Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Playing with the stars

Reader readers share their own Yelp experiences

Reviewing the reviews

Perfection Expected

Re: "Yelp Giveth, and Yelp Taketh Away," October 8 cover story

I’ll keep this short because I’m sure there will be a lot of people who feel the same way. I’ve been a North County doctor for close to 40 years, and had thousands of satisfied patients , yet the first two reviews on my Yelp page are “one-star” disgruntled patients. Really?

Of course, no one is perfect — but apparently Yelp readers expect you to be. Pretty sad.

  • Name withheld
  • Encinitas


Successful Despite Yelp

I worked in the online commerce business from the earliest days until I recently retired. During the last three years, a close friend, who owns a tourist-oriented business, has talked with me for hours about his Yelp interactions and discussions.

Sponsored
Sponsored

He has operated a very successful tourist activity business in San Diego for over 30 years and is the epitome of a smart, experienced, and financially successful small business owner. At various times he has had three to 20 employees while he focuses on marketing, new business development, and customer satisfaction.

His struggles with Yelp have been epic, and exactly as your article describes (“Yelp Giveth, and Yelp Taketh Away,” October 8 cover story). But he also has a very high Yelp satisfaction rating and no negative reviews. His Trip Advisor ratings are perfect, with a very large number of reviews. His Trip Advisor review count is 15 times that of his Yelp review account. That is a hard-to-understand difference.

He has hundreds of repeat customers who have used his services several times a year for the last couple decades. They all tell him the same thing: they enter Yelp comments that never appear for his business.

New customers frequently tell him they almost didn’t book with him because his advertising says he has been in business in the same location for 30 years but he has very few Yelp reviews and that makes them suspicious.

Yelp has repeatedly told my friend the positive reviews entered by his repeat customers will appear if he increases his Yelp advertising expenditures. He refuses, and literally hundreds of positive reviews sent to Yelp for his business disappear into the Yelp filter process. Almost every review that does appear is from a Yelp Elite reviewer and, fortunately, they are all very positive.

My friend has the experience and network of San Diego tourist business contacts to keep his business profitable despite the intentional failure of Yelp to post the hundreds of positive reviews he receives. I feel sorry for small business operators who do not have the same background.

  • Jerry King
  • Downtown


Losing the Loos

Re: Neighborhood News, August 27, “What Went Wrong with the Loos?

If you think about it, closing public restrooms makes sense. Besides being expensive to build and operate, loos are, well, pro-choice! How many fish will be saved if we close the restrooms? Every time someone flushes, a sea creature dies. So, bringing pressure on restroom providers to close these ungodly facilities is, well, pro-life!

I urge all of you to write to Pat Robertson and Rick Santorum and tell them to push hard for the defunding of all public restrooms. No one has the right to choose to use the loos. Don’t dilly-dally; just use the back alley!

  • James Joseph Kilijanski
  • Chula Vista
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Yo-Yo Ma, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky come to San Diego

Next Article

Pet pig perches in pocket

Escondido doula gets a taste of celebrity
Reviewing the reviews

Perfection Expected

Re: "Yelp Giveth, and Yelp Taketh Away," October 8 cover story

I’ll keep this short because I’m sure there will be a lot of people who feel the same way. I’ve been a North County doctor for close to 40 years, and had thousands of satisfied patients , yet the first two reviews on my Yelp page are “one-star” disgruntled patients. Really?

Of course, no one is perfect — but apparently Yelp readers expect you to be. Pretty sad.

  • Name withheld
  • Encinitas


Successful Despite Yelp

I worked in the online commerce business from the earliest days until I recently retired. During the last three years, a close friend, who owns a tourist-oriented business, has talked with me for hours about his Yelp interactions and discussions.

Sponsored
Sponsored

He has operated a very successful tourist activity business in San Diego for over 30 years and is the epitome of a smart, experienced, and financially successful small business owner. At various times he has had three to 20 employees while he focuses on marketing, new business development, and customer satisfaction.

His struggles with Yelp have been epic, and exactly as your article describes (“Yelp Giveth, and Yelp Taketh Away,” October 8 cover story). But he also has a very high Yelp satisfaction rating and no negative reviews. His Trip Advisor ratings are perfect, with a very large number of reviews. His Trip Advisor review count is 15 times that of his Yelp review account. That is a hard-to-understand difference.

He has hundreds of repeat customers who have used his services several times a year for the last couple decades. They all tell him the same thing: they enter Yelp comments that never appear for his business.

New customers frequently tell him they almost didn’t book with him because his advertising says he has been in business in the same location for 30 years but he has very few Yelp reviews and that makes them suspicious.

Yelp has repeatedly told my friend the positive reviews entered by his repeat customers will appear if he increases his Yelp advertising expenditures. He refuses, and literally hundreds of positive reviews sent to Yelp for his business disappear into the Yelp filter process. Almost every review that does appear is from a Yelp Elite reviewer and, fortunately, they are all very positive.

My friend has the experience and network of San Diego tourist business contacts to keep his business profitable despite the intentional failure of Yelp to post the hundreds of positive reviews he receives. I feel sorry for small business operators who do not have the same background.

  • Jerry King
  • Downtown


Losing the Loos

Re: Neighborhood News, August 27, “What Went Wrong with the Loos?

If you think about it, closing public restrooms makes sense. Besides being expensive to build and operate, loos are, well, pro-choice! How many fish will be saved if we close the restrooms? Every time someone flushes, a sea creature dies. So, bringing pressure on restroom providers to close these ungodly facilities is, well, pro-life!

I urge all of you to write to Pat Robertson and Rick Santorum and tell them to push hard for the defunding of all public restrooms. No one has the right to choose to use the loos. Don’t dilly-dally; just use the back alley!

  • James Joseph Kilijanski
  • Chula Vista
Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate
Next Article

Tyler Farr, Blue Water Film Festival, Mustache Bash

Events March 21-March 23, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.