Menupage$ - pay them for great reviews

smokedsalmon

Has anybody here had the experience of being steered toward a restaurant that you'd read the glowing reviews on Menupages.ie but found the experience to be different. I didn't realise that restaurants pay Menupages for good reviews or to get rid of bad ones. In fact I just found out that it's owned by the same people who own the Car Buyers Guide, so it's just a telemarketing company that don't visit restaurants. It's just a cash cow, every restaurant that pays them is good, there's no vetting. It's just a goldenpages of restaurants and it's obvious who's getting all the gold. I certainly won't use it again as a source of reference.

antoniosicily

I've posted some reviews on menupages and I think are still there.
As far as I know menupages review are written by people therefore you should not trust them, because many people do not know anything about food.

brick tamland

there was a huge thread on here a few months back about fake reviews/ removing bad reviews. i think it was in consumer issues

have a search and you'll find it

AARRRGH

Here's the thread: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055397739 (it's worth a read)

In summary -

Menupages happily remove negative reviews if asked by the restaurant.

Note East Korean in Temple Bar post here using a pseudonym, so expect a vicious reply from them shortly...

smokedsalmon

Thanks for getting back. I've posted several reviews on the restaurant menupages says has great food and a brilliant service but they havent put up my reviews so far, even after 72 hours so its obviously menupages is BS and most of thier 'reviews are fake. They must have a list of restaurants they are milking to hide any bad experiences from real people. I wouldn't be surprised if menupages were writing the glowing reviews themselves as they look suspicious long and full of praise. I'm going to look into this further I dont like being misled and conned.

AARRRGH

If menupages were to do any censorship, it should be the removal of incredibly glowing reviews from first time users, instead of the removal of negative reviews from long time users.

Oobie

Menupages have put up some of my not so glowing reviews as well as some of my good ones. There's one restaurant that had great reviews and it was honestly the worst place I've ever been so I put up a terrible review but this was never published.

AARRRGH

Oobie wrote: »

Menupages have put up some of my not so glowing reviews as well as some of my good ones. There's one restaurant that had great reviews and it was honestly the worst place I've ever been so I put up a terrible review but this was never published.

From what I can tell either the restaurant has to ask for the negative review to be taken down, or if they're a "premium" member they are taken down automatically.

NickNolte

There's an agenda involved of course. But how can you run a website like that and not pander to pressure from vested interests? Especially when the success of the website depends directly on those vested interests. You can't have impartiality in that kind of situation. It's pretty much the same as industry award ceremonies, etc. Such is life.

Mr.Boots

Menupages is rubish.
The problem with it is the annonmity.
They need to change it and make it harder to join...using a email address ect(like boards.ie)
Anyone can join it as many times as they like...with as many fake names, fake e-mail addresses as they like....its a joke.
Restaurant owners join it many times over to give their establishment glowing reviews....and then thye slate their competition using the same fake names!!
I guess the reason Menupages to this is to increase traffic on their site by making it as simple as possible to join.
The more traffic...the more revenue!
And yes....they do remove reviews.
Not sure if people take much notice of it any more anyway.

mambo

AARRRGH wrote: »

If menupages were to do any censorship, it should be the removal of incredibly glowing reviews from first time users, instead of the removal of negative reviews from long time users.

You mean like...?

http://www.menupages.ie/profiles/Foodreview10.asp


I think the best strategy is to avoid the star ratings and read the individual reviews themselves. Any that are overwhelmingly positive and don't seem to fit with what other reviews are saying, take with a pinch of salt. Those that read as genuine, and say a mix of good AND bad things, are more to be relied on.

sekhon_boy

i think menupages.ie should be banned, i have experience same as many others, they do not put up all the reviews and they only put up whatEVER THEY LIKE """", there system is not fair for everybody. On their front page some of the restaurants are crap and i mean really crap but they have 5 star reviews. Some of the very best restaurants have very bad reviews. I think they should be banned . Boards.ie is a good system as you get your answer what you post, but with menupages.ie nothing. I think they know how to blackmail people and specially businesses. It is a commercial business website and they try their best to make best of it. But it is not good to make people fool by using technology. Shame on them and shame on their system. For an example they will never put up my this review on their site, because this is truth. But it will stay on board.ie because boards.ie is transparent and they do not charge money from public to make somebody 5 star.

