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Owner of a business contacted me bc of my page

by everydayreviews
7 replies
owner of a large jewelry store contacted me bc I reviewed their business. it is ranked #2 on google and people have commented some negative things about the company. the business owner requested that I remove those comments bc he refunded the customer. the commenter himself said to remove the comments, but only bc it was the condition to the refund. do I have to comply? (he got refunded)
Also, could this be an opportunity in any way? this page is the most viewed article on my site
#business #contacted #owner #page
  • Profile picture of the author DennisM
    I highly suggest you not get involved with local business reviews. Even though you're just hosting the site and anyone can "post" their opinion it's really not worth the aggravation.

    Now, I can see you're excited about the site ranking but you're just putting a target on your back. You probably don't have the legal team available like Yelp or the Better Business Bureau, etc. I can see it already (hope I'm wrong obviously) but if you do NOT remove that comment you may get a cease and desist letter from that jewelry store attorney.

    Review sites of brick and mortar business's offer no real business opportunity with high risk in my opinion.

    Dennis
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  • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
    I think the comment should stand and if the original commenter wants to come back on and say its all good then they can.
    But in the long run I tend to agree with Dennis that there will always be hassles and you will be getting similar requests in the future. You are in a powerful yet very tenuous position with your review site.
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  • Profile picture of the author PAH Tim
    In answer to your question, I don't believe you have to comply with the request at this point in time. However I would have to agree with Dennis and Eddie in saying that ignoring the request will eventually cause more trouble than it's worth should the store in question take further action to remove the content.
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  • Profile picture of the author Simon Ashari
    You really are opening a can of worms when it comes to local business reviews.

    Good work on getting it to near the top of google btw.

    If I was you I'd remove it (that's just me). Not saying you should have to but I just couldn't be bothered having to deal with the business owner.

    Good luck whatever you decide to do.

    -Simon
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  • Profile picture of the author JOSourcing
    Banned
    Instead of removing the comment, encourage a conversation in which both customers and business owners communicate their rebuttals. Examples can be found at ripoffreport.com. I think the process of reaching a resolution is just as important as a review (or complaint), but without publically showing that process, and simply wiping a review or complaint from existence defeats the purpose of the site.
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  • Profile picture of the author HarrieB
    If you wanna avoid long term hassles, U should delete the post, but hey talk to them on mail, telling them about ur services and how Ur services can help the business in the long run in a positive way!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Scott Million
    That's an interesting debacle. Someone like Shoemoney would fight it to the bone (and could afford to do so), but I wouldn't put my feet in the sand unless I was prepared to at least pay some heavy attorney fees. It's just not worth it and in this case it sounds like the poster and owner came to a resolution and both want you to remove the comment so it seems like an easy move on your part (a lot of times negative reviews are bloated anyway because the poster is emotionally charged)...
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