Yelp

[Yppej]

I used to love to write and have now started doing Yelp reviews. It's a free hobby and allows me to rave and rant to my heart's content.

[iris lilies]

I used to love to write and have now started doing Yelp reviews. It's a free hobby and allows me to rave and rant to my heart's content.


I make an occasional Yelp review. Cant think of one that was not positive.

[Yppej]

A lot of people do reviews for restaurants, but I have tackled the cable company and the utility company, where there is insufficient competition and poor customer service, among others. I rarely go out to eat.

[rosarugosa]

I've done a few when I was either exceptionally pleased or exceptionally displeased.

[sweetana3]

I like to do them to provide factual information to others. I have been helped by these reviews when traveling and want to help others.

But like Amazon reviews, I carefully consider the words of others and whether it was an unusual situation that are writing about. And it is true that the Olive Garden down the street does not generate any need but the expensive hot new place who disappoints or impresses does need a review.

[razz]

I used to think that such reviews were helpful. I am now reading that the review process is being abused. A motorcycle group, Hells Angels I believe, mass blitzed a restaurant.
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-hells-angels-business-reviews-1.4608271
"When the president of the Manitoba Nomads, a chapter of the outlaw motorcycle gang the Hells Angels, heard his members had been turned away from a hotel for wearing their trademark logos, he called on them to boycott the business.

They obeyed Dale Kelland in droves.

On March 27, supporters took to social media to express their displeasure with the Marion Hotel. When the small Winnipeg business removed its Facebook page, the bikers and their friends turned their attention to the Marion Street Eatery, the restaurant in the hotel.

Within 24 hours hundreds of people, most of them from outside Canada, posted one-star reviews on the restaurant's Facebook page, reducing its 4.5-star reputation to three stars overnight."
One more way that an internet service that did help customers has now been damaged. It is making the review process almost worthless.
I have submitted reviews to travel agencies, Amazon, etc mostly positive but with special note of extra care received or to suggest minor improvements

[SteveinMN]

I take Yelp reviews with a grain of salt the size of an ice cube. Actually, I do that for all customer-generated reviews. My experience is that 1) too many people express their unrelated displeasure with something with a poor review ("The item arrived broken so I'm giving it one star"); 2) many people are unqualified to write a useful review ("Olive Garden is the best Italian food!!"; undisclosed relationships, etc.); and 3) it's too easy for one reviewer (disgruntled or otherwise) to copy/paste their review on multiple sites (it looks like many people are unhappy but the details of the situation make it pretty obvious it's the same reviewer).

Sure, those reviews can be filtered out as I research. But it does diminish the value of research sites for me. I wish there were some way to ensure the integrity of reviews and reviewers that goes beyond sheer volume or use of their real name.

[ToomuchStuff]

I talked with some friends who are computer illiterate (have me do stuff), about their restaurant the other day. The review sites have a mixed effect. Don't go posting a menu, which will be dated (and other sites harvest that information and then are incorrect). That causes one series of problems. Their other series is so many of these places, then start calling them and harassing them to sign up (again, they are computer illiterate and don't care/have time to learn). Their advertising "budget" has been pretty much zero, since they opened, and are word of mouth.
I look at reviews typically, for places that I have to virtually deal with, not really local places.

[pinkytoe]

I used Yelp (and other review sites) to find a dentist since we were new in town. Apparently, a big mistake on my part to rely on that as it has not been a good experience.

[Lainey]

I recall seeing a YouTube video of a hidden camera showing 2 young adult women demanding that the waiter bring them a free dessert or else they would give the place a negative review on Yelp. They were caught out, of course, only because of the camera evidence, but it made me wonder how many others give subtle/not so subtle threats that we just don't know about?

For that reason I also am skeptical. But in a pinch it could be useful by tossing out the highest and lowest reviews?

[sweetana3]

That is why you have to read many of the reviews, look at the pictures, and make your own decisions. Same on Amazon. But I will err on the side of believing specific content when there are choices.

[ApatheticNoMore]

yelp is so gamed, companies totally manipulate the reviews in their favor.

[Simplemind]

I like to read reviews before I buy something. On Amazon I will click on reviewers to see their other reviews. I like to see somebody with a range of experiences and likes in their reviews. I used to write a lot for Amazon but rarely do anymore. I use TripAdvisor frequently and have many reviews with them.

[SteveinMN]

I like to read reviews, too, especially since they often will highlight aspects of the item (good or bad) which are important to me but not visible in the pictures or mentioned in the Product Description. I'm just wary of the hidden axes present in some reviews. :)

[JaneV2.0]

yelp is so gamed, companies totally manipulate the reviews in their favor.

I wrote a few Yelp reviews--both positive and not so--but they were soon relegated to Yelp purgatory, where you had to go out of your way to read them--and I have no idea why. For that reason, I'm not a fan.

[heatmiser]

I like to read reviews, too, especially since they often will highlight aspects of the item (good or bad) which are important to me but not visible in the pictures or mentioned in the Product Description. I'm just wary of the hidden axes present in some reviews. :)

--I know what you mean...in my experience the more pure "service" providers like restaurants or motels can be subject to whatever
idiosyncracies or violent mood swings are associated with the viewer, so I never trust restaurant or motel reviews from Yelp.

The more non-emotional services like plumbers or repairmen or electricians are a completely different matter,
the Yelp reviewers are far less emotional or spiteful, and concentrate on the specific details of the service.
THOSE reviews have been very helpful to me.