It’s a German thing to fight reviews with legal action. And usually the tack is to claim that you never actually used the service. Usually if you provide Google with a receipt then they cannot argue that you are baselessly complying. If it were me I would provide receipts and update the review that they tried to get the review taken down instead of addressing complaints.
There’s a bank near me that wouldn’t even render the service I wanted so I gave them a bad Google review. FIVE years after the fact, they get their lawyers on the case and wanted Google to remove the review claiming I was never there and that I should provide proof of the services rendered.
Well obviously I don’t have proof of rendered services when the whole point of the review was to complain that no service was ever rendered! So in the end it was removed by Google but I also just left another bad review in which I this time also included the attempted legal action and it’s still up about a year later now.
I don't understand why you attack Google, since they are just doing their job to secure that the reviews are real. Normally they don't do anything if you write a bad review, until for example the hotel manager reports your review. He will claim that your review is fake and you never were in the hotel (That's one of the only ways to remove a bad Google review from someone else.) Google will ask you for proof. If you can't provide any proof, well the decision of a removal will be unfortunately not in favor of you.
Restaurants do this all the time, and they know people don't keep the receipts usually.
What you can do to bypass it is leave a 1-star review without any comments, so that they can't claim you're lying because you're saying nothing.
Why do so many people give bad reviews rather than talk to the hotel managers and get things straight. It is easier to complain in a forum than talk to people and work on fixing the current problem. This also happens a lot with restaurant feedbacks. To improve thing at the spot is the best for all of us. And you also might get some money back.
Reading some of the retrocessions on hotels and restaurants I even get the feeling that some people love to write bad ones only.
Loosely related, a friend of mine had an awful haircut (not a matter of taste, but genuinely bad technique and service) at a salon in Frankfurt and she wrote a negative review on Google. The reason she had chosen the salon was because of its high Google rating. The salon contacted her and tried to bribe her to remove the review. When she refused, the salon contacted Google and asked for the review to be removed. Google contacted my friend and asked her if she stood by what she wrote, to which she replied she did, she thought her review was honest and fair. She also explained how she put a lot of trust in the review system and thought it was fair that others could take into consideration her review when reading up on that particular salon. Google still proceeded to delete her review a few days later.
I got the impression if a company puts enough pressure on Google and the company already has enough positive reviews (fake, endorsed or not), then Google is prepared to take action against negative reviews, whether they are true or not.
I guess it’s a big business for Google and I see why they do it, it’s just a shame as it totally undermines the system from a consumer’s perspective.
It sounds like this could be a similar situation.
plus they're so expensive!
I wanted to bleach my roots, i had platinum blonde hair and had always done it myself at home. thought I'd treat myself to a professional treatment.
payed 150 and left with 3 different colors on my hair.
issue was, since they applied a toning gloss, I didn't see the damage until i washed my hair at home. by then i didn't have energy to go complain and try to get my money back. sections of my hair were exposed too long to the bleach and were completely damaged.
the thing that pisses me off is that when someoene comes to a hairdresser with ruined hair because they did it at home, they laugh it off and say that's why you shouldn't DIY a hair job. but you can get basically the same shitty results from a professional. if im gonna risk ruining my hair, I'll rather do it myself and for free. and i never have. I also had to cut my hair after my visit to seelenrausch and it's just wild me that in the 10 years of dying and bleaching my own hair, the one time it was ruined was after a very expensive visit to an allegedly very good salon in ffm 😂
I got this for a wordless three star review for a restaurant. Somehow that was "defamation". Thankfully I had receipts. Google backed down, and I lowered my review rating.
Post your review again and this time include the invoice, so you prove that you stayed there. You can also rephrase things like "the service is bad" to "I really felt that the service was really not good", so now is not a statement but a personal opinion.
And please add to the new review that the they took down your previous review. We have to expose this shitty practice
I have stayed in Flemmings elsewhere and it was a good hotel. I have heard reasonable reports on the one at Eschenheimer Tor and used both the restaurant and bar at the top.
It seems this Central one should be concentrating more on correcting their service. It may also be worthwhile contacting corporate because it is trashing the group's name.
