{"id":6481,"date":"2018-06-05T07:26:13","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T07:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=6481"},"modified":"2018-06-05T07:26:13","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T07:26:13","slug":"my-not-so-great-guild-and-yelp-experience-youve-got-to-be-kidding-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2018\/06\/my-not-so-great-guild-and-yelp-experience-youve-got-to-be-kidding-me\/","title":{"rendered":"My Not-So-Great Guild and Yelp Experience: You\u2019ve GOT to be Kidding Me\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"My<\/div>\n
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You would think, given everything that has transpired regarding restaurant reviews in digital media over the past decade, that restaurant managers\/owners would take the hint that the customer\u2019s experience at their restaurant IS their brand. However, I guess there are some hold-outs that simply don\u2019t get it. Especially since Yelp seems more than willing to shield them if they play the old \u201cMafia protection game.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

On April 18<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0I was having dinner in Austin, Texas at the\u00a0Guild (on N. Lamar Boulevard)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0with over 50 other people. Not seeing any vegan choices on the menu other than a garden salad, I asked to speak to the manager\u2014but had to seek him out (he wouldn\u2019t come to our table).<\/span><\/p>\n

When I did manage to track him down and ask if there was any way they could accommodate me with vegetables, nuts or seeds to add to the salad\u2014or to cobble something together from items they serve in other dishes\u2014I was given the proverbial cold shoulder.<\/span><\/p>\n

The manager flatly told me the chef refused to accommodate a vegan. That\u2019s it. What about eliminating the meat from one of the dishes they already serve\u2014or preparing with oil instead of butter, I asked? No. Even though almost every dish they have could have been made vegan with little effort, they outright refused. In the two years I\u2019ve been eating vegan, I have never been treated like this in a restaurant, including chains, and from the simplest to the fanciest. NEVER.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, where many people have dietary restrictions, such as gluten intolerance, I couldn\u2019t believe that Zero effort would be made to accommodate me. C\u2019mon\u2026really? I wasn\u2019t asking for the moon, yet I was treated like a second-class citizen. Not a good way to encourage repeat business\u2014but a GREAT way to discourage future business from the thousands of customers who go online regularly to check out restaurant reviews before eating there. Perhaps someone was just having a bad day?<\/span><\/p>\n

More Than Skin Deep<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Bad customer service is one of my biggest pet peeves, so you can bet I\u00a0posted something about my experience on Facebook<\/span><\/a>that evening\u2014hoping to at least alert the Guild about a situation they need to correct. However, nothing from Guild\u2019s PR department on Facebook for three days, then a weak apology and attempt to divert the conversation:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This goes beyond terrible customer service\u2014it shows that the company isn\u2019t really interested in fixing the problem. You can see from the comments in the Facebook thread that people are not happy about this attitude, and that the weak response makes it even worse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even MORE Disturbing\u2026<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Something else happened after I posted a negative\u00a0<\/span>YELP<\/span><\/a>\u00a0review about my Guild experience\u2014the review disappeared!<\/span><\/p>\n

For some reason, although my review was written professionally, factually, and without any inappropriate language, AND two people (at least) marked it as \u201cuseful\u201d right after it was posted, it was moved to \u201cunrecommended review\u201d status where no one can see it and it\u2019s not included in Guild\u2019s rating. How the heck does that happen?? YELP has verbiage on its website assuring users that businesses can\u2019t \u201cpay\u201d for good reviews, but is that really the case?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I would love to get a \u201creal\u201d response from YELP to my question about my review being unviewable<\/span>, but so far, nothing but a cut-and-past response to my\u00a0Facebook post<\/a>\u00a0that took two weeks and\u00a0a second FB post<\/a>\u00a0to get\u2026 All I really want is a real public conversation about why my review didn\u2019t \u201cmake the cut\u201d (as they say on their website,) and was relegated to be hidden as \u201cnot recommended\u201d\u00a0 and only seen if you go to Ted Rubin recommendations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Retailers (Especially Restaurants), Pay Attention!<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Ok, so there\u2019s ONE review site (unfortunately the one so may use and rely on) that\u2019s willing to shove a negative review under the rug (for \u201cwhatever\u201d reason) but that doesn\u2019t mean you should sit on your laurels and not expect negative experiences to percolate around the web. People talk to each other, whether it\u2019s in person, on Facebook, Instagram, Google, or other social platforms. The bottom line is that\u00a0you don\u2019t own your reputation<\/b>\u2014it\u2019s in the hands of your customers\u2014and not just the ones who complain online.<\/span><\/p>\n

Guild not only lost my business forever, it lost the business of many of the people in my personal sphere as well as those I have influence with on the web. And not just because I had a bad experience one night\u2014but because they couldn\u2019t be bothered to make more than a cursory effort to reach out and correct it\u2026 nor follow-up after I responded back. Ignoring the negative experience of your customers reaches further than you think. Not everyone will post a bad review, but lots of people read them and make judgements about whether to eat in your restaurant or buy your goods and services\u2026 also do not forget traditional word-of-mouth, which still carries the most powerful one-to-one influence. And you\u2019ll never know that they chose NOT to patronize your establishment (or why).<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s how you act towards your customers that people remember. People will very often forgive a transgression if they see an honest effort to correct it, which is why I wanted Guild to reply on Facebook where their response would be viewed by potential patrons. It\u2019s sad that they didn\u2019t give the least effort to respond in a public way to show they\u2019re interested in keeping my business (or any other vegan\u2019s (or anyone else wi for that matter)\u2026 nor did Yelp have any interest in discussing their actions (removing the review) publically. It\u2019s more than a lost opportunity\u2014it\u2019s a shame.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your \u201cBrand\/Business\u201d is what you do; your \u201cReputation\u201d is what people Remember and Share.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?fbid=10155775535198401&set=a.88266093400.77182.591878400<\/i><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Previously posted at\u00a0TedRubin.co<\/a>m<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You would think, given everything that has transpired regarding restaurant reviews in digital media over the past decade, that restaurant managers\/owners would take the hint that the customer\u2019s experience at their restaurant IS their brand. However, I guess there are some hold-outs that simply don\u2019t get it. Especially since Yelp seems more than willing to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tedrubin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6481"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6482,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6481\/revisions\/6482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}