{"id":6639,"date":"2014-08-06T14:03:05","date_gmt":"2014-08-06T18:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/?p=6639"},"modified":"2025-02-28T04:58:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T09:58:27","slug":"business-receives-bad-yelp-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/business-receives-bad-yelp-review\/","title":{"rendered":"What (not) to do when your business receives a bad Yelp review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"From<\/a>

From Chris Messina<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

In the age of the Internet, the famous saying that the \u201ccustomer is always right\u201d rings true. We turn to Yelp and other online reviews for guidance, so one bad review (or several) can pose problems for businesses. Hopefully, they don\u2019t follow the Union Street Guest House\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n

As you may know, the Union Street Guest House stated<\/a>\u00a0in its official policies that it reserved the right to charge guests a $500 fine if members of a wedding party posted a harsh review of the hotel online. The policy unsurprisingly blew up, becoming a viral sensation. While the Volokh Conspiracy weighed in<\/a> saying the hotel\u2019s difficult-to-enforce provision was likely not illegal, it was not the first time a business had attempted to quell online criticism. Business owners need to learn that fighting the customer isn’t the solution \u2013 snide news articles can be avoided by simply listening to what the customer wants.<\/p>\n

Here are some basic rules for responding to criticism:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Be humble. Don\u2019t claim your policy is a joke, like the owner of the Union Street Guest House did<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  2. Admit any wrongdoing and try to fix the problem as soon as possible. Don\u2019t dismiss the problem or offer a cheap refund, or else you’ve earned that bad Yelp review. Reimburse in full. Always!<\/li>\n
  3. Follow up. Cultivating customer relationships is important, and acknowledging that the situation warranted multiple check-ins is a good first step.<\/li>\n
  4. Don\u2019t threaten legal action for something insignificant<\/a>. Do everything you can before making such a costly move that could snowball into even more bad press if it\u2019s regarding a petty issue.<\/li>\n
  5. Don\u2019t retaliate by spamming Yelp with fake 5 star reviews. Customers see through these glowing, over-the-top reviews, which can jeopardize your business\u2019s standing on Yelp.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In the age of the Internet, the famous saying that the \u201ccustomer is always right\u201d rings true. We turn to Yelp and other online reviews for guidance, so one bad review (or several) can pose problems for businesses. Hopefully, they don\u2019t follow the Union Street Guest House\u2019s lead. As you may know, the Union Street […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":6640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[353,354,350,352,351,349],"class_list":["post-6639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-customer-satisfaction","tag-hospitality","tag-hotel","tag-libel","tag-review","tag-yelp"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to respond to a bad Yelp review | SmartSign Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Business owners must learn that fighting the customer isn\u2019t the solution. 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Avoid snide news articles and bad reviews by listening to what the customer wants.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/business-receives-bad-yelp-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SmartSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/SmartSign\/220245064667579\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-06T18:03:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-28T09:58:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/4691937523_9263c082bd_b.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"966\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Riordan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmartSign\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SmartSign\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/business-receives-bad-yelp-review\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/business-receives-bad-yelp-review\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Riordan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/930d8f51bf995505dae44f2160cca766\"},\"headline\":\"What (not) to do when your business receives a bad Yelp review\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-06T18:03:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-28T09:58:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/business-receives-bad-yelp-review\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":319,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/business-receives-bad-yelp-review\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/4691937523_9263c082bd_b.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"customer satisfaction\",\"hospitality\",\"Hotel\",\"libel\",\"review\",\"Yelp\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/business-receives-bad-yelp-review\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/business-receives-bad-yelp-review\\\/\",\"name\":\"How to respond to a bad Yelp review | SmartSign Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/business-receives-bad-yelp-review\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/business-receives-bad-yelp-review\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/4691937523_9263c082bd_b.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-06T18:03:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-28T09:58:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"Business owners must learn that fighting the customer isn\u2019t the solution. 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