Comment Policy - Vendor Rants
June 8th, 2007 @ 3:25 pm by Mrs. Bee
On Wednesday, I received the following email from a photographer:
I would appreciate if you would remove the negative feedback ASAP about my studio on your blog web site.
It was written by a person who was never a client and this type of negative commentary is VERY damaging to my long standiong reputation.
You should think about taking a more responsible position with your weddingbee web site. The fact that you allow this type of slanderous commentary means that you also support the lies and misrepresentations of anyone who has an agenda.
NOT COOL AT ALL JUST TO PUT A FEW BUCKS IN YOUR POCKET….VERY IRRESPONSIBLE MRS. B!!!!!
Because I was working on our comment policy, I thought it’d be interesting to get reader and vendor feedback on how we should deal with negative vendor reviews/comments by readers.
I wasn’t aware of the comments the photographer was referring to, but found them after a quick search.
Before I responded, the same vendor followed up with this email yesterday:
GUESS MY PREVIOUS EMAIL DIDN’T INTEREST YOU…..MY ATTORNEYS WILL BE IN TOUCH IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE FOR YOUR IRRESPONSIBLE BUSINESS PRACTICES. I WILL ALSO BE IN TOUCH WITH THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU…..GOOD DAY!!!!!!!
I apologize for the large font, but I copied both emails in their entirety and pasted them here.
Now we don’t want to delete negative comments about vendors because we have no way of verifying whether or not they’re true, and we want to protect the rights of brides. At the same time, we know negative vendor reviews could potentially be viewed as defamatory. If you google the name of the vendor above, the Weddingbee comments about him show up as the second result! So negative comments left on blogs and messageboards can definitely impact a company’s business.
As a compromise, we were thinking we could offer vendors an opportunity to respond to any negative comments. We’d post it as a separate post, and link to the vendor’s response from the old post with the negative comments.
As a bride or as a vendor, do you think this is a fair way to handle this situation? What other suggestions do you have for tackling this sticky situation?
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74 Responses to “Comment Policy - Vendor Rants”
Hmm… that makes me think about the establishment of an Internet BBB… interesting…
I think that an addendum to the post comment would be appropriate - labeled simply as “vendor response.” That way, the comment stays and the vendor has a chance to CALMLY respond to the allegations… and it would be closely linked to the original google-able site. It’s a very responsible and proactive response to the tricky vendor situation that is very very courteous to extend.
Um, he sounds like a bully to me. He can’t report you to the BBB….this is a bridal board, right?? This site is geared for brides and brides only. I’ve been on other boards where brides have detailed reviews on vendors they hire. As a bride myself, it is up to me as a reader to make decisions based on feedback, good or bad. On your previous post about vendor policy, I originally commente that it should be an open forum. Now, I’m not so sure anymore — we don’t want to hear from BULLIES like this photographer. I don’t want to hire someone who talks to someone the way he did to you. Just my 2 cents.
If the reviewer was never a client — remove.
If the reviewer was a client — Well, even if this were the best photographer in the world, he seems like a jerk based on his own snide and sensationalistic emails. So I’d say any legitimate negative reviews have likely been CONFIRMED by the source!
Wow! I am… Wow. Mrs. Bee, my personal opinion (from a bride’s perspective) is that “buyers beware” of the nasty vendor(s). Brides carefully research vendors on the internet–the Knot, blogs, reviews, etc. It is up to the buyer to have the information and decide how to proceed.
How are we, as consumers, supposed to know the truths and falsities of the information we find on the internet? Well, it is impossible because there are always 2 sides to the story. In the case of the photog who is upset with this blog, maybe the other side of the story should be told. A FESTIVUS FOR THE REST OF US (love Seinfeld) maybe? But, this is a happy blog… not a place to air grievances.
I’d suggest a separate area to have vendor reviews. The information is vital to our wedding successes, and should not be banned entirely. I understand the photog’s business may be hampered by such a posting. But, maybe that photog should contact the aggrieved person to clear up the situation instead of using you as a message board. Just a thought.
Mrs. Bee, that is a pretty good idea to implement but I believe that in the long run, no matter what, there will always be issues about vendor reviews, true or not, defamation or praises.
On another note, my two cents, I guess this photographer isn’t secure about his own skills otherwise, he wouldn’t have thrown such a fit about it. Let your work be a representation of you. Don’t let someone’s negative feedback (true or not) throw you into a hissy fit. Any smart bride would judge a photographer mainly by his work, not by others feed back.
