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The Thing About Yelp and Its Lawsuits for Extortion

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Looks like Yelp will be dealing with extortion lawsuits quite a bit this year.

Now, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman goes on and on about how he knows what his sales force says when it makes cold calls on business owners. The thing is that Jeremy Stoppelman doesn’t know what his sales force says when it makes cold calls on business owners.

Check out this recent interview in the BidnessWeek magazine:

“BW: The plaintiff in the class action suit (Long Beach, CA-based veterinarian Cats & Dogs Hospital Inc) says that a Yelp salesman named Kevin repeatedly promised to make negative reviews go away if he would advertise on Yelp. Have you disciplined Kevin for breaking the company’s sales policies, and how many times have you had to discipline or fire salespeople for such transgressions?

“Stoppelman: We’ve never had to discipline a salesperson* about the issue that was laid out in the lawsuit.”

Salespeople (or “Account Executives”) spin and lie all the time, they think its their job to do so. In fact, it IS their job to do so. That’s how they make their money, right?

An alcohol-fueled Yelp XXX-Mas party, from back in the day:

via Yelp.com

Now, Yelp has this post-solicitation survey for you, the business owner. It has several functions, but one purpose, certainly, is to make you, the business owner, look like an idiot when you later file your extortion lawsuit. Why? Because you answered all the relevant queries, check out the questions in #4, in Yelp’s favor. Is this kind of survey going to be enough to carry the day for Yelp’s lawyers? We’ll see.

Unless there are audio recordings of all the phone calls sitting around somewhere, Jerry has no way to prove what he’s alleging, right?

Here’s a modest proposal:

1. Fire all the salespeople(the so-called EA’s) and just do without the business sponsorships or what have you. Make money in a different way. (Make less money in a more honest way, is what I’m saying); or

2. Record all of the cold calls that your sales crew makes. So, hello, may I speak with the owner, do I have your persimmon (mmm… persimmon) to record this conversation, etc… This will cut into revenue, possibly. (You’ll make less money in a more honest way, is what I’m saying.)

All the talk of Yelp’s internal corporate structure and church/state separation betwixt sales and content don’t mean a thing if you don’t know what your sales crew says to make commish. Right, Jeremy?

*Looks like Jerry has access to a lawyer or two as well, huh? How many hours of expensive coaching did Jerome pay for? Perhaps salesman Kevin is just “one bad apple?” Stay tuned…

Tags: account executives, ads, advertising, ae, arizona, attorneys, blackmail, blog, business, ca, californis san francisco, call, Cats & Dogs Hospital, CEO, class action, cold call, court, extortion, inc, Jeremy, Jeremy Stoppelman, jerome, jerry, Judge, kevin, lawsuits, layers, long beach, Owners, post, reviews, sales, stars, Stoppelman, suit, veterinarian, yelp
Posted in advertising, law | No Comments »

RAND Corp: GPS Snitch Units in All Cars Could Enforce New Vehicle-Miles-Traveled Tax

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Oh man, you drivers out there, you’re out on the road more and more every year* but the amount of gasoline and diesel ‘n stuff you buy isn’t keeping pace. So when people like you trade in their big old fuel-guzzling SUVs for Toyota Prius hybrids, the amount of gasoline they buy and the concomitant tax they pay to the Govmint goes down, let’s say by a half or two-thirds.

That’s good for Prius drivers but bad for the govmints. This chart from a big new report (free .pdf) out of California’s own RAND Corportation think tank ’splains it all. See? You people are out there clogging up the roads and tearing up the streets 100% more than you were in 1980, but you’re only buying 50% more fuel:

You drivers are paying more in tax but not as much as if you would be paying if you were taxed by the mile. (That makes you a deadbeat in the eyes of the Powers That Be.)

And things are only going to get “worse” when Tesla Motors’ mainstream Model S hits the streets in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, “late 2012,” right? Electric car drivers pay no gas tax at all, so how are we going to make sure that they pay their fair share to repave our streets ‘n stuff**?

The RANDian eggheads looked at these issues and, out of 15 ideas, decided that these three would be the most practicable:

What if the authorities put a GPS unit in your car or motorcycle? Not the regular kind of GPS receiver, the good kind, the ones that use differentials or whatever to pinpoint your whereabouts down to a couple yards on a 24-7 basis.

You don’t like that? Well how about a cell phone in your car next to the engine that would call the government on a regular basis to rat out how miles you’ve driven the past week?

You don’t like that neither? Well how about a system that ID’s your car when you buy gas and then computes your Miles Driven by looking at your particular model’s EPA rating?