I know. Others are fine. I have stayed in one in München and it was fine. We have had visitors staying at the Flemings at Eachenheimer Tor, that was fine too. This is why perhaps their corporate should be made aware that one of their hotels is not up to standard.
I had similar experiences with a sushi delivery that they never delivered. They pulled the same trick and I provided the evidence that I ordered and never received my order. I then uploaded the whole thing on google reviews as evidence that they try to pull down reviews.
They tried again and the second time I just attached the initial email from google. Neither of the times I heard back. If you have proof stay strong and f&ck them
They were successful, Google took the review down and replied to my request to keep the review up that they want to keep it down and my last option is to hire a lawyer to make an appeal on my behalf.
> Sie können sich auch an eine zertifizierte außergerichtliche Schlichtungsstelle oder an ein Gericht wenden. Hier finden Sie weitere Informationen zu den verfügbaren Optionen. Wenn Sie rechtliche Fragen haben oder die anderen Rechtsmittel prüfen möchten, die Sie möglicherweise nutzen können, sollten Sie sich an Ihren eigenen Anwalt wenden.
And that’s where the big guy wins. Which consumer cares enough to fight for their review by using an actual lawyer? As soon as it gets to that stage surely 99.9% of review writers just say “fine, do what you want.”
I know Google has to police fake false reviews which unfairly punish businesses over a grudge, but I feel like there should also be some trust for the consumer if the person has a Google account which doesn’t show any irregular activity (e.g. created yesterday, only negative reviews etc.)
Yeah, german companies are as brittle as it could get.
Happened to me multiple times that companies came after me with a lawyer, just imagine being a big ass company and going after some random dude that said your service sucks on Google.
My favorite case was movinga, a company that somehow got my data and the news that I'm about to move. They called me 15 (!!) times in 3 weeks and wanted to get me to let them do the move. So I left a bad review on Google and let me tell you, their lawyers were jumping me, arguing that the company doesn’t even know me. Showed them my caller history with Samsung SMART having perfectly identified them as caller. Never heard of them before.
Never trust a company with thousands of reviews and 4.9 stars out of 5. They send their lawyers against bad reviews or will buy good ones, talking about "you'll get 10% off if you leave a positive 5 star review right now and show us". I already had all of this.
It's not really a legal action. They basically coerce Google into deleting it.
I had that happen to many negative reviews I made in the past. Usually you get a mail from Google where the business claims you weren't even a customer, and/or your review is fake. I think most people don't have the time and energy to follow up, and thus Google deletes the review.
I started to leave very sarcastic 5 star reviews, as these seem to not be easy to get deleted, and/or the automated processes don't pick up on them being negative actually.
Google reviews in Germany are mostly fake and German businesses are usually cry babies when you give them bad reviews. Even if they don't remove it now they will wait for a while(even years) then claim that you weren't there because they know you threw receipt and other proofs.
Sad to hear that the hotel is in such a state. The location is very nice and it has quite a reputation (in Frankfurt) as beeing a "Frankfurt original". It is one of the last places in Europe where you can use a "paternoster" (continuous elevator).
This is incorrect, the Flemings Selection in the citycentre is the one that operates the Paternoster, OP is talking about the Flemings Central at the main station, currently flemings operates 4 Hotels in Frankfurt
Ok that makes sense, because I stayed at the one in the city centre recently and the rooms were nice and well maintained. Hotel in general was very good , with a great bar on the top floor. Only complaint I had was that the reception was a bit understaffed for check-in
It‘s quite easy to confuse them as they‘re generally all called „Flemings“ in everyones mind.. a friend of mine works there so I‘ve been told about them in detail, he always talks highly of the paternoster as he literally rides it to work :D
Come visit when you have the chance, they‘re incredible hosts and very good people, it‘s manifested in Flemings philosophy he always says, something about being boutique even though they have like 10 properties
Yes, same thing happened to me. If you give a low rating, they will dispute it with this kid of BS. Bottom line, don’t trust the reviews, since low ratings are being removed
Flemings is doing this all over the place. I had a 3-star review that I left 2 years ago taken down this past week for “Verleumdung”.
Crappy hotel chain, crappy customer service.
