Would you respond to this insult?

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Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes

I won't bore anyone with the details. One of my ex-tenants made the following post on her facebook page and inundated me with long, rambling text messages claiming her attorney was going to take me down. Yes, she is an unemployed 19-year-old that can't afford $600 rent but she apparently has an attorney on retainer. It's a classic move.

My question: would you respond to a post like this? She made it on her personal facebook page but it is visible to the public. I already have my answer but I'm curious to see how others have responded.

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Scott Mac

Austin, TX · Member since 2019 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes

====================

Sorry you were unhappy with your renting experience at American West.

In the future we hope you find a place where you can be more happy.

The Management and Staff at American West.

===================

(No personal signature, no personal account used.)

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Satyam Mistry
Investor · Omaha, NE · Member since 2019 · 130 posts · 139 votes
6y
@Nathan Gesner As a landlord having pride in their properties initial thought when someone makes claims that we know to be untrue is what nonsense is this & we feel like replying, but as in nearly all situations better to sit on it & come back with a clear mind. On a personal FB post I would not reply, nothing that you are going to say is going to change the mind of most of the people that are reading or commenting on her post. If it was a review left on Google or a more public review I would post a brief reply to it. If you do reply to it on her FB she will likely delete it anyways. Things like this make me think back to tenant screening. Thinking did I place this tenant knowing they had red flags & was it my mistake accepting them in the first place. For landlords with properties that appeal to a wider pool of people don't compromise on your screening, it will come back to haunt you! Thank you Nathan for sharing & all your contributions to the BP community.
1 Reply
Marlen Weber
Specialist · Plano, TX · Member since 2020 · 2k+ posts · 861 votes
6y
@Nathan Gesner given that she posted this on her personal Facebook account, I would not respond. If she leaves a a negative review on a public website, then absolutely respond. It sounds like you made the right decision already. Best of luck.
1 Reply
Steven Lowe
Real Estate Agent · Scottsdale, AZ · Member since 2019 · 448 posts · 320 votes
6y
No.
1 Reply
Joseph ODonovanPro Member
Property Manager · Ridley, PA · Member since 2017 · 427 posts · 449 votes
6y
@Nathan G. No response. Another reason why I hate Facebook.
1 Reply
Account Closed
Rental Property Investor · Twin Cities, MN · Member since 2019 · 122 posts · 150 votes
6y
@Nathan Gesner - Don't respond. She is crazy and everyone who reads that knows it. You don't need to debase your company by responding on her personal page. If anyone ever brings that post up during an interview, just explain that you did you job, did your due diligence and tried to provide quality housing at a decent price.
1 Reply
John Spurlock
Attorney · Springfield, MO · Member since 2016 · 39 posts · 22 votes
6y
@Joe Villeneuve I agree, he might have a claim for defamation. A demand letter also might be enough to get her to remove the post.
2 Reply
Michael King
Rental Property Investor · Navarre, FL · Member since 2019 · 913 posts · 640 votes
6y
Even though it's on a private FB page, I would assume a lawyer would be able to argue it's public, since after all, you have access to it. I see libel in her rant. If it was me and I cared about it, I'd probably send her an email or letter advising her that her statements are libel, and subject to referral to a lawyer if she doesn't delete the post.
I had to do something like that on a recent post that a guy made on my Linkedin profile. The miserable sod deleted his post immediately and disappeared off Linkedin.
You just can't make everyone happy in this life.
1 Reply
Michael King
Rental Property Investor · Navarre, FL · Member since 2019 · 913 posts · 640 votes
6y
Originally posted by @Jonathan R McLaughlin:
@Nathan Gesner You may find this amusing and validating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

That was an awesome read, thank you! I'm glad she's finally famous for something worthwhile; takes the attention away from that nose of hers haha.
1 Reply
Kanwar Sodhi
Real Estate Agent · Chantilly, VA · Member since 2016 · 245 posts · 61 votes
6y
Don't know what the truth is or the backstory but if this is going to do more harm than good to your personal rep, I'd let this go ASAP unless you can resolve this.
Her writing this on her page is the equivalent of someone shouting about you out loud in public, don't respond to her on her page or directly or she'll get paranoid you're stalking her.
1 Reply
Heath Jones
Rental Property Investor · Enterprise, AL · Member since 2019 · 137 posts · 85 votes
6y
@Nathan G. Just because the roller coaster passes by doesn’t mean you have to get on. So many points she made were incredibly inaccurate.
1 Reply
Anthony Rosa
Rental Property Investor · New York City · Member since 2019 · 703 posts · 538 votes
6y
No, I wouldn't respond. She can't afford $600/month rent and that speaks for itself.
1 Reply
Michael Noto
Real Estate Agent · Southington, CT · Member since 2008 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
6y
I personally would not respond to someone like this, but in a small community I could see where it may be beneficial for you to do so. I think most sensible people realize there is two sides to every story and most of the time these Facebook tirades say more about the person unleashing them as opposed to the people they are attacking.
1 Reply
Brian LucierPro Member
Property Manager · Fitchburg, MA · Member since 2012 · 148 posts · 201 votes
6y
@Nathan Gesner
Sure! The last sentence of her rant after throwing you and your company under the bus, she mentioned "The Ladies in the office are Awesome". It ain't all bad! When something goes wrong, I take complete responsibility. When something goes well, I give COMPLETE CREDIT to my TEAM!
2 Reply
Joshua Aceret
Rental Property Investor · Westminster, CO · Member since 2017 · 9 posts · 2 votes
6y
@Nathan G. If it's on her personal FB page I wouldn't even both responding. Just going to lead to her or others responding to you and dragging it out. Let the thread die and drift of into the internet abyss.
1 Reply
James Wise
Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes
6y
I'm just disappointed she didn't start a review by saying "If I could give him zero stars I would."
4 Reply
Albert Ng
Rental Property Investor · San Jose, CA · Member since 2015 · 401 posts · 221 votes
6y
@Nathan G.
I wouldn’t respond. Would you like to engage in a shouting match on Facebook with a 19 years old?
2 Reply
Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
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Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
6y
Originally posted by @Kanwar Sodhi:
Don't know what the truth is or the backstory but if this is going to do more harm than good to your personal rep, I'd let this go ASAP unless you can resolve this.
Her writing this on her page is the equivalent of someone shouting about you out loud in public, don't respond to her on her page or directly or she'll get paranoid you're stalking her.

