Review That Review with Chelsey & Trey
Episode 136: "Interior Designer - 1 vs 5 Stars"
Transcription
*Please pardon any and all spelling errors!
[00:00:00] THEME SONG: Everybody's got an opinion.
Every Californian and Virginian.
It's so hard to tell who to trust and who to ignore.
Someone's gotta settle the score.
Trey and Chelsey will help you choose!
Whose views win, which ones lose.
Online haters are comin' for you!
Baby, it's time to Review That Review!
[00:00:30] CHELSEY DONN: Hello,
[00:00:31] TREY GERRALD: Well, hello and welcome once again to Review That Review. We are the podcast that is dedicated to reviewing.
[00:00:41] CHELSEY DONN: Reviews!
[00:00:45] TREY GERRALD: That is Chelsey
[00:00:47] CHELSEY DONN: And that is Trey Gerald.
[00:00:49] TREY GERRALD: And when we come together, we are,
[00:00:52] VOICEOVER: The review, Queens
[00:00:56] TREY GERRALD: but first, Chelsey Bobelsy Banana Fana Fofelsy Me My Momelsy, would you like to?
[00:01:02] VOICEOVER: Lodge a complaint.
[00:01:04] CHELSEY DONN: Yes, I would.
[00:01:05] TREY GERRALD: I thought maybe.
[00:01:06] CHELSEY DONN: I just thought of when you were singing that, which sort of goes with my complaint. Like, do you know that, that little thing we used to do in elementary school? Like, there's someone on the telephone. If it isn't Chelsey, I'm not home. Hey, Chelsey. Someone's calling my name. Hey, Chelsey. I think I hear it again.
You're wanted on the telephone. If it isn't Trey, I'm not home. Hey, Trey.
[00:01:30] TREY GERRALD: I've never heard this song.
[00:01:31] CHELSEY DONN: You never heard that? Oh
[00:01:34] TREY GERRALD: we do this before? Have we talked about this?
[00:01:36] CHELSEY DONN: I don't think so, Trey.
[00:01:38] TREY GERRALD: I don't think I know this song.
[00:01:40] CHELSEY DONN: Okay, it's
[00:01:41] TREY GERRALD: Well, if whoever's calling me on the phone isn't named Chelsey, I'm not him, okay?
[00:01:45] CHELSEY DONN: not home, okay? Okay. So my complaint today, tale as old as modern time, I'll say, it's just like, in general, you guys, how addictive the phones are and how much more addictive they are, seem to be getting by the hour. I lose. So much time in these things, like I'll know that I don't have time and I'll go on my phone and I'll just end up on an Instagram story binge. Like, I don't know what's happening. I feel like I'm no longer in control. All I know is that I know that it's a problem because I feel so sucked in when it's happening
and then I feel immediate relief when I finally find the will to turn it off. Like when I'm out of the binge, I'm like, Oh my God, thank God I got out of there, you know, like why, why is this happening?
And I noticed it with my niece and nephews too, because we recently took them off of the iPads entirely during the week.
And they're just such happier, like better kids without them. And I feel like they even know that it's bad. So what's happening? What is the evil mind manipulation that's happening behind our cell phones that make them so addictive?
[00:03:05] TREY GERRALD: I mean, if we want to put on, as Joe Kinosian calls it, our tinfoil hats, I definitely feel like if the government was ever trying to mind control us, it was when they created smartphones because we really, like, become numb to the phones, I mean, we just, wait, can we take the opportunity to look at our screen time?
[00:03:25] CHELSEY DONN: Oh my God. I'm scared.
[00:03:26] TREY GERRALD: know, so do you know how to, so you go to settings, everyone listening, if you have an iPhone, go to settings, and then the second little block of options, the very last one is screen time, oh, and make sure you scroll down to refresh, cause mine just jumped up, pfft, why,
[00:03:45] CHELSEY DONN: I'm like, is it going to be really bad? Okay, so my daily average
[00:03:49] TREY GERRALD: yeah,
[00:03:49] CHELSEY DONN: screen time is 4 hours and 57 minutes,
[00:03:54] TREY GERRALD: yeah, but there's 24 hours in a day,
[00:03:56] CHELSEY DONN: That's a lot, though. Four hours? Like, I could have written a novel by now.
[00:04:02] TREY GERRALD: how, does it say if you're up or down from last week?
[00:04:05] CHELSEY DONN: Oh, it actually says I'm down. I'm down. Maybe because I thought about this complaint. So I've been trying. I'm down 24 percent from last week. What about you? What, what's yours?
[00:04:14] TREY GERRALD: My daily average is 3 hours and 7 minutes, but it says I'm down 41 percent from last
[00:04:20] CHELSEY DONN: Wow. Okay. So,
[00:04:21] TREY GERRALD: Wait, so see, do the see all app.
[00:04:25] CHELSEY DONN: okay.
[00:04:26] TREY GERRALD: See all app and website activity.
[00:04:28] CHELSEY DONN: So Instagram, which I know that like I'm the
most is the like sucks me in the most.
for whatever reason, is 2 hours and 34 minutes, I guess this is a week, let's go to day,
[00:04:41] TREY GERRALD: My week is one hour and 40 minutes, but my day for Instagram, actually, Instagram comes in second when I look at day. Oh, this is just actually today.
[00:04:49] CHELSEY DONN: mean this is crazy, so if I'm looking at just days, it says I'm on Instagram for an hour and 24 minutes,
today, Jesus Christ, and
horrible, and then the second most for me is Fiat Electric, which, which controls all my lights,
[00:05:07] TREY GERRALD: Uh, that makes sense
[00:05:08] CHELSEY DONN: But an hour and 13 minutes, I'm just turning lights on and off?