Just from the perspective of a photographer, this is a more than ample solution. A lot of bridal sites don’t even give vendors a chance to respond, and I’ve had friends who’ve had false things spread about them without a chance to respond. Great solution. 
I love when people send emails in all caps. It really gets the point across. Notice any sarcasm?
As for future comments and negative reviews I think they are quite helpful when true. Like others have said how do we know what the real story is. If a negative comment is left about a vendor would it be possible to put a disclaimer below?
If the vendor would like to counter the negative post with a professional and calm explanation that should be allowed as well.
I know that I value Weddingbee and all the brides on this site have to offer. It would be a shame to delete or cancel out anyones comments if they are written in a manner fitting of Weddingbee.
Let me start by saying, I would NEVER use a vendor who write in all caps and that large of a font. It’s disrespectful no matter who you are and what you are talking about.
Moving on, I think you should do it like Tripadvisor does. Reviews are posted and then the vendor (or hotel) has an opportunity to post feedback as well. I know this is what you already said, but I guess I’m not understand how you are going to do it. Is it going to be a completely different blog post all together? I’m not sure I like that idea, because some people just won’t see the vendor’s rebuttal. Is there any way to put it directly after the user’s post?
I second Miss Lemon’s idea for the “Vendor Response” button for the future.
The Vendor-in-Question is understandably upset (if it indeed was a false representation on the comment boards), but taking such a drastic move certainly does show the vendor’s true colors doesn’t it?
Mrs. Bee I’m with you! Let me know when it’s all goin down!
well, it the photographer is in SoCal, I’d like to know who it is… because anyone that gets that worked up and threatening to a bridal blog isn’t someone I would hire. Of course this person’s business is important to them - which is great - but my goodness, it always pays to be nice! Personally I think it is very classy that you didn’t post Photographer X’s name. Their huge font size and threats? Not so classy. Reviews are opinions, and opinions differ.
My only concern would be the possibility a “back and forth” of he said/she said.
I think it makes sense to treat it like Angie’s list where they have a chance to respond.
With that said, I don’t believe this photographer’s issue is his photos, but rather his manner.
and, seriously just a question because I dont know the answer…but when brides review vendors at the knot, and in their bio’s, isn’t it the same thing?
I’d like to add I have even angrier font than the vendor’s (it flashes).
I think Miss Lemon’s idea sounds good–that way, the vendor gets the chance for fair & equal response, which I think might be part of the issue in defamation/libel types of situations.
But you might also add a disclaimer under or above the comments that says something to the effect that Weddingbee doesn’t vouch for the accuracy of the comments, and the ability to comment is only provided as a means of communication/education…
Also, it would seem like the less you moderate comments, the less responsible weddingbee might be…
maybe?
First, I must disclose that I am a photographer too.
I think first of all, you probably need a legal discliamer somewhere on your site (if you don’t have one) that the comments of the bees or readers are their opinion, and do not necessarily reflect your opinion or experience. Probably touch based with a lawyer to make sure that anything that gets posted which is legally defamation is the responsibility of the writer….
2nd - Having an opportunity for vendors to respond is very generous.
3rd - Whoever this person is….he/she needs a little more business training! Based on the tone and nature of the emails you received directly, I don’t think he/she has the proper tempermant for this business, in my humble opinion.
just to clarify - I *do* think the bees should go on giving honest and open reviews of their vendors!! No matter what!
I’ve read both positive and negative comments about my own vendors. It’s the bride’s decision to do the research and come up with the company or person that is right for their wedding. This person’s bullying tactics would outweigh a negative review in my decision to hire them.
As a lawyer, I have to say that I hate it when people threaten legal action in this kind of manner.
First of all, an aggrieved person should courteously attempt to resolve the situation before threatening legal action. This isn’t a legal requirement per se, but it’s a demonstration of good faith to the court, if it even gets that far. Calling someone irresponsible in all caps and giving someone about a day to address their grievances will probably be considered unreasonable.
Second, defamation is extremely hard to prove. Truth is a defense, and even if the person making the comments was really never a customer, any credible person that could attest to the comments would defeat his claim.
Finally, any damages from lost revenue, which are probably too speculative to enforce, would not make up for his lawyer billing him around $300-400 per hour to prepare his case. It basically isn’t worth his time.
