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Yelp Reviews

The #1 complaint I hear is that there is no recourse when a company gets a bad review. This page will hopefully give you some relief. While we can’t make Yelp remove the fake review, you can state your case here!

Instructions: Copy and Paste the link to the negative review so we can see it. State why it’s fake, false, misleading, or otherwise should be removed. Post links to your evidence (either in PDF, youtube videos, Google Docs, etc).

Our community will rate it using the commenting system, thumbs up or down, as well as replies. This is one of the main places that we will be putting pressure on Yelp for a review system.  So post away!!!

And now there may be even more help! If everyone who has had their positive reviews filters files a complaint with the FTC, we WILL see action taken against them.

To contact the FTC to file a complaint against YELP:

Call (877) 382-4357. Also, use FTC.gov and IC3.gov to get to the Internet company complaints division.

 

51 comments for “Yelp Reviews”

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  1. If you look at American Horse Trailer Rental Inc. Their was a young lady that did not follow our rules. We only rent horse trailers not the equipment needed on your vehicle to tow one. Horse trailer rental is a new business as of 2010. I was the first person to get insurance for a specialty item. It is not like renting a Uhaul. Our insurance company doesn't allow us or insure us to add or rent trailer balls or brake controllers etc. Each location only has one or two trailers. Well end result this lady was upset with us because she didn't have the right equipment as stated on our web site so she was upset. Then she was late bringing her trailer back and according to our contract she will be charged extra. We are a small business we are not hurtz or avis. Now her comments have hit the web at the top with our registered name. We keep loosing business because of it. Each time we went out of our way for her and the more she took. So at this point we have closed 4 locations that only had one trailer each. We just also closed two others last week Bakersfield, CA and Visalia, CA.
    I have spent a lot of money putting nice horse trailers on the market for people who only moved their horses once in awhile and can't afford their own trailer. Horses is good for kids and adults alike. If you have more questions please give me a call.
    I can explain everything. Thank you,
    Gregg Miron
    559-381-5357

  2. Though I would Share my emails with the Yelp Advertising Rep who started soliciting us after we received a 1 star rating on Yelp.

    > Hi John & Maria,

    >> > Hope your days are going well. My name is Charles, and I am your new
    >> point
    >> > of contact at Yelp. We have had some exciting changes at Yelp in the
    >> past
    >> > few months. Yelp content is now being used by Siri, Apple maps, and
    >> Bing
    >> > search engine. We also just reached 100 million unique visitors and
    >> > recently launched ads on our mobile app!
    >> > Let's set some time up this week to talk about how to better leverage
    >> your traffic on Yelp. Please advise what time best works for you.

    >> > Best,
    >> > Charles
    >> >
    >> > —
    >> > Charles S. Greene Account Executive
    >> > Yelp.com – Real People. Real Reviews.
    >> > T: 917.409.0535 | E: [email protected]
    >> >
    >> > Yelp- Business Owner's Guide: http://yelp.com/business
    >> > Yelp- Recent Press: http://www.yelp.com/press

    Our reply to Charles:

    >> You need to fix your site so that legitimate positive reviews are not
    >> screened out, and replaced with negative reviews which are NOT EVEN
    >> ABOUT US!

    His response:
    100 million people use Yelp every month because they trust the businesses
    > we recommend. I don't call bad businesses, I call businesses that get a
    > good response from the Yelp community. If you would like to discuss
    > further
    > let's schedule a time to talk, otherwise I wish you the best.
    >

    > Charles
    Our response:
    Well, here's the deal, Charles.

    Joria Productions has a 1 star rating on Yelp.

    So, clearly, you call businesses that don't get a good response from the
    "Yelp Community"

    Notice I specify "yelp community" as we have been in business for 40 years
    and have an actual grass roots community of students and clients who
    support us. Unfortunately, all of their 4 and 5 star reviews have been
    filtered off of our site, leaving 3 one star reviews, and a 3 star review.
    2 of the one star reviews are 3rd party descriptions of an incident that
    never actually occurred, and one of the reviews is about "Women of Color
    Productions" not us. For some reason these reviews which should have been
    filtered, have not been.

