Everyone wants to be heard. That seems to be the #1 complaint on Yelp is the lack of transparency in the filter, the lack of response to real business issues, and the seeming lack of care that real businesses are being destroyed by fake reviews while real good reviews are filtered out.
It’s time to share your story… stories will be chosen from the comments below to be profiled on the site with the truth of how Yelp has done you wrong.
18 comments
Anand D. Patel MD says:
December 28, 2011 at 6:59 pm (UTC 0 )
Yelp continues to filter out positive reviews and highlight negative reviews. They then contact us to purchase ads. When asked why the filter behaves this way, they respond that the reviewers do not review enough to be considered salient. This explanation is, at best, inconsistent. See my site, and that of my group, below to confirm this:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/anand-d-patel-m-d-austin-2
http://www.yelp.com/biz/devenir-aesthetics-austin
I hope one day we will be able to prevent large corporations from extorting and harming small businesses like ours — we have enough to worry about in a slumping economy.
YelpAdmin says:
December 28, 2011 at 7:14 pm (UTC 0 )
I know how you feel. Many people come to me and complain about the filter. And it IS inconsistent, which I believe is grounds for a negligent misrepresentation claim (I’m not a lawyer but many ask me for advice). Did you watch my Outsmarting Yelp videos? That can help…
paul koumanelis says:
December 31, 2011 at 6:46 pm (UTC 0 )
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION PHONE NUMBER 1-877-382-4357
i am a small business owner who has run afoul of a competitor.
the competing business has bombarded me (using YELP) with out and out fabrications, libelous accusations, and outrageous drivel via what i can only assume to be one writer with several pseudonyms or one (very unethical) ‘on-line presence’ service with a stable of (fiction) writers masquerading as unhappy clients.
i have written to yelp on many occasions to explain. you have a better chance of finding God. i haven’t found a phone # you can call (unless, of course, you want to buy advertising), and all my letters have elicited only (the same, word for word), boilerplate answers generated by some robot.
i finally got so angry i called the FTC (federal trade commission), at 877-382-4357.
they filed a complaint, and said if they see a pattern (meaning a lot of angry businesspeople filing complaints) they will go after them (yelp).
the gentleman i spoke with seemed particularly interested in the “extortion for advertising” angle.
so what are you waiting for??? if yelp has wronged you as it has me, CALL NOW AND FILE A COMPLAINT!!!
ONCE AGAIN: FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION PHONE NUMBER IS 877-382-4357
Adryenn says:
December 31, 2011 at 7:47 pm (UTC 0 )
Your experience is not unusual I’m afraid! I am so sorry to hear your plight. There is very little you can do about that other than getting Yelp to remove your listing from the search results. And each new negative listing, then you claim that business and it will vanish as well. It means you won’t be getting any business from Yelp, but you will sleep better at night and can focus on Google where you get a more fair treatment.
But, don’t assume that your competitor won’t follow you to your new listings…
What you need is to dominate your keywords in your area. I think doing a Pizza Podcast, with expert commentary on how you do pizza right, and cute interwoven testimonials from customers… you just need a flip cam and some creativity.
Kym in NH says:
January 10, 2012 at 8:25 pm (UTC 0 )
I posted a negative review of a daycare center that my 6 month old daughter was abused at. They filtered it. I got in touch and explained to them it was valid, offered to send pictures and the police report, and got no help. Today they emailed me telling me they removed my review! I am DISGUSTED! They told me my review wasn’t detailed enough. I tried to keep it simple because we were advised by an attorney not to slander, as we are filing a law suit. I guess that’s not good enough for them, and they apparently love child abusers!
Adryenn says:
January 11, 2012 at 1:34 am (UTC 0 )
I know that NPR is looking for consumers like you! I know they would love to hear your story:
CONSUMERS BURNED BY YELP
Name: Sally Herships NPR/Marketplace
Category: Business and Finance
Email: query-1sdj@helpareporter.net
Media Outlet: NPR/Marketplace
Deadline: 7:00 PM EST – 29 December
Query:
Before spending a large chunk of cash, perhaps on a new dentist,
a dinner out, a membership at a new gym, you did your research.
You looked up reviews on Yelp. They were glowing so you handed
over your credit card. Hindsight is 20/20. Looking back you can
tell the reviews were too good – they were bogus and you got
burned – bad, iffy or NO service at all. Is this you? Looking
for consumers burned by seemingly good reviews.
AJ joshi says:
January 11, 2012 at 2:55 am (UTC 0 )
After refusing to their extortion tactics and us refusing to advertising on Yelp in September of 2011. Yelp systematically removed all of our reviews in October, November and December of 2011. I mean every single one! Good bad indifferent. Who will ever trust Yelp. We have 15 reviews and 39 filtered.
We were unsuccessful at removing our listing so we renamed it to something more appropriate.