[00:05:12] TREY GERRALD: Right. Do you swipe up to close out of your
[00:05:14] CHELSEY DONN: Maybe not. It must just be running in the background, right?
[00:05:17] TREY GERRALD: Well, it's interesting because Instagram for my week is number one, but for my day, it's logic puzzles. I love this, like, puzzle game. What about YouTube? Where's YouTube for you?
[00:05:29] CHELSEY DONN: I'm not a big YouTube gal, honestly.
[00:05:31] TREY GERRALD: Oh, I'm YouTube all day
[00:05:32] CHELSEY DONN: Oh yeah, no, I'm not really. I
[00:05:36] TREY GERRALD: limits.
[00:05:38] CHELSEY DONN: know, but you know, I also don't want to be limited. Maybe that makes me like a hypocrite, but it's like, I both don't want to be limited because I have friends that are on that and then that's like really annoying because you're just going to override it anyway.
It's like the snooze button.
[00:05:51] TREY GERRALD: Oh my god, there's a communication limits feature. You can set limits based on contacts. So you can say I don't want my brother in law contacting me after 6 p. m.
[00:06:03] CHELSEY DONN: wait, you can do that?
[00:06:06] TREY GERRALD: I'm really interested in this!
[00:06:09] CHELSEY DONN: like, it would just go to, like, as if you had your phone off, I guess? That's
great. Oh, app limit? Okay.
[00:06:16] TREY GERRALD: Well, here we are.
[00:06:17] CHELSEY DONN: we have a lot to learn. Guys, explore your phones, see the options, see what works for you, but
[00:06:22] TREY GERRALD: Well, isn't it interesting that in your complaint about how addicting the phones are, my response was, Let's,
[00:06:28] CHELSEY DONN: up your
[00:06:29] TREY GERRALD: out our phones. Yeah. I definitely hear you. I am aware of it as well. I, I do feel like we actually, this is like an update, but we did just cancel our cable. Did I talk about this on the
[00:06:41] CHELSEY DONN: You talked about, I think, that you're going to? Yeah.
[00:06:44] TREY GERRALD: But I go to YouTube all day long, like I am on
[00:06:47] CHELSEY DONN: Are you on like, the YouTube Shorts?
[00:06:51] TREY GERRALD: depends, I just thought about this last night, this distinction, it's so funny you asked me that, I am obsessed with chiropractic shorts, but I don't want to watch a chiropractic video, I want to watch the
[00:07:02] CHELSEY DONN: can understand that, because a chiropractic short will get you a little bit of info, but a
chiropractic Although, I don't know what it is, but it's like Brad and Brad tell you how to Have we talked about this before?
[00:07:13] TREY GERRALD: you've talked about the chiropractic brothers,
[00:07:15] CHELSEY DONN: Yes.
[00:07:16] TREY GERRALD: They still don't infiltrate me. I don't, I haven't come
[00:07:18] CHELSEY DONN: Oh,
[00:07:18] TREY GERRALD: but mine are always like the very attractive metrosexual ones,
[00:07:23] CHELSEY DONN: Okay, that makes sense for your algorithm.
[00:07:26] TREY GERRALD: anyway, as bad as our phones are, we're so grateful to podcasts. So keep listening to us on your phone.
[00:07:32] CHELSEY DONN: Yeah, but you know what? I don't even think of podcasts as being on my phone
because like, like, if I listen to an audio book, if I listen to a podcast, my face is not in the screen, guys. It's about the face for me. It's not good for us to be in the phone like that. Like a podcast, I actually think is great because it's just like, I'm just listening to
this. I have all my faculties, but yeah, no.
[00:07:57] TREY GERRALD: No, I hear it. I definitely hear that.
[00:07:59] CHELSEY DONN: All right. Well, I complained.
[00:08:01] TREY GERRALD: Well, why don't we jump from this sucking, terrible feeling of addiction into a topic about being happy in our present surroundings. Chelsey, do you wanna go head to head?
[00:08:16] CHELSEY DONN: I would love to go head to head with you, Trey.
[00:08:19] TREY GERRALD: Let's do it.
[00:08:20] VOICEOVER: Assess that Kevech
[00:08:22] TREY GERRALD: Today's another Versus episode! Whoop whoop! means we are going to cover both a one star and a five star review on the same topic! And today's topic, you guys, is an interior designer in New York City called Francis Interiors.
[00:08:38] CHELSEY DONN: this versus episode, I have selected the five star and Trey has selected the one star. So to determine who reads first, we got to flip that quarter. And I always think it's your turn, but I actually think it is.
[00:08:49] TREY GERRALD: Okay,
[00:08:50] CHELSEY DONN: Let's say it's you.
[00:08:51] TREY GERRALD: which one do you want?
[00:08:53] CHELSEY DONN: You want me to guess?
[00:08:54] TREY GERRALD: Well, I want you to say what you want and then I'll pick what I want.
[00:08:57] CHELSEY DONN: I think I would pick heads.
[00:08:59] TREY GERRALD: So I'll pick Tails. It's Tails.
[00:09:03] CHELSEY DONN: Okay, you win. Today, we are collecting data from both ends of the spectrum of Google Reviews for Frances Interiors. At the time of this recording, there are 12 reviews on Google with an average score of 4. 7 out of 5. And we did this intentionally, guys,
because we often bring in Reviews for services and restaurants and products that have tons of reviews, and we're really interested in what is the impact of somebody like Francis Interiors that only has a handful of reviews and maybe has a couple one star reviews that we're about to find out that are really dragging down the average.
