Trial by Facebook

Re: Trial by Facebook

CatherineThomas — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 07:12:13 GMT

[quote user="Wren"]I don't really understand this. If the post is on your page you have full power to remove/hide it yourself.[/quote]

You are talking about posts there, I think Charlotte is talking about reviews. On some pages you can set it up to allow reviews. Once it is set up to allow reviews you can not moderate them. You can only reply if the reviewer's settings allow, or report them to facebook. I supose the idea is that if you could moderate them you would only have good reviews on there which wouldn't be a fair representation.

Re: Trial by Facebook

Charlie Lyon — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 22:57:23 GMT

To be fair when we posted our defending post a lot of our clients then went on to support us and we have a good reputation anyway so a couple of troublemakers won't damage us in the long term, just hate unjustified bad reviews!

Re: Trial by Facebook

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 20:14:05 GMT

[quote user="Charlotte Lusted"]It is a review, which we cannot delete - beleive me I've tried! The only option is to remove the practice address which takes away the ability to post reviews.[/quote]

It may be some comfort to realise that most people looking at it will realise that this is a vicious twisted little nutter. (It's not an original thought that there is something about the Internet which encourages vicious twisted little nutters). Perhaps you could wear it with pride? "We are proud to join the ranks of those who have been libelled, slandered, abused and threatened by Mr. A Toerag Scumbag"

In a funny kind of way it might work to improve your reputation!

Re: Trial by Facebook

Charlie Lyon — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 11:17:13 GMT

It is a review, which we cannot delete - beleive me I've tried! The only option is to remove the practice address which takes away the ability to post reviews.

Re: Trial by Facebook

Andrew Kent — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 10:47:58 GMT

You can also set up your page so that posts have to be approved by you before they are visible to the whole world, so you can then nip these things in the bid before they become a problem.

Re: Trial by Facebook

Wren — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 09:06:18 GMT

Laurence beat me to it!

Re: Trial by Facebook

Wren — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 08:57:55 GMT

[quote user="Charlotte Lusted"]This is really interesting as we have had negative comments and reviews in our Facebook work page from a particular couple who actually emailed a death threat ( using human lethal injection drugs and the man in question is apparently an anaesthetist ) to one of our vets after euthanisia was discussed for a rather nasty ear tumour that the RSPCA was involved in and eventually ended up being euthed at another vet for. We reported the comments to Facebook, even offered to send copies of the said email, who have done nothing. May get in touch with the vds as it does look awful on the business page despite other positive feedback. We eventually posted a 'we don't tolerate abuse to staff' type post on our page, but the comments are still there and damaging. Can the vds do anything to help or is it still down to Facebook?

[/quote]

I don't really understand this. If the post is on your page you have full power to remove/hide it yourself.

Re: Trial by Facebook

Laurence Webb — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 08:53:24 GMT

[quote user="Charlotte Lusted"]our main issue is the posts are still there[/quote] If you are admiistrators for the page you can easily delete or hide comments. We have had a couple of negative posts which I chose to hide rather than delete. Hidden posts can still be seen by the poster and their friends so they would be unaware that you have done anything. It would also remain there as evidence for prosecution.

Having said that, if there had been threats to any staff I would be straight on to the police. Take screen shots in case the poster decides to delete the comments and give them to the police to deal with. At the same time sack the client.

Re: Trial by Facebook

Sarah McGurk — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 07:48:58 GMT

[quote user="Arlo Guthrie"]As for common sense, I just think it's prudent to assume that nobody else has any. [/quote]

Ah.... now you're speaking my language.

Love the website by the way.

Re: Trial by Facebook

Charlie Lyon — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 23:55:50 GMT

There are quite a few people with that name on the register you gave... We advised the vet in question to go to the police. They were aware of it but again didn't do a lot, apparently the family is know for causing trouble (the guy has pervious for fraud). Email was sent from an nhs address and apparently they were going to discipline him in house but who knows, our main issue is the posts are still there. This have been going on for a while and she has just left the practice to move closer to home so don't know if she has to persue it or if we can.

