Menupages.ie - negative reviews are removed

eightyfish

AARRRGH wrote: »

They already did. Read the first few pages of the thread.

Thanks, just did.

They also sent me an e-mail saying my review was removed because the restaurant asked for it to be removed.

Was that the actual word-for-word of the email?

Without a doubt, negative reviews are removed. And of course, there is also the problem of the millions of fake positive reviews.

I've noticed a lot of these as well. Glowing reviews that give 5-stars on everything and are from new users with only one review. They usually occur among a bunch of bad reviews. For example, "diningontour" is clearly a plant by the Quay 16 restaurant here.

However, I'm not sure how they can combat this.

Jimmy1bob

Sorry just came upon this thread, so didn't go through all the pages. So to confirm from the other side i.e from the restaurant side, menupages remove negative reviews from the paid listings, that is the first 10-20 restaurants that are the top of the page.
As people have said it kinda defeats the purpose, but thats only true if you believe their purpose is to offer independant unbiased reviews to help the public make an informed choice. Unfortunatley that is not the case they are just another web2.0 company looking to make a fast buck.

AARRRGH

Jimmy1bob wrote: »

Sorry just came upon this thread, so didn't go through all the pages. So to confirm from the other side i.e from the restaurant side, menupages remove negative reviews from the paid listings, that is the first 10-20 restaurants that are the top of the page.
As people have said it kinda defeats the purpose, but thats only true if you believe their purpose is to offer independant unbiased reviews to help the public make an informed choice. Unfortunatley that is not the case they are just another web2.0 company looking to make a fast buck.

Unfortunately menupages call themselves the "objective guide to eating out in Dublin."

Objective? :rolleyes:

WhoseView: Michael

Gamesnash.ie (Pat) wrote: »

I notice a new forum here on boards.ie for whoseview.ie - they have restaurant views themselves and have a rep here on boards.ie - I'd imagine they would be more reliable, at the very least you have someone to shout at if not


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055627133

thanks for the mention Pat. I recently posted a reply over on a Motors thread, talking about the importance of trust when it comes to a customer review site and what www.whoseview.ie have done (and doing) to address this issue. You can read the thread here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055640806

Just to mention we are running a competition for boards.ie members, giving away a €100 voucher for funny reviews. You can read thread here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055628960

MrPatMustard

What's the story with the "MenuPages Night Out"??? How does that work, how much, etc???

sekhon_boy

MrPatMustard wrote: »

What's the story with the "MenuPages Night Out"??? How does that work, how much, etc???

why people do not complaint about boards.ie?
I think because boards.ie is fair and they do not ask businesses to pay for listings and to put bad/good reviews.
people like menupages.ie are making fool of Irsih users/ reviwers.An average reviewer spend some of their time to do this and for that menupages.ie use it , if it serves their purpose and if not simply they do not post it on. I think there should be more awareness among the public about this type of cowboy business. Same time the Irish standard authorties should take control of this type of nonsense delivered delibrtelty by the money movers. Reviews are read by people internationally, but if some websites are using public to serve their purpose , i do not think it is fair. I think public reviws about someone else's business should be treated as public media and it should be independant from this type of crap and this type of private driven reviws should be shut down. Yes they should be allowed to have reviews about their own web sites or businesses but not for somebody else's business. as i believe not every restaurant has paid to menupages.ie for their listing and i do not think they do cahrity for the Top 10 restaurants either. It seams to be like black mailing businesses, like if you want to be top 10 !!!!! come hare pay us and if you will not, we will let your competitor put the bad reviews or from any body who ever hates you. How transparent is that system evrybody knows ! Tomarow there will be another private money maker website about each person living in ireland, with evrybody's name , photo and age, and you can review about it. if you want to be good , inoscent you pay them otherwise you will have bad reviews !!!, Why there should be such platforms , those can misguide public and fill thier pocket with euoros.
<snip>edit</snip>

goodeater

Hey, just letting you know I often use menupages.ie when booking a restaurant.
I find that the reviews are always accurate and there are always negative comments posted( depending on restaurant of course).
I have posted quite a few reviews as have my friends , both negative and positive and they have always stayed up and some have not been very polite.
Menupages.ie i think is the best website you can use when booking a restaurant.Just because sometimes you cant find your review doesn't mean there's some sort of conspiracy! also i have gone to the menupages nites that they run , the offer eating in top Dublin restaurants for unbelievable prices , and there always good craic id advise checking them out.

