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Groupon sales rep threatens restaurant with negative Yelp reviews

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Re: Groupon sales rep threatens restaurant with negative Yelp reviews

#141

Post by SimHacker »

jusben1369 wrote: post #115
ulisesrmzroche wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the prospect was unreasonable at all. Hanging up happens all the time. It's whatever. The problem for Groupon is that this guy reps them. They need to explain to their customers fast what happened because this looks viral to me.

Oh right. Not defending the sales guy. Saying that all businesses are now vulnerable to social media attacks by folks by folks who in the past you could ignore. Should have been clearer.

The delicious irony is that HE was not only threatening but actually carrying out a social media attack himself.

Re: Groupon sales rep threatens restaurant with negative Yelp reviews

#142

Post by SimHacker »

josteink wrote: post #127

To put this internet witch-hunt in perspective I know about 0 persons who care about either groupon or yelp. An offer from groupon would be spam to me and an opinion on yelp wouldn't be seen because nobody I know uses it.

You should get out more, and make some friends.

Re: Groupon sales rep threatens restaurant with negative Yelp reviews

#143

Post by ben1040 »

ams6110 wrote: post #72
usaphp wrote: post #4

http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=hnH6RaPkJ2Tfw9ZkKMfL... see how many bad reviews he already wrote for Sause! I think his profile should be flagged, you can't trust a person who does this kind of things. Edit: He just changed his name to West C. what a guy :) Another Edit: Just look at his reviews date - they all are written on July 29-30 - why would anybody write so many reviews unless you receive a commissio…

Does anyone really take unscreened "review" sites like Yelp seriously? I never even bother looking at them.

I find Yelp reviews to be pretty unreliable, because you giving "5 stars" for a single specific business is not necessarily a predictor of me doing the same. You and I are different people with different tastes.

I've gone to restaurants based on their 5-star Yelp average, and ended up not enjoying my experience. I've gone to places with 2 and 3 star averages ("Yelpers say it sucks, but I'll still take a chance"), and loved them.

I wish Yelp had a prediction/discovery engine for restaurants along the lines of what Netflix has for movies.

Re: Groupon sales rep threatens restaurant with negative Yelp reviews

#144

Post by bdcravens »

lancewiggs wrote: post #135
jeremybencken wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a story about Groupon except insofar as they hire unprofessional, immature sales reps. The sales punk didn't like how he was treated, so he gets revenge by (threatening) to leverage his own personal network. It's pretty unlikely this is some organized practice at Groupon.

It is a story about Groupon. How can they let their staff get into this situation where they are so desperate as to make threats? How did they not know about and fix the poor experience with Groupon previously? How are the staff paid - is the commission component so high that they have to make sales no matter what? Is the training and are the SOPs so poor that the staff are free to operate on the edges of legality? I…

I don't correct it's correct to blame practices like these on the employer's business model. That's like blaming road rage killings on the government for having congested roads.

Sounds to me like it's a kid barely out of college who can't control his emotions and is having a pouty hissy fit. His emotional age obviously is not advanced enough to prepare him for sales.

If you want to blame anything, blame the culture (Web 2.0? SF? VC funded world?) that believes that younger is always better.

Re: Groupon sales rep threatens restaurant with negative Yelp reviews

#145

Post by baddox »

greenyoda wrote: post #81
baddox wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that act that's being threatened have to itself be illegal in order for the threat to qualify as extortion? Yelp reviews aren't illegal.

I don't think the act has to be illegal. For example, if I threaten to tell someone's wife that he's having an affair unless he gives me money, I think that would qualify as extortion. The language of the law doesn't say anything about the act being illegal: "Extortion is a criminal offense of unlawfully obtaining money, property, or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion." "Which Kinds of T…

Perhaps you're right, although that law doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Firstly, that first definition uses "unlawfully," which sounds circular to me. And if I'm understanding that description correctly, basically, you can't inform anyone that they have any incentive to do anything you desire. Bosses wouldn't be able to threaten to fire someone if they continue showing up to work late. Restaurant patrons couldn't threaten to leave a (only one) negative review if their service is poor.

I'm generally not a fan of laws banning blackmail, when the threat is not itself illegal. I find it odd that it would be perfectly legal for me to tell my neighbor's spouse that he is having an affair, or to request money from my neighbor, but it would be illegal for me to request money from my neighbor and promise to tell his wife about his affair if he declines. I'm not generally a big fan of Walter Block's approach to libertarianism, but this is his argument, and I do agree with it: http://mises.org/journals/jls/15_2/15_2_2.pdf.

Re: Groupon sales rep threatens restaurant with negative Yelp reviews

#146

Post by WalterSear »

obstacle1 wrote: post #62
ulisesrmzroche wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dang, they actually ARE carrying with that threat and giving them bad reviews? That's so messed up. I didn't think that'd actually happen. Hope this gets quelled quickly,but I'm bringing the popcorn and the lawnchair just in case.

To be fair, it doesn't look like they are doing much. Rather this Andy Johnston guy is going on a rampage to exact revenge for a perceived personal slight. I'd imagine Andy's actions expose his employer to many liabilities, but there's no indication that Groupon condones these actions thus far.

Andy Johnston seems to want to make sure that whenever you google his name, this comes up.

Re: Groupon sales rep threatens restaurant with negative Yelp reviews

#147

Post by nosoc »

ultimoo wrote: post #54

I don't like that this thread is fast turning into a reddit style witch-hunt.

Absolutely. Random people have found his Yelp, Linkedin, Twitter, and Instagram. He also made the mistake of spelling out his name and detailed contact information on the letter. I know that his threat is stupid at best and harmful to Sauce's business at worst, but clearly he's young and inexperienced. Having hundreds (thousands?) of people discussing, criticizing, and examining your details online is terrible. I'm not too worried about posterity, because he has a very generic name, but it could have been much worse.

Re: Groupon sales rep threatens restaurant with negative Yelp reviews

#148

Post by rohamg »

h4pless wrote: post #139
droithomme wrote: post #6

Isn't this a protection-money racket (extortion) from a legal perspective? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extortion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_racket > "Extortion is a criminal offense of unlawfully obtaining money, property, or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion." > "In the United States, extortion may also be committed as a federal crime across a computer system, phone, by m…

This entire situation seems a bit backwards to me. As I read Andy Johnston's letter, I gather that 1) Trip hung up on Andy. 2) Andy thought this was rude. 3) Andy has a lot of friends in SF that use yelp. 4) Andy is going to tell his friends "how [Trip] treated [Andy] as well as [Andy's] feelings about the people who run Sauce." While this is unprofessional to say the least, I see no extortion or anything like it all…

i disagree entirely. Andy is not within his rights to publicly slander a business he has never stepped foot in - much less to entice others to do the same - because someone hung up on him. Especially not on Yelp, something businesses live and die by, at least in the Bay Area. As Trip said, Groupon was being a pest and should have expected to be treated as such. I have no sympathy for Andy here.

Re: Groupon sales rep threatens restaurant with negative Yelp reviews

#150

Post by jpalioto »

jacquesm wrote: post #113
ececconi wrote: post #30

I wonder what this guys week will be like starting monday morning? Is this HN story going to do anything negative to his career?

His former career. As of now he is likely between jobs.

He has the opportunity to begin his new job search immediately.
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