A negative online review can affect a business's reputation, particularly when it is a small local business that depends on its customers' trust. When a review is not based on a genuine experience and is intended to damage a business's reputation, however, the consequences can be far more serious than a low rating.
Online reviews are now an important factor when choosing restaurants, hotels and other businesses. An honest review, even a strongly critical one, is entirely legitimate and can help a business owner identify weaknesses and improve their services. False or malicious reviews are a different matter: they can create misleading impressions and damage a business's professional standing and credibility.
Behind every restaurant or holiday accommodation business are people working day in, day out, families who depend on it, and professionals who have invested time, effort and money. The ease with which an online review can now be published does not remove the responsibility of the person posting it, particularly when their claims can affect other people's livelihoods.
The issue has been brought into focus by a public post from Fotis Giannakos, owner of the Gourna restaurant on Leros and a member of the council of the Dodecanese Chamber of Commerce. He alleges that his business received a defamatory review from someone who, he says, had never visited it.
Giannakos expresses his disappointment over the incident, highlights the efforts of his staff and stresses the need to post reviews responsibly. He makes clear that he does not wish to take the matter to the Cyber Crime Division.
Fotis Giannakos's post
“To put it simply, clearly and briefly…
It is deeply unfair to a business that is working hard and striving to do its best to receive false reviews from a customer who never came, never turned up, and, having nothing else to do, suddenly decided to damage its reputation!
People work here. Families earn their living here. They put in the hard work and shoulder their own problems… Why?
SO THAT THE BUSINESS CAN KEEP GOING!
I do not want to go to the Cyber Crime Division. But people should think before writing a review, rather than tearing down a restaurant they have never visited in their lives!
I have never harmed anyone, and I never intend to!
Thankfully, that is not something I do!
That is not how I was brought up…
In closing, I would add that it is SHAMEFUL TO TELL LIES AND FAIL TO APPRECIATE OTHER PEOPLE'S HARD WORK!”
