Thoughts on Yelp Shaming

What is Yelp shaming?

 

@Bitterbill summed it up for me. Thin skins never wins! It's also a good idea to not have several and go public angry.

 

What really agitates me is ppl getting all Yelpissy on a brewery on their OPENING day. I doubt any brewery has had a flawless victory on their opening day.

 

It's tough out there. I honestly do not trust yelp reviews from strictly a beer quality stand point for my local area. Far too many talk about things like bathrooms, the look of the waiters/attitude, the smell of the place (yes thats what/how brewing BEER smells like).

It honestly gives way too many home brewers hope that they can be successful since the majority will make blanket statements about beers being "good" and giving the place a 4.5/5. Locally speaking for my area, #1 and #2 are on the money. #10 and #17 should be 3,4 as far as beer quality goes.. I think we bark up the wrong tree if we look towards yelp to help us gauge beer quality... Yet the review/rating presence is not there at all here on BA for my local scene.. It's a bit scary out there.

I know of two places that thank yelp reviewers, as well as ask to personally contact a reviewer to correct a problem ("blonde bartender was mean to me".. "well what time were you there. i want to get this right".). I have yet to see any crazy snotty yelp remarks

 

Whether Yelp, BA forums, Facebook, etc it is always best to take the high ground even when confronted with a moronic and/or obviously false observation or accusation by a customer. Best to make a ranter look even more foolish through politeness and good customer service. If the customer isn't clearly in the wrong and ranting then certainly shaming is a good way to torpedo your business. Other customers may stay away if they think that's how you treat customers.

 

The brewery has since taken the post down from their Instagram account.

 

Wow, that is an unacceptable response from GWA.

 

Absolutely

 

Wow. We all know that social media is apart of life nowadays. So the owner of Gunwhale Ales should have known better. Not only was his response immature, it is sure to turn off potential customers. The yelp reviewer left a lame review, yes, but for the owner to publicly say what he did just shocks me. I can't imagine he was thinking clearly to respond the way he did. Incredible.

 

Yelp or other review forums will always have posts that negatively critique an establishment. A professional, concise cut and paste response should be judiciously used on negative posts that seem like trolling or vague.

 

Sorry can't get the sh*t back in the goose when it comes to the internet. There are plenty of automated backups of everything, to say nothing of the copies floating around on forums...

 

I have no idea what Yelp shaming is. What it is?

 

Businesses shouldnt fight with their customers (esspecially on social media).

Customers should be morons.

Thats all I'll say.

 

in this case, when a representative from a business that received a negative review on yelp personally calls out and lashes the poster for the negative review.

 

Sounds childish to call someone out that did a public review. I personally believe that if a person publicly post a negative review, the best response is to contact that person, if possible, inquire as to the negative review and try to compensate that person as best as possible. Going public just seems immature.

 

I review on Yelp, like I review here. I always try to give an honest opinion. Have had many spats with owners on Yelp (mostly), sporadically here, though none here are heated in any way. If they can't get it through their skull that these are costumer based reviews on specific visits and not professional writers, I can't help them.

Are there poorly written reviews, sure. Are my reviews poorly written, maybe. Though IMO for place reviews, all an owner can do is learn from what is written when a well thought out critique is voiced, or trust their plan is the best way to go and keep on that path if they don't agree with what is written. I have never seen any benefit for owners to call people out, it just makes them look petty.

 

I work in and out of the restaurant business my whole life. There are some rude people in this world no matter how you treat them. Im sure I don't to say this. From my perspective, ignore it. If they keep on, then do as you please, be rude back, whatever. But going public about it like that is a bad idea. Nobody can knock someone for defending them self against a rude as hell customer. But if it was a personal/general disagreement ex; personal choice disagreement, that is bad business.

 

And I will add that our modern hyper-instant-communicant electric reality subsumes older languages and manners. We should all be vigilant to hold standards with reverence while knowing that truth and rules never quite merge, thankfully.

 

There are a lot of stupid people on Yelp and I can certainly understand the frustration. I manage a high-volume restaurant/bar in a hotel and we have certainly had our fair share of bad reviews. Ultimately it's something you can't take personally and realistically guest perception is reality to a certain degree. Taking the criticism and using it in a productive manner is the best possible course of action. Responding in a negative manner, no matter how ridiculous the comment only negatively affects the business and its interests.

 

Where there is smoke there is fire. A coupe of odd bad reviews, so be it, but when they start building up it's not the reviewers, it's the establishment.
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