Re: Trial by Facebook

Michael Woodhouse — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 23:42:35 GMT

Easy enough to check if a registered doc

http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/register/LRMP.asp

Re: Trial by Facebook

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 23:34:00 GMT

[quote user="Charlotte Lusted"] from a particular couple who actually emailed a death threat ( using human lethal injection drugs and the man in question is apparently an anaesthetist ) to one of our vets[/quote]

Don't piddle about, go to the police. That is a criminal offence.

Also, if he really is an anaesthetist, lodge a complaint to the GMC.

Re: Trial by Facebook

Charlie Lyon — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 23:18:23 GMT

This is really interesting as we have had negative comments and reviews in our Facebook work page from a particular couple who actually emailed a death threat ( using human lethal injection drugs and the man in question is apparently an anaesthetist ) to one of our vets after euthanisia was discussed for a rather nasty ear tumour that the RSPCA was involved in and eventually ended up being euthed at another vet for. We reported the comments to Facebook, even offered to send copies of the said email, who have done nothing. May get in touch with the vds as it does look awful on the business page despite other positive feedback. We eventually posted a 'we don't tolerate abuse to staff' type post on our page, but the comments are still there and damaging. Can the vds do anything to help or is it still down to Facebook?

Re: Trial by Facebook

Arlo Guthrie — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 23:13:20 GMT

[quote user="Sarah McGurk"]

[quote user="Arlo Guthrie"]To my mind, the likely fault here lies not with the owner complaining in the forum, but perhaps with the original vet for not telling the client what they were getting for their money. [/quote]

Sorry, I wasn't being absolutely clear. I didn't mean vets should waste time verbally explaining exactly what everything costs, down to the last paperclip. I meant that there should be supporting printed / website info broadly explaining how bills are arrived at, particularly for those procedures which might, on the face of it, seem to require little work, but where much more goes on behind the scenes.

As for common sense, I just think it's prudent to assume that nobody else has any. And I'm only being partly tongue-in-cheek there! You'll never get in trouble if you start with the premise that someone doesn't know / understand

Re: Trial by Facebook

Cat Henstridge — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 21:43:48 GMT

Also, I would really encourage you to reply to negative comments on FaceBook. Contrary to appearances the majority of people on there are reasonable and fair and can spot a nutter from a mile off. Positive rebuttals from you will be seen in a positive light!

Also, if you don't already have one, you should set up a page for your clinic. This will allow you to post positive stories and get good feedback and interaction from your clients.

If you need advice I can highly recommend Susie Samuel from eVetMarketing, I confess she is a friend of mine but she is VERY good at what she does!

Re: Trial by Facebook

Cat Henstridge — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 21:21:40 GMT

You guys might be interested in a blog I put up today!

http://www.catthevet.com/vet-wont-give-credit/

Re: Trial by Facebook

Sarah McGurk — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 19:15:44 GMT

This is true up to a point, but if we had to spend all-day-every-day justifying and explaining to every client why we charged the fees we do, and what exactly is included, the fees would have to go up substantially. I should have thought it would be obvious to anyone with any common sense that blood sampling an animal involves more than the two seconds of action the client actually witnessed. And of course, the ultimate irony is that if the operator had been less experienced, and the activity in question had taken much longer, they would have been complaining that the vet was incompetent instead.

Oh dear... does my cynicism look big in this?????

Re: Trial by Facebook

Bob Russell — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 16:17:24 GMT

In my situation I was unable to post anything in a hurry because I had removed myself from the group previously!

Stopped me saying something I would have regretted. It seems that yet again this turned out to be a bad payer and I suspect had not been listening or misunderstood when I suggested they went out by a back door to prevent them having to face a full waiting room!

In future I will have to spell it out in words of one syllable why owners are to be escorted out of the back. I am doing it for their benefit, not for the benefit of those in the waiting room!

There are times when I really dislike the general public!!