What does that make you think about the company at large? Subs
So keep that in mind as we move forward with Trey's review. According to the about page on Francis Interior's website, long before appearing on HGTV's hit show, Brother vs. Brother, before the Rachel Ray show, before the Nate, holy crap, the Nate Berkus show, and before Francis Interior's, Francis shared his talents as an acclaimed ballet dancer from Athens, Greece.
Bringing his panache and elegance to the world stages, including New York City's Great White Way. Wow, I'm suddenly very impressed. With a natural eye for design and by successfully leveraging his background in dance and the arts, Francis Interiors has become one of the leading interior design studios in New York City. I gotta get more people writing you reviews, Francis.
Fluid aesthetics, creative problem solving, and the added benefit of a contracting team under the same roof help Francis Interiors not only stand out, but elevate the company to must have status among the elite addresses of Manhattan. A few specialties that are listed are custom millwork, project management, Architectural Lighting Design, Custom Furniture Design and Production, Custom Window Treatments and Bedding, Broker, Concierge, Service for Project Referrals, Project Management.
Yes, listed twice, I thought. With all that background info in mind, I'm super curious to jump into this one star review that seems to be an anomaly. Let's, uh, let's get into it.
[00:11:31] VOICEOVER: review, that review.
[00:11:36] TREY GERRALD: Alrighty, so, I will say up front, since I am the one star, Yelp has 7 reviews, Google has 12, and I'm gonna read to you all the singular one star review
[00:11:47] CHELSEY DONN: Okay.
[00:11:47] TREY GERRALD: on both of those sites, so,
[00:11:49] CHELSEY DONN: it written by the same person?
[00:11:51] TREY GERRALD: yeah, same review, so, with 12 reviews, That's 11 five stars and one one star. The Google ratio is 4. 7 out of 5, which I
[00:12:01] CHELSEY DONN: which is pretty crazy that it was a 0. 3 ding
for one review, like that feels like an anomaly, but I will say super curious to hear this review because it has to be so damning for me personally if I'm looking at reviews
for it to impact me, so let's see,
[00:12:18] TREY GERRALD: So today I'm going to share with you Mary Ellen Kay's one star Google review for Frances interiors.
[00:12:26] CHELSEY DONN: not to be confused with Mary Kay, I guess,
[00:12:28] TREY GERRALD: or Mary Ellen, was that the woman's? No, that was
[00:12:32] CHELSEY DONN: oh, Sue Allen,
[00:12:33] TREY GERRALD: Wait, who's the woman from Desperate Housewives that dies? Mary, Mary Alice, oh, Mary Alice, the voiceover every week, whatever, okay, so, this was written four years ago, at the time of this recording.
We recently engaged Francis Interiors for an interior design project for our new home in Manhasset, New York. Francis failed to create a cohesive vision and design. Failed to put together color palettes that worked with the existing space and was not able to source appropriate products and fabrics. His design aesthetic is next to zero.
We later found out that he is not a trained professional or expert and has an unsuccessful background in ballet and contracting, but we'll tell you otherwise. To be specific. We engaged Francis for a consulting project where he would create a design slash shopping list and hand it off to us so we could do the shopping ourselves.
He initially agreed to this approach, but quickly tried to convince us to expand the scope for a full design project, which, not surprisingly, would increase the fees payable to him by 3. 5x. In addition, Francis was incredibly impatient and condescending throughout the entire process. He would become visibly annoyed by questions, slash, suggestions, and did not respect our opinions, slash, interests.
He continually pushed his tasteless vision and would constantly tell us to get over our fears and give him control over the project. Francis missed the mark on every level. He is painful to work with and will waste your time and money. Mm hmm.
[00:14:48] CHELSEY DONN: Okay, so my first question is the shopping list. Okay, so is this shopping list something that Frances offers or is this something that Mary Ellen is asking for? That's the first question, follow up question being just to clarify what they're saying by the shopping list. Are they saying, like, I want to redesign my living room, come in, look at it, tell me what you would purchase, you would buy, put it on a list, and then we'll do it all ourselves.
Is that what they're saying?
[00:15:22] TREY GERRALD: That's my assumption of what is occurring, which is, that is a service that David and I have purchased before,
[00:15:29] CHELSEY DONN: Oh, interesting. I didn't even know that that was a thing.
[00:15:31] TREY GERRALD: yeah, but some designers don't wanna do it because you just charge a fee. And then like, you don't actually do the execution, you know? So, some designers are willing to and some are not. So
[00:15:44] CHELSEY DONN: I mean, I find it interesting that a designer would agree to that. And I wonder like what the stipulations around that are, because like an artist, like any other lane, I would think a designer, if they're going to put their name on something, they really want to be in there to judge, maybe we thought that we could have this credenza in the corner, but now that I'm putting it in there, It's kind of looking a little bit clunky, so why don't we actually return that credenza, change it out for just a little circular side table, you know what I mean?
Like, I just think that designing In my mind is more of an evolution where like, yes, like we have this plan and we can have a rendering and all of this stuff, but at the end of the day, once you have all the pieces in, that's like kind of really where the designing happens and where you can move stuff around.
So I just think it's weird and curious. That a designer would allow their name to be attached to something that they really aren't taking to completion. But I don't really know that that point plays in here, but I think it, I don't know. What do you think?
[00:16:54] TREY GERRALD: It's a really good point, especially now there are many services that are pretty much identical like Decorilla, Havenly, where you sort of get like, it's kind of like Fiverr or Upwork for designers where you send them measurements and pictures of your space and then they just send you an itemized list of things to buy and it's significantly cheaper, but you're the one that's like.
