AITA for leaving a repairman a bad review for flirting with my wife?

A Redditor shared a troubling story about an air conditioning repairman who crossed boundaries with his wife. While fixing the air conditioner during an emergency call, the technician allegedly made suggestive comments and refused to leave right away, even offering to “stay the night to keep her safe.”

The shaken wife shared her experience with her husband, who left a detailed review warning others. However, the company owner asked for the review to be taken down, claiming it was a misunderstanding. Was the Redditor justified in leaving the review, or did they take things too far? Read the full story below!

‘ AITA for leaving a repairman a bad review for flirting with my wife?’

The air conditioner broke last week while I was out of town and my wife had to call an emergency technician in the middle of the night. A company we’d used before without issues sent a guy over. He fixed the air conditioner no problem, but once he’d left I woke up to a million missed texts and calls from my wife, who was hysterical.

Apparently within minutes of showing up he made comments about her body and other suggestive statements. She made it clear she wasn’t interested without being outright rude because she didn’t want him to get mad and leave without fixing the air conditioner.

The tech kept trying to put moves on her, then after he’d fixed the A/C, he didn’t leave right away, trying to feed her some lines about how she seemed to be home alone and he could “spend the night to make sure she was safe.”

Eventually he realized he was driving down a dead end and left, but the whole thing just really freaked her out, having some guy in the house who didn’t leave when asked and everything. I was pissed to hear about all this, and she was shaken up by the incident, so we left a review on their Google and Yelp pages saying what had happened.

The company is pretty small so the owner called me to apologize a couple days later and said the tech had had a few drinks that night, not expecting to be called out to an emergency job, and that “his sense of humor had clearly been misinterpreted” by my wife.

He asked me to take my review down because it called the tech out by first name and apparently a review saying he was coming onto a female customer could cause some personal problems for the guy.

The owner also reasoned that the business was an air conditioner repair business, not a bedside manner business, and that they did fix the air conditioner, so deserved a higher rating. I told them our review stands, and they basically said we were assholes for threatening the reputation of their business and the personal reputation of the tech over a single misunderstanding.

On the one hand, they did fix the air conditioner, and that’s what we called them to do. On the other hand, I feel like this is relevant information for people considering hiring them, even if it was a one time thing.. AITA?

Let’s dive into the reactions from Reddit:

br-at- −  NTA. maybe update the review to add that they apparently drove drunk to your house? not sure how that was supposed to exonerate anything.

mynoolie −  NTA. They justified his behaviour, then put the blame on your wife for misinterpreting his behaviour. This is such a huge turn off. The company showed you it’s views on how its employees are allowed to act. It’s gross. Leave a bad review! In fact, think of it this way. By leaving the review, you are helping some other woman, maybe one who is less confident than your wife, not get into a similar situation.

lightwoodorchestra −  NTA. That’s not ‘flirting’, it’s harassment and it sounds absolutely terrifying for your wife. Then the owner called you and was like ‘well, he was drunk at work, so no biggie right??’

tinymothtoaflame −  NTA. He s**ual harassed your wife. What a sucky apology by the company. For that, he deserves a followup bad review. The owner may not have control of how an employee behaves, but he has absolute control over setting standards and deciding who works there. So the owner admits the guy was drunk on the job.

Then he downplayed the harassment and how your wife felt because it was all a joke? Finally, he basically argued how his employees treat customers shouldn’t count as much as doing a technical job. Never mind if that customer feels scared and threatened.

You didn’t cause personal problems for that guy. He did by his actions. I think most women would be grateful for the review. Who wants to be s**ual harassed and feel unsafe in their homes so the AC works? If the company wants a better review, they need to hire better people.

Edit: I changed a spelling error. I also changed ‘females’ to ‘women’ since someone pointed out ‘women’ is a more appropriate term, and I agree. Wow. Thanks strangers! My first awards! My first gold!

CaptainBeverlyPicard −  NTA.

1. Why would they send even a marginally i**oxicated tech to fix anything? That’s a major liability issue from the moment he gets in his vehicle.

2. How is it your fault if an accurate account of this guy’s behavior causes him personal problems? If my husband hits on a customer and the customer complains and I leave him, that’s my husband fault because HIS behavior initiated the chain of events.

3. Why should any customer need to interpret an employee’s sense of humor? While you’re working there should be no humor that could, under any circumstances, make me question your motives or intentions. The fact that the company is covering for him speaks volumes about the company’s values and lack of basic respect for their customers.

4. Since when are Google and Yelp reviews ever strictly related to quality of work without considering customer service? I’m checking reviews specifically to avoid the company that hires creepy dudes who might drink before work then make female customers uncomfortable with their highly inappropriate comments about spending the night. This dude can GTFO here with his b**lshit. Leave that review up so young single women especially know what they’re walking into before they call this place.

ArtisanalPixels −  NTA! No wonder your wife was so upset. He was way out of line. That’s actually terrifying. Joking or not, that’s a nightmare scenario. A guy in my house, stepping outside his professional capacity to make comments about my body and make a point to mention that he knows I’m alone?

It doesn’t matter how he intended it to come across, the result was she felt genuinely threatened. And he was drunk on top of that! Good lord. His boss is an AH too for trying to defend it. “Misinterpreted” my foot.

[Reddit User] −  NTA- But i would have let the owner know that he just admitted to DUI and you were gonna inform the police.

danny2787 −  NTA. Reviews are not just about the end results. Customer service is a big part of any business. What happened was inappropriate. The fact the owner didn’t take the incident seriously makes me think the review is very much needed.

Frittzy1960 −  Used to have a kitchen business. We used a particular electrical contractor until we had 2 complaints in quick succession about one of their employees hitting on the female clients.

A call to the company resulted in the owner saying “he is just going through a tough time because his girlfriend left him and yes, we will still be using him for your jobs.” No you won’t because you aren’t getting any more jobs off us! Owner was pissed he lost our business because of this but his own fault – he had other employees he could have sent. We were sending over $100k a year his way until this happened.

strike_match −  NTA. As a woman, getting hit on when you’re alone in your home with someone who is on the clock is super uncomfortable and often scary. Your review may stop him from having the opportunity to do this to other people.

Do you think the Redditor was right to leave the review to protect future customers, or should they have accepted the company’s apology and taken it down? How would you handle a situation where a professional crossed personal boundaries in your home? Share your thoughts in the comments below!