San Francisco Bookstore Accused of Violent Yelp Confrontation

Yelp reviewer says the owner of a bookstore he wrote a negative review about attacked him

Updated 11:31 AM PST, Fri, Jan 29, 2010

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Kevin Y on Yelp

People on Yelp don't love San Francisco's Ocean Avenue Books and San Francisco's Ocean Avenue Books doesn't love people on Yelp back.

The troubled bookstore took its frustration out on the San Francisco-based review site after a reviewer named Sean C. described the store as a "TOTAL MESS."

Shortly after his review, Sean got the surprise of his life:

Tonight I get a knock at my front door - I open it and a woman tries to force her way in... it seriously took all my strength to get her out.... and I had to wrestle with her on my front steps... was trying to pin her down incase she had a weapon.

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Finally I was able to shut the door and call 911 - the police showed up and took her away. Turns out it was the business owner! ... They took her to jail and will try to put a 72 hour psychiatric hold but they said it's up to the doctor that examines her...

Fellow Yelpers had a hard time believing Sean's allegations but Valleywag points out he was able to produce screen shots of private Yelp messages from the unnamed store owner and a Yelp administrator offered the company's support to him.

"We're here to help Sean out in any way we can... there's no telling how this person may have unearthed Sean's place of residence, but rest assured, that information was in no way.... provided by Yelp," the admin wrote.

The problem is Sean has an unlisted address and he says he never bought anything in the store, even though the owner claims to know him by face. He is currently trying to get a restraining order against the disorganized bookshop manager.