Happy eating!

ToxicPaddy

So one post from "good eater" giving glowing reports about a site thats being bashed here for being not what they claim to be and removing negative reviews..

gimme a break!!! :rolleyes:

Jaysoose

goodeater wrote: »

Hey, just letting you know I often use menupages.ie when booking a restaurant.
I find that the reviews are always accurate and there are always negative comments posted( depending on restaurant of course).
I have posted quite a few reviews as have my friends , both negative and positive and they have always stayed up and some have not been very polite.
Menupages.ie i think is the best website you can use when booking a restaurant.Just because sometimes you cant find your review doesn't mean there's some sort of conspiracy! also i have gone to the menupages nites that they run , the offer eating in top Dublin restaurants for unbelievable prices , and there always good craic id advise checking them out.

Happy eating!

HI menupages :rolleyes:

Sponge Bob

I use Tripadvisor , much easier to see the 'pedigree' of the reviewer and foreigners are more honest about our so called 'hospitality' industry which is anything but nowadays ....with some exceptions.

Menupages reads like a pack of estate agents writing about property .

Newaglish

goodeater wrote: »

Hey, just letting you know I often use menupages.ie when booking a restaurant.
I find that the reviews are always accurate and there are always negative comments posted( depending on restaurant of course).
I have posted quite a few reviews as have my friends , both negative and positive and they have always stayed up and some have not been very polite.
Menupages.ie i think is the best website you can use when booking a restaurant.Just because sometimes you cant find your review doesn't mean there's some sort of conspiracy! also i have gone to the menupages nites that they run , the offer eating in top Dublin restaurants for unbelievable prices , and there always good craic id advise checking them out.

Happy eating!

Aha...hahahaha...ahaha... oh dear

*facepalm*

eightyfish

goodeater wrote: »

the offer eating in top Dublin restaurants for unbelievable prices , and there always good craic id advise checking them out.

Bloody hell. The only real problem I have with MP is the large number of reviews obviously posted by restaurants (new reviewer, glowing praise). I emailed them asking about this and they said it is a problem they are trying to combat. Now it looks like they are doing the same thing here for themselves. I've supported them previously in this thread... Menupages I no longer trust you.

Cabaal

Shameful actions by menupages in relation to this

tricky D

Of course you can't trust Menupages to be completely accurate.

Firstly, as already noted, there's noting to stop restaurants talking themselves up in reviews and it's difficult for MP to sniff this stuff out.

Secondly, as MP are the publisher of third party reviews, under Irish law they risk being sued by restaurants more than the reviewer. While the matter isn't black and white, of course they'll cover their ass and remove stuff that risks trouble for them. Very similar stuff has happened here on Boards before with the MCD incident and despite removing anything negative, legal threats remained until recently.

Lastly, as with most businesses, loyalty/benefit is first to the shareholders, employees, suppliers and users/consumers are down the list.

Just keep a few good pinches of salt handy when reading these kinds of reviews.

francois

tricky D wrote: »

Of course you can't trust Menupages to be completely accurate.

Firstly, as already noted, there's noting to stop restaurants talking themselves up in reviews and it's difficult for MP to sniff this stuff out.

Easy to spot-the first mention always is how nice/helpful etc the staff are before anything is mentioned about the food-and the review is normally a 5 star from a first timer-The "gourmet" burger bars were at it all the time.

tricky D

francois wrote: »

Easy to spot-the first mention always is how nice/helpful etc the staff are before anything is mentioned about the food-and the review is normally a 5 star from a first timer-The "gourmet" burger bars were at it all the time.

Very true, but some are more experienced and subtle in their shilling.

