7/30/2010
Matthew S. says:
@Leslie: Getting waxed requires much more courage than I possess but thanks for the offer. I don't doubt that your service is top notch though. Several of your 5 star reviews come from people I know and whose opinion I respect.
The last thing I want to do is start a flame war but I do want to clarify. There is one removed review and 4 filtered reviews. The removed review is from a deleted profile with your name on it. The other 4 reviews appeared within 1.5 weeks of each other. And, as Karl mentioned, 3 of them appeared immediately following a negative review. These 4 filtered reviews are all from "one post drive-bys" as Karl says and one of them -- Lauren D -- is listed as a friend of yours on Yelp.
So, basically what I'm saying is that all evidence points to my statement above being completely correct.
I suspect these people were long time clients and friends and you asked them to review your business so you'd get some exposure on Yelp and offset that negative review. Of course, I may be wrong about this but it doesn't change the fact that what I said originally is likely true.
In any case, you'll notice that in my previous post I wasn't attacking you, just pointing out something that serious Yelp users such as myself see all the time. Specifically, businesses soliciting reviews from customers or friends. Often this happens with bad businesses that want to inflate their rating but it does happen with good businesses, such as yours, that simply want to get more Yelp exposure.
Unfortunately, this approach often has a negative effect. Experieced Yelpers can spot a solicited review from a "one post drive-by" a mile away. And, at least for me, this sets off a red flag as being suspicious. I makes me feel I can't trust the business. It is much better if a business' reviews arise organically from active Yelp users; one 5 star review from Kat F or susan c is worth 500 5 star reviews from one-review question mark heads.
Please have a look at "Should I ask customers to write reviews for my business?" under the Business FAQ for more on this: http://www.yelp.ca/bus...
I apologize for not making this more clear in the initial post. To be honest, I didn't think you'd read this thread. However, may I suggest that next time you get criticism, rather than being defensive you might try to glean some valuable lesson from it.
Anyway, everyone loves your business and you have tons of awesome reviews so no worries. Best of luck.
Well, that'll be it for me for this thread. Let's get back onto the topic at hand: congratulating susan c on another awesome review.
