Businesses Calling Over Yelp Reviews

I had an interesting experience today that I feel is worth sharing.

Recently, a bad review was left for a business under my Yelp account. I'm not the only one that has access to that account, but since it's my name and last initial I guess it doesn't really matter.

Anyway, today I got a call from a restricted number. I answered it (don't ask me why) and it was the business that had the bad review. They had used the information on yelp (name, last initial and date of review) along with a few details about the review to surmise who it was and find my phone number in my patient file (it's a vet, by the way).

Then they proceeded to call me about the review and tell me that they didn't appreciate it. Well, I didn't appreciate the long wait, the bad service, the foolish billing practices or the phone call regarding my Yelp review. They maintained during the call that they wanted to "make sure I was happy" because customers are "lifeblood of their practice". However, the tone and other things she was saying weren't meshing well with that sentiment.

Then it hit me. She didn't want me to be happy - she was just angling for a 5-star review!

So I asked what she wanted me to do and she repeated the line about wanting me to be happy, blah blah blah. It was like a broken record that's slightly threatening and 100% condescending. I wound up removing the review (because she seemed like a big enough bitch to turn it into a legal issue -- I'm telling you they are straight up unpleasant.), but I did "edit" the post to say that it was edited because they called and wanted it removed. I left the 2-star rating, though considered giving it 1-star.

I also left a blurb about not appreciating her using my Yelp info to call me and harass me. I mentioned too how suspicious it was that there were only 4 and 5-star reviews. Maybe the threatening phone calls work after all?

So what's your take on this? Should businesses use contact information in their files to call customers about Yelp reviews? Should they ask or insinuate that bad reviews be removed to protect their reputations? Does the threat of harassment ever prevent you from leaving a bad review?

In my opinion, if people can't feel comfortable leaving bad reviews on Yelp, the site will become useless. The point of Yelp is to give your opinion and your version of your experience with a company. If you have to change it, sugar coat it or act like it was something it wasn't, doesn't that undermine the spirit of Yelp? Furthermore, I feel like I gave them my phone number to use for contacting me regarding care of my animal - not stalking me down about a Yelp review. In my opinion they misused trusted information and violated customer privacy. If I wanted to chat about my bad service, I would have bellied up to the front desk or called them.