Respond to BS Social media posts

[Earl Weiss]

Do you attempt to respond to BS social medai posts or just ignore them?

 

[MEP001]

Is this related to the guy who had the scuff and blamed your wash? If so, maybe explain politely why you denied his damage claim.

 

[rph9168]

From past experience I believe the best avenue to take is to ignore it. The news media is more interested in creating news and not the facts. People tend to believe what they want to believe. Years ago I was involved in a controversy that was brought up on a national consumer investigation show that included comments about the products sold by the national chemical company I worked for. We were able to provide the program scientific proof that what they had broadcast about our products was not true and asked that they at least issue a retraction. Their response was that they had moved on and it was no longer something they wanted to deal with. We decided it wasn't worth the time and effort to pursue it so we let it go. Ultimately there was no significant ramifications.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Interesting that at one loaction over 10 years 7 reviews. 1 average. 3 good and 3 not so good. Location washes 75K + a year and pumps about 750K Gallons of gas. Shows what % use yelp. This one had to do with purported scuff customer notice2 2 days later. When she was showed that equipment did not contact surface in that manner she then claimed it happened when the guy dried her car.

of course cars were really covered with salt, and if she did not notice untol 2 days after it could have been there days or weeks before.

Another location, another post was something like "My Grandma says to go in the morning because that is when they add soap to the system."

Yelp makes it difficult to post responses.

 

[rph9168]

I was in a new carwash several years ago and overheard a customer say that that they thought the Proto Vest dryer was sucking up the water instead of blowing it off. Seems like ignorance abounds in our industry and it seems to me that it would be almost impossible to dispel many of the false impressions and feelings people have about it.

 

[pgrzes]

I wouldnt respond to it, but I would get a few people I know post some positive comments to misdirect the negative post.

 

[cantbreak80]

the Proto Vest dryer was sucking up the water instead of blowing it off.

You mean the Proto Vest dryer doesn't suck up the water? Huh, learn something every day.

 

[Earl Weiss]

.................. Seems like ignorance abounds in our industry and it seems to me that it would be almost impossible to dispel many of the false impressions and feelings people have about it.

Yeesh, tell me about it. Fought a damage claim in court with a pro se plaintiff. Damage could not have happened as she explained and then the judge commented..

."Oh, I know how those car washes do, they can throw you off the track and throw you back on again.."

Bringing a video next time.

 

[Waxman]

most times people only comment when it is a complaint. if they like you they will rarely go out of their way to post it. i had a guy buy a used car from me and then proceed to troll out and flame me hard core when his car needed repairs (after the warranty period) and i refused to pay.

i ignored it but i bet it did some damage to my credibility.

some people get their only sense of personal power and control from being tough behind the keyboard and bashing a business when they feel wronged. what they post is of course only one side of any given situation.

breathe in and out and let it go.

 

[robert roman]

A small business usually earns its reputation.

Sunshine Car Wash in Clearwater, Florida is busy every day of the week and the owner has a reputation of touching every car that comes on the property.

Whereas the wash closest to where I am has a P.O. Box for an office address and owner (nameless) doesn’t take phone calls or return mail. Guess how busy that wash isn’t?

When I managed washes, my regional manager once told me he would replace a customer’s entire vehicle if necessary to correct a wrong that was our fault. Today, he runs the company.

Customer service excellence always generates more positive than negative. Social media tends to bear this out.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Checked another local wash rating / comments on Yelp. Similar BS. I know the guy and he's a pro. I feel better knowing that I am not the only one with these people having delusions.

 

[Randy]

Earl, Don’t let it bother you. We’ve got a few negative comments on Yelp, they were all BS, never heard of these people, never called to complained, just posted on Yelp about how bad their experience was at the car wash. What gets me is people actually believe that BS, the girl across the street checks out Yelp all the time, but then again she’s Blonde and she believes it.

 

[2Biz]

Who's to say a competitor isn't posting those comments to ruin your reputation. Believe it or not, there are people out there that would do such a thing!

 

[Whale of a Wash]

Yelp should be called *******s that bitch. They have companies that will respond to all social media for you for only $129 a month.
Almost like making payments to the school bully.
Or paying the Casa Nostra for protection.

 

[Robert2181]

Even if you reply, its like feeding the beast. The more and more (every few months) a new internet media comes out no one will be able to respond or know what is fact or fiction.

If you stay true to your customer,service and product, the BS and BS people will find another person or company. That is what they do every day.

 

[mjwalsh]

Last spring, I had an incident where I had a young woman with her boyfriend unnecessarily held up other customers for our largest & most needed washers in our laundromat during a busy weekend ... while they lost track of time at the bar across the street. She came back & instead of appreciating the fact that we put the "left in washers for more than 15 minutes" clothes safely away for her ... she tried to maintain that she was right & our cameras & other customers were wrong about the length of time. Long story short ... she carried on with her cell phone's camera with picture after picture taking including some of poor innocent yours truly. She repeatedly & loudly threatened to go on Facebook & other media to post some really bad comments.

Long story short ... I went out in the parking lot & took many pictures of them, their vehicle license & I even went so far as shouting to her & her boyfriend that when they post ... they will NOT be anonymous. I do not regret doing that since it seems to have helped prevent some posts that could have done some serious damage because of the lack of complete enough honesty on her part. Her boyfriend might have talked her out of it also ... I am not sure ... because the posts never showed up.

Like a lot of things ... social media can be a double edged sword that we need to have some wariness for.

mike

 

[MEP001]

Checked another local wash rating / comments on Yelp. Similar BS. I know the guy and he's a pro. I feel better knowing that I am not the only one with these people having delusions.

We've got 9 reviews on Yelp, all negative, all basically BS. One guy says "DO NOT GO THERE," and proceeds to explain how there was some sandy substance on the brush that scratched his car. I guess the sign stating to clean it first wasn't wasn't meant for him.

 

[Earl Weiss]

It's interesting. First Time I checked out reviews for other Chicago area washes. SAME BS! I even note one guy mistook the new neoglide for those bad brushes!

 

[Earl Weiss]

New Plan. Fight with more BS. After seeing how many locations are plagued with BS I am contacting the local assoc to see if we can put together a plan to each post good reviews of the other site on Yelp.

 

[Waxman]

you are giving way too much credibility to sights like yelp and customers who post negative comments.

focus your energy on running the wash in a first rate way and let the social media stuff be whatever it is.

if you doubt my advice, read thru facebook for 20 min. and see the level of complaining that exists there.