Adios TripAdvisor! Sketchy Business Practices And Zero Customer Support Led Me To Delete My Account

TripAdvisor Inc.
400 1st Avenue, Needham, MA 02494
Phone: 781-800-5000

I was, and the operative term is "WAS", a TripAdvisor "Top Contributor" until recently with hundreds of reviews and photos in many of the 41 countries I have visited. My reviews are honest and as objective as anybody's opinion can be and I received hundreds of "Helpful" votes for my reviews and photos.

TripAdvisor is very selective about the reviews it posts, unlike Yelp (where I have been "Elite" since 2014), refusing to post reviews willy-nilly based on criteria only they are aware of. I think the operative answer is, if a review does not conform to a "standard" which favors the business that is paying them for advertizing, then it does not conform and is not posted.

For example, I have written several reviews that TripAdvisor refused to post, claiming that the content was "too similar to that found on the internet". Basically, they were saying that I plagiarized my content from a website, something I have never done nor will I ever do. I may use information from a website or pamphlet as background for readers in a review or copy the ingredients for a recipe from their menu for simplicity's sake from time to time, but never word for word and I always edit the material into my own words and style. Sometimes they simply refuse to post a review with no reason given as was the case with my review of the Villisca Axe Murder House, having submitted the review numerous times without it being published and without explanation.

TripAdvisor would not exist without the reviews of travelers, so I find it extremely self-serving and deceiving to refuse to post reviews from Top Contributors that do not conform to their paying advertiser's demands. I put a lot of time and effort into my reviews as evidenced by the 40,000+ visitors to my blog each year and the 40,000+ views of my reviews and photos on Yelp each month. My content is original, honest, and objective as any reviewer can be, so when TripAdvisor recently refused to publish my review of Cataldo's Italian Restaurant in Brooklyn recently (because the content "was not original" ... BULLSHIT!) for the umpteenth time, I deleted my account.

The other reason I deleted my account is because TripAdvisor, as I found out, has zero integrity themselves, allowing people to post reviews whether they have been to a restaurant, hotel, destination, or attraction or not. There is no requirement to having been a customer (as Money Magazine reported in a recent issue - see excerpt from Money Magazine below) to write a review, so businesses can use robots and fake review websites to fluff their ratings, making them relatively useless. I have found during my travels to 41 countries that TripAdvisor may be good for general information about a business or location, but the ratings rarely accurately reflect the experience and now I know why.

Yelp on the other hand uses complex algorithms and your GPS location to ferret out fake reviews. They also have "Elite" members, reviewers like myself that are hand selected by the Community Manager (CM - each major metro has one, a paid Yelp employee) with several face-to-face and virtual interactions taking place between Elites and CMs each year. So if you really want to ensure you are getting a valid rating and honest review, use Yelp and sort reviews or pay attention to those only written by "Elites".

TripAdvisor does not appreciate the countless number of honest reviewers out there, refusing to interact one-on-one with even Top Contributors. Trying to get an explanation for a decision they make or get an question answered is impossible with TripAdvisor, unlike Yelp where you get an answer from a Yelp employee every time you have a concern or question.

My recommendation: Dump TripAdvisor and download the Yelp App on your phone or tablet. You will be glad you did!

CombatCritic Gives TripAdvisor 1 Bomb Out Of 10 And A Spot On My "WALL OF SHAME" ... More Bombs Are Better!

One Bomb Equates To:

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16

Tabelog - Official Judge (Bronze)

Zomato - #1 Ranked Foodie





... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube

Title: Adios TripAdvisor! Sketchy Business Practices And Zero Customer Support Led Me To Delete My Account

Key Words: TripAdvisor, trip, advisor, trip advisor, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, hotel, attraction, destination, review, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Zomato, integrity, reviews

Translation for Civilians: FUBAR = "Fucked Up Beyond All Repair"

NYC, NY: Massive Portions, Decent Food, BIG LIES Earn Sarge's A Spot On My WALL OF SHAME

Sarge’s Deli

548 3rd Avenue

New York, NY 10016

Between 37th Street and 36th Street

Midtown East, Murray Hill

Phone: (929) 267-4372

Website: sargesdeli.com

Prices: $$$$

I will be brief because a lack of integrity is a non-starter in my book, so the food is somewhat irrelevant.

We arrived at Sarge's a little after 6pm on Monday, May 30th, 2016 which happened to be Memorial Day. Many places around Manhattan were giving military ID holders freebies on Memorial Day out of gratitude for our service, a nice and much appreciated touch. So when I read the menu in Sarge's window (see photo above) and it said: "Dinner Special (5-9PM Everyday): Choice of Soup or Salad And Beverage (Coffee, Tea, Or Fountain Drink) - All For The Price Of The Entrée Alone", we decided to go in. After being seated, I asked our server (see photo below) about the special because I was contemplating ordering the meatloaf entree ($18.95). She told me: "It's Memorial Day, the offer isn't good on holidays". Rather than go outside and recheck the menu, I believed her, assuming I had misread the offer, ordering the meatloaf anyway. After paying the bill, I went outside and snapped a picture of the menu in question (see menu photo), proving that I was not hallucinating because it states: "5-9PM EVERYDAY" and "every day" means Monday-Friday, Saturday and Sunday, AND HOLIDAYS.

The meatloaf was massive and "OK", my wife's French Dip ($18.95) was expensive, but "decent", and the cheesecake ($6.95) large and "delicious", but our server's deception left a bad taste in my mouth. I could really care less about getting a free $7 soup or salad and a $2 beverage included with my meal (even though my blog is called "TravelValue"), but it is the principle and an inherent lack of integrity on the part of our server that spoiled this meal.

Beside the deception, her service was "abrupt" (it is a NYC kosher deli after all), but efficient and I gave her a 20% tip, something I regretted after reading the "Dinner Special" verbiage for the second time. I do not make a habit of rewarding liars. Deceptive waitress aside, they probably would have received 5 or 6 Bombs Out Of 10, but like our founding father George Washington, I cannot tell a lie ...

CombatCritic Gives Sarge's Deli 1 Bomb Out Of 10 And A Spot On My WALL OF SHAME ... More Bombs Are Better!

One Bomb Equates To:

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16

TripAdvisor - Top Contributor

Tabelog - Official Judge (Bronze)

Zomato - #1 Ranked Foodie





... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube

Title: NYC, NY: Massive Portions, Decent Food, BIG LIES Earn Sarge's A Spot On My WALL OF SHAME

Key Words: Sarge's Deli, Sarge's, sarge, deli, Manhattan, kosher, NYC, New York City, New York, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Zomato

Translation for Civilians: FUBAR = "Fucked Up Beyond All Repair"