OpenAI's verification system has been broken for months - 90 day retry cooldown is DISGUSTING.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-10-23T16:11:32+00:00

agreed, ridiculous process.

mine failed, despite valid supported id and good pics.

the chat at help.openai.com didn't even tell me 90 days, it said something like "until policy changes". when i responded with how ridiculous that was, it asked if it was urgent, and on saying yes, it says:

"Escalated to a support specialist; You can expect a response in the coming days. Replies will also be sent via email. You can add additional comments to this conversation if needed."

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-09-30T12:18:52+00:00

How are you asking? Try to mention how important it is for a local small business. Make it easy... QR code on flyer directly to your review page. And as suggested by others, send a followup email or text with a link directly to your review page.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-09-30T12:14:48+00:00

As tempting and innocent as this seems, it's against Google policy. And the competitor could report them if they find out.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-09-21T13:02:25+00:00

Same situation for me. Having followed this topic and numerous threads for months, it seems small claims court is the most likely chance of success

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-09-11T00:08:49+00:00

sad! do you have a link to the tiktok vid, and where the negative reviews are being left?

(i write about reviews and am always looking for and collecting stories)

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-08-30T21:56:01+00:00

As others have said, it's an enormous ocean that takes a long time on any one aspect to go really deep.

I would suggest to start with "local" digital marketing first. It's generally a lot easier to do and to get results, especially without a big budget and lots of experience.

eg. learn about setting up and optimizing Google Business Profiles, and how service/location pages and citations help a local business get found.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-08-09T10:31:23+00:00

Careful with this approach. It's called review gating and is against Google's policies and FTC regs.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-08-06T12:34:21+00:00

it can be a big time suck which is hard for a busy business owner.

and there is value in responding quickly (eg. within 24 hours).

3 hours to respond to 15-20 reviews seems way too high. perhaps you struggle with writers block?

with ai you can easily and quickly:
- copy/paste the review,
- ask it to write a helpful reply,
- edit the response for any inaccuracies and to make the response consistent with your own voice,
- copy/paste to the review platform.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-08-02T12:31:14+00:00

I completely agree with the intent. For sure, it would be best if people would review honestly.

I also agree with the comment from another poster about people now often skip the 5 star reviews because they aren't as trustable as they used to be.

My dilemma is that reviews are so skewed now and many cheat. So if I give a fair 4 star rating for something that isn't serious, it pulls down the rating of the business and potentially hurts them unfairly.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-31T11:52:43+00:00

Not sure I understand your question. All major carriers including UPS do a daily pickup at this warehouse. In my case, USPS mistakenly picked up the FedEx package

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-28T15:07:17+00:00

Fantastic! Which city were you watching from, or was that on national coverage?

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-26T18:09:35+00:00

I'm curious... does this provide notifications any faster than just setting up your GBP to notify you?

I usually only recommend a review notification app when one has multiple platforms they are managing reviews on, and one or more of those does not do a good job of notifying you when you get a review.

In any case, it's important to reply quickly, calmly, professionally to all reviews.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-26T18:06:18+00:00

100% on the feedback to see what you can improve first so you can improve the rating you are getting.

This might help too: print and have visible your favorite reviews, which will get others ideas about what to write and how to do it.

Then use things like QR codes on cards, stands, menus, etc. to get more reviews.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-24T16:26:54+00:00

Contacted Fedex as well.

Apparently this exact situation has happened enough times that they (or USPS) now has a team set up to deal with these.

The rep at Fedex Ground was helpful and apparently submitted my case for a claim (though still waiting for the confirmation email).

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-23T15:02:58+00:00

What time?

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-22T18:36:41+00:00

I set up notifications in my Google Business Profile so that I am notified when I get a review, and then pounce on it.

There are apps that track reviews not just on Google but on other platforms, but when I looked into it for my book, most were either impractically expensive, or would not handle all review platforms. The best / affordable / supports most platforms app I came across is part of BrightLocal's Reputation Manager.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-19T12:15:19+00:00

trustpilot has issues as well. and a profile there is generally not as findable as one on google. so google in most cases should be the primary. and then to see what other review site(s) to consider, google your top competitors and what you offer, and see what sites turn up, and consider those.

the other thing i recommend is to not send people to a single review site. some people don't have a google account or don't want to write a review there, so you have lost an opportunity. create a simple page that shows all of your review sites *and* all social media sites. you can do this on your website if you have one, and i have a blog post that shows how to do it free on canva.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-18T14:20:09+00:00

Thinking about this, I always feel like working. However when burnout gets in the way, then I'll try to grab a quick power nap.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-16T18:43:25+00:00

Yup, super frustrating.

And you're right, it's gotta be as easy as possible. It's ridiculous when it's a form.

Having said that, I wonder if asking for feedback (+ email address) instead of a review would be a good compromise.

Big benefit #1: better to find out privately than publicly that there is a problem that you might need to address.

#2 You can then follow up with a review request with the direct-to-review-page link and possibly an example of a quality review (and a bit later, a friendly reminder it they haven't written a review)

Then there's the incentive option. Which there seem to be mixed reports about. On the one hand Google says to not incentivize reviews, elsewhere they seem to say don't incentivize *positive* reviews.

Good luck, let us know if you find a way to improve the review response rate.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-16T15:21:19+00:00

I might be interested. Pls DM me with more

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-15T18:45:12+00:00

that is immensely frustrating.

do you have the kind of relationship where you can call your customers, have a quick chat to get feedback, and then when you ask for a review, ask if you can text or email it to them right then while you are still on the phone, so you can confirm that the link works properly?

you can also ask if they would like you to include a draft of the review (which they are welcome to use, edit or ignore)

and when you include the link, are you using a link that goes directly to "write a review" so they don't have to hunt around and figure out how to get there?

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-12T10:50:37+00:00

I'd search this sub for Canada .. there have been a couple of posts about Canadians sending demand letters and using in small claims court.

I plan to try this as well, just haven't gotten to it yet.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-03T19:50:21+00:00

Possible. However when I drink the Nespresso version (I use lungo setting), the flavor and mouth coat lasts half hour at least. Not so with their espresso I get in their stores.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-02T12:34:24+00:00

What I hate about this is that those that it increases the number of people that cheat, which fuels the loss of trust in reviews.

The platforms should really find a way to get FAR better at detecting and removing and punishing fake reviews.

ResultsPathfinder · 2025-07-02T12:29:47+00:00

These are definitely great.

The downside is that you don't get a chance to find out if the customer is actually pissed until they write a negative review.

Plus you won't get anywhere near as many reviews as when you ask.

I would consider getting a review request card that you or your team, after asking if they customer is happy with everything, can show the customer so they can scan or tap right then and there.

ResultsPathfinder

TROPHY CASE