The end has arrived (JK!)

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

After decades of ignoring the fraud and extortion of online review "services", I have tired of the ramifications of not fighting back. Thus, I will be offering links to customers to "review" sites and asking them to post their reviews.

Rather than paying for fake reviews or wasting time trying to get fraudulent and extortion reviews removed, I am hoping real reviews will outnumber the fakes taking the power away from the fraudsters.

The tipping point was a longtime customer telling me they were leaving because of a review they noticed (which was an extortion attempt - the "I posted a bad review, pay me and I will remove it" type).

 

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

A customer who tells me I am "not helpful at all" is usually correct. Why? The Paul Harvey "Rest of the Story". The customer has given me bupkis to work with!

This afternoon it is a customer who says they do the same thing every month, but this time it did not work as expected. They did not share any details at all, so I had to fall back on asking for details, and being candid about the software not having changed since last month (actually, the aspect in question has not changed in at least a decade) so the issue is 99.999999% likely to be a case of not doing exactly what they have done before. I even pointed out what I think the cause was. But no, instead of any sort of useful reply, I get the "not helpful at all".

RTFM and GIGO "live on". We will never, whether you call it automation or AI, ever remove human action from causing error, and the same human causing the error wanting desperately to shift responsibility.

Now, back to planning a cruise for our 40th anniversary!

 

[BTS]

During Covid we operated remotely with a drop box in our lobby with no sit down appointments.  It was a bad time for us.  We had two parents fighting cancer. We were preparing taxes and taking our parents to chemo treatments.  Sadly we lost one parent.  We had one (problematic) client call to schedule their appointment.  Once we told him there were no sit down appointments, but he could drop off,  he went berserk !!  Threatened to ruin our business and post everywhere we were not following covid protocol.  Well what he thought in his mind was protocol.  After harassing us via phone non stop, I finally told the asshole that I was going to call the police if it didn't stop.  And we added his number to our spam system.  A week later he posted online we were not following "government protocol" and bad mouthed us in a review.  The business review site was very respectful and allowed me to respond to the asshole's remarks.  I explained we tried to work with him and that he wasn't having it.   Kicker is this person is a damn nurse !!!   We still do his family members and they do not associate with him due to his aggression.  Sad, but there are people who only think of themselves even in dire times.  Loved Paul Harvey !!  Good Day    

[Sara EA]

What happened to both of you is sick. More and more people are realizing that you just can't trust online reviews. They can be written by bots, family members, competitors, AI, or jerks like you two encountered. I used to chuckle over the HRBlock reviews when clients degraded them because their refunds weren't big enough. And whose fault is that? Unfortunately too many people turn to reviews without a critical eye and believe everything they read.  Hopefully that will change as people sense that reviews are too often gamed and not reliable.  Not soon enough.