Bad Review from Bride on line - Need Advice

[jessica_s._leatherbury]

I received a bad review from a client and she is posting it around the

internet on various sites. Her claims are false and I have contacted her and

done all that I can think of to try to resolve her qualms, to no avail. She

seems to want to remain disgruntled.

 

Has anyone ever dealt with this before? The wedding websites don't take the

review down, even if they are false. That is really upsetting, as this gives

way too much power for one person's experience to take down an entire

business, potentially. I may be overexaggerating, but I heard from one

photographer that she received one bad review and that was it for her

business. She never got another client.

 

I want to do something but it seems my hands are tied. Any advice?

 

Thanks!

Jessica

[shambrick007]

"but I heard from one photographer that she received one bad review and that was it for her business. She never got another client." - Either she has a VERY small client base, or she WAS a bad photog. <p>First, try and take an honest and objective evaluation and make sure that all of her complaints are not justified. Then, if your skills are good (and I assume that that are), regroup and keep doing what you do.

[david_schilling___chicago_]

I've had some friends that experienced similar issues with the sites hosting reviews and corresponded with a photographer in the Southeast who had her bussiness devastated in a similar way. This situation can really be ugly and leave you feeling helpless. You have my sympathy. I think that if you keep on pluggin that "this too will pass"....but it still sucks. Sorry.

[bob_osullivan]

You could make your own rebuttal posts offering to show potential clients the "supposed bad photos" and let them judge for themselves. Just remain professional.

[art_tatum]

Fight back with style. There are two sides to every story (sometimes more) so do a little

research, find out where the posts are and rebut, rebut, rebut. You have everything to gain.

The one thing I wouldn't do is ignore the 'bad press'.

[bob_sunley]

If they are slanderous, have a talk with your lawyer, a threatening letter from your lawyer might help a lot. The website owners won't want to be co-defendants either.

[marv_stasak___southfield__]

Brides often have agendas. That's part of the business. Often they complain hoping to get a few freebies. Also part of the business and you usually have to submit to the extortion if you want to avoid being dissed on all the local bridal web sites. The trick is to resolve any issues the bride or family might have before it gets to the point of negative press. I had one bride absolutely enraged that I didn't get all of the groups shot in the church. I had twenty minutes and I got eight groups phottographed including the bride and groom before they kicked us out of the church. I had two large family groups remaining that had to be done at the reception venue and the bride was livid. She wouldn't speak to me for the rest of the day and I had to deal with the groom and maid of honor. Since then, I make it absolutely clear in my discussions with all brides that they must allow 4-5 minutes for each group.I have had no problems since I incorporated that warning into my discussions. Was it her fault for not realizing that her ceremony impinged on a Saturday evening Mass? Yes, and no. I am the experienced wedding photographer and should have seen that a problem might arise and warned her. Her seething anger over a less than major problem (we did get the pix) is another matter and I pity her husband; he will have much to deal with over the years.

 

The point I'm trying to make is that there are all kinds of brides and often many agendas and we have to deal with them if we want to be in this business. You need to analyse your own performance, be honest with yourself, and correct any technical errors that might have upset this bride as well as how you plan and advise the bride before the ceremony.

[rcox2]

"Her claims are false ..."

 

Get a lawyer to write her a letter explaining defamation, libel and slander. That might get her attention. If not, take legal action.

[gina_marie1]

I'm sorry to hear this has happened to you. When we started we offered a few free engagement sessions. Each couple was happy except one. She had emailed me asking for 1 specific photo she remembered us taking, I explained why we didn't have it. Afterward, she posted a review complaining that she did not get ENOUGH free photos and included several wrong facts about the session. It really hurts as you do feel helpless and especially when you feel you are actually helping someone out (we chose her over others because she said she couldn't afford them).

 

I wrote a professional rebuttal post, correcting each of her misrepresented statements and included a link to the images. Everyone saw for themselves there was nothing to complain about and we ended up getting several inquiries from people who saw that review.

 

You have to be VERY careful with this situation. I have seen instances where a rebuttal letter ended up working against the photographer making things worse. *IF* you have already built somewhat of a reputation and it is clear that the work on your website is good, then it may be best to let things lie. Most people who read these reviews have common sense to know there are 2 sides to every story and they will look at your work to make their own judgments. If you are new, that may be harder. If the facts are misrepresented, a genuine sounding rebuttal that does not have a defensive tone yet still relays the facts may help. But again, it might be best to wait things out a bit. You can also ask the clients that have been happy with your work to post their own reviews for damage control. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND LEGAL ACTION NOW. If you do, she may follow up that in her post and the members of the forum which she gave her review will not appreciate a photographer who threatens with legal action regardless of whether you are write or wrong.

