Best way to deal with negative feedback on social media

jimmii

Morning,

Just got an email from a customer who was some how able to register with one of our suppliers and saw a wholesale price of £4.95 for a product that we have priced at €15.95 I tried to explain to them that the wholesale price isn't close to how much it costs us for us to be able to actually get the product but it doesn't seem to matter! Now they have decided they are going to start posting on facebook to let everyone know about our pricing structure or something along those lines. The actual mark up on the item is only 85% so its actually pretty reasonable for the high street and one of the big department stores is selling the same thing for €25. What do you think is the best way to deal with this we're only a new shop (open since Feb) so bad feedback isn't great right now!! On top of all that it was a sale we lost money on as they used a grabone voucher to buy the stuff!!

Thanks,

Jimmii

relaxed

jimmii wrote: »

Morning,

Just got an email from a customer who was some how able to register with one of our suppliers and saw a wholesale price of £4.95 for a product that we have priced at €15.95 I tried to explain to them that the wholesale price isn't close to how much it costs us for us to be able to actually get the product but it doesn't seem to matter! Now they have decided they are going to start posting on facebook to let everyone know about our pricing structure or something along those lines. The actual mark up on the item is only 85% so its actually pretty reasonable for the high street and one of the big department stores is selling the same thing for €25. What do you think is the best way to deal with this we're only a new shop (open since Feb) so bad feedback isn't great right now!! On top of all that it was a sale we lost money on as they used a grabone voucher to buy the stuff!!

Thanks,

Jimmii

There are 2 sides to every story, so the first thing to do with negative feedback or publicity is always reply with your side.

In reply list all the costs incurred by you, rates, staff, accountants, postage, recycling, advertising everything really. I wouldn't mention the 85% markup that might sound a bit excessive.

Most people will see through these muppets who whinge about price, if they didn't want it at that price they shouldn't have bought it. Not your fault.

UBERTILT

Keep a calm head. I've seen many businesses let themselves down due to their failure to use their 'corporate voice' on social media.

It's so easy to loose your head when some keyboard warrior is slating you operation. I mean this person should get a life. You're not providing some humanitarian aid or charity work here. It's a business.

Try to establish some articulate points for your price structure. Maybe throw in a dictionary definition to the word 'Capitalism'. That'll learn 'em.

jimmii

relaxed wrote: »

There are 2 sides to every story, so the first thing to do with negative feedback or publicity is always reply with your side.

In reply list all the costs incurred by you, rates, staff, accountants, postage, recycling, advertising everything really. I wouldn't mention the 85% markup that might sound a bit excessive.

Most people will see through these muppets who whinge about price, if they didn't want it at that price they shouldn't have bought it. Not your fault.

Thanks for replying! Her original email said that she thought 100% mark up was acceptable so I went through the numbers with her and showed that if we were to make a 100% on the item it would be priced at just over €17 which she just seemed to ignore. My big worry is that she doesn't actually tell people the truth.

If we had actually charged a massive margin on something I would be like yeh ok maybe it is a little excessive in this case she got €51 worth of stuff for which we received approximately €18! She had two vouchers (it clearly states only 1 per transaction) but we took the two just because we like to be helpful with little things like that when we can.

jimmii

UBERTILT wrote: »

Keep a calm head. I've seen many businesses let themselves down due to their failure to use their 'corporate voice' on social media.

It's so easy to loose your head when some keyboard warrior is slating you operation. I mean this person should get a life. You're not providing some humanitarian aid or charity work here. It's a business.

Try to establish some articulate points for your price structure. Maybe throw in a dictionary definition to the word 'Capitalism'. That'll learn 'em.

Yeh it would have been easy to get annoyed at her emails but I feel we have done nothing wrong so just tried to help her understand a little better how the high street works. The supplier she was able to access sells to a big chain store in town and they charge €35 for a product we charge €19 for!!

Sure we'll see what happens but i'm sure she will do something as she has been emailing for over a week at this point!!

UBERTILT

I had a recent handbags at dawn situation with an individual over a 'like and share' promo I ran. We had over X likes but only Y shares...
I reminded all participants that it was a like AND share promo so make sure they did both or would be disqualified.

When we announced the winner it al kicked off!
Some trolls came out in force to

Out of over 200 likes and about 100 shares we had only about 27 who had liked and shared. Out of these 27 I picked a name out of a hat based on who had correctly followed our instructions of liking and sharing. (It was for an adult education course).

When I put these facts to the hecklers in a respectful manner they weren't long about shutting up.

jimmii

UBERTILT wrote: »

I had a recent handbags at dawn situation with an individual over a 'like and share' promo I ran. We had over X likes but only Y shares...
I reminded all participants that it was a like AND share promo so make sure they did both or would be disqualified.

When we announced the winner it al kicked off!
Some trolls came out in force to

Out of over 200 likes and about 100 shares we had only about 27 who had liked and shared. Out of these 27 I picked a name out of a hat based on who had correctly followed our instructions of liking and sharing. (It was for an adult education course).

When I put these facts to the hecklers in a respectful manner they weren't long about shutting up.

