Students and Readers:
As a Foodblogger running HankOnFood.com, I know many restaurants like to get good reviews and some will offer food discounts, free food, etc. if you give them some publicity. If you read my food blog description, you will note I have a code of ethics I follow based on my Grandma's old adage "If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all!". Even if I'm given a free meal or product, I don't write about it if I don't like it. This is the only way I feel I can be fair and maintain my lack of bias.
In this day and age where everyone has multiple blogs, many consumers have found they can be great tools in dealing with poor customer service. United Airlines, as an example, had luggage handlers mishandling guitars which led to musician David Carroll's guitar being broken into pieces. See the video below as his response:
The fact of the matter is the World Wide Web has become a great sounding board for customers who have not been able to get satisfaction from large corporations wielding the word "policy" and shutting them down when they've been abused and given no end of disservice. Much like a rumour mill or the town gossip, the Internet has enabled bad word of mouth to spread like wildfire on a global level, way beyond what was possible even 10 or 20 years ago. This has also led to many libel suits over false claims, a faster spread of Urban Legends to the point that even Snopes can't keep up, and so on down the line.
However, what has become more and more common these days is a sense of entitlement and even arrogance in the use of Blogs, Facebook and other social media, and some individuals have decided to use them as a means to extort free products from companies and notably, free food and drink from restaurants. One such individual had an issue with Ricky Craig, the owner of The Hubcap Grill here in Houston and basically said that he'd give them a bad review on Yelp* if he wasn't given free product. Ricky Craig would have none of it and went into a Twitter Battle with Yelp* and the customer over the issue. He even took Yelp* to task over several false reviews, but Yelp* basically replied by saying they'd remove the reviews *if* he'd advertise with them. Craig refused and retaliated in an event called #YuckFelp which I attended in a show of support for this local entrepreneur. There have been several similar clashes between Craig and disgruntled customers over his not accepting credit cards due to how expensive the fees are and the fact that their kitchen won't cut a burger for the customer, but will give them a plastic knife to do it themselves. The Anvil Bar and Refuge had a similar such dispute back in 2011 and owner Bobby Heugel took some liberties with a Yelp* sticker to voice his opinion.
And now we have another case of this that was reported on KIAH-39's NewsFix.
At it's best, the Internet and so-called New Media can be a source of income and a wealth of information that helps consumers and businesses alike. At its worst, it is a source of misinformation that can clearly do serious harm to businesses that employ people who need those incomes and can even lead to scams/extortion such as these three examples here.
So let's hear from you. Consider the following
1. How likely are you to consider a review of a restaurant on Yelp*, Urban Spoon or a well known local Food Blogger in choosing a restaurant?
2. What would you need to know to consider if the reviews or opinions are valid or are just something petty? Is there a litmus test we can use?
3. Would you make use of YouTube, a blog, Twitter, or some other social media to get some sort of satisfaction if a business gave you poor service or if you felt they ripped you off? How far would you be willing to take it?
4. How much revenue could a firm lose due to these kinds of actions by customers? How much would it cost the company to do damage control after the fact? Would it be cheaper to just give in?
As always, any well thought out and supported responses are welcome.
Success to you all!
Prof. Hank Lewis
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