Do you Yelp?

[Colonel Sanders]

I'm thinking specifically of restaurants. I've only done it once and that was after getting what was seriously some of most overpriced barbecue chicken and ribs that I can honestly say I've ever had in my life. It was $23 for not very much food that was truly subpar. I wouldn't have bothered if I hadn't tried it a year+ before and had the same experience. My thinking was that everyone can have a bad experience and there was a sign out in front proclaiming "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT!!!"

But it still sucked so I gave it a one star on Yelp.

Then I saw the South Park episode about Yelp food critics and felt kind of guilty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You're_Not_Yelping?previous=yes

But I've only Yelped once.

Is a complaint better served being made at a restaurant in person though? Honestly, I don't know. I hate the idea that they're going to throw free stuff at me because that's not what I want. And I certainly wouldn't expect a refund because I don't want to look like an asshole who's just trying to eat for free. My ex's brother and wife were the worst human beings on the planet when it came to eating in restaurants because they complained about everything all the time. Even in the Taco Bell drive through they somehow manage to wrangle up these crazy custom orders that would baffle an experienced wait staff at a fine French restaurant. And when the restaurant got it wrong, you better believe they were gonna hear about it.

So anyway, is Yelp fair to restaurants? It's not matter of whether someone has the right to complain. The question is whether should they complain on Yelp before telling the restaurant what the problem is?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Trip Advisor and in general I try to be as concise in a review as possible. I've had a really bad review, only average or disappointed. But I generally try to review every place, to reduce the 'on bad reviews' noise.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gmbteach]

We try to review where possible. We find the reviews helpful and generally head to the negative ones to see what the problem was. If it was lack of a lift in a medieval coaching inn, that is not a reason to forgo the place, lack of clean linens however, is.

We did leave one bad review for a place that was dirty, dusty, musty, threadbare sheets and overall quite creepy and unwelcoming. It didn't feel good to do it, but felt it needed to be done.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

We try to review where possible. We find the reviews helpful and generally head to the negative ones to see what the problem was. If it was lack of a lift in a medieval coaching inn, that is not a reason to forgo the place, lack of clean linens however, is.

We did leave one bad review for a place that was dirty, dusty, musty, threadbare sheets and overall quite creepy and unwelcoming. It didn't feel good to do it, but felt it needed to be done.

I think when looking at reviews, my first thing is to look at the histogram of 5 to 1 star. If that data implies a parabola with decreasing numbers from 5 to 1, then I just check a couple of the 1 star date of review s to see if times had changed (new management?).

If it is linear from 5 to 1, I'll give the 3 star reviews a look. These people typically aren't uberly critical, so the information is more restrained useful than people that act as if sub par service is an automatic 1.

If 1 to 3 are near equal, I'll scour the reviews from good to bad. I usually wouldn't go to a place with that distribution. It typically implies anything goes, also too expensive for what you get.

 

[Horatio Parker]

I did it once to a neighborhood repair shop that flunked my car's annual state inspection due to its tires.

Which I subsequently learned are not included in the test.

 

[ZiprHead]

Thinking about doing one right now. My wife called a few construction/remodeling companies looking to get estimates on roof repairs for her father's home. One company's salesperson was very pushy and insisted that there is a $75 fee for the inspection/estimate. I just saw a commercial for this company on TV that clearly says estimates a free. May these people be buggared by syphilitic goats.

 

[Malintent]

I am a regular yelper. I use the service extensively (along with Tripadvisor).

You need to pretty much ignore any reviews from a place that has very few reviews... and just concede it is an unknown.
For places that have extensive reviews, Jimmy Higgins (above) has the right approach...

I provide feedback on both the places I liked, and those I did not. although, I hate crowds, and as such I tend to more consistently provide negative feedback than positive... I rather take away business from a terrible place than contribute to the crowding of the places I do like.

 

[TSwizzle]

I've used yelp and tripadvisor to post positive and negative reviews . I have used tripadvisor to get a handle on hotels. Some of the negative reviews are so over the top.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I've used yelp and tripadvisor to post positive and negative reviews . I have used tripadvisor to get a handle on hotels. Some of the negative reviews are so over the top.

A lot of reviews just suck. "I loved it!" "Worst place in hell!"