Trolls are sadists. Is that too harsh? It might be, but it’s true. They are unhappy people who get enjoyment from cruelty. I’ll admit that leaving a nasty and false apartment review is not the cruelest thing one can do, but the people who do it are gaining some sort of emotional benefit from your suffering. That’s a sadist.
Now that we put that out there, it should be clear just how big of a deal it is when you call someone a troll. There is a big difference between a negative review and troll review. And, the majority of negative reviews are not actually from trolls. We can solve most of the issues with a little customer experience management and problem solving.
However, we will occasionally find ourselves in a bitter battle with a troll. How do we know the difference between an unhappy customer and a troll?
Here are 5 ways to spot a troll in apartment reviews.
1. Strong opinions and little knowledge
You will find that people with the strongest opinions have the very smallest amount of personal experience. When you push them for examples, they don’t have any. And when you push them to share a problem for you to solve, it doesn’t really exist. They are spreading negativity just for the sake of it.
2. Entitlement
Trolls might truly think they should be the center of your universe. Didn’t you know that you should be honored to have them as a resident? And of course their time, opinion, and money are extremely valuable.
3. Really shoddy profiles
I always do a little reconnaissance work when a negative apartment review comes in, because this is the easiest and fastest way for me to spot a troll. Trolls have profiles that are incomplete or filled with typos, and they don’t have any friends.
4. Legalese
They think they speak lawyer. In fact, they think they are experts when it comes to the law and it is their job to tell you so. With this attitude comes a bit of holier-than-thou-speak as well. No matter what you say and do, it will never be correct or enough.
5. They are cowards
They are going to use the sites that allow them to be anonymous, because they are giant cowards and don’t have the guts to speak to you in person. They just want to attack; even if their problem was real, they don’t want a solution.