The topic of vaccination is one that keeps dividing people, especially in this day and age where Covid-19 is still here and very much alive.
A neighbourhood cafe in KL by the name of Rather Good Beans (RGB) has recently been attacked by an anti-vaxxer group.
The attack comes in the form of leaving bad reviews on their Google page as the cafe had announced that they will only allow those who are vaccinated and “low risk” profiles to dine in.
In a Facebook post, they have noted that their Google page that they have been consistently monitoring over the past 8 years has taken a dip from 4.2 stars to 3.7 stars in less than 3 days.
A quick look at the Google page shows many 1 star reviews, nasty comments and even alleged false claims.
In the mixture of reviews, there have been many loyal customers who have put in their good reviews along with picture proof as well.
Continuing the post, the cafe explains why they enforced the policy which states that only those who are vaccinated and “low risk” profiles can dine in the cafe.
“One is that we don’t want to risk unvaccinated guests from catching Covid at our place. Secondly, we want to minimize the risk to our other guests and team members from catching Covid at our place.”
Li, the cafe owner says that it was never a top-down directive and it was a team decision as they have an elderly worker in the cafe.
“As a business owner, I support the decision of my team members about the environment they want to work in comfortably.”
She elaborates and says that it’s actually easier to not care and just allow customers to come and go and they will earn more money from that. But the thing is, they do care and would want to minimize the risk of anyone getting Covid-19, be it their customers or employees.
“I, personally, know someone who hasn’t recovered their sense of taste and smell for 2 years – that would be career ending for us in the Coffee Roastery and Bar and Kitchen business.”
When speaking to WORLD OF BUZZ, Li said that the Google ranking dipping is quite painful to them and it will probably affect future customers in finding them.
“This whole situation has demoralized a whole lot of team members who worked very hard to maintain our Google rating,” she added.
“I am tired. We are tired. It has not been easy going through the ups and downs. It is not easy to face the huge current challenges in the F&B industry. We just want to cook, clean, roast coffee and give our guests a pleasant break in their busy lives.”
As there is little to what they can do about these Google reviews even when the reviewers admit to being fake, RGB cafe has urged their customers who believe in them to help them out by leaving a positive review on their Google review page.
Well, this is a business that is sustaining the lives of many people. Leaving fake bad reviews will definitely affect the reputation of an establishment and affect their livelihood.
What is your take on this? Let us know in the comments.
UPDATE: Li has informed us that pursuant to our article, Google has taken down the reviews by the anti-vaxxers!
Also read: SPM Candidates Bombard Resort With Bad Reviews After They Got The Name Wrong In Listening Test
