yelp & tattoo shops

[TrixieFaux]

This review drives me nuts. It's the one 3-star review surrounded by all 5-star reviews for Memoir:

As much as I would love to give a great review, my experience was somewhat of a struggle with Memoir. It was very difficult getting an appointment set up with Kim and getting in touch with her assistant.

I sent an email via her website and emailed directly. It took about a week or two to hear back. Kim's personal assistant emailed and left me a voicemail on my cell so I called back several times and left messages as well as email but never received a call back for a number of days. I was very eager so I continued to call until I got an actual person on the line. When I finally got someone on the line, I was able to set up my appointments.

Unfortunately, a family emergency came up and I had to cancel indefinitely. I asked if I could get my deposit back and her assistant said she would find out if I could since it was "non refundable" (didn't see that posted anywhere on her site, nor was I told). I still haven't heard back about it.

As far as I can tell Kim is a great artist and seems very nice. I was very much looking forward to getting something done by her. I realize she is very popular and in high demand. I have no problem waiting but the process does need to improve.

It strikes me as odd since Kim doesn't have an assistant... Maybe she did in 2010, I don't know. They don't even have a front desk or receptionist at Memoir. They all do their own booking. I don't think they have a central phone--they request that you email, then get back to you via email or phone. But more importantly, how can you review a place that you didn't even go to?! Why would she get her deposit back if she bailed on the appointment, even if she had a valid reason?! This is why they have deposits, so their time isn't completely wasted in these situations! Grr. I'm sure everyone who reads it overlooks that one so it's fine, just annoying.

[scubaron]

Yelp, like many online review sights, are useful if you read the reviews and don't just look at the ratings. A star rating is only valid if the written review backs up the rating. If I read a review and the person is unreasonable, then I ignore it. Same goes for positive reviews. An over the top review about standard service or without a picture, also gets ignored.

[SeeSea]

...so you made go look at some Yelp reviews of local shops around me. One in particular looks like the ratings were a concerted effort to get 5 stars. Most of them talk about 1) it's clean 2) people are nice 3) they came around and asked if anyone wanted coffee, 4) the art deco is cool (unlike the "shady parlors in NYC") and 5) everyone is very professional. Very little about the actual tattoos. This is in a new area and clearly caters to those who are very afraid to step outside their comfort zone. Nothing wrong with that, but the reviews always seem to be about the shop rather than the tattoo. What also screws up the ratings are the drama queens who go in for piercings - "XYZ was very rude and spoke to me in an arrogant tone." Too bad there isn't an outlet to review particular tattooers and leave the shop and drama out of it.

[CultExciter]

I like this thing, it's been done for the last few hundred thousand of years...word of mouth.

[tatB]

i really enjoy reviews that use the terms "tat", "tatted", "tattoo salon", etc.

[HaydenRose]

I will make a case for Yelp and tattoo shops being useful, because I actually visited Kings Ave in NYC the first time because of Yelp. In my naivete, I decided to start getting tattooed in NYC after moving closer to the city, so I took to Yelp to find the highest rated shop. Ignored the star ratings and instead read the reviews carefully, then checked out websites with portfolios. I was most impressed by Kings Ave and stumbled upon a few articles about Mike Rubendall in the process, so I decided to visit the shop and then make my final judgement. Never turned back after that--love the shop and everyone working there! Basically my whole point was that Yelp led me to my regular shop...I think I had enough sense to go in person, but nonetheless... Yelp can be helpful in some ways even when it comes to tattoo shops. And Kings Ave definitely has some shitty reviews. I love when they call the front desk guy a pretentious douchebag haha. Guess it takes one to know one?

[exume]

I was almost disappointed when I couldn't find any ignorant bad reviews on the shops I frequent.

[scubaron]

When I was researching tattoo shops and artists, I did spend some time on yelp reading reviews.

I've gotten work from 4 different artists/shops. Doing my part. I posted positive reviews on yelp and attached a picture of my tattoo.