Its worth a look.
YELP IS FRAUD
Adryenn says:
January 11, 2012 at 6:00 pm (UTC 0 )
That is clever! I just changed the name for a client and added a “see our filtered reviews” and they changed it back!
Teresa Holland says:
January 13, 2012 at 7:15 pm (UTC 0 )
We were paid advertisers on Yelp and decided to stop. Our site had positive reviews removed and negative reviews remained leaving us with a 3 1/2 star rating. We have 79 filtered reviews that are unseen. Most of them are 5 star reviews. We have put our Yelp click through icon directly to our filtered reviews. I don’t know what else to do. i agree with the businesses that cry extortion.
What do I do to delete my businesses completely from Yelp? I have a San Diego and Bay area web site.
Thank you for your help,
Teresa Holland
Adryenn says:
January 13, 2012 at 11:53 pm (UTC 0 )
I’m sorry to hear about your troubles with Yelp. I wish I could say you were unique but I’ve heard this story hundreds of times! Getting anything out of Yelp, even just getting a human being, is tough. If you are willing to play hardball there are options.
Burbank Kawasaki inc says:
January 20, 2012 at 4:48 pm (UTC 0 )
To Yelp
From Burbank Kawasaki Inc.
Extortion Fraud
Yelp has been removing Burbank Kawasaki Inc. and American business positive reviews from respectful citizen in their community and all over America. Yelp has been thriving on the negative reviews to extort American business owners to pay Yelp to get good reviews.
If Yelp does not remove all the negative reviews and restore all the positive, Burbank Kawasaki Inc has no choice. and all of the business owners victims, to file a law suit. Yelp is the worst type of terrorist destroying America’s freedom and free enterprise. Yelp is attacking American citizens and forcing American business to lay off workers because of your “Mafia” tactics. Restore the truth or face the consequences like Obama to Bin Laden.
Burbank Kawasaki
1329 Hollywood Way
Burbank,CA 91505
818-848-6627
Glenn T says:
January 23, 2012 at 4:48 am (UTC 0 )
ANNOUNCEMENT:
We have recently implemented a system to outsmart yelp from hiding our filtered reviews, and it has worked very well for us (and some of the other businesses who have already done what we have done).
Step 1- first of all, if you’re advertising with yelp, stop doing so and shift that money to optimize your own web site instead
Step 2- have a graphic designer make a yelp badge that is placed on your web site. It should say “we have …… filtered and unfiltered reviews on yelp”.
Step 3- when a visitor clicks on the badge, it will go to another page ON YOUR OWN WEB SITE (instead of going to yelp’s. (why help them get traffic and rank higher anyways)?
Step 4- on this page have your graphic designer get a screen capture (picture) of all your filtered and unfiltered reviews and have them pasted together onto one page.
Now, all your reviews (filtered or not) will be visible to all your web site visitors.
5- put a note on the top that says, “for your convenience we have placed all our filtered and unfiltered reviews on one page to see. If you’d like to go to our live yelp page, click here …………”
Make the whole page clickable to your live yelp page so no-one will say you’re trying hide something or to be dishonest
Advantages of doing this:
1- your visitors will stay on your web site instead of being directed to yelp’s
2- your visitor can’t click on your competitors
3- no more being a slave to yelp’s algorithm
4- yelp would not benefit from getting traffic from you and higher rankings on google
5- this whole process cost us less than $150 to implement
Just be sure to shift that $300 per month on yelp advertising and put it into KEYWORDS that people will search for.
Please pass this along
Jennifer Yeko says:
January 30, 2012 at 11:18 am (UTC 0 )
I have 7 positive, five star reviews from industry people as well as clients. All are hidden yet 3 bad reviews are highlighted, including by one person that admits they aren’t a customer but reviewed with me one star to retaliate for me giving a friend’s massage business a negative review…which has nothing to do with my business at all since we are complete strangers. Unbelievable, I have no doubt lost business because of these phony reviews.
