Yelp.com

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: I do not agree or accept the response.Sincerely, [redacted]

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page.While we enable business owners to submit changes to business pages on Yelp, our moderators evaluate those changes to ensure they meet our standardsIn this situation, it looks as though your suggestions had initially been rejected because we could not verify the new information at that time.That being said, we've since been able to verify the new information and have updated your business page accordingly: [redacted] Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Hi Nichole,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Freedomstar Financial.Our records indicate you redeemed a $promotional ad credit on December 27, To redeem the $credit towards Yelp ads, you were required to sign up for our Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising campaign and put payment information on fileYou initially set your Cost Per Click monthly budget at $450, then lowered it that same day to a $monthly budgetYou also signed up for enhanced profile features which cost an additional $per monthOnce the promotion runs out, advertising continues until you stop your ads through your Yelp for Business Owners Account.Your advertising program was a self-serve program, which means that ads can be turned off by the business at any time through the Yelp for Business Owners AccountIf you only wanted to use your $promotion, you would have needed to log in and end the program once that credit was usedDuring your ad setup there were Q&A's on the page explaining that you could stop your ads any time through the Yelp for Business Owners site.Additionally, after you signed up for and after you edited your advertising program, we sent you automated emails that recapped your purchase and the details of your campaign, including that the payment method on file in your account will be charged monthly, up to the maximum specified in the email, and your programs will continue unless cancelledIf you were not satisfied with the terms outlined in these emails, you could have logged in to your account and stopped your ads.Below is a more detailed description of how the promotion was applied:December - 31, 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $10.52- $of your $credit was used and you paid $0January 2018- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $225.00- You had $remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used towards your December ads- $of your remaining $credit was used and you paid $0February 2018- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $225.00- You had $remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used towards your December and January ads- $of your remaining $credit was used and you paid $160.52March - 5, 2018- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $10.70- You had $remaining promotional credit for this month because it was used towards your December, January, and February ads- You are responsible for $for advertising services delivered in MarchYou can view ad click and billing information in the Yelp Ads and Billing tabs of your Yelp for Business Owners Account at [redacted] .You ended your advertising program on March 5, As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms [redacted] ) you agreed to, we will not be able to offer you a refund or waive the outstanding balance of $for advertising services delivered from March - 5, Once this amount is collected, you will not incur further chargesThanks for understanding.Regards,HelenYelp Inc

