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Special thanks to the on-the-ball tipster who informed SFist of this humorous yet slightly disturbing occurrence surrounding Yelper Marie K.'s 3-star review of Perish Trust, an antique store on Divisadero Street, last week.
See, back in December, Marie had given a fairly favorable write-up (scroll down to read "previous review" under her updated one) of the shop, which made us want to visit -- the salted caramels she mentioned were enough of an incentive. But Marie had forewarned buyers that the item she had purchased had taken quite a bit of elbow grease to clean, which was disappointing since the mark-up on the price was high. Sounds like a fair enough review.
Well, Marie stopped back into Perish Trust last weekend, eight months later, and was accosted by the man behind the counter, who said they had read her Yelp review. He then pulled out a highly accessible "Wanted" poster with her Yelp profile photo on it from behind the counter and said, "People in this neighborhood know about you." Here's how the rest of the visit went down:
At this point I am seriously weirded out and backing away from the counter... he says (almost yelling at this point), "Get out of here, we don't want you here." I say, "Ok, I'm leaving, I won't be back, but you know this isn't the way to get a good Yelp review!" He yells (seriously, eyes bugging out, voice raised, really crazy looking, starting to come out from behind the counter) "You can just leave! You think we care about your Yelp reviews?! We don't care about you!"
This puts a whole new spin on "Buyer Beware."
Update: Marie K. has since deleted her harrowing story of the Wanted poster experience and is currently working it out with The Perish Trust owners. Thanks to Tendernob for the update.
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I was recently threatened with a lawsuit by a mediocre real estate/apartment leasing agency in the city. Apparently people are unfamiliar with the concept of an "opinion" being different than "slander"
comrades, beware of the (petit) bourgeoisie! post your criticisms anonymously ..
It's clear he doesn't care.
I had a very similar issue with a coffee shop in the Mission awhile back. Now, there was no printed poster of me but the owner did humiliate me in front of peers when I returned to get coffee after a 3-star review.
Well... with this negative press on SFist, the Perish Trust won't be getting anymore business. The store should consider laying off some folks to band-aid the massive loss of money, like that guy behind the counter.
Or, it could end up like the Ha-Ra or Forever After Books, where adventurous people flock there purely to experience potential harassment by management.
I absolutely LOVE the crusty old man who runs the Ha-Ra. Good times!
or the old crank who used to own Aub Zam Zam.
There have always been conflagration between store owners and patrons, but the internet really amplifies and makes these things more knowable.
The ha ra was awesome.
I guess any publicity is good publicity for the clowns at Petite Trust.
Some of these businesses are really losing their shit. The real response to one mildly negative review would have been to enlist a few friends of the store to counter it with more positive ones.
Then that way no one would care about the bad one, and the store wouldn't have a reputation of being crazy psycho, burning candles and making wanted posters for God Knows Why?
I've got a fun situation going with one local business I gave a one-star review. They recruited customers to write positive reviews, which is no problem, except for the fact that they can't help slamming my review in theirs, or sending private messages to harass me, which also really isn't a problem. It is, however, entertaining to report the harassment and watch Yelp delete their accounts and reviews so the place is perpetually stuck at two stars.
Small businesses tend to freak out whenever any criticism goes "public" (whether it's Yelp or TripAdvisor or wherever). Seems like it'd be easier to just address the root cause of whatever the complaint was, instead of holding a psychotic vendetta for months upon months.
I've had my service refused after I posted a negative Yelp review too. Anytime that happens, it seems to me it just proves the reviewer right. :\
I know a theatre that encourages negative reviewers to come back and give them a second chance, promising to address whatever their problem was. Seems to me like that's the smart move.
Why do people still do business with companies that they’ve given bad reviews too?
If you’re going to take the time to go online and diss a company I think that means you should not be caught hanging out on their property anymore.
That would be a great question if it had anything to do with this post.
I don't think anybody goes back to places they hate, but they may give a mediocre place another try.
I made the mistake of going back to a place which I had given a 3 * review to. I updated my review (which remained at 3 stars) and basically said it had the restaurant had some good dishes and others that weren't great. The owner then sent me a very rude message.