SerialComplaint

eightyfish wrote: »

Bloody hell. The only real problem I have with MP is the large number of reviews obviously posted by restaurants (new reviewer, glowing praise). .

Tripadvisor used to have similar problems, but now they show the number of reviews beside the reviewers name, so now you can see at a glance if this is a one-time reviewer.

Debzz

all their site stats are made up! they claim to have way more page hits then they do which drives up the cost of advertising - all lies! If someone investigated they'd soon see how the operation works.

smokedsalmon

Menupages writes bad reviews when restaurants don't pay them and good reviews when they pay up. its all about paying up each month and if you don't well suddenly those bad reviews start coming in. Its also run by the same crowd that runs Car Buyers Guide. All those little workers in cubicles scanning newspapers and phoning everyone asking if you wanted to sell you car. Well now those same drones are inventive food critics extracting money from restaurants.

Here's how the <snip> works:
The restaurant is sent a bad review and is then telephoned to ask whether it wants to comment on it. Naturally no restaurant wants a bad review. It's then explained that if you become a premium member they'll monitor they'll monitor bad reviews for you. It's a bit like a protection racket. You're paying not to have people break your windows, and as soon as you stop paying a note wrapped around a brick comes through your window in the form of an email. Nobody in menupages knows anything about food, but they know how to get money out of gullible restaurants. The site is used mostly by the people who run menupages. It has been a real cash cow for a really long time.

colcannon

I also run a food business and find that we have got some atrocious reviews on menupages.ie, some of which make no sense at all.Strangely we dont get complaints of this level or nature from our customers in person or to our own website. We dont advertise with menupages but are constantly agressively approached to do so by them.

the_syco

colcannon wrote: »

we have got some atrocious reviews on menupages.ie, some of which make no sense at all.Strangely we dont get complaints of this level or nature from our customers in person or to our own website. We dont advertise with menupages but are constantly agressively approached to do so by them.

I wonder could you do them for libel?

Jev/N

the_syco wrote: »

I wonder could you do them for libel?

How so?

Also, it's just a tort of defamation now. Libel, legally, doesn't exist anymore.

the_syco

Jev/N wrote: »

How so?

Is I said X company were sh|t, boards.ie could be done for it, as it was writtten on boards.ie (so we're told). So I'm wondering, since it's written on menupages.ie site, could they not be in the place as boards.ie could be if someone libeled them?

Jev/N

the_syco wrote: »

Is I said X company were sh|t, boards.ie could be done for it, as it was writtten on boards.ie (so we're told). So I'm wondering, since it's written on menupages.ie site, could they not be in the place as boards.ie could be if someone libeled them?

Ah right, I thought you were referred to the highlighted bit. I'm not fully sure as it generally relates to people and not corporate entities, AFAIK. In theory it might be, at least if the reviews were unwarranted or untruthful but reviews are, by their nature, a different kettle of fish.

I'm not trying to defend menupages but most of the reviews I've seen aren't that bad and to my mind, I've never seen a scathing review on there (maybe I've been looking at the wrong restaurants!). Their system seems to be a lot more stringent in recent times, if you want to post a review.

BroomBurner

Jev/N wrote: »

Ah right, I thought you were referred to the highlighted bit. I'm not fully sure as it generally relates to people and not corporate entities, AFAIK. In theory it might be, at least if the reviews were unwarranted or untruthful but reviews are, by their nature, a different kettle of fish.

I'm not trying to defend menupages but most of the reviews I've seen aren't that bad and to my mind, I've never seen a scathing review on there (maybe I've been looking at the wrong restaurants!). Their system seems to be a lot more stringent in recent times, if you want to post a review.

Just on the emboldened part, the new legislation awards corporate entities the same rights as an individual.

Shame about menupages.ie if they are diluting their content, but everyone is doing it. As previously mentioned, the TripAdvisor solution is the way to go. Restaurants can't cover their ears and eyes and imagine everything is rosy then wonder why all their customers are deserting them.

J_Wholesale

BroomBurner wrote: »

Shame about menupages.ie if they are diluting their content, but everyone is doing it.

