Complaint Review: Angie's List - Internet

Angie’s List proves with Crystal Bay Caterers, Angie’s heart is with the companies she rates, not the consumer she claims she is out to help.

A similar review was sent to both Yelp and Angie’s – on Crystal Bay Caterer, both were given a 0 or F

“Like XXXXXX. review, Mr. Sam LoPiccolo came through for me in the last minute for a small party.  Unfortunately, the experience was more in line XXXXXX. review- food was barely okay, but a people got sick.  It was so bad I contacted Ms. XXXXXX (who was extremely helpful and professional), Operations and Review Specialist, Office of Customer and Government Relations Division of Hotels and Restaurants, Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.  She pointed out Crystal Bay Caterer report sanitation report online, it speaks for itself - I saw Crystal Bay is rated as a Risk level 2:  This is the definition she provided me of Risk Level 2:

* Cooks raw animal food and cools any cooked/heated TCS food; OR

* Conducts a special process [ROP; growing sprouts; smoking TCS food for preservation; curing TCS food; uses additives or components to make a food nonTCS (such as using vinegar to achieve a pH of less than 4.2 for sushi rice); holding live clams, mussels, oysters or scallops in a water tank; custom processing animals for personal use (e.g., cook your catch)]; OR

* Serves any raw or undercooked animal food - requires a consumer advisory

Per Ms. XXXXXXX help I processed an official complaint, #2018025311 on 5/15 - as all of Crystal Bay Caterer Sanitation reports, it is  online; but this summary is not an inspection report, but the response to my specific above complaint.

"Violation Observation Intermediate - Certified Food Manager or person in charge lacks (which is Chef Sam LoPiccolo ) knowledge of foodborne illnesses and symptoms of illness that would prevent an employee from working with food, clean equipment and utensils, and single-service items."

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I also summited a similar review on the Rip Off report; Rip Off report also proves a web site that is set up to protect the consumer, not the company that has acted wrongly. But Rip Off reports does provid a fair process for people like Sam LoPiccolo to respond directly – Chef Sam LoPiccolo declined.  Instead Mr. LoPiccolo, owner of Crystal Bay Catering, contacted me directly and tried to intimated me  to remove all my negative reviews myself – below is part of that email he sent me

 “The complaint was baseless, mean and merely reflects your anger at your own failures. Clearly, you are in no position to defend your senseless actions.

“, to stop forthwith in leaving anymore negative reviews about Crystal Bay Catering and the companies employees on the internet, as well as ANCOMP and its employees, remove and or amend the negative reports, reviews that you have left on the various internet sites, I.E. Ripoff reports, Google, Yelp, Yellow Pages etc.”

Side Note: Note sure what ANCOMP has to do with all this, I have done reviews on this company, they all have been pretty positive.

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After I refused to be intimidated and remove my reviews (and with the Rip Off report you can not, to avoid intimadation tactics like this from working), Mr. LoPiccolo contacted Angie’s List directly, Angie’s List decided in Mr. LoPiccolo favor (without contacting me first for additional input), removed my review and canceled my membership (but hey, it was free,so that part I can not complain about).

So today if you go to Angie’s List has give Crystal Bay Caterers has an “A” rating, based upon this one below review:

“I feel both bless and relieve having found Mr. Lopiccolo at Crystal Bay Caterers, my daughter's wedding was becoming a nightmare, Crystal Bay took care of all our catering needs in a professional and knowledgeable way his suggestions were perfect, his team was super I would highly recommend Sam and his team to anyone in need of catering services. “

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I think the facts speak for themselves on the validity of Angie’s list – On sites like the Rip Off report, or even Yelp – they seek fair & balanced feedback – they are neutral and fair, not in the pocket of the companies they are claiming to offer unbiased reviews - though it is hard to argue with State of Florida Sanitation Records (If you read the historical reports on Crystal Bay Catering on Sanitation by Fla State, it is like playing russian roulette - a good experience is more to do with luck than skill or professionlism). And I can say from experience  the old saying that it is better coming up than it was going down is not true.

I think the above is a good Prima facie case Angie’s List is at best a Social Media type web site that favors companies (in the hope of upselling them to membership or advertising fees) over the best interest of the consumer's health and safety. 

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Side note, I love the advertisement of  Angie’s List has on TV, like it is some Mom fed up with all the other consumer web sites and has set up Angie’s List web site in her home to help “regular individuals” find a truly unbiased “real people” reviews – in actuality Angie is an actor and the web site is run by a conglomerate ANGI Homeservices  - the reviews may be true, but they are filtered and molded to not paint a fair and complete picture, but  to help sell the contractor or company they claim they are fairly offering reviews on (and upsale these same contractors and companies in some sort of service payment)