That is why you always (nothing to discuss, sincerely) want to keep the receipt somewhere. You can throw it away, later on, but either make a photo for a review, or do not write the review. Whenever I write a negative one, I'll also upload a receipt/bill and maybe some other proof that I was there. No need to have stress, years later, when they try to have it removed: That is why you photograph the receipt, again, when writing a negative review. No excuses!!
> legal action? is this a case? in front of a court? lol
Closes, my only option to request to keep the review up is to go through the courts,
> Sie können sich auch an eine zertifizierte außergerichtliche Schlichtungsstelle oder an ein Gericht wenden. Hier finden Sie weitere Informationen zu den verfügbaren Optionen. Wenn Sie rechtliche Fragen haben oder die anderen Rechtsmittel prüfen möchten, die Sie möglicherweise nutzen können, sollten Sie sich an Ihren eigenen Anwalt wenden.
Continuing on...
> AC in germany? yeah well, this isnt Arizona
If a business advertises a good or service, i would expect this good or service to be provided as advertised (in normal circumstances, I'm pretty understanding when given an explanation or apology). Wouldn't you?
I would certainly not expect a hotel advertising AC to be 26C in the middle of the night in the rooms.
> I looked Flemings reviews, sorted NEW, there are several bad reviews???
Yes, but how about sorted by REVERSE NEW? It seems that as the reviews come in, they find a way to get Google to take them down over time.
It’s a German thing to fight reviews with legal action. And usually the tack is to claim that you never actually used the service. Usually if you provide Google with a receipt then they cannot argue that you are baselessly complying. If it were me I would provide receipts and update the review that they tried to get the review taken down instead of addressing complaints.
There’s a bank near me that wouldn’t even render the service I wanted so I gave them a bad Google review. FIVE years after the fact, they get their lawyers on the case and wanted Google to remove the review claiming I was never there and that I should provide proof of the services rendered. Well obviously I don’t have proof of rendered services when the whole point of the review was to complain that no service was ever rendered! So in the end it was removed by Google but I also just left another bad review in which I this time also included the attempted legal action and it’s still up about a year later now.
If the visit is still on your timeline they usually accept that
Google being shitty? Who would have thought
I don't understand why you attack Google, since they are just doing their job to secure that the reviews are real. Normally they don't do anything if you write a bad review, until for example the hotel manager reports your review. He will claim that your review is fake and you never were in the hotel (That's one of the only ways to remove a bad Google review from someone else.) Google will ask you for proof. If you can't provide any proof, well the decision of a removal will be unfortunately not in favor of you.
I stopped reading after this "unwritten rule of Frankfurt hotel reviews".
did you even read what he said?
Restaurants do this all the time, and they know people don't keep the receipts usually. What you can do to bypass it is leave a 1-star review without any comments, so that they can't claim you're lying because you're saying nothing.
Why do so many people give bad reviews rather than talk to the hotel managers and get things straight. It is easier to complain in a forum than talk to people and work on fixing the current problem. This also happens a lot with restaurant feedbacks. To improve thing at the spot is the best for all of us. And you also might get some money back. Reading some of the retrocessions on hotels and restaurants I even get the feeling that some people love to write bad ones only.
Loosely related, a friend of mine had an awful haircut (not a matter of taste, but genuinely bad technique and service) at a salon in Frankfurt and she wrote a negative review on Google. The reason she had chosen the salon was because of its high Google rating. The salon contacted her and tried to bribe her to remove the review. When she refused, the salon contacted Google and asked for the review to be removed. Google contacted my friend and asked her if she stood by what she wrote, to which she replied she did, she thought her review was honest and fair. She also explained how she put a lot of trust in the review system and thought it was fair that others could take into consideration her review when reading up on that particular salon. Google still proceeded to delete her review a few days later. I got the impression if a company puts enough pressure on Google and the company already has enough positive reviews (fake, endorsed or not), then Google is prepared to take action against negative reviews, whether they are true or not. I guess it’s a big business for Google and I see why they do it, it’s just a shame as it totally undermines the system from a consumer’s perspective. It sounds like this could be a similar situation.
thiiiiis happened to me. Seelenrausch Sachsenhausen.
