Removing a bad vendor review - Yes or No?

Ouch that’s a lot. Thank Goodness you got a full refund but dwelling over how others SAY he did so great won’t change your day!! And I’m also inclined to believe that if he gave you a full refund with his life story someone else may have changed their reviews to reflect a positive experience! Hopefully one day you’ll move past it only for your sake! But I’d be pissed as well!

I agree with Kayla. Dwelling on weddings after yours will not change anything. Guy gave full refund PLUS gift card. Damage has been done, he paid his debt and you accepted it when you got your refund back. You have good memories and I'm sure an amazing husband. Focus on the good things!

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Yeah, my husband kind of has a suspicion that this is how he gets bad reviews taken down. I'm sure we weren't the first to essentially be bribed into removing them.

I'm glad you'd be upset as well, makes me feel less ridiculous for still being so mad over it all haha

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Trying my best to focus on all the good that happened during our wedding, because there was definitely A LOT of greatness Still trying to get over the negativity though... but I'll get there I'm sure.

I think I'm more appalled by his behavior after the wedding than I am about him essentially ruining your reception. To send you photos of his mother in the hospital? How uncomfortable. I'm sorry that you've been put in such tough places by this guy repeatedly.

I definitely agree that the positive reviews were more than likely bribed as well. Unfortunately, the only thing it seems you can do a this point is focus on the highlights of your wedding and try to put this experience aside. Take the money that you were refunded from his services, plan a wonderful date night, and pay a local musician to play your first dance song so that you guys can relive that moment the way that you planned it originally.

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I'm glad you said that you were more appalled by his behavior after the wedding, because I feel the same way. After dealing with my father's cancer a few years ago, I want to be compassionate and understanding, but at the same time the way he's gone about this all has been so uncomfortable. Plus, whenever someone adds photos for proof, it always makes me wonder if it's a legit sob story or not. Idk, maybe that's just me.

I really love your idea of hiring a local musician to play our first dance song so we can enjoy it the way it was intended. Maybe that's something we'll do for our 1 year anniversary

I’m very put off by the way some businesses pressure customers to remove or change honest reviews. However im gonna offer a different way for you to reflect on this situation. Assuming everything he said was true about being distracted that evening then the subsequent brides’ reviews only bolster his claim. All things considered he’s a usually great DJ who due to unfortunate circumstances had an off night. It sucks that you had to be the bride who paid for that but he did what he could to make it right. And from a customer service standpoint there’s not much more he can do after the fact. Hopefully in the future he’ll decline the job before going to work distracted.

View Quoted Comment Hmmm, this bribery thing is concerning. Brides (and consumers in general) increasingly depend on honest reviews to gage whether or not to hire someone. Taking your review down was a possible disservice to others. Considering how he handled your bad review, you should take the subsequent glowing reviews with a grain of salt - rather than dwell on the supposed disparity between your experience and other brides’. He could easily have swayed any of those reviews. Though I agree that you deserve all he offered, (he did ruin important moments for you and others) I would give back the gift card (only because you accepted on condition of a pulled review) and explain that after further thought, you cannot honor your agreement. Put an honest, factual review so that others may avoid this experience.

Alternatively, keep all, contact his employer and explain everything that happened and why you opted to not post a negative review. They need to know about their employee and would also know the veracity of his mom’s illness. If it’s not true, they’d have 2 reasons to reprimand him - terrible service and lying to clients. Let them do with the info what they will.

I do understand why you’re struggling with this. I’d probably be upset for a very looong time. So I get it. Knowing you should let something go and being able to are two VERY different things. 😉 Hopefully you’ve got a shorter memory than mine! Best to you and congrats to you and your new HUBBY!!!

I’m sorry this happened to you. Forgiveness is more for your sanity than his. Yes, he sounds dramatic and maybe or maybe not he was dealing with a sick loved one...but...he refunded you 100% and my advice would be to use that money to find a sentimental and romantic spot such as a Gazebo in your favorite park or Rooftop with the city lights behind you, etc, and have a musician or band play your wedding first dance song and enjoy your new moment with your husband! Hire a photographer or bribe a friend to take a few pictures and revel in the romance of it! I honestly think that’s amazingly romantic! You didn’t choose the situation but you do choose how you deal with it now.

I would put the review up again after reading what happened. I'm sorry for your experience!

