HD admitted it was a single call, and complainant can’t be reached on follow up calls. This competitor has been spreading false rumors around town, encouraging their family to post about us in a negative light and harassing us online. All of my clients have recently left positive reviews and we have received zero complaints directly from actual clients. How should I handle harassment at the hands of a local competitor?
Ignore it and keep executing to best of your ability. The fact that competition is worried about you is an indication that you’re successful, They feel threatened and are lashing out.
If they post fake reviews, dispute them up to the limit. But as much as it hurts emotionally, people like this are mostly just noise. It sounds like you are running the actual customer-facing portion of your business well. Why change? Why go out of your way and waste your limited energy on actual haters? TBH, if this is how the competition responds, you probably dont need to worry about them in the long run. I would be more concerned by the competitor that tries to improve their product or service.