Business owner threatened me after review

[SDouglas]

@SimoneM, the easiest thing to do is ignore them. Hope all ends well!

[RonR]

Keep this in mind, A review is not worth your safety. Its just a review, not all business people are the same in their way of dealing with real options. So in my option I would remove any comments and just leave the star rating. Hope this helps, its something that you will have to deal with.

[SimoneM]

Hello SamsonR,

no, I din't leave my number on the review for obvious reasons, but in this kind of business you have to call in advance to make sure you can go there and see what you're interested in, that's how he probably got my phone number, if you don't have that many customers guessing becomes easy, then on google profiles you have photos and so on...

Apart from that, for many reasons I have my phone number on the internet, I offer professional services, there's my Work Resume and all the usual stuff.

I agree that taking down the review might be the right move, that way the business owner might feel satisfied and stop calling me.

I also agree the local police wouldn't take this kind of issues very seriously, whenever you get robbed they make it very clear there's not much they can do, for matters of intimidation and online reputation I believe I won't find much help from the local authorities.

Having said that, this is the first time ever I have to remove my judgement for a business or experience based on threats and I think this is fundamentally wrong. I feel it's a sad day because if the google local review platform can be misused this way I think it will be harder for me to trust in future recommendations or reviews.

Thank you everybody for your kind words and suggestions!

S.

[SimoneM]

Hello,

I'm writing this last message to let you all know I just removed the review, this happened after receiving a third call, from the angry business owner which was shouting at me.

"Are you challenging me?"

That's what he said because he called me yesterday and I still hadn't taken down the review today.

"I swear to God I'm gonna come there and get you, I swear it to God!"

These are words I don't wanna hear, that's something really serious in this that makes me wanna do less as a local guide, I hope the moderators see this, so that they know stuff like this really happens.

This is the first time I remove a negative review, hopefully the last time ever.

I wanted to drop by one more time to thank all who provided their suggestions and help.

Wish you all the best!

S.

[LucioV]

So sad. I hope some Googler will ask you details of this business. 

[Pea]

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@SimoneM wrote:

no, I din't leave my number on the review for obvious reasons, but in this kind of business you have to call in advance to make sure you can go there and see what you're interested in, that's how he probably got my phone number

Even if you hadn't called in advance it's fairly easy to trace people via the digital footprints they leave, and an aggrieved/motivated business owner could probably find a LG in a few clicks. It took seconds to discover your phone number and date of birth.

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@SimoneM wrote:

I feel it's a sad day because if the google local review platform can be misused this way I think it will be harder for me to trust in future recommendations or reviews.

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All review platforms are misused in one way or another, but this one seems particularly prone. As custom names aren't permitted, a bad review has the threat of retaliation, the corollary of which is self censorship, skewing review summaries to the positive. Also a lot of reviews are plain fake and then there are many LGs who review places they've never been, either because they don't understand the rules or because the want to accumulate points rapidly. They walk past a place, take a photo then review it having never been inside.

The amount of trust we place in reviews and recommendations should be grounded in an understanding of how many are really based on genuine personal first-hand experiences.

[HelloSamsonR]

@Pea  That is not the context of what this issue is about. Local guides do their best to make maps a better place. Most local guides have first hand experience of places they have been. So of them live in the neighborhood, some might have lived in the past there already and moved out from the area, that doesn't mean they can't review a business they have a knowledge about. Or is there anything like present or past reviews, definitely Not. @SimoneM experience is different, he reviewed a place he had knowledge and also with his first hand experience as you always mention and  his life got threatened. We should be bringing a solution to that, not blaming local guides who try their best to improve our world. Using the word lots of review's are plain fake is not right. 

Kind Regards.

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[khammami]

Hi @SimoneM, you should take legal action against him even after deleting your review in order to protect your self from that furious owner that doesn't accept criticism.

and you must hide sensitive data from your personal website put a form instead of your phone number/personal address that how the owner know everything about you 😕

[Pea]

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@SamsonR wrote:

That is not the context of what this issue is about

Simone mentioned he would find it hard to trust reviews. I gave context to that trust. @SimoneM then kudo'd my post so I guess he appreciated my thoughts? It's his thread though so if he feels my comment was out of context I will happily withdraw it.

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@SamsonR wrote:

Using the word lots of review's are plain fake is not right.  

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Did you read the thread I linked to? It is specifically about orchestrated spam using fake reviews which is currently under investigation.

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@SamsonR wrote:

Most local guides have first hand experience of places they have been. So of them live in the neighborhood, some might have lived in the past there already and moved out from the area, that doesn't mean they can't review a business they have a knowledge about.

Actually ALL reviews should be based on first-hand experience.

Simply having past 'knowledge' of a place is a dubious proposition for a review. Community policy says: "Contributions must be based on real experiences". Therefore if we say in a review 'Nice place, the services are good' it must be based on a visit we have actually made to that specific branch and service we have personally received at that branch. It should't just be general knowledge about a place.

We're all here to help each other understand how Maps and the LG program works and to learn from each other I hope you'll agree. I'm learning all the time!

[SimoneM]

Hello @khammami,

I'm taking steps to mask some of my personal informations on the web, that should also deal with some nasty telemarketers I hope.

I'm not taking legal action, that's not worth the hassle IMO, unless he goes on with his "little game", but if he does then I'll be also in it in "full damage mode" 🙂

Thank you!