    If we could remove our profiles from Yelp we would be delighted to do so.
    If you can help us with that would be glad to have a conversation with
    you. >

    Yelp's Response:
    When I say response from the Yelp community I'm referring to customers who are viewing you every month on our site, calling from the Yelp app, and downloading directions to your business. I can't change your rating or remove reviews, you can respond publicly and privately to your reviews. You can also flag reviews if they violate terms of service.

    Regards,
    Charles

    Our Reply:

    I am not concerned about removing the bad reviews–we did respond to them
    both publicly and privately. And frankly, the reviews which are badly
    written and full of grammatical and factual errors, speak for themselves.
    However the negative reviews did prompt an outpouring of support from our
    actual community–and I think those voices deserve to be heard as well.
    The fact that Yelp filtered everyone of them, has created a lot of bad
    feeling. Many of our supporters no longer rely on Yelp for feedback on
    products and services because they feel disenfranchised by Yelp.
    Bear in mind that we have been in business for 40 years and have taught
    literally thousands of people. Many of whom have gone on to prestigious
    careers as performing artists.

    Regards
    Maria

    1. PLEASE FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION AT FTC.GOV
      IT TAKES 3 MINUTES AND WILL BE VERY HELPFUL
      A JUDGE IN SAN DIEGO RULED AGAINST YELP CALLING THEM THE MOFIA OF THE INTERNET

      GO TO FTC.ORG THANKS

      1. What judge ruled against Yelp in San Diego? Can you cite the judge or case? I really would love to know — they seem to be doing a lot of their extortion and dirty work in San Diego!

  3. Almost two years ago my small moving business helped a man with loading a freight trailer full of household goods bound for the east coast. Prior to agreeing to help him we were very specific, both verbally and in writing, that because we were not the only party involved in the transportation of his items there would be no insurance coverage and our business would not be liable for any damages to his items.

    We arrived a few minutes late and were confused about the directions he had given us so we had called him and he began screaming at us over the phone. The job was completed within the estimated time and cost and he payed us for the work. within one week of helping him he wrote a very offensive review, completely out of touch from reality. We contacted him and apologized and asked him what he would need to make him a happy customer. He told us that he thought that a full refund ($550.00 to be exact) was in order and that we agree to pay for any damages to his items when they arrive in North Carolina. After much consideration my business partner and I agreed to refund his money and told him that while we weren't legally responsible for his items, that he should contact us in the event of damage to see what we could do for him.

    Over a year passed and we never heard from him until we received an email stating that his leather sofa had been damaged. We asked to see photos of the item and for him to get a quote on the repairs. He sent a photo of a badly water-damaged sofa, claiming that the mold was not mold at all and that it was scuffed due to improper loading. We contacted the repair place for their opinion and they agreed, the photos indicated water damage and any 'scuff marks' would require a complete re-treating of the leather of the entire sofa. We emailed him declining to pay for the repairs and he then reposted his initial review.

    We believe that this individual is utilizing yelp to extort and bully small businesses. A look at his other reviews reveals similar, unnecessary rants. While this review dates back to july 2011 yelp continues to position this review at the top of our page, ahead of more recent, positive reviews. Yelp continues to harass us to sign up for advertising, relentlessly hounding us every couple of months claiming that the new mobile ads are much more effective than when we had paid out $7200 in 2010 for a very lackluster ad campaign. The 2010 ad campaign, we were promised would remove competitors ads from our yelp page. This was very misleading because as it removed the one ad on the main column, the right hand column of the page still prominently displays all of our competitors. We asked our rep. if we could purchase a plan for mobile only ads or if there was a way to track these ads and there is not. We feel threatened by yelp whenever they approach us to buy advertising as we are very concerned about what they will do when we decline.