And let’s say this all gets implemented in five years.

Or instead, our electeds could simply raise gas taxes a bit, but that’s not something that they like talking about doing.

Of course they could make this new VMT proposal “revenue neutral” by getting rid of or lowering per-gallon fuel taxes that you pay today. Once a system like this is in place, taxes would correlate more directly with miles driven – it’s up to you if you like that or not.

Welcome to The Future.

Speaking of 1980:

My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about.
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law.
And on Sundays I elude the Eyes,
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire
Where my white-haired uncle waits.

See how this libertarian, Canadian Power Rock Trio story ends after the jump.

*Not so much this past year or two, but you’ll be out there in force again soon enough.

**And maybe that’s the way it should be. I know all the arguments you’re thinking about - this is a political question, of course.

(more…)

Tags: 2015, 3g, 4g, Betty Serian, Board of Equalization, boe, california, call, Corp, Corporation, diesel, differential, don't snitch, Franchise Tax Board, ftb, fuel, gas, gasloine, GPS, II, Implementable Strategies, Implementable Strategies for Shifting to Direct Usage-Based Charges for Transportation Funding, in, Internal Revenue Service, IRS, Lee Munnich, Liisa Ecola, Lisa Ecola, Martin Wachs, Max Donath, motor, motor law, Motor Vehicle Administration, moving pictures, MVA, OBD, Paul Sorensen, pdf, phone, prius, privacy, Radio Frequency Identification, raise, RAND, red barchetta, rfid, rush, San Francisco, snitch, spy, spying, stations, study, suv, taxes, telephone, think tank, TIMA, toyota, Truth in Mileage Act, Units, Vehicle Miles of Travel, Vehicle-Miles-Traveled, Vehicle-Miles-Travelled, vmt
Posted in cars | 1 Comment »

NBC’s Trauma Vs. Real Trauma on the Streets of San Francisco

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

This was the scene on Market Street last night, in front of the Bistro Clovis somewhere near Franklin and the Zuni Cafe.

Obviously, you can’t try to entertain people, as NBC’s Trauma is attempting to do, by showing a workplace drama with too many banal, everyday scenes. But it’s a little insulting to real EMTs and other first responders if you (talking about you here, Traumatics) portray them as being hella cavalier about their jobs. Don’t you think?

If for no other reason than the risk of getting sued, the EMTs of San Francisco are not cavalier about their jobs, generally speaking. Personally, I’ve never seen the EMT’s of San Francisco not act in a professional manner. (Maybe I need to get out more, maybe I’m being naive, JMO.)

Click to expand

And so it goes.

“Are you awake?

What’s your name?

How old are you?

Did anybody beat on you?”

And on it goes, day in and day out.

Tags: ambulance, bistro, call, clovic, drugs, emt, emts, First, franklin, market, nbc, police, responder, San Francisco, SFPD, street, trauma, wOMAN
Posted in government | Comments Off

Enter Your Cute Kid into the GapKids / babyGap Casting Call Contest

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Your kid is cute, right? Just adorable. So why not enter the Fourth Annual Casting Call Contest from the Gap and the Disney?

Of course as a general rule, you don’t want to doll up your bundle of joy (these people will take care of that) and you don’t want to pay any upfront fees, which I’m sure there are none in this contest. Follow those rules and You Are Golden.

All the deets are below. It’s on! Enter today!

Here are some former finalists:

Calling All Proud Parents: Gap Searches for the New Faces of babyGap and GapKids With Its Fourth Annual Casting Call Contest

Gap Teams Up with Disney Family.com for a Nationwide Search to Find America’s Brightest Personalities and Most Adorable Young Faces

Gap’s nationwide search for babies and kids with a twinkle in their eye, charm in their smile and an expressive personality to match has officially started. Today Gap launched its fourth annual Gap Casting Call, a nationwide contest to find the next faces of babyGap and GapKids. This year, Gap is teaming up with online parenting site, Disney Family.com, offering phenomenal prizes and more chances to win with its first-ever America’s Fan Favorite and Voters’ Sweepstakes awards.

“Casting Call is one of our favorite programs and this year we want to make it bigger and better than ever,” said Pam Wallack, president of babyGap, GapKids and GapMaternity. “The contest is a unique and fun way for us to interact with our customers and their children and we are extremely excited to be partnering with Disney, a brand synonymous with not only families but also family entertainment, to enhance the program and add a little something special to this year’s Casting Call.”