I would definitely contact the company he works for to let them know what has happened. Its important for them to know because he is employed with them and he represents them when he does a job. I would start there. Also I would also just focus on the positives.. the best positive is the that you are a MRS.

I personally would keep the review up, but edit to say he apologized, refunded you 100% and gave you a gift card.
Then, I would go to his boss because he tried to bribe you into changing your review and his service was disappointing.

View Quoted Comment I totally agree with this post. That guy doesn't deserve your forgiveness, he ruined your very expensive reception and your memories. Not cool. I wouldn't have removed the review, for all you know they are all fake. This just makes me so angry that this happened to you. I bet you you'll feel better once you get your pictures!

Honestly I disagree with PP I think at this point you need to let it go. You accepted the money back as well as additional money on the condition of removing the review. If you put the review back up hes going to have leverage to discredit you. I completely agree that his behavior was appalling after the fact, but I think what's done is done at this point. If its bothering you that much you could contact a manager or owner of the company and let them know what happened and that you feel his behavior was completely unprofessional. After that try and move on and use the money for something nice for the two of you. In a year I'm sure you'll be laughing about this.

I wouldn’t dwell on it, but I would contact the owner and explain the situation - if your experience was that bad, I would repost the review and explain they refunded you. Yes, it was inappropriate, but you also received a full refund plus a gift card. Our limo was a mess the day of, I was thirty minutes late to my own wedding and I left a bad review. After digging, I found recent reviews that were similar to mine. The owner replied to the review and said it was the hotel’s fault (it wasn’t) as well as my fault. He then messaged my husband and tried to argue with him and intimidate us into deleting the review. We didn’t ask for a refund and we didn’t get one even though we paid for services the company didn’t honour. I was VERY bitter about it because it threw off the timing of the day, I was worried guests were annoyed (nobody stood while I walked down the aisle and my first thought was that they were upset), but I’m letting go of it because people seemed to enjoy themselves.

If this is an agency, it should have been dealt with through the company, not him directly.
Im pretty uncomfortable with the extortion bit of this, but you accepting the money does make it a little tricky. I might go back and add a mid level, extraordinarily succinct review that says “I had a negative experience with this DJ, but my money was refunded as a result”

Having accepted the money to remove the review, if you repost it, he can easily dispute it and have it taken down.

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I tend to lean towards doing something like this. What he did to you on your wedding day was horrible and to try to guilt/buy his way out of it using pictures of his sick mom? Even worse. Disgusting.

While I do think you deserved your money back, these business should not be able to pay to have a review taken down. That defeats the purpose of a review site. Other brides deserve to know the truth. They also deserve to know that if he has an off night, he will own it and take financial responsibility for it.

I don't think I would have given in so easily.

You basically let him "win" per-say when you removed the terrible review that could have been helpful to someone else. It's nice he gave you your money back, but wouldn't you have wanted to read the bad reviews during your planning process? I'm pretty sure you're not the first person this happened to, though I'm surprised to agreed to give you a full refund. Assuming other brides might have had the same experience, I know this is unfortunately how a lot of vendors operate when given bad reviews and potentially hurting future work. Even if he had an off night, an honest review is still helpful to know that no DJ is perfect. You could have taken the 50% and edited the review to reflect he apologized and offered to make it up in some way. I'm hoping time will heal your sour feelings towards your wedding, but I would have had more peace of mind leaving the review up and editing it so at least I knew other brides were aware.

The refund he gave was awesome, however I would have edited my my review to reflect that. People should know what sort of experience you had. Since you had a negative experience, you should have left that there but show how he rectified the situation by giving you a refund. But, there's no point of putting the review back up now. I wouldn't worry too much about the other newlyweds posting new reviews. To each their own. Sorry about the situation, but very happy for you and your husband! Congratulations on your wedding!

I remember your other post.. I know that’s hard to forget about but try to focus on what did go right. I’m glad he gave you your money back but I believe you should of left the review up. I would still maybe leave some type of review but maybe don’t go into detail just use a 1 star rating or something. Bad day or not, he shouldn’t of sent you photos of his mom in the hospital and I think that’s so wrong of him. So uncomfortable.
A full refund and the giftcard is nice of him but all together he should of just called in back up help.
I’m sorry that happened to you and I hope you can focus on the good memories