    1. They did exactly to me. after I called for remove the bad review. they gave me two packages $1000. and 2000 to keep all the good reviews. after I refused to pay. they took out all good reviews and leave a couple neutral and bad ones…They suck!

      1. They did the same thing to me. We have 50+ good reviews that they "filter" and they leave 3 bad reviews and one good one. When I said I was not going to advertise with a company that so poorly assists small business the young girl got very irritated and hung up on me. I know for a fact if you advertise with them they somehow "improve" the filter. I want my business off yelp!!!!!!

    2. Tell your customers to place great reviews but rate them with one star. Yelp won't filter bad reviews unless you are a paid advertiser. Sooner or later everyone will read the reviews and not pay attention to the star rating. I guarantee if you have 20 or 30 one star reviews customers will read them and realize the star ratings are incorrect or will know about Yelps extortion practices. They did a movie about yelp so Im sure most people are aware of their unethical practices.

  4. Yelp has arrived in Australia! I am a business owner in Melbourne Australia and have recently experienced yelps extortion methods! I have reported this to Consumer Affairs, the small business commission and to a personal friend who works for the ABC social media department. I have the sticker " we hate yelp" posted out front and have now been denied access to my business account on yelp for writing the truth about the site on my listing. Prior to this I pulled down all photos from the site except for screen shots of our "filtered" positive reviews! I have signed up for the lawsuit action and am advising other businesses via email and FB not to be had by these scamers. It is however a sad indictment of the world we live in. A faceless threat. goodluck to all, be proactive!

  5. This YELP is such a pathetic thing. In my company, we had an organization ask for a donation for their fund raiser. I said OK, I will give you the 200 dollars if you will get your group to write in 10 five star excellent ratings on YELP. They did this and all reviews were 100 per cent fake. These people had never darkened the door of my business, they had no idea what my business was even like. so I bought 10 reviews that were total lies.

  6. We have a jewelry store that is primarily service oriented & we buy gold. A majority of new customers tell us that they found our business through yelp.com. Many write reviews that are 5 stars because they want to share their experiences & help new clients decide where to go. Most are not avid "yelpers," so 40 reviews have been filtered out!!
    The hidden ones are all new, so I figured it was because I refused to pay $300 per month minimum for extra exposure or sponsored ads. The yelp salesgirl said it is just an algorithm, and not personal… Then she says that they read the reviews and determine if they are fake, or redundant, or it's better for the "community" if the writers are more experienced. That is complete BS, and a contradiction!! Who cares how many "friends" the reviewer has?? This is not Facebook! These are busy moms who came to get their kid's ears pierced, or get extra money from selling their gold or silver, or fix up their old jewelry. It seems like extortion to me.

    1. We also refused their advertising request which doesn't bring in any calls anyway. Since then they have filtered out all of our positive reviews. We are adding a page on our website about Yelp and Angie's list unethical practices that you must pay to keep good reviews. Who wants to read reviews that are only there because the company paid for the reviews. Saw the documentary against Yelp. You would think Google would drop them for their fraudulent practices.

  7. http://www.yelp.com/biz/gifts-nyc – this is the bad review about my business – Crazy Daisy Clowns.

    I had all my pics up as well as a owner comment but deleted everything yesterday because nothing seems to help. I have had people I know write good reviews but it is filtered very quickly and just the bad review continues to be highlighted and at the top of a google search for Crazy Daisy Clowns or Crazy Daisy Clowns reviews.
    I have been in business for 17 years and I had a lot of customers and many satisfied customers. This customer never even told me or called me or emailed me or contacted me in any form to let me know she was unhappy or else I would have given her some type of refund and try to work things out. I did reach out and email her once I read the review but no response.
    I have put a lot of effort and training into being the best I can be at entertaining and I still constantly take classes to improve my skills and techniques. I remember that particular day when I was near the woman's party (who gave me a bad review) her two cell phones were disconnected as I tried calling her because I was very close by and I was driving around and around and couldn't find that particular address so I didn't even know if I would be able to do her party deposit or no deposit so I felt frustrated but finally was able to reach her through a 3rd phone number and found the party just in time. Yes, unfortuantely that day my radio didn't work as it states in the review and I didn't know it until I got to the party because it had worked fine at the last party.
    I am open to someone contacting me about this especially since this has caused me to lose a lot of business in the past month ( it was highlighted in the past month coincidentally right after I received a phone call from Yelp asking me about advertising and I declined
    Wendy
    718-278-4871
    .

