In the interests of public debate, Crikey stuck a toe in the online sewer of potentially defamatory online reviews. Here’s what we found after a brief search. Few professions or sectors are immune and a special mention goes to sites which solicit online reviews, such as Glassdoor.
We blocked out the names. You can see why…
The painting game
I would stay away from these very unprofessional painters, they painted over my furniture, carpet, a fridge over the down light and ducted heating covers. [REDACTED] tried to get half of the money he quoted from me after he came to my place and stated he didn’t want to do the job for me anymore as “I would not be satisfied”. There was never any attempt to try to resolve poor workmanship. Now he is calling me at 12.18am and 12.22am at night sounding drunk on the phone asking for monies for paint he had his painter drop off to me. [REDACTED] Police have been notified.
— Yelp
Let’s eat
Hope this restaurant opened by a racist piece of shit will shut down as soon as possible.
— Yelp
Girls are eating food same time they are serving. This is disgusting. I don’t understand why the manager doesn’t STOP them.
— Google review
On the move
I would not let this company touch one piece of your furniture [REDACTED] is a scammer and a liar … don’t use them if u care about your stuff.
— Google review
Don’t use these people. Beware.
We did a number of loads in our van before we got [REDACTED] removalists in. We got 3 men on the basis it would make the move quicker and cheaper but they went slow to draw it out so each of them could get a big paycheck.
When I confronted them about the go-slow they became over-emotional, yelling at me aggressively and threatening. Since they knew where we lived, we had to suck it up.
— Yelp
Still hungry
Without a doubt the worst Korean restaurant in [REDACTED] CBD. Last time I was here I was with friends and had BBQ. The meat didn’t look fresh and bulgogi had like gooey yellow fat spots on them. It did not feel safe to eat them. The second time I was there I wanted to try out mains so we ordered Kimchi soup and Soy bean soup and it seriously made me doubt if the kitchen staff were Koreans at all as they r very basic Korean dishes that any household should be able to make but soy bean paste was so gross here….Rice had that old rice taste (I don’t know if people understand what I mean).
Also the smoke detector was running out of battery which made it very stressful to enjoy the gross soup that I was served.
— Yelp
The carpet job
If you value accountability reliability and professionalism, don’t use this company. Especially don’t use if you are working to a schedule!! We had 3 bedrooms to carpet we received a quote from [REDACTED] and booked the job in a week or two in advance. A few days prior to the job we called and emailed to confirm, but heard nothing … We made repeat calls and emails, never received a response. We even visited the showroom factory in [REDACTED] hoping to run into [REDACTED] to see if he was still going to do the job, but no luck.
No explanation, no apology, just childish avoidance of us, which left us scrambling to carpet 3 bedrooms in 24 – 48 hours.
[REDACTED], don’t respond to this review pretending you have no record of this job, we know you were actively avoiding us. Your behavior was really unprofessional, the least you could have done was let us know you were bailing on our plans.
— Yelp
The masseuse
I would give this give this place 0 stars if I could. What a joke. While receiving my massage (in an uncomfortable chair) the woman BURPED in my face. I was horrified. Massage itself was not relaxing whatsoever. Horrible.
— Yelp
The dentist
I had an appointment with [REDACTED] last week to clean my teeth, she did an incomplete job … I recommend not to book this “oral health therapist” she is not professional.
— Yelp
The doctor
I went here and can honestly say that apart from [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] the reception staff are pathetic, male doctors arrogant as they brush past you waiting and where the nurses would no longer do procedures on behalf of a specific doctor’s patients. They left me in no man’s land and didn’t care what happened. I rang about getting it sent to my home to avoid the 3 hour trip to pick it up, [REDACTED] (receptionist) said it was illegal to send them in the mail. When I called the following day, she changed her story to say the clinic classed it as “illegal” and don’t do it. How unhelpful! Avoid this clinic like the Plague … it’s not about the patient care and concern … more about the $
— Yelp
Could be anyone…
Worst Scam artists I have ever come across. Tried to charge me $440 for ten minutes work and didn’t even do the job properly. have reported them to the ACCC.
— Google reviews
Glassdoor invites people to review their employer, including the option to tick a box marked “Disapproves of CEO” — something that seems risky for both employee and website.
Needless to say, all of the following ticked that box.
“Mediocre white middle aged men rule the roost”
I have been working at [REDACTED] full time for more than 5 years.
Pros
I can’t think of any good things.
Cons
Political — Culture of fear — not enough budget to achieve goals — bullying and misogynistic.
“Did not enjoy”
I worked at [REDACTED] full time for more than three years.
Pros
Work flexibility, not really much else.
Cons
Burocracia, terrible management, bullying, lack of development.
“[REDACTED] — the company going nowhere”
I have been working at [REDACTED] full time for more than eight years.
Pros
Flexible work arrangement eg: work from home.
Cons
Too much politics and spin within the senior leadership team. Salary not on par with experience and market.
“They don’t care about you”
I have been working at [REDACTED] full time for more than eight years
Pros
They are very flexible with time off.
Cons
Don’t care about you. Understaffed. Stressful. Not Worth it. Close minded people.
Advice to management
Care about your staff
“The company lacks real leadership. Really Bad tech/infrastructure”
I have been working at [REDACTED] full time for more than a year.
Pros
Big Brand, good marketing teams.
Cons
Their crappy core banking tech from the ’90s. It’s the cause of extra work, forms and processes. Because of the lack of leadership, it has no plan to fix its tech. In addition it’s a company of tribes, all focused on only their own small view of the world. So they fight against each other for clients, duplicate fixes for things. It’s a dysfunctional mess.
Advice for management
Go to shareholders and outline a plan for a replacement of a true new core banking platform. Revise your MBA notes, because they have sorely been missing.
Wow, who knew the [blank] was so full of spite, and [blank]. But, it does help when Loki g for someone to [blank] or when booking [blank] on line. I’ve used them for that in [blank], [blank] and [blank], and been very pleased with the outcome.
Is it still defamation if the review is accurate though?
It’s a surprise that the Internet could be used for nefarious venting?……
I’d find a lot of these quite helpful really.