[larossmann]

One important thing to note is that in the over 9 years I have held a DCA license for repair, they have never

a) checked my soldering skills b) looked to see whether I got dust between the LCD cell & backlight layers when doing screen replacement c) checked to see what quality of iPhone screens we use for screen repairs d) asked or tested my ability to do my job

You pay the troll toll, and you get a paper that goes on your wall. I could be the best tech in the world, or I could be a giant idiot... you'd never know.

Some people have the mistaken impression that being licensed means I have been tested, inspected, etc.. nope. They inspect to make sure your business cards have your license number on them. They don't inspect to figure out if you actually do good work for your customers.

[srtjstjsj]

The license gives customers a way to track your reputation.

[larossmann]

Yelp & Google do a far better job, and the way I feel about yelp is undisputedly bad.

If you google portatronics 46th st, you will learn about the business way faster than if you show up in person, take down the license number, look up their license number, etc.

Further, I have had angry customers leave bad reviews, file chargebacks, etc. Of all the customers I've had in the past 9 years with a DCA license, I had one go to the DCA over an issue they had with the post office that I quickly resolved with a full refund. This is one out of over 40,000 people in nine years, during COVID when the post office was being screwy with everything.

My point is, this just doesn't happen anymore. but I've had TONS of people take grievences to google/yelp, and 99% of the time we give them a call, say mea culpa, ask what we can do to fix it, and work it out and it gets turned into a 5 star again.

People who have a problem go to Yelp/Google to leave a review, or their credit card company for a chargeback. You won't find much related to the reputation of the business using the DCA because it's not the way this generation handles these issues.

We've moved on from this system. It's a system designed to be useful for a pre-internet era, and exists solely so that the city can generate revenue. It's important to call a spade a spade.

[abawany]

FYI, Google Maps has recently started to 'disappear' negative reviews. They show up when the reviewer is logged in but checking the business incognito will show fewer reviews.

[vkou]

No, licensing is not about customer reputation tracking. Licensing is about giving the government a way to shut you down if you cause problems.

When government works, this is actually a good thing.

[syshum]

The internet gives customers a way to track reputation, government adds zero value to that