{"id":103498,"date":"2012-09-11T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-11T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/how-not-to-respond-to-negative-reviews-2\/"},"modified":"2024-12-19T16:42:05","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T21:42:05","slug":"how-not-to-respond-to-negative-reviews-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-gb\/insights\/blog\/local-search\/how-not-to-respond-to-negative-reviews-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How Not to Respond to Negative Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Ottawa restaurant owner was convicted of criminal libel<\/a> this week after she harassed a customer who had posted a negative review of her restaurant. Instead of ignoring \u2014 or, better yet, responding nicely \u2014 to the less-than-favourable online reviews, the owner unleashed her anger at the customer by setting up a fake dating profile in her name, sending fake sexually explicit emails to her employers, and attacking her constantly for a period of over two years. The court case caught the attention of international media and became yet another example of a social media PR<\/a> disaster. Instead of one negative-yet-respectful review, the restaurant now has notoriety with thousands of people around the world. This is a classic case of how not to respond to negative publicity.<\/p>\n

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Now, clearly,\u00a0the owner’s\u00a0reaction to a negative review is not typical of business owners, but the case brings to light a few things that are going to become more prevalent as the importance of reviews on sites such as Google+ Local, Citysearch, Yelp and TripAdvisor continue to rise. More review sites than ever are requiring people to post under their real names<\/u>\n

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