How Casting Call Works:

Entry Phase: From Sept. 22 to Oct. 22, parents across the country can enter their child in the contest by visiting gap.com/castingcall to upload a photo of their baby (ages four and under) and kid (ages five to 10) for a chance to be featured in an upcoming babyGap or GapKids campaign in Feb. 2010.

The Finalists: Once the entry phase closes on Oct. 22, judges will narrow down the field to twenty finalists — 10 babies (five girls and five boys) for babyGap and 10 kids (five girls and five boys) for GapKids. The 20 finalists will be flown to San Francisco with their families to participate in an official Gap photo shoot and will receive prize packages, including a $500 Gap gift card and a deluxe Disney gift bag.

Voting Phase: On Dec. 7, the twenty finalists will be unveiled and voting will begin on gap.com/castingcall. It will then be up to America to decide the next faces of babyGap and GapKids for a 2010 campaign. Voters can vote once a day every day for babyGap [1 boy and 1 girl] and GapKids [1 boy and 1 girl]. And contestants won’t be the only ones with a chance to win great prizes. This year, Gap and Disney Family.com are offering a special Voter Sweepstakes. For each vote cast at gap.com/castingcall from Dec. 7 – Dec. 21, voters will be entered in a contest to win a weeklong Luxury Included Caribbean family vacation to Beaches Resorts in Turks and Caicos or Jamaica.

The Winners: Four children will be selected as winners of the Gap Casting Call — one baby girl and one baby boy for babyGap and one girl and one boy for GapKids. The winners will be featured in the windows of babyGap and GapKids stores from coast-to-coast and will receive other incredible prizes from Gap and Disney including a $1,000 Gap gift card and a Disney on Broadway package in New York or Las Vegas for a two-night VIP Lion King experience.

“In addition to inspiring great ideas for family life, Disney Family.com and Gap are now giving moms a chance to showcase the kids that make it all worthwhile,” said Emily Smith, vice president, Disney Online Mom and Family Portfolio.

Introducing the Fan Favorite Award:

For the first time in Casting Call history, Gap is introducing an award for America’s “Fan Favorite.” The lucky child who receives the most votes at gap.com/castingcall starting on Sept. 22 will win a weeklong Luxury Included Caribbean family vacation to Beaches Resorts in Turks and Caicos or Jamaica.

Fan Favorite voting runs from Sept. 22 through Nov. 17 and the winner will be announced on Dec. 7, along with the 20 finalists. To help get the word out, parents can leverage the power of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, and good ole’ fashioned e-mail to help get votes for their adorable tot.

To help spread the word about their charismatic Casting Call contestant, parents can also create a “printable,” an adorable mini Gap shopping bag photo holder with arms and legs to showoff their aspiring model. When parents submit a photo of their child, they can opt to print out the printable character that sits on the edge of a table or desk and holds a “Vote for me” sign.

Visit gap.com/castingcall for official contest and sweepstakes rules and information.

About Gap Inc.

Gap Inc. is a leading global specialty retailer offering clothing, accessories and personal care products for men, women, children and babies under the Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta brand names. Fiscal 2008 sales were $14.5 billion. Gap Inc. operates more than 3,100 stores in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan and Ireland. In addition, Gap Inc. is expanding its international presence with franchise agreements in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. For more information, please visit gapinc.com.

About Disney Family.com

Disney Family.com is part of the Disney Online Mom and Family Portfolio, a leading group of sites that provide inspiration and ideas for parents on a variety of topics important to today’s families, including easy recipes, crafts, traveling with children, pregnancy, and parenting. Other sites in the Portfolio include Kaboose.com, FamilyFun.com and BabyZone.com.

Tags: $1000, 2009, annual, babies, baby gap, babygap, boys, call, casting, casting call contest, children, com, contest, Disney, don, doris, faces, Family, fisher, fourth, gap, gap kids, gapkids, gift, girls, model, modeling, new, parents, photo, prizes, San Francisco, sute, upload
Posted in advertising | 8 Comments »

Know Your Wacky S.F. Homeowners: #1 – Would Rather Call for a Tow than Learn to Drive

Monday, July 6th, 2009

You would think that a car that could fit into a garage could also pass through the sidewalk cut-out made for said garage. Of course you say, it’s axiomatic ‘n stuff. But some people don’t believe that. These homeowners pester the City for official DPT sidewalk curb red paint to keep encroaching street parkers at bay.

As if that’s not enough, said homeowners then proceed to add in their own menacing, hysterical “TOW” lines in red paint, paint that never quite matches the official colour. Thusly, as seen in Ashbury Heights:

Is the owner of this Toyota RAV4 playing a dangerous game? Click to expand.