First Published: Nov 3, 2009 11:56 AM PST

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{"totSize":10,"payload_type":"json","status":"1","results":[{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"391809_68914367","adminTags":null,"views":1437,"createdBy":14065686,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait160X120.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"San Francisco Bookstore Accused of Violent Yelp Confrontation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2635688,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"4 Nov 2009 10:38:21 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":10,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"Meniskos","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1180176","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"This is a funny (although disturbing) story. Funnier is the sorry editor that lets copy like this get published. It starts with an unqualified statement that appears to state that all of the reviewers on Yelp dislike this store, which isn't true (the first review alone was 5 stars). Included is a personified store that obviously dislikes being the object of criticism. But the last paragraph is the worst. Readers are told of an "unlisted address" (whatever that is), and an attempt being made to obtain a "restraining owner" for a bookkeeper (by definition, a person who records transactions). I hope I won't become the victim of a violent MSNBC confrontation for writing this."},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"391809_68914367","adminTags":null,"views":1437,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait160X120.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"San Francisco Bookstore Accused of Violent Yelp Confrontation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2635688,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"4 Nov 2009 18:21:47 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":10,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1183523","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"While no person deserves to be assaulted, this only demonstrates the sensitivity of small business owners. Yelp uses potentially damaging information as a way to sell ads for their website. I know, because they have done this to me. I have a negative posting on yelp that is a complete LIE. Yelp also allow their posts to inclued, flaming of people by name. Additionally, commiting character assasination of individuals. My business had a five star rating until this abusive human posted a LIE on Yelp. My sales have suffered as a result. Here how it works: Get a negative post on yelp. Soon after that, get a phone call from Yelp to buy ad space on THEIR WEBSITE. If you buy the ad space, the negative posts seem to disappear. Imagine that. Don't buy ad space on Yelp after being contacted by them for an ad space sale, get a negative post, try to bebutt the comment and poof, the bebutt seems to disappear even though a rebuttal feature is shown and is usable. Yelp has done these thing to my small business. I have even had new clients call and cancel their appointments due to the LIE that consumers saw on the Yelp website. It seems like Yelp has found a way to commit legal extortion. While Yelp provides some valuable information, Yelp has another side that is very disturbing. Hopefully , someone will find a way to file a class action against Yelp and force a change in their business practices. How sad it is that a person snapped and a person got assaulted as a result of Yelp. How much sadder it will be when a person is assaulted again or worse. I wonder how the owners of Yelp feel now that they know someone got assaulted because of them?"},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"391809_68914367","adminTags":null,"views":1437,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait160X120.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"San Francisco Bookstore Accused of Violent Yelp Confrontation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2635688,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"4 Nov 2009 18:58:06 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":10,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1183828","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"Meniskos I hope that don't go violent on you either. But I think a bookkeeper in spoken word/slang can refer to a person obsessed with books. If this lady showed up my doorstep I wouldn't know wth to do. What a nut job. And the private messages she sent? Wowzers. "},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"391809_68914367","adminTags":null,"views":1437,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait160X120.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"San Francisco Bookstore Accused of Violent Yelp Confrontation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2635688,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"6 Nov 2009 03:32:00 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":10,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1193978","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"Why is there no comment from the store owner? It's funny that NBC Bay Area only gives us one side of the story. I went to Yelp and looked at the comments and quite a few are positive. One, Joshua A., even actually cites the owner's side of the story because he actually spoke to her. The Yelper, Sean C. (funny how he can hide behind his screen-name while the store owner's is all over...) sounds like a major bully and I hope he's the one who goes down. Why is it so hard to believe these days that someone would want to make amends in person, when the website the whole thing started on won't give him or her the time of day...that is unless he or she pays the extortion......I'm on the side of the business owner, at least she's not hiding behind anything other than her open door....."},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"391809_68914367","adminTags":null,"views":1437,"createdBy":10176539,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait160X120.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"San Francisco Bookstore Accused of Violent Yelp Confrontation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2635688,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"6 Nov 2009 04:00:06 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":10,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"CanYouBelieveIt","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1194095","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"How the heck did she know where he lived? "},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"391809_68914367","adminTags":null,"views":1437,"createdBy":10176539,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait160X120.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"San Francisco Bookstore Accused of Violent Yelp Confrontation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2635688,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"6 Nov 2009 04:02:10 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":10,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"CanYouBelieveIt","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1194103","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"Hey look the crazy shop owner posted under the name of ANONYMOUS..... We're on to you!"},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"391809_68914367","adminTags":null,"views":1437,"createdBy":13120903,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait160X120.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"San Francisco Bookstore Accused of Violent Yelp Confrontation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2635688,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"7 Nov 2009 08:35:25 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":10,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"jehova","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1203641","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"YELP in HELL! We pray YELP goes bankrupt and sinks to the bottom of hell, and takes its MAFIA YELPERS with them. We pray that GOD shows no mercy for all the damage and EXTORTION they have inflicted upon small business owners and the children they support. YELP is a den of snakes and deserve to BURN for the lies and slander they spread on the web. PRAY PSALMS 140 FOR THEIR DESTRUCTION! Say five times: "Archangel Michael destroy YELP now!" "},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"391809_68914367","adminTags":null,"views":1437,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait160X120.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"San Francisco Bookstore Accused of Violent Yelp Confrontation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2635688,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"9 Nov 2009 01:27:55 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":10,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1209719","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"It was inevitable. It it just wrong to allow personal opinion to carry so much weight. And in this economy where many are struggling to keep their doors open. Even the most even rational person can be pushed to the edge. A bad "review" may not have merit, but can negatively affect a business just because it exists. And from the movie Risky Business, "in a sluggish economy, never ____ with another man's livelihood." Yelp may seem like a good job, but I've yet to see it as something we can't live without. The fact that they make businesses pay just to have minimal access, in itself is questionable. The reality is that this charge to businesses is simply a new twist on a "protection racket." Welcome to the new mob! Yes, this MAY be an exaggeration, and Yelp is bad for business."},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"391809_68914367","adminTags":null,"views":1437,"createdBy":13120903,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait160X120.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"San Francisco Bookstore Accused of Violent Yelp Confrontation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2635688,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"20 Nov 2009 08:00:26 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":10,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"jehova","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1280440","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"YELP in HELL! We pray YELP goes bankrupt and sinks to the bottom of hell, and takes its MAFIA YELPERS with them. We pray that GOD shows no mercy for all the damage and EXTORTION they have inflicted upon small business owners and the children they support. YELP is a den of snakes and deserve to BURN for the lies and slander they spread on the web. PRAY PSALMS 140 FOR THEIR DESTRUCTION! Say five times: "Archangel Michael destroy YELP now!""},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"391809_68914367","adminTags":null,"views":1437,"createdBy":7926021,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait160X120.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"San Francisco Bookstore Accused of Violent Yelp Confrontation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2635688,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"24 Nov 2009 18:18:04 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":10,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"owenthomas","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1303805","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"Hey, thanks for pointing out the typos. A bit late, but they've been fixed. Canyoubelieveit, see our followup stories for insight on how the bookstore owner may have found the Yelp reviewer."}],"error":"","totPages":1}

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