Many times I ask myself if I should even bother giving some feedback. In general I want to do it in order to help the service become better. I want to stay positive and I believe that there are companies and employees that seek feedback in order to get better. Apart from certain industries of course, such as banks (at least in my countries) where they do not care at all.

However, during the course of the years I have seen that not everybody wants feedback. Some companies pretend that they care, just not avoid any backlash of not doing so or because they have to fill in some prerequisites for quality control. They do that with “placeholder” surveys, surveys that have the bare minimum questions, or focus on certain areas or do not allow room for any free form replies, that could direct to other areas of the services that require improvement. This is the case of the airline that I regularly use. At a certain point, I might have used it for more than 50 return trips during a single year, so I consider myself a heavy user of that service. If at any time I got a feedback request via email, it would have been for the bare minimum feedback; “Was the crew well behaved? Did they serve the food in time; Did they say hello? Did they say goodbye?”. Nothing about the service at the check in desk, the food and the hygiene in the business lounge, the boarding procedure, the arrangement of the luggage or anything else. And there was no other way to give that feedback, perhaps other than “high-jacking” their social media posts with comments referring to such issues. There, they would reply, but not in a structured way but rather in a way that led to social media damage control. By the way, I do not refer to any “low-cost doesn’t care” company. This will be another story. We are talking here about a celebrated regional company, supported by tax payers’ money.

To the other side, I have seen companies that just don’t give a @#$% about feedback. They just don’t care. They exist, they operate and they do what they do, however they do it, without caring about direct feedback. I get that. Perhaps they are not so big, or they do not have the resources to allocate for feedback collection and evaluation. Or they do not believe in interaction or they do not have the culture to do it. They survive because they just can, in an industry that allows it. I get it. Either we give them feedback or we don’t; it the same for them.

But what I don’t like, is the aggressive companies. Those who want to utilize free feedback, such as the google reviews, but only if it is positive for them and as a promotion mean. If it is not, they attack, they swear, they mock, without caring about the image that they give or they act in a passive aggressive manner. Usually I laugh at such replies, as I believe that they are just a way to admit that they are…busted. Such a reaction shows that you are not professional or that you cannot handle yourself. So, If you cannot handle a public comment, how can you handle my business? To the same category belong some sneaky business owners, that use other tactics to obfuscate or hide negative feedback. This is another case that I faced today. I just got a notification for a review I posted on google for a restaurant in Berlin. 18 months ago I had dinner at a Lebanese restaurant in Berlin with some colleagues of mine. I got falafel with babaganoush, with Falafels being too salty. While I can handle spicy cuisine, I try to avoid spicy dishes and uncooked vegetables when I travel, especially the night before a big event, like a conference. However, I got carried away that night and I got a dish that contained uncooked vegetables. Just after a couple of hours, hell was unleashed. No details needed, I didn’t sleep all night and the next day was a disaster, with similar symptoms. The next day I did the presentation, while on medication. Disaster. At the same time, my colleagues were just fine. By the way, I was fine after one day. My verdict: food poisoning. As I ate nothing else before and after that and I was totally fine before that, I concluded that the dinner was the reason for my torment. I combined that with the horrible situation that the restroom was in, as it reminded me of the toilet in Trainspotting where Ewan McGregor takes a dive (yes this is a metric for the total hygiene of some restaurants, and yes I overexaggerate – a little bit ) and charged with some bad vibes because they refused to accept credit card for the bill, and I wrote about my experience on google.

18 months later, I received the notification from google, that my review was removed as it was classified as “defamation”, as requested by the restaurant. If I wanted to appeal against the removal, I had bring more information that includes, but is not limited to, the date and time of my visit or experience and any specific observations made during your interaction with the business in question, evidence such as invoices, screenshots, receipts, appointment documents or entries from a loyalty points program etc. And to add insult to injury, they suggested that I could contact a lawyer if I wanted to take things further. As if I wanted to waste any more time than the time I wasted in the toilet because of their insufficient food preparation. I will remember you sketchy Lebanese restaurant in Berlin with 4something starts. I will remember you.

P.S.

One might question if the public ratings on platforms such as google reviews is actually feedback, as there is a dispute over the motives of the reviewer. Most of the time, if we are satisfied with a service, we give a good rating. But what was good, what was missing, what can be improved…all those are missing. Also if we feel the urge to give a negative rating, it is because we feel cheated, mistreated, deceived. So in the end we want to warn the other users and to punish the service provider. But will this help them to become better? As we see above, this is not always the case. The company that actually wants to become better, is not afraid to talk to customers, and is actually seeking their feedback. And of course does not rely on google reviews to do that.