Online Reputation Management Archives

August 27, 2016 By Fiona Lucas

Online complaints – Don’t be an accidental troll

The power of online reviews & complaints:

Online Reviews help businesses to share wins and to build trust and provide social proof of the value of goods or services. They can also provide a space for disgruntled customers to make a very public complaints. Unfortunately at times consumers act in an emotional state and do not fully consider the consequences of their actions.

It is heartwarming for a business owner to receive positive reviews for their services and products, but it can be absolutely heartbreaking when a complaint gets out of hand.

Previously we wrote an article covering many of the issues to be considered by both businesses and consumers when providing online testimonials (you can read it here). In this article we really want to focus on helping consumers through the steps of providing a review or making a complaint so that the interests of all parties are protected. Most countries will have extensive consumer laws in place. These are there to help protect both business and consumers by providing rulings and guidelines on all manner of consumer law. In Australia the ACCC is the ruling body.

How to make an official complaint:

There are guidelines for making an official complaint, and we strongly recommend that the first point of call is always to contact the business direct, before heading to social media.

Make contact with the business as soon as possible

Don’t delay. A fairer outcome for all concerned comes with a timely complaint.

Make sure you state the complaint fairly and the outcome you are seeking (replacement of an item, refund, repair).

Have proof of purchase or any contract readily available as the business may request such documents as part of their complaints proceedings.

Be polite.

Put your complaint in Writing via email or a letter

It can assist to put your complaint in writing so that there are no misunderstandings. State your complaint and your desired outcome. Having your complaint in writing also helps to document the process.

The ACCC provide a handy tool to help you determine your rights. It is a general guide only, and does not constitute legal advice.

You can find the tool here: Use your rights

Be fair and reasonable

[clickToTweet tweet=”Keeping your cool is important. Remember to focus on the issue at hand and try to avoid confrontation.” quote=”Keeping your cool is important. Remember to focus on the issue at hand and try to avoid confrontation.”]

If things are getting heated, ask to speak to someone else, or tell them you will call again tomorrow because you are upset at the moment. Don’t allow emotion to cause further issues.

If you have not had any response, then posting a question or a tweet to a business asking them to respond, without any emotion attached does seem to make some businesses take action. Please do this respectfully and only after all other attempts have failed.

If you are not getting a resolution

Don’t continue to complain, after three attempts to resolve the issue, if you are still not happy or the business has not responded, your next step is to seek advice from either the ACCC or a third party.

The ACCC provides a list of places to go for help, you can access the list here.

If you are still not getting a satisfactory response, your step would be to obtain legal advice. Do not launch into an attack online or bombard the premises with abusive phone calls. None of this will help you to resolve the issue and you may find yourself being charged for harrassment or other charges. This leads us to talk about the elephant (troll) in the room. The use of social media for complaints.

Don’t become an accidental troll (or incite others to troll)

[clickToTweet tweet=”With businesses so accessible these days via social media, it can be tempting to launch into an attack on a business ” quote=”With businesses so accessible these days via social media, it can be tempting to launch into an attack on a business when you are feeling that your complaint has not been dealt with. “]

Complaining to friends can get them riled up too and sometimes we see cases of a disgruntled customer inciting their friends to write poor reviews and complaints against the business. This is unethical behaviour and further if the people writing the reviews have never used the business, they are in fact breaching laws around the creation of fake reviews. (see our previous article on writing testimonals here).

The risk of being charged under defamation laws will loom in this instance. If your friends do go on the defensive for you, ask them to please remove such reviews and complaints, to protect their own reputations. Publically launching into a personal attack on businesses or naming and shaming can often backfire and should not be part of your plan for resolution.

What if you have written a bad review and then the problem is resolved?

In this case do the right thing and at the very least add a comment to your review that the issue was resolved and thank them for the resolution. You may or may not choose to delete the review or amend it in other ways. You have the right to leave a review for a business provided it is truthful and not malicious.

When can’t you request a refund or cancel a service?

When it comes to services, under Australia law there are certain rights which the consumer has, but also there are times when you cannot cancel or request a refund. According to the ACCC website these include:

issues arising which were outside of the control of the provider,
because you just decide to change your mind after the service was completed
you have insisted on having a service provided in a particular way, against the provider’s advice
you failed to clearly explain your needs to the provider.

For example you engage a painter and you are told that the surface needs a primer. You insist this is not necessary and direct the painter to paint without the preparation. The paint starts to peel within weeks. You cannot request a refund because you have been given expert advice and chosen to go against it and insisted they do the work your way.

[clickToTweet tweet=”The area of complaints is one where emotions can run high on both sides.” quote=”The area of complaints is one where emotions can run high on both sides.”]

The above is general information only and should not be considered legal advice.

We are happy to continue research into this area and welcome discussion on the topic. Please however refrain from naming and shaming any organisation in your comments or using inappropriate language (we are a family friendly blog!).

You may also wish to read our article on etiquette and responding to complaints from the business side here.