Yeh people normally quieten down when confronted with facts! How did you get hold of the sharers? We often get a few shares of images but when we click on who shared it only gives a couple of names we assumed it was because of privacy settings. You need to be careful with like and share comps they are against the T&Cs and i've noticed facebook shutting down a few pages for similar T&C infringements of late.

UBERTILT

jimmii wrote: »

How did you get hold of the sharers? We often get a few shares of images but when we click on who shared it only gives a couple of names we assumed it was because of privacy settings. You need to be careful with like and share comps they are against the T&Cs and i've noticed facebook shutting down a few pages for similar T&C infringements of late.

Yeah we have stopped doing such promos. We could see that we had 27 shares but also could only see a few names at a time. We kept notating names by reloading the page until we had them all. (different names appeared with every reload). They have banned such promos since..

jimmii

UBERTILT wrote: »

Yeah we have stopped doing such promos. We could see that we had 27 shares but also could only see a few names at a time. We kept notating names by reloading the page until we had them all. (different names appeared with every reload). They have banned such promos since..

Thats interesting might have a look at that in the future if we get a few shares of something. Its so tempting to do like & share comps they clearly get a much higher reach than anything else just because no one can be bothered to actually comment with a reply to a question to enter!

UBERTILT

Caption comps worked well for us too and seem to be allowed

jimmii

UBERTILT wrote: »

Caption comps worked well for us too and seem to be allowed

Oooh i like that idea! Will give that a go next time.

tricky D

In this type of scenario, you need to, as politely as possible, disarm them with straight facts while minimising your defensiveness. There's no perfect way to do this but this is the type of response I would consider to a FB complaint.

"Thanks for bringing this to our attention and please allow us explain this from our perspective.

Your previous email correspondence correctly states that the distributor price for this product is £4.95 and we sell it at €15.95. This represents an 85% markup on that price. This kind of markup quite normal for this type of product when taking into account the additional and significant overheads and costs we incur when compared with those of the wholesaler/distributor. We feel this markup is actually towards the lower end when compared to others and your original email stated that you reckoned a 100% markup would be quite reasonable. Also this markup compares very favourably with other high street outlets, some of whom typically charge up to €25 or even more for the same item.

In relation to our transaction with yourself, you purchased product worth a total of €51 but was only charged €18 which means a significant loss on our behalf. Please note that the reason for this was that despite a one voucher only policy, we, as a gesture of goodwill due to us only having recently commenced trading, allowed you to use two vouchers.

We hope that this explanation is to your satisfaction. Please feel free to email us at feedback@ourcompany.com if you would like to discuss this further.*"

*Takes the conversation offline.

Avoid responding further to anything that is trollish in public. Maintain total politeness at all times.

I would disagree with itemising your business costs as suggested in the first reply. Additional and significant costs and overheads covers that sufficiently. Also avoid any notion of teaching them the ways of Capitalism or high street business. That risks further provocation, no matter how tempting and apt.

You also should consider when to respond ie. post the response at a time when it least likely to get deleted so that more people will see it. There's some merit in delaying your response until others have had the opportunity to comment first. This helps build a sufficient audience for your response. If and when deleted, be careful considering whether and when to repost.

jimmii

Thats brilliant thanks! Hopefully people will be able to see the truth and understand! Appreciate the post i'll probably go with exactly that it nails it perfectly!!

tricky D

Stick a voucher in the post for me

Peterdalkey

Jimmii
Ask them what it is they want of you
I would offer the complainant their money back and assure them that you do not want any unhappy customers. Point out that yours is a new business and clearly you do not want and cannot afford to have this kind of negative campaign waged against you.
Point out that they got 51 Euros of goods for 18 Euro, and you accepted two vouchers despite the one voucher rule. If they persist advise them that as they have refused all reasonable efforts by you to sort the issue, you intend to refer any negative postings to your solicitor for redress for any damages suffered by you, as their actions are simply vindictive in nature. Tell them you have already copied all correspondence to date with your lawyers too, if they proceed with such a course of action, they do so at their own peril.

jimmii

I tried that I offered them a refund twice and told them in they can find it cheaper in Dublin I will happily refund them the full price of the product and they can still keep it but again it seems to have been something that just ignored. I didn't want to have to mention lawyers etc but might be the only option! Hopefully nothing will come of it we'll see!

Are you sure this isn't a competitor winding you up? Sounds like it to me. Why else is someone going to be so unreasonable over a small amount of money?

jimmii

Deleted User wrote: »

Are you sure this isn't a competitor winding you up? Sounds like it to me. Why else is someone going to be so unreasonable over a small amount of money?

Possible but unlikely. We're only tiny I don't think any competitor would bother! If they did then woo hoo we must be doing something right!! It would explain how they had access to the trade website though.

tricky D

Peterdalkey wrote: »

Jimmii
Ask them what it is they want of you
I would offer the complainant their money back and assure them that you do not want any unhappy customers. Point out that yours is a new business and clearly you do not want and cannot afford to have this kind of negative campaign waged against you.
Point out that they got 51 Euros of goods for 18 Euro, and you accepted two vouchers despite the one voucher rule. If they persist advise them that as they have refused all reasonable efforts by you to sort the issue, you intend to refer any negative postings to your solicitor for redress for any damages suffered by you, as their actions are simply vindictive in nature. Tell them you have already copied all correspondence to date with your lawyers too, if they proceed with such a course of action, they do so at their own peril.

