businesses on facebook?

misssunshine17

So I liked an Etsy shop on facebook after ordering something. Yesterday, she posts a status about how a customer was rude to her over email and people should think before writing. I commented that I didn't think it was appropriate to write a status about it. As a business person, I would NEVER complain about a customer publicly. I had a similar experience with a local photographer. She posted about how someone did a photoshoot in her home studio, was sick and spread the cold to her family. She went on to ask people if they were sick to change their apt dates. 

Am I just being bitchy or is this right to rub to the wrong way? 

itzMS

Complaining publicly about a customer never seems like a good idea. After all "The customer is always right".

s-aries8990

That's in poor form. You will never get business by sounding like an unaccommodating asshole.

Posting a statement like that makes the Etsy shop owner sound ungrateful and immature.

The photog should know that having clients in her house automatically opens up the possibility of spreading sickness between clients and her family. She shouldn't have been surprised, but instead should have cleaned her house after the guest left. My mother does hair in our basement with customers entering our house on a daily basis. If someone is sick she breaks out the clorox wipes. No biggie.

MuppetFan

That's not acceptable at all. I've had 2 related experiences in the past week. The most recent was at the Deli Counter where this man was saying how much he hates customers and how if anyone else comes, they're going to have to wait because he needed to get his equipment cleaned. Really? Talk about how awful your customers are loudly enough so that we can hear them? He told me he wasn't talking about me. I was like um, that's nice.

I have an acquaintance on FB who is a wedding planner. She went on a rant about a florist saying that she screwed over a bride last minute and she had to pick up the pieces. Well, the florist happens to be my florist and is a personal friend of mine so I fwd the post to her. She is a FB friend of the wedding planner too so when she logged in, it was there, plain as day. She called up the woman, told her the "real" circumstances, that she was not given a deposit or signed contract for the flowers or even told that the WP was in the picture by the bride. She followed up once and wasn't contacted again, so she booked another wedding for that date. She also advised how unprofessional the woman was when she's given her referrals over the years. Not getting them anymore...

winelover123

That's so unprofessional. It would rub me the wrong way too.

misssunshine17

Thanks ladies. I didn't know if I was just being bitchy this morning. I was so irritated at the photographer, I had been thinking about using her for an engagement shoot, but no way now. 

KeptInStitches

Has no one read anything about Amy's Baking Company? Businesses should never ever complain about customers because it's unprofessional.

misssunshine17

Stage, I didn't say anything and the boat has sailed since it was a couple months ago, but I did comment on the etsy seller's status and she and several other people defended the comments. I unliked the page and won't buy anything from her again. 

Kept- no, I googled but got a bunch of random stuff?

SBmini

SO unprofessional! I would die if one of my clients did something like that.

KeptInStitches

@misssunshine17, let's go with this link as a good primer.

courtski2004

KeptInStitches said:

Has no one read anything about Amy's Baking Company? Businesses should never ever complain about customers because it's unprofessional.

...or call their customers hoars and assholes in front of a packed restaurant, threatening to open a can of whoop ass on them/call the cops if they don't pay for food they didn't even get after waiting for 45 minutes. The episode of 'Kitchen Nightmares' is on YouTube, and OMG. What a hot mess they are! If they aren't out of business yet, it won't be too long until they are.

Complaining about customers on open forums is just bad business. Be professional, or risk losing potential business. I'm more likely to tell 10 people about a bad experience/impression than I am to tell 10 people how awesome something is. Sad but true.

krichards0527

 

courtski2004 said:

KeptInStitches said:

Has no one read anything about Amy's Baking Company? Businesses should never ever complain about customers because it's unprofessional.

...or call their customers hoars and assholes in front of a packed restaurant, threatening to open a can of whoop ass on them/call the cops if they don't pay for food they didn't even get after waiting for 45 minutes. The episode of 'Kitchen Nightmares' is on YouTube, and OMG. What a hot mess they are! If they aren't out of business yet, it won't be too long until they are.

Complaining about customers on open forums is just bad business. Be professional, or risk losing potential business. I'm more likely to tell 10 people about a bad experience/impression than I am to tell 10 people how awesome something is. Sad but true.

 

 

I have been following this train wreck since it appeared on Reddit and Buzzfeed. Hours of entertainment... and valuable lessons on how to run a business into the ground.

cwaggoner07

I totally get venting to friends or on your personal page - but keep it classy when you're in a professional setting!

lyndsay782

krichards0527

Me too!!!  It's been such fun watching the train crash over and over again...  I haven't looked in a while... wonder how the "grand re-opening" went... off to yelp I go!

Edited to add...

I just looked. They are getting their own reality show.  Oh Lord help us...

http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/dining/articles/20130531amys-baking-company-reality-tv-show.html

QueerFemme

StageManager14 said:

For the record, I would publicly comment on the photog's status letting her know that you were considering her and why you have decided not to go with her.  

A lot of brides on the plus size board were complaining about their photographers, who always blogs or shares teaser pics of their brides, but never does for plus size brides.  One of them went as far as to repeatedly post requests for bridal photos but only for size 0-4 brides. 

The bride decided not to say anything, she just deleted him from FB. I would have called him out on that shit instantly.

KeptInStitches

@lyndsay782 - Oh lord. Loved the KN episode, never seen business owners so driven at destroying everything they'd built. I wondered if it was performance art.