
Groupon Fires Sales Rep Who Threatened Bad Reviews for Business Owner - antr
http://allthingsd.com/20130819/groupon-fires-sales-rep-who-threatened-negative-yelp-reviews-for-restaurant-owner/?mod=tweet
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ececconi
He's also deleted his linkedin, twitter, and instagram. This guy had no
ability for recourse after this story broke. Let's hope that he doesn't have
this kind of lapse of judgement in the future.

[http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andy-
johnston/41/81/119](http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andy-johnston/41/81/119)

~~~
beedogs
Something tells me he won't be working in an Internet-related field in the
future, at least as long as this story sits around the top of a Google search
for his name.

~~~
a5seo
Given that he listed SEO as a skill on Linkedin, perhaps he'll have an easier
time than most at "managing his online reputation," as a certain NPR sponsor
likes to describe the practice.

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spdy
Sounds plausible to get more deals, all those sales persons are only accounted
for deals per day/week/month. And if you are not performing as needed you can
look for another job elsewhere.[1]

Getting payed minimum wage + extra on deal volume (which is not that high
anymore) you encourage people to use shady moves like this.

[1] [http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/08/working-
gr...](http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/08/working-groupon-isnt-
what-it-used-be/55701/)

~~~
bdcravens
As it went down, even the bad reviews really don't reward the sales process.
He received very firm no - he didn't say he'd post bad reviews if he didn't
receive a sale, but retaliated after the fact. Additionally, it doesn't seem
that he used bad reviews priorly posted with future leads ("don't let this
happen to you ...") All in all, his actions were those of a bratty punk, and
didn't directly come out of the base + commission model.

You see this model everywhere: hire young kid who'd be lucky to work in a
mailroom or as a waiter, and give them opportunity to earn big $$$ via
results. In Houston it may be oil-related; Florida vacation properties; SF,
Internet companies. Some achieve success through thick skin and tenacity.
Immature response, especially when it has nothing to do with achieving sales
objectives, is not a foregone conclusion.

~~~
afriesh123
google cached his linkedin profile.

sigh.

i feel bad for the guy, you just can't escape a bad move made in a consumer-
facing market like this.

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:X821DtR...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:X821DtR3QlUJ:www.linkedin.com/pub/andy-
johnston/41/81/119+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)

i challenge the comment above - that this reflects groupon hiring people who
are "lucky to work in a mailroom or as a waiter".

if anything, they are over-hiring for their roles - this guy is a UC Berkeley
grad, which implies a certain level of intelligence. making sales like this
could easily be done by a boiler room in manilla.

~~~
bdcravens
I wasn't necessarily targeting Groupon, but what's makes them different than
any other company?

The fact that he has a degree doesn't mean anything. Check out that LinkedIn
profile you linked: sports, sports, sports, in both his personal life and
background. If some of his other reported past-time activities are true, I'm
sure he partied hard in college. He's a typical college kid if he partied,
played, and walked across the stage rocking a 2.7 GPA. Nothing extraordinary
about getting a degree, other than to say you crossed the finish line. That in
no way suggests you have the persistence to succeed - rather than performing
daily, plenty in college cram enough during finals to get their C. Maturity:
college can help with this, but I know plenty of jock bros who're little more
than a 15 year old inside when they receive their bachelor's degree.

Plenty of kids graduate and continue their college life: Playstation and beer,
living at home with their parents instead of the dorm. They search for a job,
but with no experience (didn't get a job in college, that would take time away
from the frat) and little maturity, they often end up waiters, or at an entry
level gig like the mailroom.

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liquidcool
"Threatened?" If you read the comments in the original HN story, you'll see he
made good on his threats and kept reposting bad reviews after they were taken
down. He was pretty vindictive about it.

~~~
fnordfnordfnord
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6229410](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6229410)

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Oculus
That sales rep. more than deserved it though I'm surprised Groupon's training
didn't even prepare him for the hang ups. Shows poorly on both of them.

~~~
greenyoda
If he's a sales rep who cold calls people, he's probably experienced dozens of
hang ups a day in the year he's been at that job. Something must have pushed
him over the edge that day. Either that, or he's done this to many other
people, but this is the first time someone called him out on it.

~~~
001sky
_Either that, or he 's done this to many other people..._

\--seems more likely. dude comes off as a bully.

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mathattack
They were very quick to determine that it was an isolated incident. I'd be
interested to see if any more of this surfaces. Of course I'm sure being
stupid enough to put extortion into email is isolated.

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jacquesm
The sales rep is bad, but groupon is bad too. After all this guy worked there
and was not supervised properly, he should have never had the chance to behave
the way he did.

Groupon would need to show that they properly supervised this guy and that
they instruct their new hires on what is and is not permitted to get a company
across the dotted line.

Firing the guy is just an easy way to distance themselves from him and his
behavior, hopefully it does send a message to the rest of the groupon sales
force.

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orillian
Is Groupon still a thing? I could have swore people all agreed years ago that
it was a business model that ate it's own tail.

As for the rep, getting caught being a jerk has consequences regardless
whether Groupon is just trying to save face.

~~~
rorrr2
Groupon is a 6.5 Billion dollar company, and it's doing pretty well
financially. The stock is growing.

[https://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&...](https://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=Logarithmic&chdeh=1&chfdeh=0&chdet=1376950962512&chddm=175168&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=NASDAQ:GRPN&ntsp=0&ei=rZoSUriUAeGrwAPjywE)

~~~
joelrunyon
"Stock is growing" & revenue numbers are different than actual profit of a
company.

[http://www.marketwatch.com/story/groupons-growth-problem-
sal...](http://www.marketwatch.com/story/groupons-growth-problem-sales-or-
profits-2013-06-28)

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npguy
What we need, is a Groupon model without Groupon in the middle. The idea is
explained here:

[http://firespotting.com/item?id=2320](http://firespotting.com/item?id=2320)

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pchristensen
Looking forward to people writing about how this is indicative of corruption
to the core, Groupon is a scam, this is a face-saving coverup, etc.

~~~
kevin_rubyhouse
Are you suggesting that Groupon is a scam, or suggesting that people will
demonize Groupon because of this one sales rep? If you do think it's a scam,
then why?

~~~
brymaster
> If you do think it's a scam, then why?

[https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=grouponzi&star...](https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=grouponzi&start=0)

