Would you change a Yelp! review if someone asked you to?
Asked by
Gabby101 (
2950
)
September 15th, 2011
I wrote an honest review on Yelp! about someone I did business with who could have potentially caused me to lose up to $80,000 due to bad advice (this is not an exaggeration and there is no chance that I might not have this correct). I think that I wrote the review in a professional manner, but if I saw the review, I wouldn’t do business with this person. Even though my Yelp! account doesn’t indicate my name, she was eventually able to figure out that it was probably me who wrote the review. Recently someone that knows both of us said that this woman wanted me to take down the review because it was hurting her business and she has no idea why I would write what I did. If we didn’t have a mutual acquaintance in common, I wouldn’t care about this at all, but we do. I feel embarrassed, but at the same time, I feel like other people should be warned. Also, if her other clients wrote good reviews about her (which only one has in the 2.5 years since I posted the review), then my review wouldn’t matter so much, right?
Here are my questions: Was it wrong to write the review without letting her know my complaints first? Should I remove the review?
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6 Answers
A recommendation is usually based on past performance and there is nothing she can say or do now that would undo her prior lousy results. Just imagine how you would feel if someone invests a large sum with this lady and gets hosed like you almost did. I would leave it stand as you see fit and let her explain to her clients what is what.
I would not change it. If I were you and I felt bad, I would consider explaining it to the person you know mutually. That way, they have a better understanding of your negativity. You are not obligated to explain, but it might make you feel better.
The purpose of a site like Yelp is to help others by having a heads up about who not to do business with. You are doing these people all a favor by warning them not to deal with this woman. Why should the woman benefit from you changing your review, and the other people suffer from not knowing? Maybe now that she realizes that in this day and age, there are few secrets, she will be more careful and conscientious in the future.
No. It’s hurting her business? That’s the point of writing a bad review, to warn others so they don’t waste their money, which hurts someone else’s business. If they had improved the business in the areas I complained about, then I might consider writing another review saying they’d improved upon the problem. But just because they want it gone? Everyone wishes no one would ever say anything negative about them, but most of us don’t get our way, especially if we give people valid reasons to say negative things about us.
No, reviews helps weed out the good from the bad. Business is business. If all opinion are supported by facts it is ok.
First, I would not acknowledge to her or to this acquaintance that I had written the review.
Second, if my honest opinion had not changed, I would not remove or alter the review.
@gabby94805 You don’t owe anyone the consideration of telling them before you write a review. Of course I’m talking for a journalistic point of view. If there is an art gallery, and it is out in the public, whether paid admission or not, it is a journalists obligation to give an honest critique, friends of the artists or not. Same goes with business.
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