NickNolte

It's simple enough. Don't use the website and tell anyone that mentions it the same thing.

smokedsalmon

Haven't posted here in a while, but looked into the menupages setup. Owned by the Carbuyers Guide, that's those irritating people in cubicles telephoning everyone and hustling them for money, having gone through the advertisements in newspapers and other magazines, they've now done the same with restaurants and setup a nice cash cow to milk. I found out initially most of the so-called reviews were done by the Carbuyer's Guide salesteam and when they saw hom much money they could gleam from restaurant owner's, they tried to make it more original looking. Hence the new bells and whistles website. Everything's moving, but nothing is happening. A number of restaurant owners have told me that if they don't pay menupages, they start getting bad reviews, lots of them. One of them got over 60 in a few days. Now that's a remarkable achievement, considering his business had been quiet that week, he said. Menupages also send out little innocent emails to restaurants which tell the owner that someone is complaining about your place, would you like to comment. What they're really saying is that if you want to change these bad reviews you better pay us. Menupages is really a protection racket. You pay monthly for a listing and everything is rosy, and when you stop paying, or you never start paying be prepared for all the little guys in those cubicle in Menupages pasting and slicing all types of BAD REVIEWS. It's so predictable they send the same crap to everyone and it's down to numbers if there's a couple of thousand restaurants you're bound to get hundreds paying to stay safe. One person got an email from Menupages saying here's a bad review of your restaurant, what do you have to say about. The funny thing was he didn't even have a restaurant, he only supplied towels and napkins to restaurants. When he rang them they said there must have been some mistake. Menupages is an impressive scam it's a bit like Los Vegas with all the bells and stars, but behind all that razzmatazz it's a racket and someone should do something about it. I believe the Irish Times are looking into its operational procedures and credibility.

ana ng

Yeah only use it to see menus now. First noticed it when a crappy restaurant I reviewed started to have tons of similarly-worded five-star reviews every time they got a bad one. Sad thing is they ended up (and still are) the top-rated restaurant in Kildare, although the food they dish out is ultra-bland.

herya

smokedsalmon wrote: »

Haven't posted here in a while, but looked into the menupages setup. Owned by the Carbuyers Guide, that's those irritating people in cubicles telephoning everyone and hustling them for money, having gone through the advertisements in newspapers and other magazines, they've now done the same with restaurants and setup a nice cash cow to milk. I found out initially most of the so-called reviews were done by the Carbuyer's Guide salesteam and when they saw hom much money they could gleam from restaurant owner's, they tried to make it more original looking. Hence the new bells and whistles website. Everything's moving, but nothing is happening. A number of restaurant owners have told me that if they don't pay menupages, they start getting bad reviews, lots of them. One of them got over 60 in a few days. Now that's a remarkable achievement, considering his business had been quiet that week, he said. Menupages also send out little innocent emails to restaurants which tell the owner that someone is complaining about your place, would you like to comment. What they're really saying is that if you want to change these bad reviews you better pay us. Menupages is really a protection racket. You pay monthly for a listing and everything is rosy, and when you stop paying, or you never start paying be prepared for all the little guys in those cubicle in Menupages pasting and slicing all types of BAD REVIEWS. It's so predictable they send the same crap to everyone and it's down to numbers if there's a couple of thousand restaurants you're bound to get hundreds paying to stay safe. One person got an email from Menupages saying here's a bad review of your restaurant, what do you have to say about. The funny thing was he didn't even have a restaurant, he only supplied towels and napkins to restaurants. When he rang them they said there must have been some mistake. Menupages is an impressive scam it's a bit like Los Vegas with all the bells and stars, but behind all that razzmatazz it's a racket and someone should do something about it. I believe the Irish Times are looking into its operational procedures and credibility.

While Menupages is a suspicious setup all right, you do sound like a restaurant owner a lot and if they haven't published your first "great food and a brilliant service" reviews they might have had good reason for it.

Mr.Boots

Two things i have learned from menupages.
1. Most Irish people havnt a clue about food and wine....but think they do.
2.Menupages is a alll about creating revenue....so they dont realy give a toss about quality or accuracy of content.