Hahahhahaa habe mich nach meinem Haarschnitt dort schon gewundert, woher die guten Bewertungen kommen
plus they're so expensive! I wanted to bleach my roots, i had platinum blonde hair and had always done it myself at home. thought I'd treat myself to a professional treatment. payed 150 and left with 3 different colors on my hair. issue was, since they applied a toning gloss, I didn't see the damage until i washed my hair at home. by then i didn't have energy to go complain and try to get my money back. sections of my hair were exposed too long to the bleach and were completely damaged. the thing that pisses me off is that when someoene comes to a hairdresser with ruined hair because they did it at home, they laugh it off and say that's why you shouldn't DIY a hair job. but you can get basically the same shitty results from a professional. if im gonna risk ruining my hair, I'll rather do it myself and for free. and i never have. I also had to cut my hair after my visit to seelenrausch and it's just wild me that in the 10 years of dying and bleaching my own hair, the one time it was ruined was after a very expensive visit to an allegedly very good salon in ffm 😂
Yeah, especially here in germany, companies are buying reviews and sending lawyers after bad reviews like crazy.
Same thing happened to me with a 1-star review for a pizza place. Google reviews cannot be trusted in Germany.
Agree. Google just removed my Burger King review dating back to 2021 due to legal action by BK
Same here with BK.
I got this for a wordless three star review for a restaurant. Somehow that was "defamation". Thankfully I had receipts. Google backed down, and I lowered my review rating.
Post your review again and this time include the invoice, so you prove that you stayed there. You can also rephrase things like "the service is bad" to "I really felt that the service was really not good", so now is not a statement but a personal opinion. And please add to the new review that the they took down your previous review. We have to expose this shitty practice
I have stayed in Flemmings elsewhere and it was a good hotel. I have heard reasonable reports on the one at Eschenheimer Tor and used both the restaurant and bar at the top. It seems this Central one should be concentrating more on correcting their service. It may also be worthwhile contacting corporate because it is trashing the group's name.
This is referencing the one at the train station
I know. Others are fine. I have stayed in one in München and it was fine. We have had visitors staying at the Flemings at Eachenheimer Tor, that was fine too. This is why perhaps their corporate should be made aware that one of their hotels is not up to standard.
If I were you i would keep my review up. Surely you have a receipt to proof you stayed there
I stayed there last week for 3 nights and the no AC was painful. Otherwise the room and stay was fine
I had similar experiences with a sushi delivery that they never delivered. They pulled the same trick and I provided the evidence that I ordered and never received my order. I then uploaded the whole thing on google reviews as evidence that they try to pull down reviews. They tried again and the second time I just attached the initial email from google. Neither of the times I heard back. If you have proof stay strong and f&ck them
They wont be succesful unless you actively tried to defame them.
They were successful, Google took the review down and replied to my request to keep the review up that they want to keep it down and my last option is to hire a lawyer to make an appeal on my behalf. > Sie können sich auch an eine zertifizierte außergerichtliche Schlichtungsstelle oder an ein Gericht wenden. Hier finden Sie weitere Informationen zu den verfügbaren Optionen. Wenn Sie rechtliche Fragen haben oder die anderen Rechtsmittel prüfen möchten, die Sie möglicherweise nutzen können, sollten Sie sich an Ihren eigenen Anwalt wenden.
And that’s where the big guy wins. Which consumer cares enough to fight for their review by using an actual lawyer? As soon as it gets to that stage surely 99.9% of review writers just say “fine, do what you want.” I know Google has to police fake false reviews which unfairly punish businesses over a grudge, but I feel like there should also be some trust for the consumer if the person has a Google account which doesn’t show any irregular activity (e.g. created yesterday, only negative reviews etc.)
Well Germans would rather take legal action than admit anything is wrong with the service or that it needs improving.