Is it true that huge WW II-era battleships had less room to play with, width-wise, going through the Panama Canal than what some complaining San Francisco homeowners demand for their little cars? Yes. For example, the 34,000-tonne U.S.S. North Carolina battleship had just 12 inches clearance on either side, back in the day.

But you give a San Francisco homeowner just a foot on either side and it’s TOW, TOW, TOW.

Driving lessons cheerfully given for free. NB: Try not to steer too much. NNB: Try backing her in when you garage it in the first place.

Here’s an idea. After you actually learn how to drive, then take the sandblaster you’ve got somewhere in your garage (you know, right next to the unexploded ordnance you all seem to store) to eliminate evidence of your unneighborlyness.

Good on you, mate.

Tags: blocked, call, curb, cutout, DPT, drive, garage, homeowners, know, mta, note, overhand, paint, parallel, park, parking, rav4, red, san francisco parking street ashbury heights, sfdpt, SFMTA, sidewalk, star, ticket, tow, towed, towing, toyota, truck, wacky, yellow
Posted in cars | Comments Off

One Tweet Does It All – Twitter Joins San Francisco’s 311 Telephone Service

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

San Francisco’s 311 telephone service, which you already know all about, now can be accessed through Twitter. Read all about it in the press release, after the jump.

Here’s a straight take of today’s press conferenceat the 311 Call Center near Van Ness and Market. And here’s writer Jackson West’s perspective. The thing about today’s announcement is that it doesn’t come with all that much of a bill, so that’s good. For what it’s worth, Washington D.C. is taking a different path with its 311 service.

Twitter co-founder Christopher Isaac Stone yucking it up with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom at today’s presser.

Throwing in Nancy Alfaro, “Director of 311″ and Chris Vein, City CIO and Executive Director, San Francisco Department of Technology

And also signed in and on the scene, for some reason, were the “Virgin America Inflight Teammates”, who wanted credit for being there. Here are a couple of the friends of Oprah - there was something like six of them there today, all told. Let’s hear it for San Francisco’s little hometown airline, still around despite getting pushed around by the big boys all the time.

One of the things brought to the attention of 311 today via Twitter was the “illegal” viral campaign promoting the new “District 9″ film. No idea how that ticket will get resolved.

Anyway, as promised, all the deets, after the jump.

(more…)

Tags: 311, America, biz stone, call, center, Chris Isaac, Chris Vein, Christopher Isaac Stone, CIO, co-founder, Department of Technology, Director of 311, DPT, Executive Director, founder, gavin newsom, inflight, market, mta, Muni, Nancy Alfaro, one call does it all, one tweet does it all, SFMTA, street, team, tweet, van ness, virgin, Virgin America Inflight Teammates
Posted in government | 1 Comment »

How Not to Park Your Chevy Impala SS on the Sidewalks of San Francisco

Saturday, April 25th, 2009

Of course you all already know about the 1994-1996 Chevrolet Impala SS General Monkeybusiness B-Body. This one here impresses not with the size of the wheels fitted underneath, but with the sheer parking audacity of completely blocking a fairly wide sidewalk in broad daylight.

What’s stopping somebody from calling 415-553-1200 (dispatch - blocked driveways, sidewalks, etc.) or 311? Nothing, that’s why this parking strategy isn’t sustainable, that’s why drivers generally don’t make a habit of doing this kind of thing. (Personally, it’s not my style to dial, but for some people, it is - see below)

Click to expand

I would agree that it’s probably no picnic trying to park an 18-foot-long vehicle at night on the Streets of San Francisco, but your ride will eventaully get vandalized, ticketed, towed, whatever, depending on the neighborhood. For example, the evening dog walkers of Specific Whites Pacific Heights all have DPT’s phone numbers preprogrammed into their cellies. They’re simply waiting to see something like this blocking their path.

Just saying.

Tags: (415), 311, 415-553-1200, 553-1200, b car, B., block, blocked, blocking, body, california, call, car, cell, cellular, Chevrolet, chevy, citation, department, dial, dispatch, DPT, driveways, enforcement, general monkeybusiness, general motors, gm, impala, meter maid, mta, number, pacific heights, parking, parking control officer, pco, phone, San Francisco, SFPD, sidewalk, specific whites, ss, ticket, towed, transit
Posted in cars | 1 Comment »

Call 811 Before You Dig – Plus What About N11 Codes 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, 711 and 911?