Don't agree with this at all. This is upping the ante when damage limitation is what's required. This confrontational attitude would be bad PR and would provide ample bait for more bad PR.

Apart from that, what are the grounds for damages? No defamation has occurred.

Peterdalkey

No damage done yet. The legal threat is suggested only after all the polite interaction has been exhausted. The complainant is clearly an idiot but even idiots tread more carefully when threatened with legal actions. If they do cross the line then nail them.
If the do post on social media then OP should get "independent" posters to ridicule/negate comments/poster, that can be very effective indeed especially with bullies. They tend to be very thin skinned and challenged robustly, mostly run away.

relaxed

jimmii wrote: »

I tried that I offered them a refund twice and told them in they can find it cheaper in Dublin I will happily refund them the full price of the product and they can still keep it but again it seems to have been something that just ignored. I didn't want to have to mention lawyers etc but might be the only option! Hopefully nothing will come of it we'll see!

I never entertain idiots with a refund, if a customer tells me they made an genuine error and asks to rectify something I try to help them out. If I smell any kind of waffle or scam I push them all the way.

FewFew

Be friendly and take it offline asap.

Once it seems resolved online and taken elsewhere, trolls should stay at bay.

Just on the point of Like & Share Competitions, they're against Facebook regulations. You probably won't get called up on it, but a competitor can go on a crusade and get you shut down perhaps.

jimmii

Yeh the life & share comps really annoy me I would never call someone up on it but either they are against the T&Cs and FB should do something about it or they are fine and we'll see everyone doing it.

To update the thread I have heard nothing further and nothing has been posted to any of our social media pages so hopefully they decided against it.

AdChoices obviously has a sense of humour every time I come on this thread it has an advert for Debenhams in the UK listing the exact same item at £16!

Trojan

Perhaps not immediately relevant to OP, but this is a super process chart from the American Air Force:



Also don't forget that negative reviews can sometimes be a positive, and they've even convinced me to buy - e.g. if the listed points are stuff you already know, or if it's a rant with poor logic, spelling and grammar, and if the business is coming across very well in dealing with it, etc.

cmccarra

FewFew wrote: »

Just on the point of Like & Share Competitions, they're against Facebook regulations. You probably won't get called up on it, but a competitor can go on a crusade and get you shut down perhaps.

Not anymore, Facebook has relaxed their rules on this to allow 'Like & Share' competitions. See here - https://www.facebook.com/facebookforbusiness/news/page-promotions-terms

Either way I wouldn't recommend them, to easy to make a mistake and receive on onslaught of bad PR from disgruntled competitors.

mneylon

Based on our experience ..

- keep it polite at all times. You need to be professional and courteous no matter how hard that might be.
- take a deep breath before replying. If you're a small business then any attack on the business is, in some ways, an attack on you personally, or at least that's how you'll probably feel, so try not to let emotions get in the way
- do not be confrontational. Threatening legal action is a last resort and is not something you'd want to do unless it was absolutely necessary. (threats of physical violence or verbal abuse of staff members spring to mind)
- don't try to teach them anything. There's no point.

If you bought a loaf of bread for €2 in Tesco and saw it on special offer for €1 in Dunnes you wouldn't be able to go back to Tesco and demand a refund, would you?

You'll always run into people who will try to "get a better deal". In some cases they'll accept that the price is the price when they question it and you turn them down.
Others, however, seem to have a lot of time on their hands ...

Focus on doing a good job and providing good service to your clients. Social media is a fantastic way to reach and engage with clients and prospects (if done right), but you'll have to learn to roll with the punches

jimmii

cmccarra wrote: »

Not anymore, Facebook has relaxed their rules on this to allow 'Like & Share' competitions. See here - https://www.facebook.com/facebookforbusiness/news/page-promotions-terms

Either way I wouldn't recommend them, to easy to make a mistake and receive on onslaught of bad PR from disgruntled competitors.

How do you mean easy to make mistakes? What sort of things do people normally do wrong? Thanks for the link will give it a read through later.

mneylon

jimmii wrote: »

How do you mean easy to make mistakes? What sort of things do people normally do wrong? Thanks for the link will give it a read through later.

There's been a lot of social media disasters
A couple of examples (and there's plenty more)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/19-companies-that-made-huge-social-media-fails

jimmii

Blacknight wrote: »

There's been a lot of social media disasters
A couple of examples (and there's plenty more)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/19-companies-that-made-huge-social-media-fails

I was meaning in regard to the competitions. Never seen a few of those in the article! Amazing the things people think it is ok to post and that is meant to be their job!!

EDIT: Wow I was going to say the Chrysler one is probably the best then got to number 19 that is some melt down!!! "WE ARE NOT FREAKING OUT!!" erm I think you possibly are.