I have quite a few lengthy texts from her, all rambling and crazy.
Some examples:
1. claims I promised her a full refund. What I actually wrotet: "Assuming you leave it clean, you will only be held responsible for rent until the new tenant takes over. I will refund the remainder of your deposit at that time."
2. She hasn't shared any pictures, video, or even completed the move-in checklist we provided her. I have about 100 pictures before she moved in and about 30 after she moved out. I shared those with her and she didn't acknowledge them.
3. She demanded her full deposit back around 7am by text. I responded about an hour later and reminded her of exactly what I said above. She texted me around 10am to tell me she had spoken with an attorney and he advised her to sue. Her facebook post was made at 10:20am. This means a 19-year-old with no money was able to consult with an attorney in just two hours when every office in town is closed due to COVID-19.
She's a piece of work, to be sure.

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Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
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Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
6y
Originally posted by @Brian Lucier:
@Nathan Gesner
Sure! The last sentence of her rant after throwing you and your company under the bus, she mentioned "The Ladies in the office are Awesome". It ain't all bad! When something goes wrong, I take complete responsibility. When something goes well, I give COMPLETE CREDIT to my TEAM!

I did share it with all my non-sexist, super-duper staff. I agree they deserve the kudos, even if they're coming from a crazy person.

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Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
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OP
Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
6y
Originally posted by @James Wise:
I'm just disappointed she didn't start a review by saying "If I could give him zero stars I would."

That's almost as common as, "I've talked to my attorney..."

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Bola A.
Rental Property Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2014 · 146 posts · 35 votes
6y
@Nathan G. Things tends to die when you don’t give it energy. Stay focus.
1 Reply
Joe SplitrockPro Member
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Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
6y
@Nathan Gesner being the "biggest slumlord in town" is far better than being the smallest slumlord in town, haha.
If you scale enough, you are going to have unhappy people. As long as the complaints don't have merit, there is not much you can control in this situation. I would not respond on her private page, but would on any public site. I am pretty sure she can delete any comments on her page anyways.
She actually hurt herself more than you by doing this. Most landlords check Facebook pages as part of a screening process. Most would never approve an application after reading that. Even if you did all the things she said, she should not have gone on a public rant like that. Tenants who bad mouth old landlords are always trouble.

2 Reply
Kristopher KyzarBusiness Member
Rental Property Investor · Norfolk, VA · Member since 2017 · 260 posts · 174 votes
6y
@Nathan Gesner based on some mild Google stalking, your company appears to have a great reputation. Sounds like you had a client with unrealistic expectations. The important thing is to communicated as well as possible, keep track of everything, and be like a duck (water off your back). Hopefully you have a file drawer for just such a tenant in your permanent records.
0 Reply
Matt K.
Walnut Creek, CA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
As a previous renter, it'd be obvious that this review is an outlier and likely only half the story.... Not untill you see multiple reviews listing the same problems would I be concerned.
As a landlord, this review wouldn't bother me from a business perspective. The only harm would be I'd lose clients of like mind who'd likely have similar problems/attitude.
But on a personal level it'd annoy me and I'd want to post the facts/my side of the story. However that person isn't interested in that nor do they care let along agree....and it'd go nowhere. Also pass on the lawyers because that's money/effort/time that could be spent on something more productive.
1 Reply
Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
6y
@Nathan Gesner some weird made some kind of negative review on me on some off the wall real estate agent site. it does pop up on google.. I just responded.. GET A LIFE your a NUT JOB>. and left it at that..

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John Teachout
Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
6y
I read the "warning review" and if was directed towards me, I would be upset by it. However I fully agree that it's best to just ignore it. Next week she'll be making posts about missing her period or what she had for dessert that she made all by herself. She was venting and made contradictions within the post. It's obviously a "rant" and not a "review" that required any cognitive skills. It'll be buried in her timeline within days and she'll still be who she is and you'll be who you are. I wouldn't stay awake at night waiting for the lawsuit, lol.

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