Vasser’s Mini Mart: A Yelp Public Attention Alert
If it seems like we just wrote something like this just a few weeks ago, well- yes, we did! That was the case of Spicy Lucy from Chipotle, a semi-real manager who reviewers would tell you had a reputation for getting hot with her customers.
Basically, that was an instance of Meme Reviews gone wrong. Someone saw a Yelp review they thought was funny, then they copied it. More people saw, more people copied, and soon enough everyone was getting in on the joke!
Only problem is, that dilutes the product that Yelp is trying to sell, their good quality reviews. SO, Yelp tapped the brakes, putting up an Unusual Activity Report banner, letting everyone know that “hey guys, things aren’t normal here. The internet is being all internetty.”
Today we have something a bit different. Today we have Vasser’s Mini Mart. This place:
It’s risky when an owner just RESPONDS to a review, but this is even more bold than that. If you’re gonna try to own up to being in a highly visible scandal, you at least better tell the truth.
For those of you who don’t know what’s going on here (how did you get to this page??), here’s some context:
A big riverboat wanted to dock, a little pontoon full of people refused to move. A security guard attempted to resolve the situation, when the pontooners became violent and attacked him. Four on one. He’s black. They’re white. The owner of Vasser’s was in the fracas.
SO. Here we are. You can find the videos out there. It’s plain to see that NOBODY was trying to deescalate the situation. In other words, the boater (named Chase Shipman, in what seems like a bit of parody gone wrong) is kind of a bad dude. Kind of really a bad dude. But not bad enough to hold his own in a fight.
IN ANY CASE, we’re here to talk about his business being absolutely SHREDDED, just EVISCERATED on Yelp.
That’s right, when the internet finds something it hates, wrong or right, right or left, the review bombing starts.
Here’s just a sampling:
Generally in review bombing, you see one-off accounts, make solely for the purpose of the bomb. To make that statement, to bash that thing you hate. I’m shocked to see an Elite staking their reputation just to weigh in on this. But the mob has made its voice heard.
I have never seen such a low rating. Granted, this will likely be cleaned up once Yelp has time to sift through all of it (probably sorting and scanning reviews left after a certain date), but this is just SO devastating. And since the business page is unclaimed, someone jacked the cost up to $$$$ for a convenience store. As if the One Star wouldn’t have kept people away.
This. This is just so complete, down to the business images:
I’m not feeling optimistic about Vasser’s. You?