    1. Wendy, I clicked on your site and see there are no reviews.. So I am guessing you were successful at getting them to take the bad one down? I would love to know, because I have only ONE review of me which is a fake — the person doesn't even live in my part of town and the encounter never happened — and I have tried to explain this to Yelp, all to no avail. It would be nice to hear that they did actually delete a review that was crooked.

  8. They did the same thing to me. We have 50+ good reviews that they "filter" and they leave 3 bad reviews and one good one. When I said I was not going to advertise with a company that so poorly assists small business the young girl got very irritated and hung up on me. I know for a fact if you advertise with them they somehow "improve" the filter. I want my business off yelp!!!!!!

    1. Tell all your customers to give you a great review but only one star and Yelp wont filter it. If enough businesses do this Yelp won't be able to read every review and filter them. Soon enough consumers using Yelp won't pay attention to the star rating but only the actual review.

  9. Hey everyone.I stumbled across this site, when attempting to find a way to help my locksmith shops online reputation. For some reason, Yelp has decided to show 6 of our reviews and filter 36! We succumbed to advertising with them, but it has not helped. We are a family owned and operated business since 1946 and these reviews are really hurting. One review in particular ( http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-flying-locksmiths-inc… ) is completely absurd. This man came into our shop for a car key with a transponder chip. We ran out of stock on his particular transponder, so I removed one from my personal key ring to make a copy for him! Once the key is made, he was very upset that there were not remote buttons and threw the key! I'm not making that up. He literally threw the key! So, we never charged him a dime and nicely explained that we do not have the equipment to copy remotes. We can just make functioning car keys without remotes. He stormed out and gave us a one star review.

    1. I read that review and it is completely bogus. How on earth does he not get the difference between a regular little home key and a functioning car key. That starts the car. And 75$ is a fair price. Considering that he can still start his car. I myself had to deal with copying a remote and that goes for around 200$. Did he really expect to get a remote AND a chipped key for 75$? I'm sorry you got punished by his ignorance.

      (Also I get the pain here, customers do not understand that one business does not do everything. I had many people coming to me – web designer – and complain that I only design and create their website and can not host it. They took it as personal attack and extortion attempt when I said it's good if they have it already if not I'll be happy to point out some good hosts and set it up for them but they would have to cover the cost. I mean seriously they expected the designer to cover the cost of running their website forever not even for one year but forever. And finally insulting me for expecting to be paid for the design. Did not want to charge them for setting any accounts or negotiating with hosting services even though it took my time. I mean a web designer designs websites.

      Similar thing happening to a friend who sells phones and a customer was enraged that she didn't get lifetime data plan with the purchase of the phone.)

  10. I made the mistake of signing up my company for a 12 month contract. Even though I called and spoke to my “Account Manager” about 8 months into the contract and told them to set it up for cancellation, I had to pay for a 13th month because it was not in writing. For a small business like ours, I cannot imagine a bigger waste of $3,900…and not a dime of revenue earned!

    1. hi Michael._I just signed 3 days ago under the pressure of the yelp rap and was wondering if you know if you can cancel without having to pay anything if the program didn't start yet or are you locked just by signing the contract without any grace period .i appreciate your input because as a small business it could be a costly
      mistake.
      Best.
      Elisabeth

    2. Same happened to me, I signed for 6 months, They told me that the service fee it was $ 25, now they say I didn't understand, that the monthly fee is $75. They charged my account $25 a month prior my contract and I am over my budget every month, with not result either… people "click" which I do not have way to know if it is true… We bought AIR… there is not way to know if those clicks were for real?