[misterJ]

  HaydenRose said:

I will make a case for Yelp and tattoo shops being useful, because I actually visited Kings Ave in NYC the first time because of Yelp. In my naivete, I decided to start getting tattooed in NYC after moving closer to the city, so I took to Yelp to find the highest rated shop. Ignored the star ratings and instead read the reviews carefully, then checked out websites with portfolios. I was most impressed by Kings Ave and stumbled upon a few articles about Mike Rubendall in the process, so I decided to visit the shop and then make my final judgement. Never turned back after that--love the shop and everyone working there! Basically my whole point was that Yelp led me to my regular shop...I think I had enough sense to go in person, but nonetheless... Yelp can be helpful in some ways even when it comes to tattoo shops. And Kings Ave definitely has some shitty reviews. I love when they call the front desk guy a pretentious douchebag haha. Guess it takes one to know one?

I find it funny because I've told the people at the desk on several occasions how they were some

Of the most professional and nicest i have encountered... Maybe I'm stupid. But the way people talk to them is shocking

[Fala]

I love the ladies and gents who work the front desks - they put up with an awful lot of BS on a regular basis.

[CABS]

Yelp is the worst place for tattoo suggestions.

[idyllsend]

This one made me chuckle:

"Great artwork and tattooing, however, it is $60 an hour for tattoos and you can't get an appointment very quickly. They require a one - hour consultation a week before the appointment for large pieces and a down payment is required for all tattoo.

I am happy with the work they did but the consultation was pointless since I asked for colorful swirls on my arm and ended up with pink clouds and stars. It looks good, but they were a bit pushy when it came to color and style of my tattoo."

At least she gave them 4 stars.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tesseracts]

Good satire of Yelp.

[tatB]

@daveborjes those 2 negatives reviews were entertaining. the girl's review was the typical "i'm upset because the artist was honest and told me my idea wouldn't work". The guy seems like he didn't do nearly enough research or have proper expectations.

[DJDeepFried]

  Tesseracts said:

Good satire of Yelp.

Funny.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Graeme]

  daveborjes said:

TRASH POLKA strikes again!

This guy calls himself a USN sailor too.

Doesn't every TRASH POLKA tattoo end in disappointment, usually around the time the person with the tattoo realises they got shitty, outdated graphic design and not a tattoo?

[BrookR70]

Yelp actually helped me out indirectly. My wife wanted to know how much I paid for one of my recent tattoos and I wouldn't tell her. She looked up my shop on Yelp and read a review where a guy actually mentioned a price that was lower than what I paid. The review was 2 years old. She thinks I'm spending less on my tattoos. On the flip side, you'd think I would be upset for paying more than the other guy, but I'm not. I know what artists in my area charge, and I feel like I'm getting a good deal.

<rant> On a side note...whenever I decide to do business that involve more than a couple of hundred dollars (mechanics especially), I go to the BBB web site. I know it's not nearly as popular, but usually there's enough information there to be able weed out bad businesses. These are people with legitimate complaints. They actually have to go through a moderated process to file a complaint and that process takes time and effort. I know that there probably aren't many tattoo shops listed, but it's worth supporting them. </rant>

[Lance]

  Graeme said:

...outdated graphic design and not a tattoo?

90's Raygun Magazine LIVES!!!! ;-)

[CultExciter]

David Carson is coming back y'all. (Not that he ever really went away, also, I hate Sagmeister).

[jnin]

I think the biggest problem with a resource like yelp for tattoos is the fact that you are sure to get uneducated opinions. I think it is safe to say most people on LST have in depth knowledge of the tattoo industry and are capable of going in depth about tattoos; whereas the average yelp reviewer probably doesn't know too much about good work, fair prices. etc.

[polliwog]

I've never seen a tattoo shop rated below 4 stars on Yelp, meaning that everyone must be getting really great tattoos.

The thing that bothers me most about Yelp is that so many of the "bad experiences" could have been made better if the reviewer took 2 minutes to be a human being and talk with somebody at the shop/restaurant/whatever rather than go home - or whip out their phone - and write about it. Or to just chalk it up to having to interact with people you don't know & shug it off if it's small enough, which it usually is. ("The cashier looked like she was JUDGING ME!!") It enables a lot of the most irritating kinds of modern-day behavior.

The flip side is that it can name & shame businesses that racially profile, etc.

[exmember88]

I hate Yelp, We had a tattoo artist for a while who, while a good artist, was a terrible person and would hit on female customers and stalk them, and was an asshole to so many people. He isn't with us anymore, we also had an artist who developed a drug habit and said and did some things that were not ok either so our reputation on yelp got trashed, which I understand but these artists are not with us anymore for obvious reasons. So we have asked our clients to post reviews about us on yelp, and we have tons of good reviews now and yelp lists them all as "not recommended". So we are stuck with bad reviews about artists that no longer work for us with no way to remove them. We contacted yelp and they said there was nothing they could do. I hear if you pay to advertise with yelp that your bad reviews go away, it's a scam.

