It is awful how Yelp.com reviewers are getting sued because of their freedom of speech. The format of Yelp! allows for anybody with a keyboard to flame or rant about irrelevant topics about any business. Yelp! keeps it there for the “entertainment factor” but they should monitor the reviews, have more criteria to evaluate business better, and have more qualified reviews. I used to go to Yelp! but now it’s a bunch of writing on the bathroom wall.
It’s difficult enough having a business in San Francisco – or any city with Yelpers in the mist. I had a bad experience with a company and the search results come up very high and they said that it was damaging their business. My goal is not to ruin their business but to warn people about their practices. But they fixed it. and if the owner contacts you about the review then the reviewer should update the post or remove it.
The environmental firm Sustainable Spaces broke a mirror and damaged the wood floors at my home but they fixed it after they refunded me the cost of the service and had a good chat with one of the founders. They are great guys and I doubt they would start a lawsuit but if the issue is resolved and there is no reason to have the review posted then I think it is polite to remove the post or update the situation if resolved.
The bathroom on the wall now has a signature and an IP address attached to it.
Filed under: Environment, San Francisco
“Real People, Real Reviews”??
Yelp is getting their share of bad press these days, but is it just bad luck or maybe something else? I read about Yelp on RedEye this morning where the story alleges that Yelp is “manipulating” reviews for companies that reciprocate by supplying Yelp with services at their parties etc. A trade in the advertising business is not uncommon. Thousands of advertising businesses do ‘trades’ everyday. But gaming your own review system (if there is any veracity to the allegation) is a bit beyond the pale. Review systems are put in place to give real world feedback about businesses. Good feedback rewards the company (usually) by bumping them closer to the top of a category or similarly gets them more “views” in the site that they’re on. Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppleman denied the allegations, but there are two instances noted in the article. Here is a link to story: http://redeye.chicagotribune.com/red-030909-yelp,0,3464644.story
In the past this used to be called “protection” services.
Maybe throwing elite parties takes the place of the cash envelope.