the poor reviews that occur. When I see one and ask the owner of the funeral home what happened, most often the complaint was not founded, but it is out in the public domain anyway. This is where responding is imperative. Not to argue or defend, but to tactfully post your side of what happened and assure anyone reading the review that this is not how you do business. I read one that complained about errors with the funeral service and the owner responded by acknowledging their disappointment at this family’s experience and mentioning that the staff member who created the situation was no longer with the company. Finally, there is a side to Google reviews that you may not have considered and that is the “spam” reviews that have nothing to do with your company, but just someone using an open platform to share conspiracy theories, political platforms or “work from home and make millions of dollars” types of posts. This is what happened to one company who had a very low Google rating, which I could not understand as they provided outstanding service to their families. Upon closer inspection it became clear that none of the ratings had to do with the company, but just opportunists finding an unmonitored spot to share their nonsense and give 1- or 2-star ratings. Here is a sample of what was written: “The master plan has been in the works for many decades. To pull off something this huge, it cannot be done overnight. Currently we are in a psy ops drill… this is all mass deception in order to implement their plan.” And another one on the same site: “Each continent have these harps and also have satellites, they are interconnected here on earth, with satellites in the skies. haarp has the power to do whatever they want with nature, winds, rains, heat, cold, earthquakes and tsunami.” If you don’t want your business associated with conspiracy theorists, check your Google reviews regularly. Take control of what is posted about your company or someone else will. Email Nancy at NWeil@OGR.org to request a copy of what Veterans Funeral Care sends the families they serve asking that they leave Google Reviews. www.ogr.org | The Independent® 25
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