July 26, 2016 By Fiona Lucas

Procrastination and the getting around to it

I’ve been meaning to write about procrastination but I just didn’t get around to it.

Does this kind of excuse sound familiar?

Procrastination, it’s something we have all dealt with at some time. Whilst some people would say they never procrastinate, I think in all honesty most people would have at some time. Whether it was putting off cleaning out the garage or booking the car for a service, at times we put off things, the things that don’t really excite us, or things that perhaps intimidate us. In relationships we sometimes put off saying things we really should have earlier to avoid breakdowns and in business we see owners ignoring warning signs and trying to continue when in fact they should have taken action earlier.

Factors that make us procrastinate:

FEAR: We might fear that we are not good enough, fear that we may hurt someone or let them down, fear that we might fail, and sometimes fear that we might actually succeed.

OVERWHELM/BURNOUT: Letting things build up to a point where everything seems to much and there are so many little things demanding our attention that we can’t focus on anything, let alone the big stuff. Have you been there?

DISTRACTIONS: Allowing other things to get in the way. Finding a balance between social needs and work is important, but the important word is balance. Social Media and the internet can be a distraction, we can find ourselves not just engaging with the people we want to, but allowing ourselves to be drawn into others conversations, or just being drawn on a merry path. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if we consistently lose track of our time we can find ourselves going down a very deep rabbit burrow quite quickly. If you work from home making sure that you plan to have undisturbed time so you can focus on what needs to be done. Keep housekeeping time separate and avoid further distractions like the television.

INCOMPETENCE: Something that we don’t like to consider, but the truth is we can’t always do everything. We can try but we may not be efficient or effective. When it comes to start ups and entrepreneurs often we try to do everything we possibly can, especially when cashflow may not have started yet and capital is scarce. What can happen is that the jobs we are not good at doing start to pile up, and it becomes easier in our minds just to ignore them.

It often goes like something like this: Hmm I need to get ontop off these bills. Perhaps I need an overdraft. I will go online and see what the bank offers. Perhaps I will Google some options. Oh look at the news. Hey Jack’s on Facebook haven’t heard from him for ages I will just pop over to say hi… Oh look a cat video. You get the picture.

But wait, didn’t I say that not all procrastination is bad? That is true.

How can procrastination be a good thing?

Procrastination can give us time to formulate better responses. Provided we are not just avoiding, but actually still considering the problem and gathering more information, procrastination can lead to a better outcome.

People who procrastinate are often the big thinkers. They look at the big picture and consider the risks and benefits. I read an article a while ago that said that every great invention was discovered by someone who was meant to be doing something else! I can’t guarantee the accuracy of that statement but it does make sense.

Procrastination can allow more time for creative thinkers to gather bigger and better ideas. If being creative is a big part of your business or study then allowing yourself the time to be creative is a good thing. Where it can go wrong is if you are creating ideas which have nothing to do with the issue at hand.

So what can we do?

The key is in planning and scheduling and documenting what you need to do. Write down the things that are nagging you to complete. The overdue tax, the spare room that needs to be tidied, the bills in the drawer that are not going away. Consider the importance of each task.
Write down what is important about each task. Getting your paperwork sorted means you lodge tax on time, paying your bills on time means avoiding late fees, and keeping on top of tasks gives you more time to be working on your business rather than in it. If you are a student, balancing your time can mean less stress and potentially better marks.

Even if its just 10 minutes a day, start scheduling tasks into your days so that you can get things done.
Block off times in your diary.
Having a deadline is always a great idea. Some of the best works can come under the pressure of a deadline, but make sure you are not doing it at the risk of your health.
Don’t underestimate how long a task might take. Always allow more time than you think you will need.
Create a task sandwich! Schedule the work you don’t like so much, between two tasks that you enjoy. Giving yourself a reward for completing a task “gamifies” the work and makes it a more enjoyable challenge.
Be aware that although you might think you are not in the mood for a job, starting it can be just the motivation you need to see it through.
Use blocking software to help eliminate distractions. Self Control for Mac or Freedom are just a couple. These let you turn off sites so you can’t get sidetracked when working (especially with cloud based apps that see us connected on the net all the time!)
Break up tasks into managable chunks
Consider who you can delegate work to. Split up chores at home or consider hiring some help. Delegating is such an important skill to earn. Consider outsourcing tasks such as bookkeeping or hiring a Virtual Assistant to help.

You can listen to my Facebook Live recording on Procrastination below.

Another interesting talk on Procrastination is by the king of Procrastion Tim Urban. Here is his Ted Talk

I hope you have enjoyed this post. Please feel free to share your thoughts, stories and tips below.

June 13, 2016 By Fiona Lucas

Facebook Moments & Sync – Don’t panic

Facebook Moments

Lots of news and reports about Facebook removing the Sync photos album and “forcing” people to use the new Facebook Moments app. Sync was introduced in 2012 as a place to store photos if you didn’t want to share them immediately. Facebook have been promoting Moments since December and have been letting members know if they had any images in the sync file to download them. The date to transfer by is 7 July.

