The Reviews

Angie's List, Yelp and other review type sites -- great idea BUT who’s more likely to comment, to post about their experiences?  Happy customers or angry ones?

When I’ve had a fine meal out at, say, Frog and Peach (AKA Fox and Hound) or gotten fab service from my plumber, I’ve not written up a Yelp review or gone to Angie’s List to praise the abundant virtues of Chenette Plumbing and Heating or the absolute wizardry of Wendy’s  cocktail crafting. Nope. I AM, however, inclined to rant and rage about poor or flat out wretched experiences though.

That I’ve NOT written rave reviews on Yelp or Angies List doesn’t mean I’m, in any way at all, unhappy with the service and/or goods received.

Of course studies have been done on JUST this! From the Journal of Service Research

They tested and found that customers from cultures with lower individualism or higher uncertainty avoidance tend to have a higher intention to praise if they received superior service. On the other hand, the same groups tend not to switch, give negative word of mouth, or complain even if they received poor service quality. Customers from cultures with higher individualism or lower uncertainty avoidance tend to switch, engage in negative word of mouth, or complain if they received poor service quality. But they do not tend to praise when they received superior service.Journal of Service Research, Volume 4, No. 2, November 2001 118-129

© 2001 Sage Publications
Ben Shaw-Ching Liu  -- Butler University, Olivier Furrer -- University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, Sudharshan -- University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

So, there ya go -- it’s not just me. It’s America!

I’m tremendously suspicious of stunning reviews and purpley praise. Are the great reports from the business owners themselves? friends? family? employees? the marketing department? Or is the rave from a genuinely satisfied customer?

I’ve used Angie’s List only once. We’d just moved down here, to The Neck, and needed a contractor to deal with a serious sill issue. I found a great recommendation for someone close by -- in the next town over. Our resulting experience was so screamingly horrendous that I’ve not used the site since. The repairs were executed reasonably well but without the finesse god gave a shithouse rat and we were charged four times the initial quote. The grifting piece of locust excrement vanished before completing the job too. His name was Fitzgerald and he was, maybe still is, in Milton, Massachusetts.
STEER CLEAR!

So then, never again with Angie’s List.

I look at Yelp primarily for restaurant tips. Most recently, I was trying to find our Christmas Day Chinese food feast. Our usual place had changed hands.

It was Five Spices -- now it’s Tung Long Garden.

The good review first:

Tung Long Garden is awesome authentic Chinese cuisine.  The flavors are clean and the food tastes of fresh ingredients.  It's also much healthier than your traditional American Style Chinese.  It's like a taste of China Town right here in Quincy.  Everything I've tried so far has been superb.  I'm a pretty picky about Chinese food too...

To me, this reeks of marketing ad copy or owner’s pride.  'The flavors are clean and the food tastes of fresh ingredients.' in particular.

That stellar assessment was followed by this one:

Worst delivery, and Chinese food, experience everrr. The guy on the phone was rude & impatient (was upset that i didn't clarify sizes from the outset, though he hadn't asked). The food was horrible when it arrived - We just finished & I already feel sick. Sweet & Sour Shrimp were large balls of dough & the Stuffed Tofu w/ Shrimp Paste was just squares of cooked tofu. The photos on this site could not be further from accurate. We called the restaurant to let them know the soup had broken open & spilled all over the bag & the guy became upset, saying it wasn't his fault & asking what "i expected [him] to do about it." Super disappointed & frustrated that I spent so much here over the place I was originally about to order from. Do nooooot waste your money!

Now THIS sounds like a genuinely pissed off human being giving an honest assessment. There are other, very similar, castigations as well as other comparable praising odes.

The Amazing Bob and I ended up ordering from Great Chow (cute name eh) based on a friend’s recommendation. The result? The meat in TAB’s chicken fingers was dried out to the consistency of sawdust infused rawhide chews. His veggie fried rice should’ve been called onion fried rice -- that being the only apparent veggie.

I got sushi -- spicy tuna roll specifically and it was fabulous. Just stunning. Seriously, I’m drooling as I think of it again. My veggie lo mein though was boring and not exactly veggie packed. Molto miserly on the produce even -- one pea pod and one red pepper slice.

Here are the Yelp Reviews for Great Chow. Doesn’t seem like they’re stuffing the ballot box. Em...yea them?

Maybe the good thing about Yelp is that I can see where NOT to spend my money.