I used to do this all the time in academic writing assignments. I also wouldn’t go through the normal draft process (what I wrote the first time was almost always 95% the same as what I’d turn in... the few times I tried to proper multiple drafts, I got lower grades on the final paper). So when we had to turn in…

Yeah, somehow I managed to learn my lines and blocking just in time, and we had a great run...right up until closing night when there was a big fire down the street that knocked out the power about 10 minutes from the end. Two awesome things happened when the lights went out: the actor playing Anselme didn’t miss a…

Thorin, I totally get you man, and I know you must feel bad, but two things:

A) If your review gets even one person to not screwed over by this guy, isn’t the next customer’s lack of getting screwed over (and resulting loss of money and sanity) worth you posting it?

Many companies put people in situations where the customers HAVE to fight for what was right and promised. That’s super shitty and many people get fooled into it at times because they feel like a bad person for complaining, pointing out the problem, etc. Some businesses depend on the customers feeling bad to get the…

You didn’t take it because it probably felt slimy to take a bribe, as it should. If he was offering a refund for the work he didn’t do well, and simply asked you to add that he gave you a refund to your review -that would be one thing. You may have felt like you posted the review to feel better, but I for one…

I can’t agree that “Yelp is awful for everyone”. Look, I just hired a contractor to do several thousand dollars of work around my house. Stuff that’s going to be a big deal when it comes time to sell; that will materially affect selling price if done wrong.

This bugs the hell out of me. Set standards for the finished product, but let me do whatever I need to to get it done. If you want to offer suggestions, go for it, but don’t force me to do additional ‘make work’ just because you think it’s necessary.

“Don’t do a crappy job” is, or it should be, the primary philosophy for any business. If you make that your standard, it doesn’t mean you won’t get negative reviews. But in general it will mean that if any petty comments appear on Yelp then the masses will be able distinguish the constructive criticism from the…

I had a college professor force us to write an outline before doing a paper, which is not how I work. So I wrote the paper like I normally do and used that to generate the outline after I was finished. I made sure to include extra material that I later crossed out, put things out of order that I later rearranged, etc,…

Yeah, that was kinda the whole thing, I guess: I just wanted it to go away.

The problem is that too many people use Yelp as a place to bitch and moan. Generally speaking, most people won’t leave a review for a business for they liked, they’ll only leave a review if they feel slighted. Psychologically speaking, the reason for this is simple... being slighted demands an outlet, a response of…

As some whose father is a general contractor (and I’ve worked for his business) and who recently went through a remodel hiring our own subcontractors to perform the work, I’d like to weigh in here. The construction business is a nightmare. People are pulled in a million directions, the quality of labor is not…

If this man was a good, honest businessman he would have handled this by stopping the behavior you had highlighted in your review and asking satisfied customers to post favorable reviews. No business has universally positive reviews. When I read reviews, I’m mostly looking for multiple people complaining about the…

You’re not selfish or a dick, and it’s completely sane and rational to give a bad review for bad service as a warning to others. If anything, what you did was was considerate because you are likely preventing others from experiencing what you had to experience. All this talk about leaving negative reviews leading to…

I was approached to remove a Yelp review (unfortunately it was for services rendered in my house, so they knew where I lived). I firmly and politely explained that my review was an honest and unemotional recounting of the events as they unfolded and that I would not remove it. I then updated my review to warn others…

I had a very similar experience a few years ago with a home contractor. He had come out to my property while I was at work to assess a plumbing situation. My roommate, an older male, was home at the time and let him in, showed him the issue, etc. As soon as he showed up he started asking my roommate about me — what do…

I completely agree, and I am sorry your wife had such a bad experience.

Thorin, I understand your frustration, but I think pulling your account and thus the review was the wrong move.

Maybe you didn’t take it simply because it was a bribe or a payoff?

I’ve never been in this exact situation, but I’ve certainly been in similar situations where people preyed on the little bit of empathy I had. But if this contractor was still “swimming in negative reviews”, I’d find it hard to sympathize. I’d like to think I wouldn’t have taken the review down in that case. “How long…