[SeeSea]

As a reviewer on Yelp, your reviews are considered "not recommended" until proven otherwise.

I just noticed the "not recommended" thing and read up on it. Here is from the Yelp FAQ. Blame it on "the software". This is their way of trying to force you to write more reviews and make "friends" on Yelp so they can mine even more information about you to sell. EMPHASIS MINE.

  Quote

Why would a review not be recommended?

There are a number of reasons why a review might not be recommended. For example, the review might have been posted by a less established user, or it may seem like an unhelpful rant or rave. Some of these reviews are fakes (like the ones we see originating from the same computer) and some suggest a bias (like the ones written by a friend of the business owner), but many are real reviews from real customers who we just don’t know much about and therefore can’t recommend.

[SeeSea]

  Tiffany Lynx Guadagnino said:

So we have asked our clients to post reviews about us on yelp, and we have tons of good reviews now and yelp lists them all as "not recommended".

I will say first off that I don't work for Yelp and I don't own a business reviewed by Yelp. (And I read between the lines when I use Yelp.) But I read the FAQ and I design algorithms and some of this makes a lot of sense to me. Ignore all this if you want ::shrugs:: but it at least partially explains your rating and can help you improve your rating going forward if you wanted to.

So, I'm repeating my Yelp quote from above for completeness:

  Quote

There are a number of reasons why a review might not be recommended. For example, the review might have been posted by a less established user, or it may seem like an unhelpful rant or rave. Some of these reviews are fakes (like the ones that originate from the same computer) and some suggest a bias (like the ones written by a friend of the business owner), but many are real reviews from real customers who we just don’t know much about and therefore can’t recommend.

Sifting through your Yelp reviews, most of your shop's "not recommended" reviews are by people with 0 or 1 friends, and have posted only 1 review - for your shop. Also, there are a large number of reviews for your shop all in a few short periods of time, all made by people doing only 1 review - for your shop. And all of those reviews give your shop 5 stars. Some of the 5 star reviews include one from your owner and from someone simply complaining that there are bad reviews!

From the Yelp FAQ, they use a software algorithm to detect trends like these and tag them as not recommended. From an algorithm standpoint, these look like fake reviews designed to inflate your rating. You could easily have gotten those reviews by having all your friends sign on and create "fake" reviews. As you might suspect, this happens all the time on Yelp.

Now, you say that the reviews are genuine, but you, the business representative/owner, took an action to influence your reviews. Yelp doesn't like that behavior (lots of 5 star reviews from people only having reviewed 1 business in a short period of time). As a consumer, I would look askance on those reviews as well.

Also from the Yelp FAQ:

  Quote

Should I ask my customers to write reviews for me on Yelp?

No, you shouldn’t ask your customers to post reviews on Yelp.

For one thing, most businesses tend to ask their happiest customers to write reviews, not the unhappy ones. These self-selected reviews tell only part of the story, and we don’t think that’s fair to consumers. We would much rather hear from members of the Yelp community who are inspired to talk about their experiences without a business owner’s encouragement.

As a result, you shouldn’t be surprised if our software fails to recommend the reviews that you’ve asked your customers to write. Your best bet to get high quality and unbiased reviews about your business is to provide a memorable and amazing customer experience – it has nothing to do with asking your customers to post on Yelp.

So, now that you understand how Yelp works, you can game Yelp back. If you want a review to be recommended, ask your clients to post the review RIGHT AFTER they get the service, not by making a mass call for reviews all at the same time. The reviews need to be randomly spaced out in time. And tell some of them to give you 4 stars - which is still a great rating. That will still help your current rating and have less of a chance of the review being rejected.

Also, ask your owner to respond to negative reviews with a short, professionally-worded reply that shows you are being responsive, not defensive.

My $0.02. YMMV

[CultExciter]

  daveborjes said:

I think it's Flying Tiger in New Britain Connecticut that has these awesome stickers that say, "people hate us on Yelp", just like the stickers Yelp makes that say, "people like us on Yelp."

Fuck Yelp.

Good ole Murray!