Doing the heavy lifting. So it does feel to me that there is a distinction, especially with that about me from Frances Interior's website, where they're sort of spelling out that they're a luxury designer. They deal with very exclusive properties where you're probably doing like the custom millwork.
It's not like, buy this can of paint from Sherwin Williams, like they're doing it all. Like you're handing it over. Like they mentioned project management twice. So it does feel to
[00:17:48] CHELSEY DONN: having an in house project management, like it just, to me, it's curious because Based on what Francis is selling,
it feels like Mary Ellen is not a right match
[00:18:01] TREY GERRALD: correct.
[00:18:01] CHELSEY DONN: for this service.
[00:18:03] TREY GERRALD: Well, that I think is glaring from the top. It sort of seems like Mary Ellen was really wanting a specific service that Francis was pushing back on. So who then is at fault for that? Because if Francis didn't want to do it that way and change their mind a couple of days later. Are there hard feelings?
Like, is Frances being impatient? Are they feeling like if you just hired me to create a list, then I'm not going to be open to questions or suggestions because you didn't retain my
[00:18:32] CHELSEY DONN: pay for that service. Yes, exactly, like that's what I'm wondering about some of these Comments that are being made, like, is that included in this, as they're calling it, shopping list package, which is 3. 5 times cheaper than an ordinary design package? I don't know. Then I'm also brought to this interesting point that we talk about a lot whenever we talk about art in general, which I consider design to be an art form. How do we feel about someone staking a claim that there's zero
aesthetic? I mean, clearly, there's a lot of shadiness in here. There's the failed cohesive designs, the unsuccessful background in ballet and contracting. I mean, it really feels like we're, we're punching down here in a way that I don't know if it really affects me in terms of walking away and thinking of Frances's skill level or aesthetic because of how it's packaged.
[00:19:33] TREY GERRALD: what I was going to say. I feel like Mary Ellen is really hitting below the belt a lot. Also, it seems to me like so much of that list of services that they do provide is custom. So why would you reach out to someone who's building custom pieces to go tell you what to buy at West Elm?
[00:19:51] CHELSEY DONN: It just seems very weird to
me, like, it just seems like Mary Ellen, and again, I could be wrong, I could be, like, drawing into this, I don't know if we have a reply or not, but I wonder if Mary Ellen was just your typical customer who expects to pay a little
[00:20:10] TREY GERRALD: And get a
[00:20:10] CHELSEY DONN: and get the whole kit and caboodle. And I. can understand how it's very frustrating, like, the amount of people that have reached out to me for website stuff or whatever and been like, it's just a little tiny job, and you're like, shut up, like, I. get to tell you what kind of job it is, and I'm probably gonna turn it down if you tell me that, Because I'm going to know that your expectations going in is that this is going to be just something that I'm going to say abracadabra bibbidi boo and it's going to be done and that's just not the way the world works and if you're paying me for a shopping list and I'm providing you list after list after list and you're being like this has no aesthetic and this is not, I can understand how someone would get frustrated and be like, why don't you just let go of the reins?
Let me do what I'm gonna do because you're not seeing it based off of a list. So I feel like I need to show you that this works.
[00:21:04] TREY GERRALD: Right, and I, and I don't know about the service that Mary Ellen purchased versus the expectation. But because sometimes those operations will offer a limited number of revisions and or multiple options for pieces, etc. But something that occurs to me as like making me question if I can trust Mary Ellen is saying he continually pushed his tasteless vision.
It's like if you think his vision is tasteless, why did you hire him,
[00:21:30] CHELSEY DONN: Right. Well, that's kind of what I keep going back to is like, at what point do we jump off board? Like, I just, like, I wish that Mary Ellen had told us, I met with him the first time, it was a
great meeting. I paid him 5, 000 for a list, and then as soon as he got the payment, I realized he's useless and it was too late.
And I was already, I'd already was pot committed to this 5, 000 and then he's trying to get me to pay more. Then maybe I could be on your side, but the whole time I'm just thinking, great, There's a million designers out there for a reason, not everybody's aesthetic is everybody's aesthetic, if his is not yours, move on, Why are you wasting everybody's time?
[00:22:10] TREY GERRALD: What are you getting from Mary Ellen here about value, new, or unique information?
[00:22:14] CHELSEY DONN: I mean the only new unique information that I keep pulling to is this whole idea of even a shopping list being a thing,
personally, because I didn't
really
[00:22:23] TREY GERRALD: definitely a thing. I just don't know if high end designers are willing to do it or not.
[00:22:27] CHELSEY DONN: and I guess I'll say like if I'm not being completely biased because for whatever reason I'm sort of Turned off by this person.
Maybe it's like good to know that Frances maybe has an attitude. You know, I don't like that, but I don't know what the value is. Do you find value here?
[00:22:44] TREY GERRALD: Well, it's interesting, and I don't want to bury the lead here, but David and I considered using this company,
[00:22:52] CHELSEY DONN: Okay. Did Mary Ellen's review deter you?
[00:22:55] TREY GERRALD: Yeah,
[00:22:56] CHELSEY DONN: Interesting.
[00:22:58] TREY GERRALD: we read this review, and this is long before I was a review queen, and we were like turned off, I wasn't dissecting it the way we are, but I, so even going into this episode today, I think reading it with this critical eye, I feel like Mary Ellen was wanting to manipulate the way Francis works, and saying how Francis was difficult, he kept telling us to get over our fears, give him control, but it's also like, But you're hiring someone for their expertise and to say that they have a failed ballet background and failed like it's sort of like what are you talking about like also like you can't put together color palettes that work like I'm sort of
[00:23:37] CHELSEY DONN: well
that's again, of course, we're moving on to our points, but getting into the truthful shady of it all. I mean, the
balance
there
[00:23:44] TREY GERRALD: just it feels very uh what's the influenced by their anger or their their lack of control?