Vitaly says:
February 5, 2012 at 3:16 pm (UTC 0 )
We have over 60 positive reviews, only 2 good and 2 bad showing giving us 3 stars. When based on the simple math of 60 5 star reviews we should have 5 right? we’ve written 3 times to BBB, 4 times to Yelp and to our NY Senators and Federal Trade Comm. No help whatsoever. The joke is Yelp calls us to buy advertising!?!?!? We use to pay when we started 2 years ago but stopped. We have emailed so many complaints that we now tell our customers to only post or LIKE US on Facebook (which is more legit as you see the customer) and Google Maps or twitter. Yelp should be shut down or at least a business should be able to remove itself (permanently unlist themselves to this service). We don’t want to be listed on Yelp. Two crappy customers over 2 years in business and they hold more sway than dozens of happy ones. BS
Karen Chapon says:
February 10, 2012 at 7:53 pm (UTC 0 )
Our company wound up on Yelp! with no initiation on my part. The first review was posted 8/2011 by a person who never even did business with us! I contacted Yelp! who told me to contact the reviewer. I did so and she never bothered to respond. I then recontacted Yelp! who told me that the review would stand, referenced some congressional ruling from 1996 that pertained to 3rd party and internet providers and blew me off. I then asked a few of our past guests to provide reviews which they did. On 2/8 I contacted Yelp! again about the reviewer who never did business with me, again asking them to remove it or at least provide some assistance on how to correct it. Soon after I got yet another boiler plate response. I responded that this was ridiculous and I was going to contact the Attorney General, the Better Business Bureau and our personal attorney. That was on 2/8 and shortly after that all my positive reviews were deleted!! My customers that left the reviews contacted me asking why Yelp! closed their account!! I can’t believe this place!! Its a goddamn racket that hides behind a outdated law passed decades ago. They need to be shut down permanently.
Iam Marshal says:
February 14, 2012 at 10:41 pm (UTC 0 )
My beef with Yelp is much different then most. I had Lasik at at a place and they destroyed my eyes. It has cost me in excess of 10k to have this fixed and I still my be looking at a trip to London for additional surgery.That will run me another 15k. I have a legitimate beef with the lasik center that did this to me. So I wrote a bad review of them and soon other people came forward and this place has no decent reviews. They haved maimed many people. I backed my review with facts and hyperlinks,as a matter of fact my surgeon is being sued for 10 million dollars. I cannot sue as where this happened to me, simpy you cant. To cut to the chase I figured that they would remove my review or filter it. Then people started voting and I got 72 Useful votes and people started contacting me about what to do about their maimed eyes. I was helping people. My review was not of a business that had bad service, it was about a place that was blinding people. It was legit and not like so many BS reviews or good reviews that were filtered. Do you know what did me in? One of the people who contacted me said that I should be a more active participant in yelp talk. On Sunday a troll attacked me and made nasty comments about my parents. I fired back and put the guy in his place. After saying what I had to say I finished with I’m done with this guy. Yesterday I sign in and it says that my account has been closed for having mutiple accounts. I had one. Evidently the troll flagged everyone who got the best of him. I guess my flag was for having more then one account which is BS. I have contacted yelp and they refuse to get back to me. So why they extorting legitimate businesses, the BS is a two way street. I pretty much told the guy to grow up and move out of parents basement. The thread had more more profane stuff about this guy from other people and since it was not flagged it stays. This guy went looking for trouble and I fell for the bait. Now I kicked of yelp forever and I didn’t do anything except defend myself. I know this way diferent then businesses that have a beef because they wont pay yelps extortion. I will start my own website and continue helping people. This may be way different then what most of you have gone through. I went through something else and it was just as wrong as what they did to all of you. They want you to be part of their “social network” and when you do they close your account for a BS reason. If this place hadn’t maimed me I would have never even thought of posting on yelp. Moral of the story, they screw everyone.
Ruben says:
February 16, 2012 at 9:13 pm (UTC 0 )
So I own a small computer/game console repair shop and started using YELP because I was trying to get online exposure and get my business name on the internet. I signed up got a few reviews after about 10 or so I get a call from yelp saying they can help my business that there is 1000 searches for my category in my area and last month I only got 100 views so Im missing out on customers. I declined to sign up with them because I have used all my advertising money on other websites and printed material. Well the day after my conversation with them I noticed my reviews were being filtered I thought it might be because most of those filtered reviews where from people who have just signed up so didnt really think anything of it. Then I noticed a competitor’s ad was being displayed right above my page when a search was done (obviously paid ad) and I click on his reviews lo an be hold only a couple of his reviews are filtered and none of the reviews from new users are being filtered? As of today 10 of my 13 reviews have been filtered out and only 5 of his 12 reviews are filtered. I guess I am lucky that I have no bad reviews otherwise Im sure new user or not that one would stay up until I pay up.
Marche says:
February 19, 2012 at 12:32 am (UTC 0 )
Another story of filtered reviews. We are a new business with all 5 star reviews. 6 of the 8 have been filtered. I know these customers by name. One of my customers actually contacted yelp after their review was filtered several months ago, it was placed back on our page and now its filtered again. There really is not rhyme or reason to their filtering. I find it interesting that they feel they have the authority to determine the authenticity of a review, they obviously need a new formula.
Additionally I was accosted by a Yelp sales person. He was demanding and became verbally aggressive during our conversation. I called him out on it saying that he was brusk and rude. He tried to backtrack. It was very uncomfortable and I felt bullied. Needless to say I did not even consider advertising after that encounter.
Prior to opening a business I regularly used yelp. I will now take all yelp reviews with a GIANT grain of salt, maybe an entire container. I don’t trust Yelp, they do not have my best interest, or any other small business, in mind.