Submitting Business Ratings Online: Do's and Don'ts

By Patrick Peter Boneville


Submitting company reviews online when you have a negative experience with a company, product, or service can be quite problematic. Far too few people understand the ripple effect of throwing their opinions in the mix when other steps have not been taken to remedy their concern. This article will discuss how to properly submit a company rating or review and the circumstances that may lead to it.

If someone has a complaint with a company or is ticked off about a product that he/she has recently purchases, sending reviews into the internet in hope that other people see it as consumer advocacy may lead to the opposite of what that person intended. Although a lot of consumer rights have been protected online, there is always a chance of libel cases in malicious acts of defamation towards an individual or business.

Most times a lawsuit is unlikely, but the negative of just writing a negative business review online will never actually solve anything. It will certainly cause some headaches for the business involved, but will not resolve the issue. Consumer advocacy efforts and postings should only be made as a last resort.

To solve any real issue, a person should exhaust the following options: Attempt to resolve the issue with the person directly. If that doesn't solve it, speak with the management. If that doesn't work, talk to the owner of the business or their corporate headquarters. Only if a person has not been able to resolve the issue through the appropriate channels of communication, should they consider filing a formal complaint.

If all attempts turn out fruitless and a person decides to submit a business review online, it should be well thought-out with no grammatical errors. Furthermore, the review or complaint should leave out any unfounded accusations or assumptions as to the intent of the misdoing. Then, a person should seek out the best mediating third party to help ramify the cause of discourse.

Gripe sites and scam blogs are available for people to post on as well. However, these will never really solve an issue. Some of these review sites use exploitative measures against companies who have complaints posted on their sites. They will charge a company to mediate the circumstances, which may or may not lead to solving the issue.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but these days it seems like everyone who knows how to use a keyboard thinks that their opinion or company review needs to be heard. It is human nature to feel like a person has gotten their point across. However, it's very vindictive and spiteful to hop on a complaint or scam site and add a review.

To summarize, one should be professional and thoughtful even in when emotions are involved. Submitting a review to a blog or gripe website won't solve the problem, but filing a complaint with a proper consumer advocacy group should be considered, but only as a last resort.




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