[00:23:52] CHELSEY DONN: I really stop listening to you. I mean, listen, if you're listening to the show and you're thinking about writing someone a negative review because they deserve it, go ahead and do it. It is a service to do that, right? Like, inform the people, but just know that if you're gonna get shady, I don't trust you You're getting off track. If you're gonna talk about this person's failed ballet career that has nothing to do with their work, I'm I'm no longer listening to you. I no longer believe that the information that you're giving me is truthful. So you're actually doing a disservice by doing this. So
[00:24:27] TREY GERRALD: Unless they're trying to say like that they're a fraud.
[00:24:30] CHELSEY DONN: is that what you guys took from it?
Like, what did you?
[00:24:33] TREY GERRALD: No, I don't really remember that conversation. I think that we, the last sentence that he's painful to work with and we'll waste your time and money. I think that was like the resounding sort of like, well, there's this, it's how, because I remember thinking how unfortunate this is like. the review that pops up on google like how do you i it might have been a seedling of me my interest in this podcast years before we got there because it did occur to me like how do you wipe that away like how do you get that's like staining you like But I don't know.
I just think that it doesn't come off as truthful to me. It comes off as shady. Mary Ellen has three other
[00:25:07] CHELSEY DONN: shady. I'm sure they're all one star.
[00:25:09] TREY GERRALD: I mean, I didn't look, but the spelling grammar is, is good here. Uh, there aren't any errors. Do I think it's common or fluky or typical?
[00:25:18] CHELSEY DONN: it's not. I mean, it's in a sea of five star
reviews. So I don't think it could be, and I think in a weird way it almost gives more credibility to Francis and their pages that this review wasn't scrubbed, that it's still there, because it makes me feel like the other reviews are more truthful for some reason.
I don't know. It could be wrong.
[00:25:41] TREY GERRALD: While I'm also connecting the dots here, how they say Francis failed to create a cohesive vision and design, but then they also say, like, was annoyed about questions and suggestions, and was impatient and condescending throughout the process, constantly telling us to get over our fears and give him control.
Like, I feel like that's a person saying, like, just trust me, just, like, if you're like, oh, I love the idea of, like, mid century, but I hate those skinny legs on couches, I don't, then it's sort of like, well, how do you be cohesive if you're nitpicking this piece and that piece and this piece?
[00:26:11] CHELSEY DONN: Right.
[00:26:11] TREY GERRALD: You hate brown, and you don't want warm colors.
But I don't want it to feel cold and sterile. Then you're sort of like, well, how, I don't know. I wouldn't, I don't, this isn't my world. So I wouldn't know how to create within those bounds. And maybe that's what a interior designer should be able to do. But it sounds to me like Mary Ellen's a little difficult.
That is what is occurring to me. Were you entertained? Was it funny?
[00:26:32] CHELSEY DONN: Um, not really. I'm kind of angry but I think that that's what happens when, when you have two artists
that are reviewing someone that is an artist. It's, it's really easy for me to feel defensive. I don't like when someone's like their claimed career, like, shut up. I wasn't entertained. I was kind of annoyed.
Okay. Should we go into the crowning?
[00:26:57] TREY GERRALD: yeah, alright, so Chelsey and I each have our own set of zero to five crown cards. In an effort to be fair and not influence each other, we will simultaneously reveal
[00:27:07] VOICEOVER: The queens are tabulating to to school.
[00:27:14] CHELSEY DONN: Okay, the queens are unanimous, one crown, one crown, I mean, the one crown is, is just because I'm now questioning, do I want to work with this person? Does this person have attitude? Am I going to get locked into something that I don't really want to be in? Is this going to be a difficult process? I am kind of asking those questions. Which may or may not be accurate and that's where it's just one crown worth, right,
because the four crown is I don't know that I trust this person as a narrator, I think there would have had to be a little bit more information in terms of the stake in the game and a little less information about the personal vendetta against Francis, which I just didn't really love.
So one crown for me. How about you?
[00:27:59] TREY GERRALD: I think that Mary Ellen comes across shady and very controlling and I think they do punch down like you said, I think it is a lot of disses below the belt that don't I mean, I know you're working with someone's personality, but I also just think Mary Ellen probably isn't very good at taking critique. I get that from their review, but ultimately in the past, we did, we did feel impacted.
I don't know. It just, it feels to me like the person and the designer wanted different things. They just didn't seem to go eye to eye even with the point of writing up a contract to work together. So, that just sounds bad to me. And I don't know, I even think like, punching down about a unsuccessful ballet, like that's so stupid.
Ballet dancers peak at 25, like every ballet dancer is going to have to have another career at some point in their older life. So I don't, it just all feels irrelevant and stupid. So, one crown, because I think I don't know that it would have that much of an impact for me, except I don't want to be in awkward conversations, and maybe Francis has been in that situation in the past, I don't know, but that's really the only reason why I said one crown.
[00:29:08] VOICEOVER: is a reply.
[00:29:09] CHELSEY DONN: my god, thank goodness, I was hoping there was a reply, I don't know if it's going to be a good reply, but okay, I'm glad,
[00:29:14] TREY GERRALD: Well, this is the reply from the owner, also four years ago. Dear Mary Ellen and Jeff, Thank you for sharing your feedback. We are very sorry to hear that your experience with Francis Interiors did not meet your expectations. Our team always strives to make each and every client happy, and it is clear that we did not succeed in this instance.
