I took my car in for a quick service and oil change at my local auto dealer yesterday. I ended up paying something like $40 for an oil change. When I asked for a tire rotation, I was proposed the next level “15,000 mile service” which would cost $240. After declining the offer, I promptly wrote a review of my experience on Yelp.
5 minutes after posting my review, the owner of the dealership messaged me, apologizing for my experience, explaining how my car uses an expensive type of oil and offering me a free tire rotation.
I’m not a frequent Yelper by any means, but I was amazed by how powerful a single review can be. I almost felt guilty reading the email from the apologetic owner. This is truly unprecedented power to consumers. Is it too much power? I’m not sure yet, I think in some cases like a small shop with only a few customers it could be.
If you have thoughts about this, please post a comment below.
Interesting article. I’m also not a frequent yelper, but Yelp is an incredibly powerful tool. It’s great that consumers can interact with other consumers and with businesses. Unfortunately though, I can see how it’d be possible for whiners and complainers to benefit when they probably shouldn’t. That said, I suspect I’ll probably start using it more in the future.