Let's Talk About Reviews (and the Reality of Running a Small Business in a Digital Age)
Running a small business has its challenges in the digital age.
As a small business, we truly value every single client who trusts us to help with their real estate journey. Whether you’re buying your first condo in Pasadena or selling your mid-century home in Palm Springs, we understand how important your time, investment, and expectations are. Let's be honest, we wouldn't have been successful for the past 25 years if we didn't provide the best service possible. That’s why we’ve always made it our mission for everyone on our team to provide a quality experience for our clients—prompt, professional, and personal.
But let’s be real for a moment.
We’re living in a chaotic, multimedia world. There are so many ways someone can reach out to us these days. Here are just a few:
- Phone calls and voicemail
- Text messages
- Emails (to multiple team members)
- Instagram DMs
- Facebook Messenger
- Facebook Groups (comments or tags)
- Contact forms on websites
- Zillow, Redfin, and other property platforms
- Google Business messaging
- Even job sites like Indeed
We do our absolute best to monitor every one of these channels. We have a team member dedicated to responding to new inquiries all day. We have many systems created to respond to inquiries on various platforms. But even with systems in place, things can slip through the cracks. Not because we don’t care—we care deeply—but because we're a small team trying to do big things, and sometimes the digital chaos gets the better of us.
When we hear someone say, “They never got back to me,” our hearts sink. Because we know that, even if it wasn’t intentional, we may have missed an opportunity to help someone, and that bums us out. We rely on servicing our clients—that’s how we make a living. So if we dropped the ball, please accept our sincere apology.
It’s important to remember: we’re human. We’re not perfect. But we’re trying, every day, to do our best.
So before leaving a one-star review, especially if the issue was a delayed response, we kindly ask that you consider this: Maybe the method you used to reach out isn’t one we check frequently. Maybe your message got buried in the algorithm. Or maybe we just made a mistake. We're not trying to make excuses. Unfortunately, though, it happens. And we'll do everything in our power to rectify our errors.
But if you're ever in doubt, please pick up the phone and call us at (760) 459-1396. Old school, sure—but still the most direct way to reach a human on our team. Paul Kaplan reviews all incoming voice messages himself and forwards them to the best person to provide a timely response.
We truly respect your time, your goals, and your trust. We’ll continue doing our best to offer exceptional service, whether it’s your first home, your dream home, or anything in between.
Thanks for supporting small businesses like ours. We’re grateful for you.
Warmly,
Paul Kaplan
The Paul Kaplan Group
Palm Springs & Pasadena Real Estate Experts