No they're not - not as a matter of policy anyway. Laterooms.com often show negative reviews of hotels. If they didn't, they wouldn't be trusted, and wouldn't be as big as they are today. Bottom line, if your site allows reviews, then you have to allow negative reviews. If your site doesn't allow businesses to be named and discussed, then you're free to edit comments that critique named businesses. A site based around submitted reviews has no place censoring that content out of fear of litigation. If that fear exists, then they're in the wrong business.

This is an example of a 1 star review of a guest house in Dublin, found after 2 minutes of searching laterooms.com. How is this any different to a negative review on menupages.ie?

I booked online and printed out confirmation, when we checked in they could not find our confirmation even though I handed them a printed version.
They booked us into a different room than the one we booked on line, one bed was broken and the other double bed was extremely small and very uncomfortable.

The wallpaper was dirty and peeling of the walls and the TV got 1 channel which was bad quality.

The bathroom vent was so glogged with dirt that it did not work correctly and the toilet handle was broken.

The room had no safe and we had to hand in our key whenever we left to go out, so we had to carry our passports and all of our cash with us whenever we went out.
We lost a lost a lot of sleep due to the noise from outside and inside the Hotel.

AARRRGH

the_syco wrote: »

Is I said X company were sh|t, boards.ie could be done for it, as it was writtten on boards.ie (so we're told). So I'm wondering, since it's written on menupages.ie site, could they not be in the place as boards.ie could be if someone libeled them?

Yeah, I think the publisher is the one who gets sued.

If this is menupages concern and the reason they remove negative reviews, well then their website is pointless as negative reviews tell you more about a restaurant than a potentially fake positive review.

imeddyhobbs

Thanks for the heads up on menupages.ie lads

Shows that word of mouth is worth more than words on webpages, I will be sticking to word of mouth.

AARRRGH

Interesting. A company which runs a similar extortion scheme is being sued:

http://yelpclassaction.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/hello-world/

Two prominent class action law firms filed a class action lawsuit today in Los Angeles federal court alleging unfair business practices against Yelp Inc., a San Francisco-based start-up. Yelp owns and operates a popular website (Yelp.com) enabling visitors to post and access user-generated reviews of business and services.

The lawsuit alleges that Yelp runs an extortion scheme in which the company’s employees call businesses demanding monthly payments, in the guise of “advertising contracts,” in exchange for removing or modifying negative reviews appearing on the website. The plaintiff, a veterinary hospital in Long Beach, California, asked that Yelp remove a false and defamatory review from the website. In response, as set forth in the lawsuit, Yelp refused to take down the review. Instead, the company’s sales representatives repeatedly contacted the hospital and demanded a roughly $300 per-month payment in exchange for hiding or removing the negative review. Similar examples of Yelp’s unscrupulous sales practices have been widely documented in the press, including in The Wall Street Journal, The San Jose Mercury, and a series of articles recently appearing in The East Bay Express.

“We believe that Yelp’s sales tactics amount to high-tech extortion,” observed Jared H. Beck, co-managing partner of Beck & Lee Business Trial Lawyers, which filed the lawsuit along with The Weston Firm. “The victims tend to be small businesses, such as our client, who often have no choice but to pay Yelp exorbitant sums in order to prevent further harm to their livelihoods.”

Gregory S. Weston, managing partner of The Weston Firm, said, “We are asking the court to certify a nationwide class and enter an injunction to bring a stop to Yelp’s wrongful conduct. I urge any other small business that has been victimized by these tactics to contact my law office.”

The case, which is styled Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital Inc. v. Yelp Inc., was filed on February 23, 2010, and is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Beck & Lee Business Trial Lawyers in Miami and The Weston Firm in San Diego are dedicated to pursuing and protecting the rights of consumers, investors, and small businesses. The two firms frequently collaborate in the prosecution of class actions in courts across the country. They have succeeded in recovering millions of dollars for their clients since the firms were founded in 2007.

wyndham

This thread is result #4 on a google search for 'menupages'. Won't be long before their business model is widely exposed as little more than an online protection racket.