We hope that you'll consider reaching out to us directly if there's anything we can do to remedy this or to bring this to a satisfactory closing for you.
[00:29:47] CHELSEY DONN: interesting, so
[00:29:49] TREY GERRALD: do you think?
[00:29:50] CHELSEY DONN: it feels very generic
[00:29:53] TREY GERRALD: I know.
[00:29:54] CHELSEY DONN: feels like this could be a reply to anything.
It's, it's an interesting balance because it's very professional. It's very tasteful. It's not going down the route of you're wrong. I'm right. This was, you were terrible from the start. Kind of what I wanted to be
honest, which was like a little bit more backstory of what, like peel the onion
[00:30:13] TREY GERRALD: give us a correction, it's not a correction,
[00:30:16] CHELSEY DONN: not a correction. What I'm getting from this reply is that we're professional. But what I'm missing from this reply is the ability to take back the narrative, which I, again, understand is a delicate tightrope walk,
[00:30:35] TREY GERRALD: we've come up against that a lot, right?
[00:30:37] CHELSEY DONN: I mean it's hard to do it right, but gosh, when you do, you can really turn a negative into a positive,
[00:30:44] TREY GERRALD: I mean, this reply to me almost feels like Like a nothing. Like, it isn't negative or positive. I mean, I do think it is bold to say, it is clear that we did not succeed. Like, I think that's a pretty bold statement. Like, I appreciate them owning that. There's just an opportunity to either offer a correction or really appeal to anyone that would be reading this that's considering you, and they don't really take that opportunity.
So, it really is almost like a null and void, in my
[00:31:13] CHELSEY DONN: I mean, it feels like they hired someone on Upwork and they were like, can you please write for us a well toned, like, uh, you know, apologetic reply for one star reviews? Like, it just feels very,
[00:31:26] TREY GERRALD: It feels very clinical.
[00:31:28] CHELSEY DONN: Yeah, yeah,
[00:31:29] TREY GERRALD: agree. I mean, I don't even really need to rate it because,
[00:31:32] CHELSEY DONN: I don't know if it's worth a crown, but okay. All right. Not the reply I was hoping for, but at least we said something. Sure. Okay. Oh
[00:31:42] TREY GERRALD: out the air and go into a little GAME BREAK?
[00:31:47] CHELSEY DONN: I love a good game break. Let's do it.
[00:31:50] TREY GERRALD: Well Chelsey and listeners, today I have curated a brand new never before existed game just for you Chelsey and for all of you listeners to play along in your heads as you're driving down the busy interstate or as you're on an airplane. So today we are going to be inspired by interior design as we play the game.
Is it paint or is it ain't? Paint or ain't?
[00:32:18] CHELSEY DONN: Paint or ain't. Okay.
[00:32:20] TREY GERRALD: So today, I have compiled a list of paint color names, and you're gonna tell me if that's an actual existing paint name, or it ain't a paint name because Trey made it up and he's from the South.
[00:32:35] CHELSEY DONN: Got it.
[00:32:35] TREY GERRALD: Alright, Chelsey, is the paint color Snuggle Puss? Paint or ain't?
[00:32:48] CHELSEY DONN: Mean it is so ridiculous. I'm gonna say ain't but also like it might be paint because it's a ridiculous, but I'll stick with ain't Yeah, and how to be real. It's so crazy. Wow. Okay snuggle puss
[00:33:01] TREY GERRALD: What color do you think Snuggle Puss is?
[00:33:03] CHELSEY DONN: like a beige
[00:33:05] TREY GERRALD: No, so it's actually like a purpley gray? And it's a color that's made by Benjamin Moore.
[00:33:11] CHELSEY DONN: Okay
[00:33:12] TREY GERRALD: Like I wouldn't take Benjamin Moore to be like a comedy queen, but okay. Chelsey, is the color dead salmon, paint or
[00:33:21] CHELSEY DONN: Oh, come on Trey Ain't. You've gotta be effing kidding me. You've gotta be effing kidding.
[00:33:34] TREY GERRALD: What color do you think dead salmon is?
[00:33:36] CHELSEY DONN: I think it's like salmon but burnt, like a little bit darker. You really killed it.
[00:33:44] TREY GERRALD: Yeah, it's like a, um, I would say it's like a warmer pink salmon y color, and this is produced by the company Farrow and Ball?
[00:33:52] CHELSEY DONN: They need to hire me to make up these paint names because I could do better
than dead salmon.
[00:33:59] TREY GERRALD: why would you, like, why would you name something
[00:34:01] CHELSEY DONN: ooh, you know
what? You know what color I want to paint the walls? Dead salmon looks nice.
I don't
[00:34:06] TREY GERRALD: love the color of these
[00:34:07] CHELSEY DONN: Yeah, I was thinking roadkill, but I actually like dead salmon better. Like, what the
hell?
[00:34:13] TREY GERRALD: funny. I almost did roadkill. That's really funny that you just said that. Okay, number three. Is the color Grandma's refrigerator paint or ain't?
[00:34:27] CHELSEY DONN: I'm probably gonna get this wrong again, but I think maybe paint, because I remember a color from old refrigerators, like a green. Oh my god, thank god I got one right. Is it a green? Ew.
[00:34:45] TREY GERRALD: warm yellow. It's like mid century yellow,
[00:34:49] CHELSEY DONN: Okay, I
[00:34:49] TREY GERRALD: but this is actually from a company called My Perfect Color.
