Many small business owners still abide by the old adage, “the customer is always right.”
But Virginia’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, Winsome Earle-Sears, often took the opposite approach as the owner of a plumbing and appliance repair business: She appeared to regularly debate and argue with her customers on review websites over the course of several years.
“I warn other companies of the treatment that we received at the hands of this customer,” wrote “the owner” of Shenandoah Appliance Plumbing and Electric in response to a one-star Google review of the business.
The customer had accused Earle-Sears’ business of breaking two scheduled appointments.
“Be aware of people who like to make their business look like they have done no wrong … Don’t care attitude won’t be around much longer with her around... she’s a wak Job,” the anonymous customer snapped back in the Google review exchange.
The back-and-forth from 2019 is emblematic of numerous online spats Earle-Sears appears to have had with upset customers over Google and other review platforms, such as Yelp. They serve as reminders of the Virginia lieutenant governor’s pugilistic style that Virginia voters in November will choose to embrace or reject when selecting the purple state’s next chief executive.
Earle-Sears is facing former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia Democrat, to replace Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is outgoing because Virginia governors can’t serve consecutive terms. It will be one of the highest-profile races in 2025 that will test voters’ appetites in the second Trump era.
In another 2019 exchange, a customer wrote on Google that Shenandoah Appliance Plumbing and Electric was “the worst company I have ever dealt with” after what he described as repeated failed attempts to fix a broken washer.
“They left my washer in pieces for a month which is how long they worked on it for. In the end they refused to complete the job and answer phone calls from myself,” said the user.
In a lengthy “response from the owner” on Google, Shenandoah Appliance Plumbing accused the customer of “constant harassment, the mind changing the non-communication between you, your wife, your mother, the warranty company, and us.”
The company’s Yelp page lists “Winsome Sears” as the “business owner.” She is the only owner of the business listed in Virginia corporation records. The Earle-Sears campaign did not respond to several requests for comment this week, including whether she personally ran the accounts that appear as hers.
But her apparent online sparring could undercut a key campaign component — her business acumen — as Earle-Sears seeks a promotion to governor from her current post as lieutenant governor.
In her first TV campaign ad, Earle-Sears touts how she “built a business.” Her website notes she’s a “trained electrician and successful businesswoman.” As governor, Earle-Sears promises she would “protect Virginia’s business- and worker-friendly environment that has contributed to our increased job growth, higher wages, and lower unemployment rates.”
“To some voters, her background running a small business may give her a little more credibility when she brings up economic issues. One of her big themes has been protecting Virginia’s status as a right to work state, for instance,” said J. Miles Coleman, associate editor at Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
In Earle-Sears’ 2023 autobiography “How Sweet It Is,” she wrote that “for the most part, our customers were great, and we strove to give them the best service possible. This is how even the inconveniences of life can bring blessings with them. Many of our customers simply wanted prayer! Imagine that! So either I or our repairman would pray for them.”
The reviews suggest customers actually wanted more.
Yelp reviewers gave the business a combined 2.6 stars on a 5-star scale across 17 reviews. The majority of those offered either 1-star or 2-star reviews.
“The lady who answered when I called was rude and nasty and would not listen to anything I had to say after she called her tech,” wrote “Jenn S.” from Martinburg, West Virginia., who had sought help with her stove and dryer and gave a 1-star review.
“Read all the other reviews — this place is a complete scam,” Nichelle W. of Round Hill, Virginia, wrote in September 2016. “I had a similar experience where they took my money, and repaired nothing, even after repeated visits … What makes things worse is that, from what [I] am told, this place is owned by a one time elected public official.”
To that customer, Earle-Sears appeared to personally reply on Yelp.
“It is unfortunate that this customer is blaming us for damage (that we pointed out to her) which existed prior to our arrival and which contributed to the reason her unit did not work,” said the account that appears to be Earle-Sears’.
Several users were satisfied with the business’s services and offered 5-star or 4-star reviews.
“They returned my voice mail promptly, made an appointment right away, and showed up on time as promised,” one Yelp user from Stephens City, Virginia, wrote in 2018.
“The lady on the phone, the men that came by, all professional and good natured,” another user, from Winchester, Virginia, wrote.
Meanwhile, Google reviewers gave the self-identified “Black-owned,” “veteran-owned,” “women-owned” Shenandoah Appliance Plumbing and Electric a combined 3.1 stars on a 5-star scale across 45 reviews.
In 2019, Shenandoah Appliance Plumbing and Electric engaged in a tit-for-tat with a customer who described several problems with the company’s handling of his washing machine.
“I wouldn’t hire this company again due to their office management and ownership,” said the reviewer, who gave the business a 1-star review.
“From the very beginning, this customer diagnosed his problem himself and had purchased from the manufacturer his part, and then called us to install it. So, we were helping him by asking him to return to the manufacturer to obtain the part,” the company “owner” wrote back. “Furthermore, the customer was hostile and abusive from the beginning, but we decided to stick with it and try to help him.”
In 2018, another 1-star reviewer who said they worked with Shenandoah Appliance Plumbing and Electric through a home warranty company wrote on Google that Earle-Sears’ company “failed utterly to communicate in a timely fashion. All I wanted was a reasonable explanation of the delay or at least an update that I didn’t have to solicit from them.”
A “response from the owner” called the customer “angry” four times.
“So you were very angry when this started,” said the comment. “You were angry again to learn that the part needed was on backorder and would take sometime to come. You then called our office and berated the staff very angrily. We thought it best to have your warranty company transfer you to a different company.”
Phone calls were a common theme among customer complaints.
“Prepare to be treated poorly when you call and it only gets worse from there. Its been over a week and all im being told is ‘we will call you when the parts are in’ if you ask any more questions, she will hang up on you.”
The “owner” wrote back.
“Both of my Techs were ill with the stomach flu,” said the response. “Unfortunately, because they were working together, they both caught the same bug from each other. We did not want you to become sick as well--or any of our other customers to be at risk. However, when I explained that to you, you became angry. You then came to our business and threatened our establishment. At that point, we were unable to help you further.”
In her book, Earle-Sears also accused “a few” customers of being “out to get service without paying, or claim damages our guys had nothing to do with, and have us pay for the repairs.” She would “mark preexisting damage and record it with photos to protect ourselves.”
She also criticized some home warranty companies with whom her company did business as “extremely shady and untrustworthy” and “scam artists.”
Ultimately, Earle-Sears closed her business during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She blamed the “government’s botched response” to COVID-19 and said she faced challenges like being unable to rehire employees as reasons for its failure.
Shenandoah Appliance Plumbing and Electric received two COVID-era Paycheck Protection Program loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration, according to federal records compiled by nonprofit news organization ProPublica. Together, they totaled more than $102,000, and the federal government forgave both loans, according to the records.
It was after her business closed that she ran for Virginia lieutenant governor, a position she won in November 2021.
So far, Virginia Democrats have not highlighted Earle-Sears’ business background in their messaging against her. Instead, they have focused their firepower on Earle-Sears’ seemingly dismissive comments about laid-off federal workers in Virginia, including purchasing billboards slamming Earle-Sears.
Connor Joseph, a Spanberger campaign spokesperson, declined to comment for this story.
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Dave Levinthal is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist.