Advice?

I wrote an annymous yelp review last night. The person found out and replied thru her yelp account. She used my actual name instead of anonymous. She wants me to call or email her and talk about my serious accusations.

I don’t know what to do. Someone told me not to talk to her. Someone else said talk to her but do not admit I was the one that wrote the review.

I’m wondering though, if she knew it was me then isn’t she basically admitting what she did wrong? I took a screenshot of her reply. Just in case she deletes it. I don’t know what the right thing to do is.

Wow. That sounds very very unprofessional of her. You were right to take a screen shot. How are you feeling about it? Is it stressing you? Why does she want to talk to you? Does she want to right her wrong? I would not reply to her unless you felt safe doing so. Do you trust her?

I just worry about legal issues. People I have spoken to about this say what I said falls under freedom of speech. I knew something like this would happen, so I’m not particularly stressed. I don’t trust her at all. I’m guessing she wants to right her wrong. Or she does just want me to let it go.

It sounds like free speech to me. I can't say "don't worry," because I myself don't know much about this stuff. But...I wouldn't worry too much.

I'm curious to know what happened. But you of course do not have to say.

If they are serious accusations, yes you are going to have to speak to her. What did you expect? If someone wrote a harsh or nasty review about a company, the owner wants to verify what is said is true and what the company can do to fix it. If you don't want legal issues, think twice about what you post for the whole world to see!

I did talk to her. In email right now.

But LiteraryLark what about freedom of speech? I was not threatening at all.

If I can get in trouble then what falls under freedom of speech?

I’m sorry. Every thread I make just turns into an argument.

I don't know what was said, and I'm not trying to argue with you. There are limits and laws that define what you can and can't say and do under the Freedom of Speech. I'd suggest looking into it. But I don't think your harsh review has anything to do with freedom of speech or legal issues. It's a very common phenomenon for people to write vicious comments and for business reply to them without taking any legal stances. You wrote a harsh review, and now they are giving you the opportunity to explain what happened and how you'd like it resolved. There's a very small chance this will be taken into court, so I wouldn't worry about legal issues.

Mountaindewed, I see no reason you'd have to be sorry here to anybody. People write negative reviews all the time on yelp. 1 thing I didn't think of though, is yes, she reached out to you to make it right. That's good. That shows her integrity.

She emailed me and asked how to resolve this. I don’t get how to resolve this. I’m guessing she just wants me to delete the review or something.

Based on her attitude that review is staying up.

Again, I dont know what was said. Whatever you wrote had to be something that can be fixed. I dont know why you are upset with her response based on what you wrote.

Okay. I have been "yelping" since yelp existed. Literally, since it first appeared online. I have reviews going back years and years. I review for good service, bad service, and in-between. I think yelp is an excellent source for information.

There are no legal ramifications for what you write on yelp. NONE. Zero. Yelp exists so people can give reviews for businesses and services. The site is not only for *nice* reviews, it is for honest reviews. If you patronized a business or received a service that was bad and you reviewed it, you have done exactly what yelp is there for.

You do not "have to" respond to anyone unless you want to respond. If you've left a bad review and a business owner is smart, the person will attempt to contact you to rectify the situation by, for example, offering you a discount if you try their business again. Or the owner or manager might offer an apology. Or whatever. Sure, communication is usually better than not communicating...but it's up to you whether you want to respond, or not.

If your review was based on an experience you had that was not good, I give you credit for getting on yelp and letting potential customers AND the owner know that something needs to improve.

By the way, I once reviewed a sandwich shop, a bad review because the place was terrible. The owner contacted me and was horribly rude, immature, and just a general JERK. So I posted the message he'd sent to me on my review so anyone could read it. The man had no diplomacy and deserved to have his business hurt for being such a terrible business owner.

That is awesome. I experienced bullying behavior from a reiki healer who had a business I'd reviewed negatively on yelp.

Her response just confused me. She asked what she could do to resolve this and when I asked what she had in mind she snapped at me and told me to talk about it with someone else. It was weird. But this is just the way she is. I haven’t responded since and I don’t plan to, but the yelp review is staying up.

If your review was how you assessed your treatment by the business, then I will say Thank you for taking the time and effort to provide the service of your sincere review to others.

I would agree with this. I was really glad to see it when other negative reviews of the reiki healer woman's business started popping up. You may be helping others, Mountaindewed.

I second everything Laurie said. She gave really good advice.

She keeps emailing me but she’s not saying what she wants me to do. I’m confused and stressed about it.

If you like, you can post her most recent email here. Perhaps we can help you with some suggestions.

“Mountaindewed, I do understand your feelings, and you have every right to them.
You made an accusation and that is something I take seriously. I am asking you to reconsider it.
I wish you all the best.”

But she won’t tell me what to reconsider or what she wants me to do.

Nothing about this is threatening or "giving an attitude", it sounds like you are the one mouthing off to her and creating unnecessary drama. And by the word "accusation" usually implies a threat you made to her or said something outrageous and untrue. If you were upset enough to write some vicicous scathing review and dont have a clue how to respond because it came back to bite you in the butt, think twice before writing a review. Id apologize to her and ask to take the review down.

I did delete it. No need to jump down my throat though. I was doing what Laurie asked me to do.

I’m frustrated because I sent her a final email saying I deleted it. And she didn’t respond. I’m frustrated because that really was all she cared about. The review is deleted so it feels like all she was doing was trying to get me to delete the review. Why not say that in the first place instead of giving me all this B.S about how to resolve the issue and what she can do. My mom says she’s a bully. She is just not a nice person.

Hi MountainDewed. I don't know what happened and what you experienced, and I don't know what you wrote or what she did, so I cannot really comment on that. It would be all based on assumption. Can you share anything about the situation with her that made you upset (why you decided to write a review)?