So, in summary, don’t worry about it.
There’s a restaurant review website in Santa Barbara that I used to look-up all the time to find a new place to eat. People can post reviews and rate the food and service. The restaurant owner then has the ability to address the reviews on the same page if they want to either to apologize or say “thanks” or explain a situation. Would it be possible to do that?
I hope I entered that link correctly - not to promote a certain restaurant, just to give an example.
I don’t think it worked. here’s the website and you can find some of the restaurant owners respond to the reviews
http://santabarbara.com/dining/
But no one seems to be threatening calling the BBB or using all caps all the time. This case seems like an extreme.
As both a photographer and a bride, I can identify with both parties. Thankfully I’ve never had to deal with a situation like this, and I would never send such a rude, threatening and unprofessional e-mail to anyone, but I kind of feel that maybe it’s better not to post reviews at all on weddingbee. From what I’ve seen with other vendors, it only takes one bad review to destroy a hard-earned reputation. It would be ideal to have a PM feature so that brides could contact each other for reviews for vendors they had listed in a post without a public review. Then it’s more like word-of-mouth referrals and beyond the prying eyes of vendors googling their own business names. Impractical? Probably. :-).
Is that the whole point of vendor feedback? If someone wasn’t a very good vendor for whatever reason, I’d want other people to know about it. Whoever this vendor is, they need to grow up and accept criticism. Or fix the problem of the negative review.
Wow! If he really didn’t do her wedding, seems the email would have been a little more friendly!
Someone so defensive sounds guitly to me! His threats are so childish even if he didn’t do that persons wedding he is not making any new customers with that kind of reaction!
I agree that with a “Vendor Review” section he could easily respond so that when googling you do get the full story!
wow, he needs to get his panties unknotted.
I love that we as brides can warn others about bad vendors. It has been very helpful to me in my seach for various vendors. I dont see anything wrong with allowing the vendor to reply back so we can have both sides. Wedding bee is a place for soon to be brides and newly married brides to help each other out. But in general I think it is a good that we can post both positive and negitive feedback.
I think all of us brides can agree that vendor reviews are all opinions and we all take each opinion/review with a grain of salt.
With that said, I also agree with ‘Jillian Kay’, point #1. A disclaimer would cover weddingbee’s collective ass (so to speak). We all understand that the disclaimer is IMPLIED, but to have it spelled out…
To be honest, I agree with all of Jillian Kay’s comments/points.
hi everyone!
Thanks so much for your feedback! This is what we had in mind for the vendor responses - First the vendor could respond in the post with the negative comment(s). Then we’d also have a separate section on weddingbee called “vendor responses” or something like that where we’d feature the response and link back to the original post. We’d also link to the vendor response section in the original post’s comments.
finally we’d have our comment policy posted above each comment box.
we’re trying to come up with something that’s fair to brides and vendors alike.
i agree with ms lemon and Arivechi. Not all brides are the same, and neither are their experiences with all vendors.
sorry about these horrible emails! geez! some people these days! a nice cool glass of room temperature water will soothe the nerves 
Citysearch, a site for users to review anything from restaurants to spas, also lets the vendor respond when negative posts are left. I think this is fair. And if this photographer’s response was anything like his/her emails to you, then their unprofessionalism would only be strengthened when readers see how they responded!
Can you tell us who this vendor was so that we can never hire him?
I think it’s funny how s/he seemed to think Mrs. Bee was padding her pockets somehow with money made from the negative review… how exactly would that work again?
Okay, this person obviously doesn’t understand the nature of comments on websites.
Most people understand that a comment is the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily the website owner, this is what discussion is! Furthermore, I don’t know how this would be an “angle” on the part of the site.
I say just put up a disclaimer on user comments.
Has anyone heard of the FIRST AMENDMENT? You cannot be sued for an opinion, even if it is negative about a vendor. That photographer doesn’t know what he is talking about.
It will be unfair to Weddingbee and its readers to feel like they have to censor their opinions because reactions and threats like this. If this photog got praises here, which of course amounts to free advertisements, would he write an email in all caps offering to contribute money for the contributions that is been done for free by the weddingbee bloggers and for the hard work by our editor, Mrs. B and her BeeTeam? Highly unlikely.
