The notification I never want to see

My heart sank this week, as I looked down at an alert on my phone from Google Maps. 

You’ve received a 1 Star ⭐️ review…

Cue the anger. sadness and frustration. My head started to spin, trying to figure out what we possibly could have done to one of our valued customers to rank a 1 star rating. 

I saw the name and read the review and I just couldn’t believe what I was reading. It was targeted, mean spirited, and simply not true. This same person had recently given us a 2 star rating on our website for one of the products we carry. One of our top selling, most loved products. It was strange and getting stranger.

I tried to call and email the customer after their first review but got no response. I tried again and to reach out to this customer with this second review but I was sent to voicemail and my emails went unanswered. Crickets 🦗.

I crafted a response to the Google review, indicating that I would love to speak to the individual and that what they had posted was inaccurate and blatantly untrue. I also mentioned that I had made a number of attempts to speak with them that had gone unanswered.

Something wasn’t adding up.

I put on my detective hat🕵️ and did a quick Google search only to find that this individual worked for another small local business. Not only did they work there…they were the manager! If we believed in such things, we would call them "the competition" (insert menacing music here 🎶). 

When I realized what was happening, my blood pressure shot up and the anger kicked in🤬. Seething rage coursed through my veins. How could someone, who works for a small independent shop, target another small business?! If this were a movie, I'd have dropped to my knees yelling why to the heavens!

Don’t we have enough to worry about from big box stores, Amazon and large corporations that we don’t need to target 🎯 each other? What kind of person would do that? Really though?

I reached out the owner of the business in question by phone, somewhat rambling, as tried to grasp how anyone could or would do such a thing! I wouldn't think of doing this to their business. I often refer people to them!

The owner seemed surprised and said they'd speak to the individual. Although I’m not entirely convinced the edited response I crafted calling out the reviewer for where they worked didn’t get it taken down first. 🤷

The owner offered up that this was not what their business was about and were about community not competition. I could relate to that as that is literally what our business strives to be. A few emails back and forth, I realized that they the owner had no real interest in dealing with the individual they leave in charge of their store. I decided I was going to move on.

As I looked for something to write about this week, I thought about this whole situation. My original intention was to just leave it be but I thought this would be a great example of why it’s important to support local.

Our Greenbriar team is passionate about our customers and providing the best service we can. We curate our collection to products we love and try and focus on local and sustainable as much as possible. Of our almost 60 brands, over a third of them are based right here in our own backyard. As for our one and only American 🇺🇸 supplier, they're so cool 😎, we had to include them! 

That in mind, before you target a small business with a poor review try reaching out. Know that a 5 star review makes us do a happy dance…literally 🕺💃

I would absolutely love 🥰 to hear from you and In the spirit of supporting local, hit reply and tell me your favourite local business! If you have their Instagram handle, all the better and we can do some shoutouts📢! If you just want to say hello that’s kool too!

Yours truly,
Shawn
P.p.s. You can now order Homestead Bread with us every week for pick up on Friday at Greenbriar!