Congratulations to all the publications who immediately created fear and misinformation around this.

Let us say to you now DONT PANIC.

You may not have any photos in the Sync file. These are only photos which were AUTO SYNCED, not those you upload yourself.

If you do, you can choose to use the moments app and save them there, or you can simply go to the photos in the sync album and download them individually.

If you have an album called “Synced” or “Synced from Phone” then it affects you. Facebook will have been giving you messages about this for some time.

The lovely Mari Smith posted some great tips on her facebook page as we were putting this together. You can find her full post here. Mari provided the following information and link for help to download your files. She writes “if you don’t want to use the Moments app, but want to save your synced photos, you can download the photos now on desktop. See this help section: “How do I download or delete my synced photos on Facebook?”

To be honest we had more issues when Dropbox removed the Carousel app – we lost some images in a hidden file because we were were just to slow to move!

What is Moments anyway?

Facebook Moments is an app that lets you share specific photos with friends. It’s quite a handy tool if you are at an event togther and want to easily share images with a friend or colleague. It also allows you to sort images via that friend or colleague, by the facial recognition technology. This is disruptive technology that helps us get organised. You can create an album of images and Facebook will also recommend based on recent images. For example I went to a friend’s show recently and Moments popped all the photos I took – I could review them and take some out then I can choose who to send them too.

You can also ask friends to send photos of you, which can be great if you are at an event and not able to take pictures. Just ask them to send them afterwards.

One thing though.. be careful not to send to the wrong person – I couldn’t see a cancel button!

[By the way if you are in Europe you probably won’t see the app as there are issues around the use of facial recognition there}. On one hand we see that – could be seen as invasion of privacy, but on another it has proven to be a valuable tool in solving crimes .

So that’s our take on it. No need to panic. Learn more about Moments here.

We would love your comments.

May 30, 2016 By Fiona Lucas

Facebook Live for Small Business

Tune in every Monday at 7:30pm Australian EST for our Facebook Live Mentoring Monday sessions.

We cover social media topics centred around building your online reputation and brand, from organic reach on facebook to avoiding scams! Join us!

Episode One: Don’t be Scammed

Episode Two: Legally Blindsided: Talking about defamation, copyright and reputation

Episode Three: Organic is Good for you (Organic Reach that is!)

Dont forget to follow us on Facebook so you get notified when we go LIVE! Click here to find us

January 19, 2016 By Fiona Lucas

Scam Alert – Beware of IQ Quiz it might cost you

Beware of Facebook IQ Test Scam

A few of our lovely community have let us know about a scam which is currently doing the rounds on Facebook. In this case the scam is in the form of an IQ Test which then requests your mobile number in order to send you the results.

DO NOT give such quizzes your phone number. Once you give the number you have no control over what they will do with it. You might find your number is sold onto telemarketing lists or worse still, as seems to be the case with this particular scam, when you send the number you are actually agreeing to a renewal payment, a monthly payment for the app which will be charged to your phone bill.

This is known as cramming According to Wikipedia Cramming is a form of fraud in which small charges are added to a bill by a third party without the subscriber’s consent or disclosure. These may be disguised as a tax or some other common fee, and may be several dollars or even just a few cents. The crammer’s intent is that the subscriber will overlook and ultimately pay these small charges.

[ctt title=”ALWAYS read the fine print” tweet=”ALWAYS read the fine print” coverup=”Ib_wj”]

It is important to read the fine print whenever you are giving away information such as your address, phone number or credit card details.

If you want to test your IQ, a few questions on a Quiz is unlikely to be enough. Let’s get smarter than the scammers.

A couple of years ago the Mary Sue site, wrote a post about such Quizzes and that we should understand they are the equivalent of one of those “what Disney Character are you?” type of quiz that regularly goes around. You can read her verdict here. It’s important to understand they are just a bit of fun, but for that reason our trust levels actually seem to be higher than if they were legitimately selling a product to measure IQ. Go figure, human nature is interesting isn’t it?

Recently there have been many posts about the types of information we give away in quizzes. Mark Wilson wrote one that gained quite a lot of traction, and although it’s not in depth, it does provide some insight into the way privacy statements are worded on quiz sites such as Meaww. His report can be found here.

We also wrote on our facebook page recently about scams and in particular that many facebook games ask to connect to your profile, but they ask for a more access than is required. Often they ask for access to your friends list and other details such as education etc. In particular be wary of those quizzes asking who your best friends are or who you should holiday with, in order to work they get access to all your data, so you haven’t just compromised your own privacy, but that of your friends as well.

These kinds of scams have been going around for many years. If you are not sure if something is a scam we are always happy to review for you.

SO remember: Don’t give away your phone number to Quizzes or you might end up with a nasty surprise in your next bill, and be wary of any quiz or game linking to facebook that asks for more than access to your profile to post your result, they are gleaning alot more information that you might like, and perhaps that of your friends.