Real-life MMD: Should I threaten a bad review to get better service?

24

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  • pollypenny
    pollypenny Posts: 29,392
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    You could try - more like try it on!

    The proprietor may well report you and you could lose your job. Deservedly.
    Member #14 of SKI-ers club

    Words, words, they're all we have to go by!.

    (Pity they are mangled by this autocorrect!)
  • No - because if that's the way you get good service , it's not an accurate reflection of the service another customer would get.
  • Of course not, that would defeat the whole point in your review.

    If you are doing your blog to help others aswell as your own enjoyment then it needs to be truthful, people use reviews for guidance a lot, the more incorrect ones out there the harder it is for others to make a decision.

    You're better off not reviewing anything at all than giving false reviews.

    I'm also a mystery diner, it's imperative staff don't know, if they can't be nice to you as a human being let alone being paid to be then they are in the wrong job, people shouldn't need an extra incentive to be nice and serve you better.
  • Well you might get better service if the staff think you are reviewing the place, but other customers won't get the preferential treatment. If you threaten them with a bad review, then you're missing the point. If you have any sort of power at all over where people eat (and hopefully you don't have too much) then you need to be fair and not abuse it.

    One Love, One Life, Let's Get Together and Be Alright :)

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  • Writing a bad review will often make the establishment change their ways to improve service for others. I have noticed that as a result of some of the bad reviews I have written there have been positive changes to places, such as baby changing added, places made more child friendly. Or in the cases of good reviews where I can be identified I have been given discount on my return visit (this is of course NOT why I write reviews and I don't expect it or think that it is the norm).
  • Surely the whole point of your job is to tell the truth as you see it! If you think letting them know you are doing a review will get you better service then there's not much point in the review.
    Should "secret shoppers" let shop staff know that they are in the shop?
  • tgroom57
    tgroom57 Posts: 1,431
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    Anyone can write a review for a place on Google Maps, and many other sites.
    Make yourself useful and offer new establishments a spot of publicity.
  • A review is only meaningful if it tells you what the normal standard, service, etc. of an establishment is.

    What's the point of reading your review if the staff have raised their game to impress you?

    I'd not take the blindest notice of a review if I was aware the staff had been tipped off you were coming and were trying to butter you up.
  • Definitely not. I am also a reviewer and a blogger and I see it as an extension of mystery shopping. I want to be treated like any other ordinary customer, so I can describe my experience on the basis of that interaction, as opposed to being sucked up to. I remember MSing a well known burger bar once. At the end of my visit, as they'd done very well, I had to approach the counter, ask for the manager and present them with a certificate to redeem a giftcard for the staff member who'd served me. Any time I went in there after that as a normal customer, the staff would be all over me and it was embarrassing. They should treat everyone like that!
  • rob_s0
    rob_s0 Posts: 51 Forumite
    Of course not. That's not providing a fair review and you'll be short-changing the people who rely on your reviews. Imagine how you'd feel if you went to somewhere that you'd read a five-star review of and got two-star service because the reviewer has basically bribed the establishment.
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