Idea - opinions wanted

My family and I were eating dinner at an Italian restaurant (family owned- not a chain) the other night, and besides the service being HORRIBLE, it was like 65 degrees. We literally had to eat dinner with our coats on. One thing I can't stand is crappy service or being ripped off. I get so angry with the way consumers/customers are treated nowadays. I LOVE telling management when I've received crappy service, to such extremes that I've been occasionally asked to leave.

But that’s beside the point. I've been feeling a bit entrepreneurial lately. I came up with an idea...

How about, on a purely local level- say the county I live in which probably consists of about twenty townships, a php style "forums" website very much like MG in terms of functionality- but dedicated to basically rating local businesses such as restaurants, retailers, service providers, etc? People could register and create a post, for instance complaining about how *** Italian restaurant in *** Township gives crappy service and is too cheap to turn up the heat to keep its patrons comfortable.

It would be very localized, just for the people living in my county. There are many many small businesses cropping up everywhere. This is a very booming area, and it's very competitive and sometimes cutthroat. I could create the site, and then advertise like crazy- plaster the url everywhere throughout the county, even sending flyers directly to businesses.

So what do you think? If you had spent a lot of money on an evening out and was very disappointed, would you post a rant to a forum laid out like this one if it was available and targeted to an area where others in your community would have a chance to read it? Also, would you visit said forum prior to using the services of say a wedding photographer to see if they had postive or poor ratings?

So if I created it myself, did all of the promotion myself, and was the Admin/Mod, could it be started-up with no overhead? And could I expect to make some decent side money by selling advertising on it?

What do you guys think? Could I possibly make money from my hatred of poor customer service?


-Steve

 

Those types of lists have been around for ages

This one has been around for a long time (even before the internet took filght) ---> Angie's List

I'm sure there are others . . . .

 

Hmmmm. That seems like it's geared more toward services like contractors and plumbers. I was thinking like rating everything, from the hot dogs at the 7/11 on Maple Ave to jerk that works at Blockbuster who won't honor the "Gauranteed in or it's free" policy. Like a more "hometown" feel.

I know theres Craigs List, but thats an un-moderated peice of crap.

I actually think I could get more visits though from my target area than that of something like Angies List. And I didn't see a thing for "restaurants" on Angies List,



-Steve

 

I agree!

But, I doubt you'd be able to get enough hits to generate a goodly amount of revenue if you limit yourself locally.
And, it would cost a lot to do the type of advertising you mention. I think most of the bigger "lists" are subscription based . . .

Still, your idea is cool - Maybe a "community blog" type of thing would fly?

 

Yeah, I always kinda wanted to be like Homer as Mr. X. Remember when he created a website that revelead all the "dirt" in Springfield? Only I wouldn't make up my stories, and defininetly wouldn't have the flying toaster on my site. Maybe the dancing Jesus, only if he was the "Buddy Jesus".



-Steve

 

LOL!

I remember that one!
Didn't Homer have another internet venture where Bill Gates "bought him out?"
Gates: "Alright, boys . . . . Buy him out!" and they trash his office?

 

I dunno Steve. Most people like to crab about what they don't like, but how many others would want to read it? Maybe if you could correlate posts to the specific companies, so a person could put in a company and see how many negative hits it had? Of course bigger places will get more comments than little places, which gives a warped sense of comparison. Biggest problem is that somebody won't like every possible company in your area, and almost nobody gets enthused enough to look up a site to post a GOOD comment, not that you mentioned collecting good comments. In the end, your idea sounds like it would be a huge downer.

 

Not for money. There's a reason Consumer Reports takes no advertisers.

Do it as a sideline, for the experience and learning value.

 

Not smart to complain and give restaurant staff a hard time before you eat, regardless of the service.

There are heaps of sites, and a TV story I recently saw, that show what they do to your food before it's served.


It could be worse, I recently got a fat, sweaty and dribbling plumber with his crack sticking out of his shorts that looked like the Grand Canyon. (and no, he wasn't a relative )

 

That is a pretty decent idea but you have to have a balance on opinions. Meaning much like a rating system. Let the businesses register to the site, so visitors to that area would know a place to go but by offering a rating system to the customers of that particular business, you create a realistic review site. Of course only registered business would be evaluated and only those who are registered to the site can evaluate but viewing results wouldn't require anything. Additionally people could put in comments to their rating or post in the forums section. Businesses would be allow to send discount and/or special offers to their local customers which could make the customer happy since they are being appreciated and it would bring repeat business to the company. So in a sense, creating a partial link between a business and its customers could be quite rewarding for everyone.

Additionally, coupon type offers/advertisements couly be accepted from business to bring $$ to the site but all related options could be evaluated once the main purpose and the design of the site is taken care of.

Even though this idea would be utilized for loca business, there is not limit to the coverage area, so the entire US could be included. Of course each State and city would have their section that people could narrow in on, etc.

To keep the complaints or compliments a bit more realistic, registered customers would be asked to provide brief info on their experience, as well as time/date/receipt#, etc.

~TL