Yelp.com

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/11/13) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] You expressed concern with [redacted] R's reviewWe've taken another look at this review, and have carefully considered your concerns that the reviewer may have a conflict of interestHowever, we are still unable to confirm the conflict using the information we have in our systemsAdditionally, please note that we don't take sides in factual disputes; if a review appears to reflect the reviewer's personal experiences and opinions, it is our policy to let the user stand behind his or her reviewYou also wrote, "She can't support her words with documents and I can," but as frustrating as it may sound, we don't take the place of a court of law and make evidentiary determinations In some situations, business owners may want to message the reviewer privately, or post a public response explaining their own version of eventsYou can access these features using our free accounts for business owners (https://biz.yelp.com/), and you can find more information about how to respond to reviews here: http://www.yelp-support.com/Responding_to_Reviews?l=en_US These decisions aren't always easy, but please know we looked at this review closely before reaching our decision Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/11/18) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Hello, Thank you for your responseI do not agree with Yelp response Let's use the common sense [redacted] R said that I operated my Day Care without license but I hold my State License since September 2005! What else should I tell or proof? On my offer to show it Yelp responded : " we don't take the place of a court of law and make evidentiary determinations"?! But WHY Yelp makes determinations on which comment is not recommended or must be deleted if they don't take the place of a court of law??? Yelp must leave all comments but they sort comments in their own way making favor for some businesses and disadvantage for the othersTo me it looks like the "double standards" I understand why many people call Yelp a SCAM becauseYelp Calls Lying "Personal Opinion" even if you can proof them that the other party is lying I have the very successful business with the waiting list for years until October I do not need anybody opinion especially if it is not trueYelp doesn't let me close my page saying : "Our moderator will take a look ..." for a week alreadyIt is my business and my decision to where to advertise it! Yelp is not the Government Authority which can tell me what to do with my business Kindly, please consider my complain and force Yelp to leave me alone! Best Regards, [redacted] owner/director of Valley Village Little School Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2015/12/01) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for writing back You have again expressed concern with the review by [redacted] RHowever, we don't take sides on factual disputes, so we can only therefore reiterate what we previously communicated to you: if a review appears to reflect the user's personal experience and opinions, we allow the user to stand behind their review You also expressed concern with the recommendation softwareAs you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentThe recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviewsPlease also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewHowever, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US With regards to your concern about the order of the recommended reviews, the default order is Yelp Sort, which attempts to show reviews that help consumers make informed decisionsFor example, the first review displayed for a business will be one that reflects the average star rating of a businessThe order is determined by recency, user voting, and other review quality factors, which is why an older review may appear before a newer oneKeep in mind when viewing a business a user can sort the reviews in a few other ways by date, star rating, and those written by Elites Finally, you asked for your business to be removed from Yelp, but we actually don't remove business listing informationWhile some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the lawMore importantly, we believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/05/21) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] Club You expressed concern with the recommendation softwareAs you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentThe recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measuredThe software looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on YelpIt's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviewsPlease also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewHowever, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US You also expressed concern with a negative review of your businessWe assume you are referring to the review by Chrissy R, as it appears you've previously flagged this reviewAs you may recall from the message you received from the Yelp Support team, the review has been evaluated and left up, as it was not found to be in violation of our guidelinesYou claim that this review is "not-correct"; however, Yelp does not take sides in factual disputesRather, if a review appears to reflect the personal experience and opinions of the reviewer, it is our policy to allow the user to stand by his/her review Finally, you asked for your business to be removed from Yelp; however, we don't remove business informationWhile some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the lawMore importantly, we believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] ***.To clarify, our cost-per-click advertising programs are auction-based auto-bidding programs, which means that advertisers agree to allow Yelp to set the bid price per click to keep them competitive in the marketIn other words, the price per click will fluctuate up or down depending on competition, relevance, and other factors, but it will always be the lowest price possible to win the click.We appreciate you bringing your concerns to our attention, and we've forwarded your message to the appropriate partiesAs you may recall, a manager, [redacted] , reached out to you to let you know that we are refunding you $45.18, which is the difference between the amount you were charged and the cost of your pro-rated enhanced profile features and your ad clicks if the price per click had been $1.69.We hope you will continue to take advantage of the free features available to you on your business account to engage with the Yelp communityFor guidance, please visit [redacted] Regards,***Yelp Inc

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: there is no logic to the software that you are referring to, it does not sort them out in any logical order, this is a complete lie, with no foundation to base/blame the "software" programThis is NOT a justification for your company to act in this manner I read complaint after complaint with the same issues as we are having- if we don't pay for advertising, we get poor reviews up front and you hide the good onesSounds like extortion of small businessesIf you cannot do anything about this I/we request our company be completely removed from your website, the good with the bad, you do not have our permission to even list our company to your YELP searchers.Sincerely, [redacted]