Naturally people will react like this when they get negative press. Allowing a forum for vendors to respond is very generous. I just hope that this type of behavior does not deter our bloggers from being honest about their reviews… this is an open forum that is regarded as a friendly, honest, and VERY helpful resource to brides across the country. Anything short of this will take away from the spirit of this blog. It just takes one to ruin it for the rest of us….
WOW……this person is a very bad business person, what a horrible and unproffesional email as well as being inaccurate. I “LOVE” when people throw in the “i’am gonna sue your ass”. what a JERK. and as an attorney as well, i agree with T.
I like the idea of allowing vendors to respond to negative and positive feedback alike (as most of this discussion seems to talk about the negative). I do worry, however, that like Mrs. B mentions, if this really is the #2 google response with the minimum comments left now, what will happen to a vendor who gets a negative review and a bunch of additional comments, it might end up more damaging in the long run (more results to display on a search).
A great place for vendor reviews would be http://www.yelp.com. They already have policies and ways for dealing with reviews of businesses. The reviews could go there and the Bees or commenters could just link to the yelp review. That way, Mrs. Bee wouldn’t have to deal with all of the problems.
This vendor seems like a total jerk.
How unprofessional.
Please, he is not going to have attorneys contact you. And even if he is, this is a FREE COUNTRY. People are allowed to say whatever they want, and this is a blog for goodness sakes.
I am ALL for the comments/opinions of brides. In fact, the negative comments are probably more helpful. I was completely hosed by my florist, and I wish I could have warned other brides!
Also, the BBB is not an enforcement agency. And it was ridiculous for him to threaten that, because you are not an organization that sells things.
Stick to your initial thoughs, Bee! You do a great job making sure the thoughts of brides are heard.
Also, Mrs. Bee do u take money from Vendors for posting them or writing nice reviews? I dont think so, so what is this person tlaking about!!
Wow. I’m truly stunned by how the photographer handled that — honestly, even if the complaint previously logged was untrue, the attitude in those emails is enough cut off his or her business, even if s/he was the most talented photographer in the world.
I agree with the vendor response — kinda like the response for negative feedback on Ebay — but vendors should be very aware that their responses can speak volumes about their work ethics to this huge audience of brides and send a clear indication of what types of people they are — and how they might handle conflict if one of us was the client!
I think the vendor’s reaction speaks for itself.
If there is an objection to a review then, similar to eBay, a vendor should have a chance to respond and leave it at that. Otherwise, what’s the point of an honest opinon on a blog if it is going to be edited? I can get that from numerous other wedding sites that do not measure up to this one.
I think a great way to fix the situation would be having a Reviews link up where you have the other links (Posts, Tags, ect.) You can have the vendors catagorized by type and let people review vendors, let vendors advertize, ect. That way people can address the issues positive and negative, and it will allow vendors a chance to address both the good feedback and the bad. Almost like a vendor/review forum…. Maybe have a policy set up to limit (like an I accept these terms and agreements check box) where people (reviewers and vendors) give the feed back.
wow! just wow! talk about being unprofessional and borderline psycho-seeming! too bad you can’t give us the name of the photographer here… otherwise, we’d all stay very, faaar faaaaaaaar away!
i ditto jillian kay’s remarks.
I also agree w/ T.
Another lawyer input: comment above (Mary/#40) is wrong on several points regarding the law. I’m not saying there was a violation here. I am saying there exists defamation law and commercial law, this is a commercial site (note the advertisements), and the BBB applies to sales of both products and services.
I think my favorite thing about this is how vehemently he*shot himself in the foot. I read weddingbee an embarrassing number of times a day, yet I have never seen this alleged defaming comment, and now I’m incredibly curious as to what it said.
Without looking, though, I tend to think of the positive vendor reviews as coming with names attached, but the negative reviews being more anonymous. Like “I went to a bridal shop I eXtremely hated, where everyone was rude and the dresses were stained, but then I went to Vaclav’s House of Cathedral Trains and had a really great experience.” That ends up serving the same function: people can stay away from the first shop, without even knowing its name, because they’re more likely to go to Vaclav’s first.
*or she? I don’t think we know for sure, but I’m sticking with “he” as shorthand.
I like the idea of a reviews section of the website (searchable by location would be great), with user comments and vendor responses.
Ah, defamation claims. One of those first semester Tort classes that teach you that it is only defamation if it is untrue. So if s/he sucks, then their is no legal repercussion.