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Your local gas and electric utility monopoly would like you to think before you dig. PG&E reminds us all today to call 811 at least two days before you start digging around, else you might hit a gas main and blow yourself to kingdom come. Some local folks will answer the phone and check things out for you and what’s wrong with that?

But what about all the other x11 telephone services – they are starting to add up huh? Let’s learn about them below.

Here there are, all the N11 Codes we have:

211 Community Information and Referral Services

311 Non-Emergency Police and Other Governmental Services

411 Local Directory Assistance

511 Traffic and Transportation Information

611 Telephone Repair Service

711 Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS)

811 Access to One Call Services to Protect Pipeline and Utilities from Excavation Damage

911 Emergency

Wow, that’s a lot.

211

www.211sf.org

(800) 273-6222 Alternative Number
(415) 808-4357 Alternative Number

2-1-1 information and referral service for San Francisco. Information and referral service via regular number for the following counties in California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Solano.

311

SF 311 – 24×7 Customer Service Center

411

Free 411 (800-373-3411) If you don’t mind listening to a 10-second ad first, Free 411 lives up to its name, giving you free business and residential listings (which can optionally be delivered via text message). Thanks to reader kwright for the tip on this one!

GOOG-411 (800-466-4411) Google’s 411 service is surprisingly ad-free, though it limits you to business listings. Like Free 411, it can automatically connect your call and/or send you the listing via SMS. See it in action in the above video.

Live Search 411 (800-225-5411) Microsoft’s 411 service offers not only business listings, but also traffic and weather reports, movie showtimes, travel resources, and more. (Live Search also powers Microsoft’s Tellme service.)

511

Transit 511 has got you covered, baby

611

Try it on your phone, see what happens. Probably you’ll get somebody from your phone co.

711

Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS)

811

See today’s release from Pigs Giraffes & Elephants, after the jump.

911

San Francisco Department of Emergency Management

So there you have it, your N11 dialing codes.

(more…)

Tags: 21.1, 311, 411, 511, 611, 711, 811, 9/11, bay area, before, california, call, cell, cellular, Community Information, county, dig, digging, emergency, excavation, government, one call does it all, pacific gas & electric, pg&e, Pipeline, Referral Services, repair, San Francisco, Telecommunications Relay Service, telephone, traffic, trs, united way, utilities
Posted in Uncategorized, disaster drill | Comments Off

Friendly PG&E Gives You a Ring Before Having Your Car Towed Away

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

Lot’s of times we have signs on the streets of San Francisco warning of a construction zone - this is your notification of the days and times a parking space is unavailable. When a crew comes in the morning and see your car, they’ll have it towed away with extreme prejudice.

But look here at the policy of mega utility Pigs, Girafffes and Elephants: just leave your number and they’ll let you know when you need to move. Que bueno!

Click to expand:

That’s a friendly policy from PG&E, non?

Tags: away, call, company, construction, Corporation, crew, dash, mcallister, number, p g & e, pacific gas and electric, parallel, park, parking, pg&e, phone, San Francisco, sign, space, street, subsidiary, tow, underground, vehicles, zone
Posted in cars | 2 Comments »

The Ferry Building, Formerly One of the Tallest Structures in San Francisco

Sunday, January 11th, 2009

These days it’s famous for its Marketplace, but the Ferry Building once was known as one of the tallest buildings in San Francisco (second only to Central Tower, aka the Call Building, aka the Spreckels Building).

My, how things have changed.

Look for it on the left side, at the foot of Market Street. Click to expand.

Tags: 1898, call, central, farmers, ferry building, market, spreckels, street, tower
Posted in architecture | Comments Off

San Francisco Citizen

Posts Tagged ‘call’

The Thing About Yelp and Its Lawsuits for Extortion

RAND Corp: GPS Snitch Units in All Cars Could Enforce New Vehicle-Miles-Traveled Tax

NBC’s Trauma Vs. Real Trauma on the Streets of San Francisco

Enter Your Cute Kid into the GapKids / babyGap Casting Call Contest

Know Your Wacky S.F. Homeowners: #1 – Would Rather Call for a Tow than Learn to Drive

One Tweet Does It All – Twitter Joins San Francisco’s 311 Telephone Service

How Not to Park Your Chevy Impala SS on the Sidewalks of San Francisco

Call 811 Before You Dig – Plus What About N11 Codes 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, 711 and 911?

Friendly PG&E Gives You a Ring Before Having Your Car Towed Away

The Ferry Building, Formerly One of the Tallest Structures in San Francisco

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