    3. I did the 12 month contract as well. When I did a big job with multiple clients. Each of the clients wrote a Yelp review and they filtered all the reviews out but one. I called and told them to cancel my contract. I refused to pay. I was basically yelling at them on the phone. I was completely livid saying reviews are how small businesses get clients and how dare they mess with my livelihood. I personally think we should do a class action suit against them. They repeatedly call me to come back. I told them if I could give them a review it would be a -5.

    4. I signed my company up too as a last resort to get some badly needed exposure. I tracked "clicks and call" and found them to be totally bogus. I was told there wouldn't be any marketers, just customers. What a load of BULL.
      All it did was DOUBLE my email spam count with duplicates and not one lead amongst them.The problem is they bill you according to your click count, and in this case it is totally fictitious. They get you to the $425 level with false billing. I tracked phone logs and emails to my website, what I see is that all yelp did was create another platform for you to get bogus "clicks" . After being nailed for $355 for 1/2 month I canceled my debit card so they couldn't automatic debit me anymore. Since my cancelation went into effect I've been billed an additional $500 bucks or so, and now I'm expected to pay an early cancelation fee of $700. It ain't happening. I'm just not going to pay any more. I told them they can bill all they want, I'll just keep deleting their email.

  11. There is finally Search Engine relief for the small business owner. One of the biggest problems with Yelp is that because of its size and volume it outranks all original websites on Google. For example, it you put Johnny's Pizza into a web search, JP's site doesn't show up, Yelp's does. This is known as scraping. When you use someone else's content to rank above the original site, it is against Google's rules. This week Google has implemented reporting procedures. If you are successful, the Yelp page with your listing will come up below your page in searches in the future. So go to Google, put in your company name and if any pages come up about your company (yelp or otherwise) above your website that you did not authorize, report them. Here is the official Google report url: http://t.co/WohXQmI45X

  12. We are a newly opened restaurant in Edina, we have recently received a review from someone that's not true. We did not respond to that message, but the strange thing is that all of our all positive reviews are filtered and left only with a 1 star review for others to view. Yelp contacted one of managers and stated we must pay for advertisement fees in order to keep our positive reviews on Yelp. We also want to be removed from Yelp as well. someone help me

  13. I would like to alert people to the Federal Trade Commission. File a complaint here 877-382-4357. It takes a few minutes. I just did it. or go on line and file a complain against YELP. Go to FTC.gov. If the ftc gets enough complaints they will shut down YELP. the better business buerau had been filing complaints against yelp for 5 years. Please help shut yelp down and file a complain now go to ftc.gov. it takes 3 minutes.

    1. I called me 4 years ago, after I accept an invitation to a webinar on how to advertise on Yelp. Since that day, I received phone calls pushing me to pay advertisement, I explain I couldn't afford that at that moment, well..just right after that phone call all my reviews were deleted, and my business profile blocked, so They change my zip code to another state and I couldn't access it until I do not pay.
      After I had a different corporation, again I was on Yelp, they contacted me again, I explained what happened before and they told me that all the personnel was removed for that reason. I signed ( like Stupid) and click is higher price, they charged my account 1 month in advance, I see that people clicking my AD, ( which I do not think is ON everyday). I complained about this money out of my account and guess what? my reviews are GONE! and I paid. Now, I put a stop on my account. Now they want me to pay $275, to get rid of the contract, what can I do?

  14. I Also own a small business. We estimate that since Yelp in 2011, we had a bad reviews (also stories are similiar to stories listed here, were we bend over backwards, did not CHARGE the customer, they were total jerks, stormed out of the store, because we could not provide exactly what they wanted or did not have it, and they RUN to Yelp and file and one start).

    THE ONE thing I find fishy about YELP. Is recently we have been working to get our good customers to post positives and the POSITIVE REVIEWS ALWAYS SINK to the bottom?! THIS IS CRIMINAL and clearly intended to do damage to the business unless they pay.

