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I'm the Queen of the Click..Brooklynite taking over the world from her computer. MCSE, Martha Stewart Wanna Be.























July 30, 2010

CitySearch Negative Review Removed

I posted a review on CitySearch.com of an insurance company in Brooklyn which we dealt with last summer (review was here). This company’s office gave us a very hard time and the review was negative to warn others that there is a problem with communication in this office. We had seen one sparkling review of the company when we checked it out. InsiderPages which is another review site of owned by CitySearch copied my original review which you can see here.

 

 On July 14th, I noticed the review was missing when I went to rave about a great awning company in Brooklyn. I contacted CitySearch on Twitter. The following day Justine Goodman from CitySearch wrote to me. Justine didn’t know why the original was removed, but assured me that CitySearch’s Site Support would restore the review as it didn’t violate their terms of service. She wroteBasically the problem here is technology, and I’m doing everything I can to rectify the situation, even though doesn’t really qualify as an editorial issue.

Two weeks later, the review had not been restored and I e-mailed Justine.

 

Justine responded:

I have done everything I can to help you, but as I said in my last email, any other further inquiries should be directed to my superior, Michael.Francesconi@citysearch.com, who is already familiar with the situation.  -Justine

 

I e-mailed Michael Francesconi and he doesn’t respond to me or Justine. Mr. Francesconi is busy tweeting on Twitter using the words “b**hes” and “stoked.”  I see he lives in LA, but c’mon. On Michael Francesconi’s FB page, he writes. “I love this f#ck*n job. You have no idea 

 YEAH Okay if you love it, how about doing it and answering your e-mail?

(edit: the FB page went private after Mr. Francesconi saw this post….but of course the web still had it….I guess someone can’t stand by what he wrote).

 I e-mailed Justine Goodman and asked her for the name of Mr. Francesconi’s boss because Micheal is too busy tweeting to respond to e-mail. Justine did not respond.

 

I then contacted Jonathan, a CitySearch Editor in

Atlanta on twitter and he couldn’t explain what happened to my posts and tweeted that I should repost it. Repost? It’s not an authentic site if users reviews are removed without reason and not restored when a CitySearch employee or sponsor removes the review.

 

From my experience, if you post a positive review about a company which is paying CitySearch (like AllState Insurance), then the review stands. I  posted a negative review and it was deleted. None of the editors at CitySearch can explain what happened and e-mails have gone ignored. If you happen to notice to many rave reviews for a business it’s probably because the negatives have been removed. (Lisa T in Los Angeles had the same experience as I did)

————————

So what is on CitySearch NYC? On their Facebook, Editor Justine Goodman’s article: “Do You Secretly Want to Off Yourself?” and her review of the worst bars in NYC.

 

No, Ms. Goodman I don’t want to off myself. Is that what you think CitySearch Readers want?  I want to find accurate reviews on CitySearch. Remember studying the truth at Brown University as a philosophy major? At one time truth must have been important to you.

 

Hugs,
marlene

Topics: Uncategorized | 13 Comments »

13 Responses to “CitySearch Negative Review Removed”

  1. Kelly Says:
    July 30th, 2010 at 5:00 pm

    I always wondered if the reviews on there were true. I’ve seen some that were stellar for places that weren’t great.

  2. Mike S. Says:
    July 30th, 2010 at 6:57 pm

    I’m not surprised.

  3. Karen Says:
    July 31st, 2010 at 1:25 am

    I saw what you wrote on Twitter and I knew the post had to be a good one because they always are Marlene.

    It’s nice that the supervisor wants to reply to you now that you wrote over Twitter, but that the CitySearch Office wouldn’t help you.

    I know you guys go out a lot and are always looking for recommendations for places. Have you tried Yelp http://yelp.com ?

  4. Lookie Says:
    July 31st, 2010 at 5:34 am

    See CitySearch in the Ripoff Reports

    http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/Company/CITYSEARCH.aspx

  5. marlene Says:
    July 31st, 2010 at 4:49 pm

    Karen – Michael Francesconi responded on Twitter to make it seem like he was doing something. He didn’t apologize for ignoring my e-mail or his co-workers call for help. He wrote that he was “out of the office.” Francesconi has known about the problem since 7/23 (maybe before). I e-mailed him and he didn’t bother to respond then. He obviously thinks he’s very important. I think he must be the guy that everyone talks about in the office because he doesn’t do his job and then his employees get stuck answering e-mails from people who are annoyed he didn’t respond.

    https://twitter.com/michaelfran/status/19933244076

    ————

    Ironically, I got several e-mails because I have mutual friends with their CTO.

    I had cross posted this message to some of the communities I belong to and it seems like it is common practice for reviews to be deleted without reason.

    Lookie -> I saw the ripoff reports but didn’t mention them in my blog because they are more about the business angle.

  6. Lisaontheloose Says:
    July 31st, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    Wow. I’m frustrated FOR you! That is such a shame. Because people (like me and you) to go certain sites expecting to get a balanced review. Well, that’s one site I WON’T be visiting when I’m looking…. (Because if it happens where you are, odds are it happens in every city they cover.)

  7. Tom Says:
    August 2nd, 2010 at 9:06 pm

    I worked with Michael Francesconi you won’t see him do anything.thats funny he closed his facebook page after you blogged.

  8. marlene Says:
    August 4th, 2010 at 6:39 am

    Lisaontheloose: Yes it was frustrating, but I’ve shared this with just about all of NYC. I agree it probably does happen in ever city.

    Tom: I got a few e-mail like yours describing the same thing. I thought it was strange he closed his FB page as well. I think CitySearch needs a new Social Media expert.

    August 3rd update: Michael Francesconi writes me an e-mail which says that since Citysearch allows companies to make separate accounts that’s how the original post (with 3 reviews) was deleted.

    He didn’t apologize for not answering e-mail from 7/23 or for not correcting the error that has been made.

  9. Smitty Says:
    September 29th, 2010 at 11:44 pm

    Mike Francesconi spoke at a conference I was at recently. He was selling the idea that CitySearch is great because businesses can respond. I wanted to leave you with a link to show you how baffling it is that he is speaking about online reputations in an area where he is obviously failing.

    http://www.arrive-digital.com/arrive/20100708?pg=29#pg29

    I agree, Michael Francesconi obviously does not know much about social media because he didn’t even google himself and see this negative entry. Everyone in social media has google alerts set with their name.

  10. marlene Says:
    September 30th, 2010 at 3:07 am

    Interesting Smitty. A lot of people have been searching for Michael Francesconi on my site and I wasn’t sure why.

    As far as him being a leader in social media, he would have to use social media tools like Twitter correctly. A letter in the mail would have gotten a faster response than I got after tweeting to him.

  11. One Naruto Says:
    December 20th, 2010 at 12:54 pm

    wowowowowow… very encouraged to find this site

  12. Computer Guy Says:
    January 23rd, 2011 at 11:16 pm

    Laughed when I read this page. Worked with Mike Fran – he’s a douche.

  13. Ramelle Says:
    March 20th, 2012 at 1:20 am

    Wish i’d known this before I wasted thousands on Accredited Electorlysis Studio. All of her negative reviews end up copied and pasted at Electrolysis by Stefania who is a much better and more qualified electrolygist. It’s disgusting. Someone should sue CitySearch for the money spent based on their false reviews.

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