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising programs for [redacted] We've forwarded your message to the appropriate partiesAs you may recall, a manager, ***, reached out to you by voicemail and email on November to schedule a time to discuss your concernsPlease reach out to [redacted] so that she can assist you further.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/06/30) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for The [redacted] You wrote, "all positive legitimate reviews conveniently get hidden if you choose to not advertise with Yelp." We want to assure you that a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treatedBusinesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertiseFurthermore, there is zero relationship between the timing of when a review gets recommended and when a business decides to - or declines to - advertise: reviews can be recommended or not recommended days, weeks, or even months after they were first posted, and your Yelp sales representative doesn't have any influence over when that might happenWe understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit http://www.yelp.com/advertiser_faq and http://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/05/no-yelp-doesnt-extort-small-businesses-see-...⇄ to learn more As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentThe recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measuredEven though it inevitably affects legitimate reviews from time to time and misses some fake ones, too, it helps protect the integrity of the site both for consumers (who will be less likely to be led astray by bogus reviews) and business owners (who will spend less time worrying about whether their competitors are writing negative reviews about them) It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviewsPlease also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewHowever, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US You also expressed concern with [redacted] R's review of your businessAs you may recall from the messages you've received from the Yelp Support team, the review has been evaluated by the Yelp Support team and left up, as it was not found to be in violation of our guidelinesYou claim that this review is "littered with statements"; however, Yelp does not take sides in factual disputesRather, if a review appears to reflect the personal experience and opinions of the reviewer, it is our policy to allow the user to stand by his/her review Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/12/18) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for Custom [redacted] & [redacted] Design, Inc We first want to make sure you know that a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treatedBusinesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertiseWe understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit http://www.yelp.com/advertiser_faq and http://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/05/no-yelp-doesnt-extort-small-businesses-see-...⇄ to learn more You also expressed concern with the recommendation softwareAs you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentThe recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviewsYou asked that we show all your reviews, but please understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewHowever, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: You have been provided proof the review is fake and in fact Yelp has informed me that the review can not be verified Keeping the review up is in my opinion negligent at best As Yelp will not take any action even though they have actual knowledge the review is false, I am unwilling to accept Yelps response and I will continue to exercise my right to relay my negative dealings with Yelp to all I also find it interesting that Yelp does not allow reviews of them on Yelp, must be that they get to many negative reviews, which is what I would give them and I am sure everyone else who does or did business with them would give them a negative review and well.Sincerely,Scott [redacted]

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns.We first want to clarify that a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treatedBusinesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertiseWe understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit http://www.yelp.com/advertiser_faq and https://www.yelpblog.com/2013/05/no-yelp-doesnt-extort-small-businesses-see-for-...⇄ to learn more.If you believe, however, that an individual has provided you with different information, we would like to investigate furtherTo that end, please provide us with the name of the individual whom you spoke with, their phone number, and the date and time of your conversation with them, if known.You also expressed concern with the recommendation softwareAs you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentThe recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp.It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviewsPlease also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewHowever, the system is not static -- reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_ReviewsRegards,***Yelp Inc

Hi Cris,Thank you for writing back.While it appears you were in touch with a sales representative in August 2016, it looks like you decided not to sign up for advertising through the sales rep, and instead redeemed the $promotion and signed up for a self-serve program on August 31, 2016.With regards to your comment, "8/31/Welcome Email was sent for the purchase of Ad Campaign, Call To Action, and Slideshow & Restrict Competitor's Ads with no indication that each or any one of those services are extra," the price of these features was stated during the sign up processWe want to reiterate that you signed up for an advertising program with a $monthly Cost Per Click budget (or a $per day average) plus enhanced profile features which cost an additional $per month (or a $per day average), for total charges of up to $per monthThis monthly maximum was stated in the "Welcome to Yelp Advertising: Your Ads Are Now Live!" email we sent you after you signed up for this program.You also wrote, "9/1/Email from [redacted] with September billing statement for the total amount due of $which you indicate $- see attached screenshot." We want to clarify that we are referring to different billsYour advertising program is billed in arrears, which means that we typically bill on the first of the month for advertising services that were delivered in the previous monthThus, you saw no charges on September 1, 2016, because $of your $promotion was applied towards the advertising services you received on August 31, We attempted to collect $starting on October 1, for the advertising services you received in September Finally, you wrote, "10/10/An email was sent to [redacted] by me stating that I had turned off already any promotion to not exceed the amount." Your ads were terminated on October 1, However, you are still responsible for the outstanding balance of $for the advertising services you received after the promotional credit was used until you cancelled your ads on October 1, We also want to reiterate that ads continue once the promotion is used up, and if only wanted to use your $promotion, you would have needed to log in and end the program once that credit was usedRegards,HelenYelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns.We understand that you may be frustrated with our decision to remove your review of [redacted] , but our position remains the same, as it appears you did not have a customer interaction with this businessAs you may recall from the message you received from the Yelp Support team, we want to hear about your personal customer experiences with local businesses.For more information, please see our Content Guidelines at [redacted] Regards,***Yelp Inc

Complaint [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: I feel I was made promises that did not materializeIt is important to me - even though I feel I was completely cheated by Yelp - to stay in integrityI would like to achieve a settlement for $as balance owed and payable in two payments of $400, one in December and last in JanuaryI have lost a lot of money due to this and no means to pay the amount they are asking forI am desperate and I need helpSincerely,Anke [redacted]