The actions of this vendor is very heavily defaming his character… he is doing it all by himself. My family has been in the wedding business for 25 years and as a bride, i think it is very important to get vendor feedback from other people. This person is clearly overly concerned about this, leading me to believe the bad comments are true. No bride wants to deal with a childish and unprofessional vendor. However, if the people making these accusations and giving bad reviews, unless it is about a vendor’s inability to get back to them when they made contact initially, there is no reason to make comments if they were never a client. That is in bad taste of the poster.
i think your solution is fair (a little like ebay feedbacks, right?) i can understand the frustration from the photographer, but dang. now that person definitely will not get business from any weddingbee brides, and it’s his/her own doing.
Wedding vendors are “big ticket items” due to the cost of their services/products. So, it is only natural that (1) the bride-to-be will research as much as possible before her actual purchase and (2) will look to other people who have previously worked with the vendor for advice. Therefore, I think that if the bride takes the time to do her research, then she has the right to know both good AND bad. This is why we support and love Weddingbee (and other wedding internet communities). Negative comments can only help the bride better protect herself from shady business practices.
Vendors work with many people and cannot please everyone. This is just business. Therefore, while it would be helpful to understand both sides of the story, I’m not sure how much trust and value one can put in an angry vendor’s response.
One thing is for sure - a vendor who makes empty threats against another to bully her out of conducting her regular course of busines is not one I want to support. In fact, I would love to know the name of that vendor.
Wow I’m sorry about this Mrs. Bee! That must not have been fun to read.
I think a good course of action is to e-mail the commentor and ask them why they were making that comment. If they have good reasons, keep it. If not, delete it.
Maybe you can notify the vendor and let them know there’s a very negative comment out there for them but on Weddingbee, they have a chance to defend themselves? Or just not notify them at all, because brides should be allowed to critique any vendor.
This vendor in particular was NOT nice. I’m glad he responded because I will not want to do business with someone with that kind of temper.
I’m not sure this photographer understands the point of WeddingBee. I’m not a bride myself, but I read anyway :). I thought the whole point of WeddingBee is to help brides make well informed choices while planning. If a vendor gives you poor customer service, or whatever you have the right to voice your negative opinion about them. Of course that assumes that you are not childish or mean with your review. If the photographer sucked, they sucked, and other potential clients have the right to know.
I’m sorry you had to receive those emails.
I think that having a “reviews” section separate from the normal blogs would be a good idea. I also agree that perhaps a disclaimer will keep those threats of lawsuits at bay. I also like the idea of having a place for vendors to explain themselves.
Keep up the good work! Don’t let that bully get to you!
Wow! I think that everyone is entitled to their own opinions…this is a community, and a forum for, amongst other things, vendor reviews. Although it would be nice to allow a vendor to respond, I don’t think you should be obligated to do so, as these are simply opinions. I, for one, appreciate a candid review, and I take those opinions w/a grain of salt as everyone has different experiences.
what a little punk. what is he…12? any professional would have handled this differently. i hope s/he’s reading all these comments and regretting ever sending such lame threats. pleaaaaasee. *rolls eyes*
i like miss lemon’s suggestion to add a “vendor response”. speak your piece and left brides/potential clients decide for themselves whether or not to believe the negative comments.
“offering vendors to respond”…NO. What is this? Judge Judy? I think that would be worse and open the door for more negative comments and a negative environment here on WB.
Just recently, WB blogged about how readers were requesting new bloggers to be over 1 year out from their wedding date so that they can read about our vendor researches etc. Well, whether this person was a client or not, doesn’t that count as part of the research? This particular person chose not to go with this vendor for certain reasons.
I have met many professional vendors who tell me they DO NOT check what the forums say about them for this reason. And now that this photographer knows that there was some negative feedback on him/her, why isn’t he/she reflecting on him/herself in making their business better.
The photographer should have gotten in contact with the client to talk about the negative comments privately and not blame it on someone else such as Mrs. Bee or weddingbee. This is a public forum afterall.
I agree with most of the responses I’ve seen. People have the right to state their experience with a vendor and it’s completely fair to allow the vendors a chance to respond and maybe share some other references that aren’t negative.
I also think that the way the vendor reacted to the comment was completely OUT OF LINE and probably speaks to the original comments that upset he/she. Have you ever heard of constructive criticism?? If I read the original comments I probably wouldn’t have thought much about it- Maybe the person who posted it was out of line?? Who knows… It’s hard to see both sides of the story and you have to weight everything. However, when a vendor repsonds as such it does not help the situation! He/she probably did more damage to themselves with their reaction!