[jeffrey_blake_adams]

Professionals use professional, your atty can file an injunction against the posts, with the court of jurisdiction for the webhosts. And a lawsuit for slander, damages etc. If you have filed taxes properly for the last few years, and you can prove your biz suffered due to posts, enjoy, J

[William Michael]

Part 1 the General answer:

 

1. Speak to a legal professional then decide the value of doing something, or not.

 

or

 

2. Let it slide and get on with building your business.

 

 

Part 2 the worth of input here:

 

 

For better evaluative and thus constructive, focussed and specific answers to your situation from the professionals here: state the site(s) flying the comments and the supply an avenue to view the product being commented upon.

 

 

WW

[colinsouthern]

"Get a lawyer to write her a letter explaining defamation, libel and slander. That might get her attention. If not, take legal action."

 

Took the words right out of my mouth.

[pclancy]

There have been a few posts like this. I'm curious what exactly these various sites are? Are these sites that you have to advertise on in order to get reviewed?

 

Patrick

[jessica_s._leatherbury]

Hi, Me again - poster of the post. Thanks for your replies.

 

The sites, to answer that question, are Wedding Wire and Project Wedding. You don't have to pay to be on these sites. Clients can just post reviews. I was a Wedding Wire advertiser though, but took my listing down when I got the bad review because it felt weird to pay for something that could be damaging to my business. However, the link to the reveiws is still on the internet even though my listing no longer exists. (Meaning, if you type my name in the search engines this one particular page of reviews will pop up under my name.) I emailed them about this and they replied they can, under the law, keep the reviews up. Funny they didn't tell me this before taking my listing down.

 

What was my client mad about? She felt I had pressured her to buy something and that I raised my prices. Both things completely untrue and both things I did everything to address (lowering my prices for her and actually being extremely amenable and helpful, prompt and working hard to help her...how she came to these conclusions is a mystery...)

 

I think it is totally true that a wedding professional should be able to advise client's properly and be able to avoid pitfalls. But one learns from experience and has to rack up that experience. In this case I absolutely did everything a person could do to avoid any trouble. Now, that being said, I did feel it was important to hold to the tenants of our contract but at the end of the day just giving her the moon and kissing her $@* was probably the thing to do, because having to deal with all this administratively and emotionally is pretty annoying.

 

At this point I'm more of the mind to let it slide than taking legal action. But I also know that I need to get a lawyer on my side to combat any real problems that come up.

 

What I'm more concerned about, more than a nutty client who is laying false claims, is that the wedding websites have to know this happens all the time and don't care about the wedding professionals, or do anything to help and just leave businesses out to dry over the silliest things imaginable. I thought someone might have some insight into that - and I think what I've heard here (summary) is that I could have a lawyer to contact the wedding website...

 

Thanks Again,

Jessica

[pclancy]

I think these sites have been discussed before regarding their potential for this very problem. Unfortunately about the only solution is to not advertise on them.

[craig_gillette]

I doubt a point by point rebuttal is appropriate. If you miss a point or an inferences, etc., they will seize on that as being an admission of a problem in that area, etc. But should you be considering any legal action, then discussion with a legal professional should be the first thing you do, before even responding in a professional tone. Public comments or discussions can be "discovered" and cause problems in court. I would think a simple statement that that's not the way you do business, that your website is available with examples of your work and references. That your work speaks for itself. But not until you've discussed any potential for future legal actions.

 

Keep in mind that there is supposed to be a wall between the "editorial" or "news" side or a reporting medium and the advertising sales/revenue sides. So theoretically pulling advertising in response to "news" shouldn't have an impact on what they choose to run. However, I would expect they would be sensitive to multiple advertisers being concerned about the content being suitably unbiased, either way, that there is an opportunity for discussion. Otherwise the industry would be foolish to contnue supporting them.

[cabbiinc]

I'm not a pro but here's an idea. You could combat bad press with good press. You have happy customers. You could contact them and ask them to do a review for you on those sites. Make it look like a form letter that has nothing to do with the bed press.

[the black rabbit]

The problem you have with the internet is that although sites may take these things off their site...they still remain in full view of search engines as history for quite sometime. They do eventually dissappear, however just carry on and become determined to use your photography as an answer...enter awards etc, get your name known for the correct reasons and when people search your name on the internet then this is what they will see. Don't be despondant, and try to keep level headed...the best advice is to post a follow up to hers and just suggest you are sorry for any misunderstandings and have tried to resolve the issue etc.