Is it possible to prevent a client from leaving a review?
Hello out there,
I've just had a negative interaction with a client (I think...the tone of text messages can be difficult to read). He's been having me use his only spare set of keys, which he leaves in the mailbox for me. Everyday, I've taken them from the mailbox, walked his dog, locked everything up, then dropped them back in the mailbox. I haven't been comfortable leaving his keys in the mailbox, because he's in a bad neighborhood and it doesn't feel right leaving them outside like that, but he initially told me he'd have a set made for me soon, which I've been waiting for.
Today, he messaged me asking if I forgot to leave the keys. I didn't. I remembered clearly dropping them in the mailbox after I left, and I told him that. I told him it's not a great neighborhood (he's brand new to this city) and that I had been worried leaving them in the mailbox. His response seemed very aggressive and accusative, saying "Really. Unacceptable. No one stole them i asked my land lord to look at the camera." I responded, if his landlord has cameras, can't he see that I returned the keys after the walk? The rest of the conversation tapered off, and he ended it in a way that tells me he won't book me next week (our original plan was for me to walk his pup for the next few weeks).
I don't know what to do in this situation, and it's unsettling. Is a client really able to leave a negative review totally unrelated to the services I've given, over something that happened to his keys when he's been leaving them outside in his mailbox? I don't like that he may well be able to do that over something I'm not at all responsible for.....Is there anything I can do to prevent this?
I'm basically wanting to know, does Rover not protect me (or allow me to protect myself) against slander?
I told this to Rover support, and got a very generic answer back as though I wasn't talking to a real person, or the person was having to just follow script. I didn't feel like the person was actually considering and weighing this specific situation and giving me helpful feedback. They just replied "Turn a negative review into a good thing for you, with a carefully worded response." That may be applicable if someone was simply complaining about the service or sitter in some way, but if I have a client who believes I stole from them, and states as much in a review, once that is out there, there really is no "carefully worded response" that will remove that idea from a new potential clients mind.
I'm thinking about this from a potential client's perspective, because I have been a client ...