Mrs.Bee,
If legal threats continue check out Zeran v. America Online, inc (4th Cir., 1997) it’s based on the communications decency act and basically found that a provider of a interactive computer service (ie. wedding bee) cant be treated as the publisher of any info provided by another information provider- basically meaning you cant be sued for anything your readers write :0)
Just like there are reviews for movies, there should be reviews for vendors. Reviews are opinions and opinions vary based upon the individual. Therefore I believe, because this is also a blog (which is basically a journal entry), that brides continue to have the rights to review.
This guy, obviously does not know how to keep good business up and about.
Disclaimers to keep you from being sued is a good idea though even though it’s still an opinion matter. This is America afterall!
oh my, mrs. bee. what a jerk? as a bride, i would surely want to know who the vendor was. that’s just bad business. weddingbee is a public forum as i see it, so i don’t see how you are responsible for anyone’s opinion. It’s not like you can go out and check all the facts to see if everyone is being honest.
i think you’ve been more than generous. i’m not sure if a vendor feedback is good or not. but i guess more information is better than none. let us be the final judge.
lemme guess… the commenting bride was never a client because the photographer was a total jerk in some encounter at the wedding of someone she knew or during the interview process?
UGH. I’m a photographer. This is a tough thing! I have seen really horrible vendors and experiences that I believe others have the right to know. I’ve flat out seen some poor girls get ripped off.
Yet! Even if things do go wrong it’s so so so hard to get an honest biased story. There ARE THREE sides to every story, the vendors version, the clients version and the truth.
As well as there ARE IMPOSSIBLE PEOPLE out there who do not have realistic expectations. I had a client like this and she SLAMMED me on theknot.com she was very very over the top with her review - as well as she was a very over the top bridezilla - who wouldn’t have been happy with anything. As an example, she wanted me to work a 10 hour day for her bridal session without paying extra. When I said no to that she turned to the knot.com to slam me. She actually WAS unhappy with everysingle vendor at her wedding - including the florist. She “cried” when her flowers were the wrong color off white. She just wasn’t right in the head over her wedding. So it’s so hard. I mean it’s hard who to believe on the net.
Thank goodness a few of my other clients really came to my defense on that board.
Having someone like this on the internet CAN destroy you and your business- because others don’t know. And even if a vendor can also post their side - wil it be listned to? On a lot of the wedding chat boards the vendors are the automatic villian. Would are statements be taken into consideratoin by the reader. Probably not.
I really don’t think it could always work out to be a fair process - and this should be considered.
I think everyone who works in a business where their reputation is a selling point has a right to worry about protecting that reputation. They don’t have a right to get angry about other people expressing their opinion. I think it’s more than fair to allow a genuinely concerned vendor to respond to what they believe is an unfair comment- but to be honest, it seems kind of tacky to go on the offensive every time you have an unhappy, or potentially unhappy, customer. No one ditches a vendor over ONE comment- it’s absurd. I recently had to choose a new apt. sight unseen because I was relocating cross country- if I had to pick a complex with perfect reviews, I’d have had to have chosen one of the complexes with no track record at all.
Great solution. But this guy is a Jerk with a capital J. And there is no need for any client of his to prove that, he’s proved it himself. What a bully. Sorry you had to deal with his stinky attitude Mrs Bee.
Wow. I read this site from time to time (despite not being engaged yet… I just like pretty, shiny things!!) and damn.
This guy is an ass. First, a person should be able to post a review of a ‘vendor’ even if they did not choose to use them. Why? Because their reasoning as to why they did not choose the vendor, and their experience dealing with the vendor prior to making the decision is often very telling. If a business or individual is a jerk/inhospitable/rude yadda yadda while they are trying to *convince* you to spend your money with them, what are they going to be like after they have your money in their pockets?! god I can only imagine.
He does sound like he’s twelve… hell my little brother is 13 and would not behave in this fashion. I hope he is reading all of these comments and hitting his head against the wall. yup, you shot yourself in the foot.
Hmmm…I would think that as him being a “vendor” would be little more professional regarding his comments on this page. I understand that he would be upset but leaving comments like that would not help his business. Like one of the readers said, I think you should have a section where the vendor’s can explain the situation so the readers can see both side of the picture rather than just listening to one person, that way the readers can decide if they still want to book the vendor or not.
