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I am convinced that there are individuals out there who are PAID to post favorable of Yelp and other review websites. I have never been approached personally but I suspect that a couple of my acquaintances have been writing paid reviews.
If I am unhappy with my experiences at a restaurant or hotel, I generally write a letter to the general manager of the business. Generally, you get almost instant response and the issue gets resolved.
I will say that I am EXTREMELY tired of being approached at check-in and check-out by employees asking me to rank them "5 out of 5" when I receive a survey from their parent company. My response has been "do you think you EARNED 5 out of 5."
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As for those who doubt that there are paid reviewers, I posted an unfavorable review of a Las Vegas restaurant. Within an hour, I had this guy attacking me saying that I was "unfamiliar with the cuisine" and that I ordered "the wrong food." I noticed that this poster would respond to ANY criticism on any message board or review site. After a while, it became rather humorous.
There's a particular restaurant owner here who comes to mind who posts mocking messages to every Yelp reviewer who has anything even slightly critical in their review of his establishment. But I don't get how that has any bearing on whether or not there are paid reviewers out there. I don't know, I've been writing reviews for Yelp for seven years or so, now, and have yet to receive one red cent from anyone and don't expect that I will. I've also never been leaned on to "be sure you give us a good review." It's not like anybody even knows that I write reviews.
Negative reviews on Yelp is a big problem for business owners. However, I would suggest to take care of your customers and if anyone is not happy get in touch with them and ask the problem they faced and provide solution. Apart from this, give them free goodies or any voucher or anything which will make them happy. For instance, you are restaurant owner offer them free meal and in return ask them to change the review or post new review with 5 start rating.
Also, make sure that you keep track of every buyer and don't forget to track and report negative reviews to Yelp. In this way you can achieve a good rating on Yelp.
I just posted a review for a salon near atlanta.
I related my horrible experience there 5 days ago...now the rep.from this SWaRMy, place is making rude juvenile comments dismissing my experience and review.
Funny, that what I'm complaining about is also mentioned from other patrons.
I feel like posting back the dirty secret hairdressers have told me about this place just to be an ass.
It's rather humorous how they keep coming back to my review and basically saying I don't know what I'm talking about.
I am in the process of opening a business and created a yelp profile with my hours, address, and a few pictures. I am not yet open. About a week ago a one-star review was posted claiming that my food was greasy and salty and I was rude and arrogant, again I have not conducted a single transaction yet. I flagged the review, this is the response I received: "We rely on community engagement to help keep Yelp useful, and although we didn’t agree that this content should come down, we appreciate you bringing it to our attention."
The profile that left the review had no previous reviews or activity on Yelp, and as I'm not yet open there is no possibility of this review being authentic.. Why would Yelp refuse to take it down? Has anyone out there had similar experiences?
you should have no problem having that post taken down.
keep contacting the company.
sometimes a better way of dealing with this is to do an owner's reply to the review and point out that you're not even open yet, use humor, and patrons who read it will understand.
I just posted a review for a salon near atlanta.
I related my horrible experience there 5 days ago...now the rep.from this SWaRMy, place is making rude juvenile comments dismissing my experience and review.
Funny, that what I'm complaining about is also mentioned from other patrons.
I feel like posting back the dirty secret hairdressers have told me about this place just to be an ass.
It's rather humorous how they keep coming back to my review and basically saying I don't know what I'm talking about.
That's really sad to know that how they responded to your negative comments. I think that should apologize to you for bad service and either refund you the money or they should provide you free voucher to use their service and providing better experience with their service.
Many owners just go mad after seeing negative review from their buyer..I think they should take it positively and take it a chance to improve their service and customer satisfaction level.
That's really sad to know that how they responded to your negative comments. I think that should apologize to you for bad service and either refund you the money or they should provide you free voucher to use their service and providing better experience with their service.
Many owners just go mad after seeing negative review from their buyer..I think they should take it positively and take it a chance to improve their service and customer satisfaction level.
You are right, they should and many do, but with social media what it is, often, reviews are not totally accurate. In fact many are down right false. I have seen this more than once. Just look what happened to the OP.
I use Yelp to get a feel for the food quality in a restaurant and all I get is reviews based on whether the host was nice or not, whether the server was attentive or not, or whether, they had to wait for the food.
These folks will write endless paragraphs about how they feel the service was this or that and never mention the food.
This sin is committed by those that give bad reviews and glowing reviews. The evaluations are based on whether they had a nice server or not.
I could care less if the waiter has no personality as long as the food is great. In fact, I prefer waiters with no personalities and feel uncomfortable with the ones that are way too attentive.
And why do these folks have such high expectations when they go to a chain restaurant?
I haven't found Yelp to be much help, haha I rhymed. I have seen reviews for a Chinese restaurant near me that has the worst food I have ever eaten but some reviews claimed it was the best Chinese food ever. Do they just not know good Chinese food or are they employees or friends of the restaurant owner? I look for a recurring theme when I check a place out on Yelp. If there are 10 good reviews and one very long, detailed awful review I don't give it a lot of credence. Same thing when you check out apartment ratings. Seems like only the disgruntled people post on them.
When I do a review I talk about the food but I also talk about the service. Did the host make me wait too long? Did I have to wait a long time to get a server? Did they get my order right. Eating out is more than just the food, it's the whole experience. Would you want to go to a place that had delicious food but horrible, rude hosts and wait staff?
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Restaurant Reviews at Yelp