Yelps claims of client interactions are without meritTheir activity for the timeframe in question listed interactionsThey currently show (see pic) a claimed leadsI have had zero clients contact me from yelpI had two internal emails from 'leads'They were both from people trying to sell my firm productsMy own website, which tracks the links used for those who visit, has not shown activity directed from Yelp Yelp provided none of the promised benefit of paid advertisingThey mislead me to believing the price would be far lower than other online advertisingCurrently, I am paying around $per click on Facebook and GoogleTwitter has returned upwards of 5,interactions for roughly the same $cost per click Yelp charged Additionally, Yelp is violating their terms of service to leave a obviously fraudulent and libelous statement on their platformI clearly showed that my review of the business who left the negative review was done so ahead of the one in left on my pageThe person is not legally able to do business with a financial advisor who is not registered in his stateAnd finally, the review makes claims that I am [redacted] and [redacted] That last point is the basis of my complaintYelp is clearly ignoring fake and inflammatory political rhetoric against their terms of serviceI believe, as many people online also claim, that Yelp is ignoring their own terms of service because I refuse to pay them for their failure to fulfill their contract as advertisedI find that Yelp is acting in a libelous manner by selectively ignoring their policy Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely,Jason [redacted]

Hi [redacted] Thank you for your response.We forwarded your message to our account management teamAs you may recall, a manager, [redacted] , reached out to you on May 27, to discuss your experience and to let you know your advertising program has been cancelledAdditionally, the charges for advertising services delivered in May have been waived, so you will not incur further chargesRegards,***Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thanks for your feedback.It appears you and [redacted] discussed the difference between Yelp and other advertising platforms during your conversation of June 15, As you may recall, Yelp's ad delivery is based on your category, rather than specific keywordsYour business page was under the [redacted] during your advertising program, and it looks like your category has recently been updated to Financial Services.We also want to note that while you may have seen an estimated cost per click during the sign up process, this estimate was based on demand from businesses in your category and area at that timeIt's important to keep in mind that cost per click may change over time based on demandAdditionally, as noted in the Ads and Upgrades Terms [redacted] ) you agreed to when you signed up for your advertising program, "You agree to allow Yelp to implement an auto-bidding strategy whereby your bid price per click varies based on relevance, competition, and other factors."As advertising services were delivered in accordance with the terms you agreed to, we will not be able to offer you a refundThanks for understanding.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding the business page for [redacted] ***.You expressed concern with [redacted] *.'s reviewI understand that you’re disputing the accuracy of this review, and our team has taken another look at the reviewHowever, we reached the same conclusion as before and are unable to remove the reviewWe don't take sides in factual disputes; if a review appears to reflect the reviewer’s personal experiences and opinions, it is our policy to let the user stand behind his or her review.We noticed that you've already used your free business account to post a public comment on this reviewMany reviewers respond favorably to business owners willing to engage in constructive conversation, and at the very least, other Yelp users appreciate seeing business owners take a proactive approach to dealing with customer concerns.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for your feedback.According to our records, it appears N [redacted] R's initial review was removed a little over a week after you first contacted usIt looks like you first contacted our Support team using two different email addresses on February and March 1, It appears my colleagues L [redacted] and C [redacted] responded to you on March and March 4, respectively, with instructions on how to report the review by clicking the flag icon (Case # [redacted] and #[redacted] It appears you then reported the review using the flag icon on March 4, and that our Support team removed the review on March (Case # [redacted] )Additionally, our records indicate that the Revdex.com notified us of your complaint on March 10.Regards,HelenYelp Inc

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely,Gokce***

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: Yelp was not clear when they called and emailed me to sign upCredit card information was not manually removable from the websiteI got yelled by the costumer representative(finance department) when I called They hang up the phone on my face Price per click was advertised at $in the beginningI see that yelp changes that price every month to just have costumers reach/exceed their monthly budget depending on how many click they receiveEven though number of the clicks are different it will be still $in my example for a month I don't find yelp's invite sincere for me to call them about any questionsBecause when I called the yelp even the first person who picked up the phone was not from finance departmentHe didn't know my information and caseHe right away mentioned that there shouldn't be a mistake and I won't be able to get a refundHe only transferred me to finance department after I insisted for them to look in to case more carefullyThis shows that Yelp costumer representatives are trained to be very tough and rude on the costumer when they contact about money related matters Sincerely, [redacted] ***

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: If a business can show proof that these are legitimate clients, Yelp's "system" should not be able to override The only reason many of MY customers went to [redacted] in the first place (so, in essence, I sent YOU potential customers when I told them I am on Yelp!) is because they asked where they should write a review and I told sent them to [redacted] - only to be "Not Recommended." There is no rhyme or reason to which reviews are rejected - not number of reviews submitted by the reviewer or content None of this happened until I received the phone call from [redacted] soliciting advertising I know what [redacted] SAYS, but I also know what myself, as many others across the internet, have experienced It is extortion, no matter how you define it.Sincerely, [redacted]