Usually, when a place asks you to leave a review, you would leave an honest one. If they expect all reviews to be perfect, then they shouldn’t ask for them in the first place. A South Carolina woman was left shocked after her Pilates studio banned her from going there again. Guess the reason? She was banned because she left them a 4-star review. The woman shared that she had just moved to the area and decided to visit that specific studio because it offered different things. So to her, it looked professional. The studio uses a booking platform so members can book their classes through it. After that, it asks them to leave a review. Well, they should have put a disclaimer that not all reviews were welcome.
The South Carolina woman shared how she left a review based on her experience, thinking nothing of it. It wasn’t like she wrote any insults in her review. She simply mentioned the things she liked and the things she didn’t. She even gave them 4 stars; that’s pretty good in my eyes. In her video, she took her time to explain why she gave 4 stars instead of 5, and her explanation was reasonable. Imagine her surprise when she returned to the booking platform to find that she no longer had her all-access pass. They also unbooked the classes she had previously booked. When she went to the studio to ask if what happened was an error, the studio’s owner didn’t hesitate to tell her that she had revoked her access because of the review she left. That is simply insane.
The studio’s owner didn’t stop there. She continued saying that she didn’t need this kind of “negative energy.” So now people consider a 4-star review negative energy? That was definitely a stupid move on her part. If she thought that a 4-star review was bad, then she is probably livid at the reviews people are leaving her now. Currently, the studio’s rating on Yelp is 1.3 stars. It would be difficult to recover from this.
People Reacting to the South Carolina Woman’s Experience
People were just as shocked as the South Carolina woman after they learned of what happened. Not many people could believe that any sane person would think that a 4-star review is bad. “In what world is a 4 star review bad?” one woman asked. This made another woman try to explain as she said, “Unfortunately corporate sees it more like 1- horrible 2 – bad 3-barely acceptable 4- okay 5- Great. Some customers see it that way too.” Okay doesn’t sound bad either. Apparently, someone saw the owner’s response, and they found it insane. “Her latest video is hilarious, she’s basically blaming it on your heart chakra, that you being judgmental isn’t a good intention…yeah I do yoga she’s the yoga version of when people take therapy words to hurt others…,” they wrote. What does the heart chakra even have to do with ratings?
More people came after the South Carolina Pilates studio and its owner. One person suggested how the studio should have responded, as they said, “Business owners take notes: ‘Hi Cait! We appreciate your feedback and are glad you enjoyed your class overall. We are always looking for ways to improve the experience for everyone! We hope you can come back and we can make the experience 5 stars!’.” That would have been a perfect response. Someone else pointed out that they don’t even trust 5-star reviews. “The funny thing is, if I see a 5 star review, I tend not to believe it. 4 out of 5 is what I WANT to see! Because that way I know the review is honest and valid. What a control freak!” they wrote. The only good thing here is that the girl got a refund for her membership.