I wanted to share a little vendor perspective to this heated discussion.
My business partner and I used to work freelance when we were just starting our business to get more experience and to make some extra money. While working freelance for another company, the bride was unhappy with the service she recieved from this company, and because I had divulged the name of MY company she went onto the Knot message boards and slammed my business not the one I was working for.
Now as many of you know, vendor responses are a major no no on the knot boards, so we responded to the bride in email, and sent a very respectful, but very concerned email to the knot board moderators. Our company was recieving on average 5-10 positive comments/reviews on the knot boards every month at that time, and we were really concerned that one may tarnish our reputation, especially when she did not book MY company. The knot moderators took almost a month to remove the post. Who knows the damage that post did and how many bookings we did not get as a result of their slow response.
We know our work speaks for itself, we know that we have never had a complaint about our work, but that’s why it bothered us so much.
When you feel like your livelyhood may be at risk, it is natural to get really worked up about it. Let be honest with ourselves here. Put yourself in that vendors shoes. If someone on this board said something about you that wasn’t true, wouldn’t you be all over it? Especially if you knew it would probably effect your job? Now I don’t know who is telling the truth…but I do think that the vendor has the right to be as upset as they were if the situation wasn’t handled in a timely manner. With the traffic that Wedding Bee gets, every bride that reads that negative post will make an instant judgement about them whether true or not. In fact, look how quickly many of you judged their response without looking at things from the other side.
While I appreciate Vendor J’s response, I have to say that this isn’t the same situation at all. I do believe that the vendor should have a right to respond when someone leaves negative feedback that the vendor believes is unfair. However, the vendor in question here (1) never wrote an e-mail to ask to be able to respond, and (2) was combative and rude, even in his/her first e-mail.
Personally, I did Google my vendors as I was choosing them, and I always took negative reviews with a grain of salt. Sometimes, people just don’t get along, so a review that said, “I didn’t like Bob’s Photography studio, and I think you shouldn’t hire them,” wouldn’t turn me off. If the vendor was allowed to comment, I think that, most of times, a respectful comment would probably add to my overall respect for the vendor. However, a vendor who replied with a rude and combative attitude similar to the one in question here would lose my business in a second.
What other people say about you may have some small effect, but what you say about yourself has a huge impact.
Mrs. Bee, I think that all vendor reviews should be allowed, even if the person was not actually a client. I think that vendors should be allowed to reply in the comments section of that post.
The vendor sounds very unprofessional and slightly childish, as if the big font was suppose to scare you. No one likes to hear bad commentary about themselves or their business, but common this is a blog website. Free speech? Although weddingbee did not confirm the negative commentary, even if we did, who cares? People cant go around being butt hurt just because someone doesn’t like you.
i second margo. no one is on arms because he was upset by the comment, it was his tactic in conveying it. extremely unprofessional. when you go into business, you have to understand how to take criticism. that is just life. as most vendors get business from word of mouth, this website is a vehicle for that. maybe that should be a lesson to them as customer service is part of the business, and if they’re not good at it, then maybe they should work on it.
i personally find vendor reviews extremely helpful. it makes me sad that these legal issues get in the way. how does yelp and tripadvisor handle it? i think they’re invaluable resources!
good points Margo. I do have to say, my personal opinion, as a newly wed and a vendor is that that vendor was out of line. I guess I was just trying to give the bees just a little perspective.
I have been so thankful for vendor reviews. They have really helped my business to grow and I look forward to many vocal brides in the future. I think allowing vendors to respond, maybe through an email to mrs. bee for moderation first might be a good option.
This freaked me out for a second since I was the one whose photography question was posted for an open question a few days ago. But, I never said the name of the photographer…and this is in Minnesota, which I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else from Minnesota on this board yet anyway, so I figured it wouldn’t matter at this point.
Actually, Zeran, the case that another commenter cited, says that an internet service provider is NOT considered a publisher of third party information. Considering that weddingbee isn’t an ISP, the case is inapplicable regardless of what it says.
Mrs. Bee, New York
Age and Occupation: 29, Weddingbee Publisher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Internet
Engagement Date: May 7, 2004
Wedding Date: March 5, 2005
Venue: Westside Loft, New York
About Me: Yes, my name really is Bee! I love my blogging, wikis, and tabasco sauce!
Looks like no one wants to comment since they’re so blown away by this vendor’s total ‘tude. How tacky of them.