So, of course, I have never gone there again. The funny thing is that because the place is two blocks away, I would have gone back for the things I liked. So basically the owner just lost a customer.
Her original review was pretty innocuous. If her follow up review is true the guy behind the counter is a bat shit loon.
who cares what you all think...
No soup for you!
If we all spent a little more time holding politicians like Pretty Boy Newsom's feet to the fire instead of bitching about who wore matching outfits to prom then this city might not stink like shit all night long without explanation.
Where's the grand ol' mayor with an explanation of why the entire city stunk like shit for an entire day? Or did he have his nose buried so far up some skanks ass that he didn't notice?
You people can be worse than a bunch of petulant teenagers sometimes.
Let's try to stay on topic Robin... afterall, not all of us can spend 24/7 fighting political injustice. Like you. Apparently.
Besides, what's worse than bitching about who wore matching outfits to prom? You guessed it: bitching about bitching about who wore matching outfits to prom.
Why is it that almost every single comment I read from you Robin is a post excoriating Newsom for something or other.
It's getting a little old.
Are you one of the skanks Newsom had previously buried his nose in?
I pass by this store's window all the time and think it's just gorgeous but after this I can't imagine going in and buying anything. A poster? For real? Already made? That is the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Even without the poster...in what universe and certainly in what economy would you approach a customer aggressively about a review. The review wasn't even bad!
Maybe by drumming up some publicity about the poster, they will try to sell the Wanted poster as some sort of vintage kitsch. Probably be a better seller than most of the "one of a kind collectibles" in there.
My brother had a conversation with one of the owners about where they get the various items and the owner inadvertantley mentioned going to various sales in search of "junk" before correcting himself.
Here's a great Yelp review of a review that got noticed...
Yelp!
That is so weird. I have always liked that place - it's super cute and a big step up from the empty storefront that was there for at least a decade - but based on this story I would think twice about doing business with them on anything but an anonymous cash basis.
Wow. I wouldn't go to some yuppie hellhole like this in the first place, but now I'll make sure to spit on the window next time I walk by.
but...but...but I really kind of hate Yelp and the weird sort of reality-television version of reviewing businesses. Is it wrong that I kind of appreciate that this store threw her out? I mean, I would support any effort by any store to simply not serve ANY "yelpers," positive or negative or neutral, just as a big ol' FU to Yelp. Is that wrong?
I liked Delfina's approach of putting the bad reviews on t-shirts.
“Is it wrong that I kind of appreciate that this store threw her out?”
Not at all. I agree with you on that one. It may not be the best long-term business model, but the business owner definitely has the moral ground to do so.
I think that if you write a bad review online, especially for a small business, then you forfeit all rights to step foot in their place again.
You think they’re a lousy business, they think you’re a lousy customer. Find some new place to hang out, hipster.
But in this case, the original review wasn't bad. She mentions plenty of positive aspects about the place, but then gives an honest opinion regarding the condition of the particular item she bought. A 3-star review is hardly negative.
“But in this case, the original review wasn't bad”
Correct. But the reviews from comments # 10 and #19 were.
In the case of #19, the guy gave the business a 2 star review but was back to try and “give them another chance.”
It kind of bugs me when a lot of my favorite family style dive restaurants get tore up on yelp, not so much for the food but because everyone loves to be the scathing Top Chef type online critic these days, yet they still come back after a bad review and eat their food. That’s what I’m calling bullshit on.
She didn't give them a GREAT review (although she DID take rime to mention plenty of good things), but the review she did give them was hardly the worst review possible either.
While I could see asking someone who wrote a truly scathing review to no longer visit the store, it seems, in this case, the owner of the store had an opportunity to actually convert this person who was sitting on the fence.
But then again, its not my business establishment, maybe the owner has a scheme in mind that I can't fathom.
I guess what I am saying is that my business strategy would include a sign on my front window declaring a "Yelp-Free Zone" and ban anyone who I recognized from reviewing my business on Yelp, good or bad. I just hate Yelp, or rather what Yelp has become. The people who own and run it suck, and the vast majority of people reviewing suck. I wouldn't want their business or their "opinions."
