Fish N Fry in Bristol is taking exception to a reviewer’s update to their Google review. While I don’t know how many times the review has been updated, I do know that it has been updated at least three times. On April 29th, somebody from Fish N Fry reached out to the reviewer via Instagram. The reviewer gave it 3 stars. They said the food was good, but the service was slow as the business was busy. This is vital feedback. The business took exception to the review and rating. So the reviewer edited the review after the business reached out. Here is where matters get worse.
In the updated review, the reviewer called out the business for offering free chips in exchange for leaving a review. In the Instagram exchange, Fish N Fry stated, “Also, I want to clarify that we do not exchange reviews for free chips. The chips are simply an incentive for customers who take time to leave feedback, whether the review is positive or negative.” No matter how you phrase it, this business is incentivizing customers with free chips for reviews.
I wish that the story ended here. It gets worse. Apparently somebody used their Instagram account to impersonate one of the businesses this reviewer also reviewed. Talk about making matters worse. The business in question came out and stated that somebody was impersonating them.
Fish N Fry should have taken feedback in this review and attempted to fix their service issues. Instead, they reached out to the reviewer on several occasions, making matters worse. Now Fish N Fry is experiencing the Streisand Effect. Instead of getting the review taken down, they have made matters worse. Now all of their reviews are being called into question. They are being accused of having somebody impersonate another business to harass the reviewer. I wonder how many other reviewers were harassed into updating or removing their reviews.
Sadly, all of this could have been avoided. This business will learn a valuable lesson and may lose many reviews. Google may restrict their Google reviews for two months and place a warning on their business profile.