently had a bad experience with a Bumpie business, and haven't said anything because this particular person is very well liked on the board. On one hand, I feel I should warn others. But on the other hand, maybe I'm the only one who has experienced the poor service because other people rave about this individual.
ETA: I did let the person know that I was unhappy, but they have yet to respond to my emails/calls. In fact, they still owe me money.
Not a good way to get repeat business or referrrals IMO...
I think it's important for others on here to know about bad business practices so they don't waste time and money and learn the hard way...especially if this is a business that is highly recommended on the board.
I know a lot of people come to this board because they don't have the time or energy or resources to research for themselves and I would hate for a lot of people to go with a business because of all the rave reviews here when they don't have the full story (because people with bad reviews are keeping quiet).
Anyway..just my $.02.
The Blog
Ditto
I'm most inclined to write a negative public review (like on Yelp or Citysearch.) I tend to leave off those kinds of complaints from the boards because I consider the boards a safe place and not necessarily a place to air dirty laundry (yes, I know I haven't always kept to that policy, but I do try.)
I do think it's important to the business owner to know what went wrong, why you are unhappy with service, and why you won't be recommending their business. I tend to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but when it comes to business, if it involved me losing money or receiving a shoddy product without any effort to fix the problem from the merchant, than all bets are off.
Me too.
It's hard because if I was asking for recommendations, I would want to hear the full story. I wouldn't feel right posting about a negative experience here on the board though... Maybe PM the person asking for recommendations?
I don't think posting on here is fair since the rules don't allow the business owner to advertise here. It gets sticky since we do try to support each other's businesses (at least you all do. I'm not in Austin
I agree with this. I would hate to only be seeing the good reviews for a nestie business and not the bad, make the decision to give the nestie my business, and then end up unhappy or lose money or whatever when it could have been stopped. If everyone is honest about their experiences then it will be obvious if a bad nestie experience is an isolated incident or if there is a pattern there that would make me want to avoid them. If someone has a bad experience with me then they should feel free to post a review here with their experience. I'm not going to stop posting my personal stuff here because someone was unhappy with my business.
Our Blog
this. also, why should we treat nestie/bumpie references any different than we would another business? we go on here all the time and post raves/recs for businesses - this shouldn't be any different just because it's a nestie.
If I were in this situation I would probably let them know that you aren't happy and won't be recommending them to anyone in the future. I probably wouldn't do a call out unless I was really pissed off.
However, I am extremely nosy and I'll be honest - I want to know who it is and what happened, lol
I think I know, someone was mentioned a little while back about bad business.
nah nah nah...I know something you don't know!!!
Just to add another perspective, I've been on the receiving end of unhappy customers. I didn't have my own business but I was working for someone (a Nestie) who was building a very successful business and the work I provided for the customer was not acceptable to that customer.
It was painful to hear, but I was glad that customer expressed their displeasure. It certainly was in my intention to do whatever that customer wanted in order to make things right. The biggest regret I had was that my actions could have caused this person's business to be looked upon negatively.
Anyway, my point is, from the POV of a business person, I think it's very important for customers to express their discontent (preferably with respect). A professional (this being the key word) will take your opinions to heart and hopefully learn from them to make her business better.
The PM thing..or an e-mail is a good idea.
The Blog
I think that no matter what, the business owner needs to be let know how dissatisfied you (collective you) were with their service. I bet even if they're not responding to the emails they're getting them and reading them, though they may claim otherwise. I know I personally would want to know if a client was unhappy and would want to try to fix the situation if at all possible...but if someone doesn't speak up, then I may not have a clue they were upset.
From there, it's up to you to decide how to handle it. If you feel comfortable posting a bad review here, I wouldn't think it was out of line as long as the nestie had had a fair chance to fix the situation.
This is what my whole response was based on. It has nothing to do with a personal experience I've had.
The Blog
I also need an "other."
If it was an established business, I vote for giving a review- good, bad or ugly (maybe trying to point out the positives, if there were some, but letting people know of difficulties/ unhappiness w/ product/ communication).
BUT, I know a lot of photographers who do free/discounted while they are still learning their craft. If that was the case (not just with a photographer, but any person who isn't established/ in business yet), I would give honest and direct feedback to the person (not on the board) so that they could learn from it.
I agree, too, but I am also afraid to do so, not because that person would be upset with me, but because of the possible backlash from other nesties. I've seen people post opinions before and had 3 or 4 nesties jump to the business owner's defense. Then it makes the original reviewer look like they are being petty or dishonest. I had this experience when I had a little trouble with my wedding photographer way back when. There was a particular part-time nestie who used to google his name (I guess that's how she knew just when to pop in) and jump to his defense, which included invalidating my concerns or review. It just gets sticky when you have people on here who are personal friends of the business owner.
i'm with libbyann on this... i think the customer should ALWAYS let the business know when they're not happy, especially if they're upset enough to be writing negative reviews. if that business chooses to not make the situation right (or even acknowledge that they received the complaint), then I have NO problem with that person writing on every website possible.
the only time i wouldn't want to see a negative review is if the business owner had no idea that there was a problem and then came on here (or yelp, etc) to find someone bashing them when they didn't have a chance to try and fix it.
oops! i typed one out but looks like i forgot to hit the 'add' button. sorry!
I had a long post written and decided not to post.
Basically, when I was a vendor (sewingbystacy.com) I had 2 really bad experiences with brides that led me to close my doors. One posted about it (even though I never took a dime from her) the other didn't. I felt I tried equally hard in both cases to make the bride happy but it just didn't happen. I feel like I'm a good person and I was an awesome vendor - so if I can have bad experiences, any business can.
I am with MC on this one. I am starting a business and offering lower rates than one would get with an established decorator because I'm new and I'm trying to work out all the kinks involved with starting up. I am setting up a survey for clients to do after my work is complete for them because I genuinely do want to learn, improve, and do the best possible job I can. I would hope that any client I have who is unhappy would address the issue with me privately so I can try to rectify the problem.
Meredith, 6-1-06 and Alex, 11-5-09
That's why I'm a proponent of respectful, public reviews. I think the vendor should have the right to present their side of the situation. Hopefully this gives potential customers a balanced view of the vendor (and the customer.)
Also, I think it's super, super important for the responsible party to be able to say, "I messed up. Here is how I can fix the situation for you and offer you some compensation for the inconvenience." This type of mea culpa goes a long way.
This is me almost verbatim. I've decided that when I see someone recommend this person, I will offer to give my experience off the board in an email the way lots of people do with negative reviews of pedis and other things. I am still waiting to get my money back/product from February. If this weren't a nestie business, I would've already taken more steps...reported to BBB, etc. It's past the point of ridiculous now. I have tried to make contact in so many ways I believe it is impossible that the vendor hasn't gotten at least one of my many messages over the past 6 months. I think it's only fair to give balanced reviews and let others know so they don't end up out money and without their order like I was.