It would be kind of cool if Yelp offered an opt-out option for businesses -- so you could just tell them to not post any info or reviews at all on your business.
You have now crossed the line into being a crazy person. Seriously.
"Oh noes! People are talking about my business and I hates it." I half expect you to rush up to people walking in the door chatting and accost them for potentially gossiping about your theoretical business.
Yeah, Yelp is home to a ton of entitled yuppie jackasses. I saw one person take a star off of a business they really liked because they were accosted by a homeless person outside after they left. Not even that it was a bad neighborhood, just that it upset their delicate nature and they weren't as happy anymore. I saw another review where asshole condo owners complained because an Asian market moved in rather than the Albertsons that had previously been there and they both felt miffed that they were no longer being catered to (and had a crazy bit about how the fish tanks would surely make their condo smell and how they were going to take it up with the owner's association to get them kicked out or convert to being more American).
Yelp is full of idiots writing petty little reviews about how they weren't catered to in precisely the way they wanted and didn't have their bitchy demands immediately met. At the same time it's also useful if you can spend the time to separate the signal from the noise. The greater issue is that it's a forum for people to talk about your business. You can't restrict that in any way. You're basically saying you don't want people to ever share opinions about your business. Hating Yelp is your personal prerogative, even if I find it a bit short-sighted, but taking it out on your customers and wanting to find a way to "opt-out" makes you a paranoid jackass.
I saw another review where asshole condo owners complained because an Asian market moved in...
link pls - this sounds epic.
I don't think that "Yelp-Free Zone" signs, and certainly not a BAN on any customer who Yelps at all, are good ideas.
However, I do think Yelp should allow businesses to opt out of their lunacy. We all agree that Yelp is just a precious exercise in entitled asshattery, so why should local businesses be forced to participate in it? This has nothing to do with censorship - this is all private speech, and yes, you CAN restrict nasty opinions that are being solicited and published without your consent and damaging your company. Trust me, there are dozens of other, more constructive places to air your opinions and to read the valuable those of others.
Yeah, thanks for confirming for me that I'm a jackass. Maybe you should post a review of me on Yelp.
Wasn't there yelp drama a while ago over "No Yelping" signs posted at some cafe or restaurant.
People need more practice at ignoring the number of stars in a review and looking at a handful of the positive or negative ones to tell if they were written by someone who didn't know what they were getting in to, had some other axe to grind, or is just an idiot.
Or they could use something where your rating is weighted based on all of your ratings. Someone who has only given one or two stars for every review would have their two-star ratings counted like fives.
That biz owner appears to be a headcase, based on the positive tone of most of this girl's reviews, including TPT's original review. 3 stars is "A-OK," hardly
a dis.
As an aside, like some others in this thread, I am mystified and amused by some yelpers' affronted reaction when they write genuinely petty, bitchy, whiny, small-business undermining reviews and yet unrealistically expect that they'll be welcomed back with open arms.
One of my fave succession of reviews of this sort was for a hair stylist. Heh heh. Probably the WORST person a female can piss off.
Ooh, what about a gynecologist?
No, gyno's are the EASIEST people for a female to piss on.
Marie K. has now deleted her story and replaced it with this:
"Hey Yelpers... I'm in the process of working out all the drama with the business owners and will update accordingly once we have a solution we all feel OK with. In the meantime, please don't give a bunch of bad reviews based on my previous review if you haven't actually had a bad experience shopping here-- it isn't fair and it isn't how the Yelp community is supposed to work. Thanks!"
What happened to the days when we just biattched about what was in hot dogs and what Jelly was made of...
Or complaining to a friend about how ya' got a crappy part for your ride even though the brand is normally a good one?
Oh hey let's complain about 7-11 because I can't find one to get my slurpee fix on...
Sheesssttt......
To think I waste time reading this site just to get directed to another site to Biatcchhh about.....
What is up with that 'Ister's'?