Best auto repair shop in Ventura,,,,,Lee L.

Here we go again, revisiting Yelp!

No, my beef is not with the posts, nor with unruly clients, competitors or former employees trying to
get even.
This time, is the policy Yelp has of allowing posts to go public without publishing the name of the writer.
In one short sentence, it Stinks!
Last year I bought a one page ad in the local paper, I was fighting the place next door from opening up, and I needed to expose the true intentions of the nature of their business.
As you may imagine, a one page ad is not cheap. At the bottom of the ad, I wanted to close with the caption "Concerned citizens of Ventura." as I did not want to use my own name (for security reasons).

I spent 8 hours negotiating with the newspaper publisher about that closing. They would not do it unless the ad was posted with the name of the writer, or those who paid for it. They would not accept some made up name, such as the one I had come up with.
As a result, I have come to respect that position a great deal. If an accusation is to be made, it should have the full name of the accuser.
Yelp just won a fight in court about the content of their posts. The allegation was that Yelp was creating fictitious accounts in order to post bad reviews to increase their popularity or ranking.
Because they post user content on the internet, they are not liable for it.

We need to change the laws and force all internet companies to have truth in posting. I don't know if people realize how much a bad review will hurt a business. I have a feeling people may be a lot more careful with their words if the world knew their name.

For the record, I'm a huge fan of the first amendment. I also feel we should live by the consequences of our words.

Sincerely,

ITIP    "internet truth in posting"

Two out of three ain't bad

Two out of three ain't bad!

With all due credit to the songwriter, Meatloaf.
I personally believe he wrote the song about the auto repair industry. I happen to think we were the inspiration for that mega hit.

The song was probably written or created around the late 70's.  Back in those days, two out of three was not bad!  Most people were satisfied with that. They came in to a repair shop and we offered them three choices, of those choices they could only pick from two: quality, speed, price.
It was perfectly acceptable to leave finger prints all over the place as a sign that a *"mechanic"* had been there, that was the proof. For some *"repair shops"* to wash the vehicle, it was unheard of.
Fortunately, we no longer live in the 70's. Gone are the days of three month warranties and polyester bell bottoms . Today, that has been replaced by the standard 24 month nationwide warranty, and a car wash at the end. This  includes *"Diesels"*as well.

If Meatloaf were to write the song today, it would have to be titled "Anything but three out of three is bad" as the consumer wont stand for anything else.
#mechanic,#repairshop,#diesel