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shakahorn

Certifiably Surly
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Posts posted by shakahorn

  1. 33 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

    25% ?   generous you are

    My first thought as well.  If I was on the other side, I'd ask for 25% to start.  So offer 15%, let him come back at 25% and settle at 20.  Still on the generous side, but will eliminate any questions about fairness.  

  2. 7 hours ago, Dennis Taylor said:

    I had a prof UT (not philosophy) say that there was a philosophy exam where the only question was "Why study philosophy?"

    Students were filling up pages in bluebooks with all sorts of psychobabble and one guy answered simply "Why not?" and got an A+

    No idea of that is true or bullshit but I'll always remember that story...    

    What chair?

  3. 18 hours ago, A-Tex Devil said:

    CPO (2017 or 2018) GLS 450 or XC90?

    Test driving both tomorrow. Thought GLS would be slam dunk choice but reading XC90 may be a little quicker and certainly cheaper.  Seems XC90 may have less cargo space, but can’t tell.  

    We could happen on a well priced GLS550 which could make all of this moot, but I want the quicker (relatively) car.  Salesman may not like way I test drive tomorrow.  

    Wish Lexus would update the GX.  The LX is a tank. But the GX might as well be from 2010 right now.  

     

    (Edited to add, Why?  Need more room and third row seats, wife won’t get a Tahoe or Escalade (too wide for garage). Upgrading from Q5 so would like some performance there).  

    I drove a 2017 GLS450 for about a year before trading it in on a 2018 GLE350.  Don't ask why...or check the Wives thread sometime in the near future.  If 3-row seating is the priority, I don't think the 450 (or 550 obv) can be  beat.  I also really liked the 9-speed engine in the 450, but it wasn't "quick" that's for sure.  I guess maybe relative to other similar size vehicles.  But I feel like the 4.0 9 speed in the 450 is better than the 7 speed 3.5 in the 350 both off the line as well as top speed.

    Anyway as luck would have it, I got on some list for some marketing company and they offered me $200 to review a bunch of other 3-row luxury SUV's which I would guess would be 2018 models.  Not test drive, just go look at them, sit in them, etc.  There were 3 models of Cadillac, an Infiniti, a Range Rover which for some odd reason didn't have 3 rows, a Lincoln Navigator and my car.  For true three row seating, only one of the caddies, the MBZ and the Lincoln were satisfactory.  And all of the caddies just had really bad sight lines.   The Infiniti might as well have just made it 2 rows.

    Sorry, can't really help on the Volvo.  

  4. 59 minutes ago, Telegraph_it said:

    Not my wife but BIL's wife. It was bad enough I figured I needed to post it

    My wife, BIL, BIL's wife, and I are driving to a family dinner this past week. As we are driving a vintage Land Rover drives by in the oncoming lane. The vehicle is pristine and had been imported from across the pond since the driver was on the right side.

    SIL says, "Oh wow that guy must be a paraplegic." I'm like what??? Who?

    SIL retorts, "They guy that drove by with the steering wheel on the wrong side. He must only have a left leg." I am still not following this logic.

    She explains, the steering wheel is installed on the opposite side so he can use his left leg for acceleration and braking pedals.

    We all lose it. First off the guy is not a paraplegic, rather he would be an amputee, and second, WTF kind of logic is this? She was serious though and I had to google vehicles from UK to explain with pictures.

    On top of all of that, on right-hand drive vehicles, the gas brake (and clutch if applicable) are in the same relative position as they are on left-hand drive vehicles.  Not like you needed any more ammo.

  5. 15 hours ago, blacklab said:

    Yes, if you pay them they will remove bad reviews and post good reviews.

    Is there some sort of double-secret password you have to use to get this done?

    When we were paying customers, we asked if they would remove a review that was clearly illegitimate - reviewer only had one post, no friends, joined the day of the post - and they said no.  When we canceled our sub, one of the reasons we gave was they would not help us get rid of this bitch-made review and they still didn't bite.  Now when they call to get us to re-up, we tell them about that and their response is "so...if we tell you we'll get rid of the post, will you renew?"  But of course, we have to renew first and then trust that they'll take it down.

    Oh and when I referenced "bots" in the OP I wasn't necessarily meaning automated bots, but also low-paid staffers whose job it is to enter bad reviews.  Kinda like that pic of the Chinese girl in front of 100 phones.

  6. Tons of rumors about their business practices and how evil they are.  Anyone here have any direct experience?  I have suspicions but like most others, nothing provable.

    Rumors: Yelp will remove bad reviews for paying advertisers.  Yelp has a limit on the number of five star reviews for non-paying businesses.  Yelp has a bunch of “bots” that generate bad reviews for businesses that piss them off for whatever reason.  There are more rumors but you get the drift.

    TL; dr: In my experience, for my wife’s dental practice, we have not been able to get a clearly illegitimate review taken down.  We used to be a paying customer, and they wouldn’t take it down even then.  When they call back to try to get us to re-up, they hint that they can take down bad reviews, but we haven’t bitten.

    Lately, we’ve had a bunch of five star reviews get lumped into the “not recommended” pile, for no discernible reason.  These are reviews from legitimate patients who are credible Yelp users, multiple reviews, a mix of ranges in these reviews for other establishments, been on for years, and have multiple friends on Yelp.

    When we inquire about these reviews, we get the “our algorithm is finely tuned…”  Which is the same response we got when we asked about the illegitimate review.  My suspicion is that we are somehow flagged as former advertisers and our good reviews get tossed until we sign up again.

    Thoughts from the surlosphere?

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