[00:34:53] CHELSEY DONN: All right, that's not as offensive as some of the other names, so.
[00:34:57] TREY GERRALD: All right, Chelsey, is the color impulsive purple, paint or ain't?
[00:35:07] CHELSEY DONN: Eight. I thought you were trying to trick me.
Okay.
[00:35:13] TREY GERRALD: impulsive purple is what color do you think? It's
[00:35:21] CHELSEY DONN: that you're going to like, be like, yeah, I want to put that on my walls. But then later you're going to be like, that was an impulsive decision. Okay.
Great.
[00:35:31] TREY GERRALD: kidding, it's purple. I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. But it felt just like very normal purple. Like, it didn't seem, I don't know what impulsive is about. But it's by the company Sherwin Williams. Okay. Chelsey, is the color nacho cheese paint or ain't?
[00:35:49] CHELSEY DONN: think it's all effing paints or something. Are you tricking me? Ain't. These are all paints, little bitch? At some point, are
[00:36:01] TREY GERRALD: All right, so nacho cheese.
[00:36:02] CHELSEY DONN: to an 8th? I thought it was just odds alone.
[00:36:07] TREY GERRALD: What color do you think nacho cheese
[00:36:08] CHELSEY DONN: obviously, it's like the nacho cheese that you get at a baseball game or at like the movie theater, that like very synthetic yellow.
[00:36:17] TREY GERRALD: Yeah, it's like yellow. And this is Benjamin Moore.
[00:36:21] CHELSEY DONN: Trey, Trey,
[00:36:21] TREY GERRALD: Okay, Chelsey. Is the paint color Silver Lake Daddy?
[00:36:26] CHELSEY DONN: Oh, come
[00:36:27] TREY GERRALD: Paint or
[00:36:28] CHELSEY DONN: on, you little 8th. If that's a paint color, I swear to God, Oh my,
that sounded like something that you would
do, But, I would think it would be great.
[00:36:44] TREY GERRALD: so it's gray and there is a paint color by the paint company called Backdrop Paint called Silver Lake Dad.
[00:36:52] CHELSEY DONN: Oh, okay. Yeah. It was the daddy that really gave it away.
[00:36:56] TREY GERRALD: Okay, Chelsey, is the color Not Enough Chocolate Syrup, Mom, paint or ain't?
[00:37:04] CHELSEY DONN: Oh my God. I kind of hope that's paint. Ooh.
[00:37:11] TREY GERRALD: and that is by the company My Perfect Color. What color do you think it is?
[00:37:16] CHELSEY DONN: I think that it's like, you know, what chocolate milk when you don't put enough, like cocoa powder in it. So it's like a light brown,
[00:37:23] TREY GERRALD: It's like a beige y brown. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright,
[00:37:26] CHELSEY DONN: I like that company. They have good names,
[00:37:29] TREY GERRALD: They have good names, yeah. Chelsey, is the paint color Pretty Ugly, paint or ain't?
[00:37:39] CHELSEY DONN: Paint? God, I almost said paint.
[00:37:43] TREY GERRALD: Alright, so this is by Backdrop Paint. What color do you think Pretty Ugly is?
[00:37:49] CHELSEY DONN: Like vomit or something.
[00:37:51] TREY GERRALD: Oh, so it's Pea Soup Green, famously from The Exorcist, which you've probably never seen. Alright, we have two remaining. Chelsey, is West Coast Ghost paint or ain't?
[00:38:08] CHELSEY DONN: Paint. it like a tan ghost? Is it like beige?
[00:38:13] TREY GERRALD: It's white, it's just a white. That's also from Backdrop Paint.
[00:38:17] CHELSEY DONN: This backdrop paint company is really getting on my last nerve.
[00:38:21] TREY GERRALD: Noive. Okay, here we go, the very last one, Chelsey, is the paint color mole's breath, paint, or ain't?
[00:38:30] CHELSEY DONN: Mole's breath ain't? What the fuck is a mole's breath? Like a mole on your face or like a mole, like a rat mole?
[00:38:46] TREY GERRALD: no idea. What color do you think that is?
[00:38:49] CHELSEY DONN: breath. Brown?
[00:38:50] TREY GERRALD: It's like dark gray. That's the company Pharaoh and Ball. They also have an elephant's breath.
[00:38:55] CHELSEY DONN: What? Is that gray?
[00:38:57] TREY GERRALD: That one was more brown. It is interesting you say that.
[00:39:00] CHELSEY DONN: I mean, these names, guys, who, who is doing
[00:39:05] TREY GERRALD: Well, Chelsey, you did get seven wrong, but you got three right!
[00:39:08] CHELSEY DONN: Woo, there was a moment I thought I would have a comeback, I had like that three in a row moment of confidence, But,
[00:39:15] TREY GERRALD: Pretty ugly three, yeah.
[00:39:16] CHELSEY DONN: I think that they should hire us to make their paintings, because clearly they need
[00:39:20] TREY GERRALD: We would have Lillium Pops Purple.
[00:39:22] CHELSEY DONN: Lillian, I think Lillian Pops would be red, for her big, red, beautiful lips,
[00:39:27] TREY GERRALD: Alright, we'll have a consultation off
[00:39:29] CHELSEY DONN: Ha ha ha ha, I'll give you a list,
[00:39:34] TREY GERRALD: Tchoo!
[00:39:38] CHELSEY DONN: All right, we're back from that. I would say rousing, but I'm mad that I didn't do better. Game break, and it's my turn, you guys.
[00:39:48] TREY GERRALD: Yes, Chelsey, I can't wait to hear the flip side. Who wrote your review? What's the story?