Re: Trial by Facebook

Arlo Guthrie — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:59:56 GMT

[quote user="Wren"]Someone posted to complain about an extortionate £30 fee to take blood from their horse which 'literally took 2 seconds'. Normally I let this sort of thing pass me by but (without revealing myself as a member of the profession) this time I pointed out that for their £30 they got: consumables, time and expertise of a professional in taking the sample, spinning, separating and freezing the serum, postage and packing (cost of and time), receiving the results, vet possibly phoning lab to consult on lab results, vet phoning the client to report results, clinical recommendations and treatment plan based on the results.[/quote]

To my mind, the likely fault here lies not with the owner complaining in the forum, but perhaps with the original vet for not telling the client what they were getting for their money.

But good on you for correcting it. I think it is a very worthwhile exercise if members of the profession who stumble upon online inaccuracies take the time to correct them.

Re: Trial by Facebook

Wren — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:35:53 GMT

Not FB, but on a horse owners' forum (infinitely worse!). Someone posted to complain about an extortionate £30 fee to take blood from their horse which 'literally took 2 seconds'. Normally I let this sort of thing pass me by but (without revealing myself as a member of the profession) this time I pointed out that for their £30 they got: consumables, time and expertise of a professional in taking the sample, spinning, separating and freezing the serum, postage and packing (cost of and time), receiving the results, vet possibly phoning lab to consult on lab results, vet phoning the client to report results, clinical recommendations and treatment plan based on the results. That is, about 40mins of total work plus consumables. It stopped them in their tracks!

Re: Trial by Facebook

Mark Frost — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 13:38:21 GMT

We had a similar situation recently and discussed with the VDS who were as always very understanding and helpful. They have a guidance document on malicious social media comments which we found helpful - I felt that the comments were inappropriate and incorrect and contacted Facebook directly via the 'I don't have a facebook account' complaint tab which appeared to give more options than just reporting the post from the page itself. It was removed less than 24 hours later.

Re: Trial by Facebook

Arlo Guthrie — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 15:16:59 GMT

[quote user="Sarah McGurk"]you could try contacting them to ask whether they would consider taking the post down[/quote]

Good point.

Re: Trial by Facebook

Sarah McGurk — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 14:54:58 GMT

The only suggestion I would add is that if there is a visible page moderator who seems to be a reasonable person (or especially if you already know them in some capacity), you could try contacting them to ask whether they would consider taking the post down. Given that the original poster can't possibly have any proof, I can't imagine if it was a page I was running, that I would want unfounded accusations made. Of course, if the site is usually bitchy, and there is no obvious moderator, then I would follow Arlo's advice.

Re: Trial by Facebook

Arlo Guthrie — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 14:34:21 GMT

My view on these things - people should not be allowed to get away with it unchallenged.

I'd recommend:

Read offending post
Go and do something else. Anything. Just to calm down.
At least 3 hours later, compose a really pleasant reply. One that is nothing but entirely good natured, but categorically says the 'allegation' is untrue.
Explain that you're not going to be drawn into a discussion, you just saw the post and thought it would be unfair if it was allowed to stand completely unchallenged.

That said, when deciding whether to respond, I would also take into account:

How many people are likely to read the original post
How many MORE people might read it if I respond (i.e. I may have bumped the post up the list, whereas if I had left it alone, it would have been destined to languish in obscurity forevermore.
Might it trigger an online argument, which never looks good.

And I might on balance decide to let sleeping dogs lie.

Re: Trial by Facebook

Kishor Mahind — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 14:23:49 GMT

Social media is double edged sword!

You only need to look at whats happening in USA to get an idea, it can be devastating at times to have morons like what you had to vent their anger on facebook - why not - its free after all!!

Have a look at this -

https://www.facebook.com/regretavet

and this

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-veterinarian-driven-suicide-cat-custody-fight-article-1.1701820#ixzz2uYtI3O3R

a vet was driven to suicide due to bullying (including cyber bullying) by 'animal rescue' people.

So my advise will be to have someone (practice manager / head nurse / yourself) who will monitor all the activities and the post on your pages daily and reply to them or take action immediately (by either deleting them or just asking them to contact the surgery). You have to be on top of this all the time, don't let these kind of posts remain on your wall for long.

Hope this helps