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What a guy though: >Under the alias “Babghanoush I,” Cerretini posted 13 fake positive reviews for Botto Bistro, as well as fake critical reviews of neighborin

by cc81 7y ago

What a guy though: >Under the alias “Babghanoush I,” Cerretini posted 13 fake positive reviews for Botto Bistro, as well as fake critical reviews of neighboring restaurants — sometimes going so far as to disparage fellow owners. ...... >In the spring of 2014, after turning down another Yelp salesperson, Cerretini claims that four 5-star reviews were filtered from his page, and three 1-star reviews were suddenly catapulted to the top of the page. For the chef, this was the final straw. >“Those 1-star reviews were from people who never even set foot in my restaurant,” says Cerretini. “One complained about our waiters… we didn’t even have waiters!” Yeah, I wonder why you got fake negative reviews.

spraak 7y ago
Not a valid reason. Any business with integrity would not handle it that way.
- ViViDboarder 7y ago
  I believe that parent commenter is saying that this guy wrote fake negative reviews against neighboring businesses and those businesses likely wrote them back.
avs733 7y ago
Notably that information came from Yelp... "Documented records shared with The Hustle by a Yelp spokesperson tell a fuller story of Cerretini’s actions."
- cc81 7y ago
  Yes, but he himself admitted to writing good reviews and I have no reason not to believe Yelp in that case.
  - avs733 7y ago
    Two businesses each claim the other is full of shit. More at 11.
- abtinf 7y ago
  If that information is wrong, Yelp would be open to massive defamation liability.
computator 7y ago
> Yeah, I wonder why you got fake negative reviews. Are you saying that neighboring restaurants gave him bad reviews in retribution to the bad reviews he gave them? Or are you saying that Yelp themselves created fake negatives reviews because the owner turned away the Yelp salespeople?
- bscphil 7y ago
  More likely the idea is that there are any number of scummy people involved in the business leaving negative reviews on each other's restaurants.
pmoriarty 7y ago
You don't have to have waiters for the restaurant to be good.

by cc81 7y ago

spraak 7y ago

Not a valid reason. Any business with integrity would not handle it that way.

ViViDboarder 7y ago
I believe that parent commenter is saying that this guy wrote fake negative reviews against neighboring businesses and those businesses likely wrote them back.

avs733 7y ago

Notably that information came from Yelp... "Documented records shared with The Hustle by a Yelp spokesperson tell a fuller story of Cerretini’s actions."

cc81 7y ago
Yes, but he himself admitted to writing good reviews and I have no reason not to believe Yelp in that case.
- avs733 7y ago
  Two businesses each claim the other is full of shit. More at 11.
abtinf 7y ago
If that information is wrong, Yelp would be open to massive defamation liability.

computator 7y ago

> Yeah, I wonder why you got fake negative reviews. Are you saying that neighboring restaurants gave him bad reviews in retribution to the bad reviews he gave them? Or are you saying that Yelp themselves created fake negatives reviews because the owner turned away the Yelp salespeople?

bscphil 7y ago
More likely the idea is that there are any number of scummy people involved in the business leaving negative reviews on each other's restaurants.

pmoriarty 7y ago

You don't have to have waiters for the restaurant to be good.