[00:39:53] CHELSEY DONN: Okay, so I have a five star review from five years ago, so not too far off from the time period of our review that we heard here today, by Jonathan R.,
[00:40:04] TREY GERRALD: Hmm. Boy, oh boy. I can't wait to hear it.
[00:40:11] CHELSEY DONN: I don't know what else to say.
[00:40:12] TREY GERRALD: It's on. Do you see the
[00:40:13] CHELSEY DONN: Oh. Okay, boy oh boy. Well, to hear the flip side, you gotta join our Patreon.
[00:40:21] TREY GERRALD: That's right, ReviewThatReview. com slash Patreon.
[00:40:24] CHELSEY DONN: ReviewThatReview. com slash Patreon. Don't forget it. It's really easy. It's only 4. 99.
[00:40:31] TREY GERRALD: And with that, Queens, we did it. That was another round on the RUARQ unsuccessful background in ballet ferris wheel.
[00:40:41] CHELSEY DONN: Thank you for joining us today. If you, unlike Mary Ellen, like what you heard, please tell a friend.
[00:40:49] TREY GERRALD: If you like Mary Ellen, didn't like what you heard, tell an enemy.
[00:40:53] CHELSEY DONN: On this week's After Show Pod, we're both taking a spin on the Meryl Go Round, as well as rating and reviewing that opposite end of the spectrum, Review!
[00:41:01] TREY GERRALD: Wow! I wonder why this was said.
[00:41:08] CHELSEY DONN: And I just think like, guys, if you're going to review an interior designer, I'm looking at you, Mary Ellen, you got to include photos.
[00:41:17] TREY GERRALD: know, it's really wild to not include
[00:41:19] CHELSEY DONN: You can't go on here and talk smack and then not include the photos of the terrible taste. You have to have visual evidence and I really think that's what takes this over the edge for me. I wonder, I do wonder,
[00:41:34] TREY GERRALD: Boy, oh boy, I'm wondering,
[00:41:36] CHELSEY DONN: oh boy I'm wondering,
[00:41:37] TREY GERRALD: oh they, them, oh them.
[00:41:40] CHELSEY DONN: oh them.
[00:41:41] TREY GERRALD: Now, make sure you remember as you're wondering,
[00:41:45] CHELSEY DONN: Ignore the haters like Mary Ellen. You're a queen.
[00:41:48] TREY GERRALD: Gender non specific, non Mary Ellen Queen,
[00:41:51] CHELSEY DONN: That's right.
[00:41:52] TREY GERRALD: Bye! What's that wall color you got there? Cause it sure is pretty ugly.
[00:41:58] CHELSEY DONN: Oh, ouch.
[00:42:03] VOICEOVER: Sign up directly on Apple Podcast to hear our weekly members only after show unlock additional benefits when you become a Patreon member@reviewthatreview.com slash patreon. Follow us on all the socials at the review queens and join our mailing list@reviewthatreview.com. Arc vetch line is open 24 7 at 1 8 5 0 review zero.
Don't be a ogana. Call the vetch line today.
[00:42:29] TREY GERRALD: Hey!
[00:42:29] CHELSEY DONN: I just feel like Mary Ellen, like, kind of had the cards stacked against her from the beginning because it just feels like, of course, Mary Ellen has a problem. What is it, Mary Ellen? What's it this time, Mary Ellen? You know what I mean?
[00:42:44] TREY GERRALD: Ellen Mary really does not have the same ring.
[00:42:48] CHELSEY DONN: Is there names where? I feel like the Mary usually does go first.
[00:42:52] TREY GERRALD: I knew it,
[00:42:53] CHELSEY DONN: Patrick, well,
[00:42:54] TREY GERRALD: I knew it, Mary Elizabeth.
[00:42:55] CHELSEY DONN: I knew, I have a Mary Lizbeth, yeah, I think the Mary usually does go first,
[00:43:01] TREY GERRALD: And I think Sue comes second, and Marie comes second.
[00:43:05] CHELSEY DONN: Yes, yes, that's a good point,
[00:43:07] TREY GERRALD: Sue Peggy.
[00:43:08] CHELSEY DONN: Peggy, Sue Peggy, I don't think so, not unless they're suing her for, uh, something, I don't know,
[00:43:15] TREY GERRALD: Wait, can we make a Sue Peggy purple paint?
[00:43:19] CHELSEY DONN: Yeah, we can make a Sue Peggy, Sue, I was purple, like,
[00:43:24] TREY GERRALD: Why are you not wanting any purple paint? This is the second purple paint you've shut down.
[00:43:29] CHELSEY DONN: No, I was just knowing, I'm all for the purple paint, I'm just wondering if it should be like, Sue Peggy's, that's something that's purple,
[00:43:38] TREY GERRALD: Snuggle, please.
[00:43:39] CHELSEY DONN: no, no, Sue Peggy's grape juice purple,
[00:43:45] TREY GERRALD: Oh, alright, well make sure you check that out on ReviewThatReview. com slash shop.
[00:43:53] CHELSEY DONN: don't tempt me with a good time, Trey,
[00:43:57] TREY GERRALD: Your usage for Wix is gonna go skyroof next week.
[00:44:01] CHELSEY DONN: goodness, alright,
see you on Friday, bye.
Review That Review is an independent podcast. Certain names have been redacted or changed to protect the guilty. Executive produced by Trey Gerrald and Chelsey Donn with editing and sound designed by me with voiceover talents by Eva Kaminsky. Our cover art was designed by LogoVora and our theme song was written by Joe Kinosian and sung by Natalie Weiss.
Photo by Girl with red hat on Unsplash
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