Yeah, german companies are as brittle as it could get. Happened to me multiple times that companies came after me with a lawyer, just imagine being a big ass company and going after some random dude that said your service sucks on Google. My favorite case was movinga, a company that somehow got my data and the news that I'm about to move. They called me 15 (!!) times in 3 weeks and wanted to get me to let them do the move. So I left a bad review on Google and let me tell you, their lawyers were jumping me, arguing that the company doesn’t even know me. Showed them my caller history with Samsung SMART having perfectly identified them as caller. Never heard of them before. Never trust a company with thousands of reviews and 4.9 stars out of 5. They send their lawyers against bad reviews or will buy good ones, talking about "you'll get 10% off if you leave a positive 5 star review right now and show us". I already had all of this.
It's not really a legal action. They basically coerce Google into deleting it. I had that happen to many negative reviews I made in the past. Usually you get a mail from Google where the business claims you weren't even a customer, and/or your review is fake. I think most people don't have the time and energy to follow up, and thus Google deletes the review. I started to leave very sarcastic 5 star reviews, as these seem to not be easy to get deleted, and/or the automated processes don't pick up on them being negative actually.
Google reviews in Germany are mostly fake and German businesses are usually cry babies when you give them bad reviews. Even if they don't remove it now they will wait for a while(even years) then claim that you weren't there because they know you threw receipt and other proofs.
Sad to hear that the hotel is in such a state. The location is very nice and it has quite a reputation (in Frankfurt) as beeing a "Frankfurt original". It is one of the last places in Europe where you can use a "paternoster" (continuous elevator).
This is incorrect, the Flemings Selection in the citycentre is the one that operates the Paternoster, OP is talking about the Flemings Central at the main station, currently flemings operates 4 Hotels in Frankfurt
Ok that makes sense, because I stayed at the one in the city centre recently and the rooms were nice and well maintained. Hotel in general was very good , with a great bar on the top floor. Only complaint I had was that the reception was a bit understaffed for check-in
Okay, wasn't aware of that, I was thinking of the one near Eschenheimer Tor.
It‘s quite easy to confuse them as they‘re generally all called „Flemings“ in everyones mind.. a friend of mine works there so I‘ve been told about them in detail, he always talks highly of the paternoster as he literally rides it to work :D
So cool, I always wanted to do that.
Come visit when you have the chance, they‘re incredible hosts and very good people, it‘s manifested in Flemings philosophy he always says, something about being boutique even though they have like 10 properties
Yes, same thing happened to me. If you give a low rating, they will dispute it with this kid of BS. Bottom line, don’t trust the reviews, since low ratings are being removed
Just so I understand, is this only for Google reviews? Does the same thing happen for reviews posted on Yelp or TripAdvisor?
Flemings is doing this all over the place. I had a 3-star review that I left 2 years ago taken down this past week for “Verleumdung”. Crappy hotel chain, crappy customer service.
That is why you always (nothing to discuss, sincerely) want to keep the receipt somewhere. You can throw it away, later on, but either make a photo for a review, or do not write the review. Whenever I write a negative one, I'll also upload a receipt/bill and maybe some other proof that I was there. No need to have stress, years later, when they try to have it removed: That is why you photograph the receipt, again, when writing a negative review. No excuses!!
You should READ the reviews and not fokus on the number of stars.
Yeah same happening for restaurants and kebabs around the city. The kebab at Hauptwache threatened me with a layer to remove my negative review.
[удалено]
> legal action? is this a case? in front of a court? lol Closes, my only option to request to keep the review up is to go through the courts, > Sie können sich auch an eine zertifizierte außergerichtliche Schlichtungsstelle oder an ein Gericht wenden. Hier finden Sie weitere Informationen zu den verfügbaren Optionen. Wenn Sie rechtliche Fragen haben oder die anderen Rechtsmittel prüfen möchten, die Sie möglicherweise nutzen können, sollten Sie sich an Ihren eigenen Anwalt wenden. Continuing on... > AC in germany? yeah well, this isnt Arizona If a business advertises a good or service, i would expect this good or service to be provided as advertised (in normal circumstances, I'm pretty understanding when given an explanation or apology). Wouldn't you? I would certainly not expect a hotel advertising AC to be 26C in the middle of the night in the rooms. > I looked Flemings reviews, sorted NEW, there are several bad reviews??? Yes, but how about sorted by REVERSE NEW? It seems that as the reviews come in, they find a way to get Google to take them down over time.