    FYI we estimate that because of YELP we have lost $50,000 in gross sales do to YELP!

    And. Totally FUSTRATING. NO DUE PROCESS. I never asked for YELP, did not want it, but am FORCED to play this game with them. They have intruded on my business, damaged my reputation, caused me at least $150,000 in loss revenue or more.

    YELP is a CRIMINAL organization.

  15. I've posted YELP good reviews for companies that I have personal experience with and the reviews end up at the bottom of the businesses review section under a link called "7 other reviews that are not currently recommended" YELP 6 of the 7 reviews are 5 out 5 Apparently if the business doesn't pay YELP's advertising fees then good reviews don't count only the bad ones. YELP apparently operates under some sort of extortion policy!.

    1. I also wrote reviews for a small business that I used for two years and love. None of my reviews appeared only one old disturbing review was on the site. I asked the owner about it and she told me she has 36 positive reviews with one negative and no positive review appears … Only the one bad review from a competitors mother who had never been in for services. I pay no attention to Yelp reviews now and I don't post on them any more.

  16. I am too afraid to put my business on this website because I believe my competitors will come across it and write bad reviews. I am in the salon business in the Midwest. A few weeks ago, I had to let 2 of my staff members go for stealing Since both were friends, they vowed revenge against me and actually said that they would be posting negative reviews on YELP. I actually emailed Yelp and warned that I was threatened. Yelp did nothing about it and sent me an email about their "improved filter". Unfortunately, both ladies managed to get their friends to write totally false reviews about my salon. One person even wrote that they liked our salon, but did not like the salon industry. How can that be a legit review? I really think Yelp needs to do a MUCH better job of authenticating customer experiences. They could start by putting in a system where they must prove they visited the business before posting a review. As right now, it's open season on small businesses by malicious people. Especially competitors.

  17. https://www.yelp.com/biz/driskills-downtown-marke
    This customer was in our store today and I received a call from my manager on duty after he left. When I was able to get to my PC I watch the transaction via remote. You could see the cashier pull out more than 1 bill and Carl immediately put his hands in his pockets. Then he pulled them out and started talking to the cashier. She called the MOD who is also a bookkeeper and she followed procedure by counting the drawer back while he was there. The drawer was not over so she told him it would then be verified by the morning bookkeeper. Had the drawer been over he would have received the money right away. At that point he yelled, swore and walked out.
    I took over the store 18 months ago and have worked very hard to get rid of some past bad reviews but yet they filter the good ones from new users and put the bad one up. We also recently remodeled and changed the store name, products and services but they will not take down the reviews from the old store.
    Yelp continually calls wanting us to sign up for their services. I told them I thought they were black mailing us and I firmly believe it.

  18. They deleted like 7 of my positive reviews… or should I say they "filtered" them? SMH! I hate Yelp, what ever happened to the documentary "Million Dollar Bully" that was supposed to come out? I wish Yelp would just shut down…

  19. Do you have a Youtube channel as well with this kind of content on it? I would love to see this post turned into a longer video if possible. Maybe I can share on it on my website.

  20. This is probably the most "it actually makes sense" kind of post I've seen on on this subject. Best part… I didn't have to go digging through some weird web design to find it. Awesome! PLEASE keep posting new material!

  21. https://www.yelp.com/biz/changing-latitudes-prope
    Only 2 reviews, dozens of positive reviews have been deleted by Yelp.

    Review left by Kate I., she is saying she has left review for third party. We never dealt with her or met her. Nor did we have any issues with the tenant she is referring to. I have my cell on 24/7 for tenants and never once received a call. She is stating she spoke to 2 people that are not who you call or email for anything property related, as stated in Welcome Emails as well as the lease that we send. Also states she called Carrie at office, however Carrie does not answer office calls. We also are bilingual, so saying her friend only speaks Spanish is not an obstacle.
    Thank you!