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 a reviewIt looks like you are referring to the review by [redacted] as you've previously reported this review We have taken a second look at [redacted] review but, after careful consideration, we reached the same conclusion as before and are unable to remove the reviewIf 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.These decisions aren’t always easy, but please know we looked at this review closely before reaching our decision.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] You wrote, "My [redacted] ( [redacted] ***) changed from a law office to a consulting firm ( [redacted] )[...] remove my business listing for both my law office ( [redacted] ***) and consulting firm ( [redacted] ) immediately since both are closed businesses." While we enable business owners to submit changes to business pages on Yelp, our moderators evaluate those changes to ensure they meet our standardsIn this situation, it looks as though your suggestions have been rejected because we could not verify these changes or closuresIf that information is available on your website or another public-facing source, please reply to this message with a link so we can verify itPlease note that in general, if a business undergoes a major change – such as a renovation or rebranding that dramatically changes the nature and customer experience of that business, Yelp will generally update the business page to reflect those changes, which can include adding one of several special banners that specifically call out those changes, or an entirely new business page to reflect a significant change.With regards to your request for your business page to be removed, as you may recall from our [redacted] ), we don't remove business listing informationYelp is allowed to publish business names and publicly available information about businesses under the well-established fair use doctrine, as well as First Amendment principlesGenerally speaking, this means that we can display business names and trademarks "for purposes of comparison, criticism, point of reference, or any other such purpose." See [redacted] You also expressed concern with the review by [redacted] *Please be assured that we've evaluated the content of [redacted] June 9, review, and are leaving it up, as it does not appear to violate our Content GuidelinesEvaluating reviews for inappropriate content isn’t easy and we recognize that each person has a different tolerance for strong languageGenerally, what we don’t tolerate on our site are serious threats and hate speechWe do have a fairly high bar for colorful language and try to allow users to tell their story in their own words, whether or not they had a positive experience with a business, and regardless of our own personal tastesWe hope you can understand why we ultimately didn’t conclude that the review you reported violates our terms.That said, [redacted] *is welcome to log in to her account to edit or remove her review if she so choosesIf [redacted] *is having trouble accessing her account, she can contact our Support team directly via our Support Center [redacted] with her concerns.We also noticed that there were a number of other accounts also under the name [redacted] *that had reviewed your businessThose accounts were found to be in violation of our Terms of Service and have therefore been closed.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for Halo-TLCWe've gone ahead and updated the category to what appears to be the appropriate category for your business: [redacted] We generally don't remove business pages unless the business appears to fall outside our eligibility guidelines, which does not appear to be the case hereFrom publicly available sources , your business appears to be in operationFor more information about our stance on removing business information, see: [redacted] We encourage you to take advantage of the features available to you on your Business AccountTo learn more, check out [redacted] If you think there is additional information that would be helpful to assess this situation, please let us knowRegards,***Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for the additional feedbackWe have forwarded your concerns to the appropriate parties.You wrote, "I am waiting on [redacted] at Yelp to reply to my email since I have asked her to call me so I can pay the $570." It appears you wrote to [redacted] on August 15, asking that she call you back on August As you may recall, another account manager, ***, responded to you via email on August to let you know that our Account Management team no longer has access to your account since your advertising program has been cancelledIt also looks like [redacted] let you know that you can clear the balance by calling our Finance team at ( [redacted] We also want to address your comment, "I have kept track of my weekly reports from YELP during advertising, and there was no change in leads or exposure, so basically, I have been paying a LOT of money for nothing." While we are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaign, according to our records, it appears your business page saw an increase in user views during the months you were advertisingUser Views is a measure of how many times your Yelp page was accessed or viewed on the Yelp website, mobile website, and mobile appsYour business was not advertising during January through April and your page saw user views in January, in February, in March, and in AprilYour business began advertising in May 2016, and the number of user views increased to during that monthYou also had user views in June and in JulyYou can view this information on the Activity page of your Business Account ( [redacted] Regards,***Yelp Inc

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 a negative reviewIt looks like you are referring to the review by [redacted] *that you previously reportedWe understand that a negative review about an experience you don’t recognize is very frustratingWe have taken a second look at this review but, after careful consideration, we reached the same conclusion as before and are unable to remove the reviewIf 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.Additionally, you wrote, "Yelp has purposefully and with malice intent, removed positive five (5) star reviews that were posted by real people who were actual customers and who were Not requested by us to write a reviewYelp unethically manipulates reviews to force businesses to pay to advertise through them to maintain positive reviews." We want to be clear 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 [redacted] to learn more.As you may have read, Yelp uses automated recommendation software with the goal of showcasing 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: [redacted] With regards to your comment, "Yelp intentionally manipulates information about our company by changing, without consent, data we provide for public displayThey remove categories of services we provide and change our address," while we enable business owners to submit changes to business pages on Yelp, our moderators evaluate those changes to ensure they meet our standardsIn this situation, it looks as though your category suggestions have been rejected because we could not verify the new information, and your address suggestions were rejected because they fell outside our current standardsIf information that would help confirm that Traffic Schools may be an appropriate category for your business is available on your website or another public-facing source, please reply to this message with a link so we can verify it.You also wrote, "When we post the county we serve above our address, Yelp continually removes this while allowing other businesses to show the areas they serve in addition to their address." It sounds like you would like to add a service area to your business pageYou can do so by logging into your Business Account, clicking on the Business Information tab on the left, and clicking Edit next to Service AreaWe allow you to enter up to major cities that your business serves, including your current locationAny cities between the cities you specify will be included in your service area automatically.We also want to address your comment, "We are required to post a photo of ourselves to respond to reviews while other businesses, such as [redacted] ***, can use a corporate logo." We appreciate your feedback, and we do allow businesses with a large number of locations to use a logo rather than a real photoHowever, we ask that business owners who do not have a large number of locations use a real photo to keep interactions between consumers and business owners as personalized as possibleWe've also found that reviewers are much more receptive to dialogue when they can attach a face to their interactions.We understand that uploading a real photo may not be for everyone, and we can certainly respect that, however if you would like to use the messaging or public commenting features of your Business Account, you will need to provide us with a real photoThanks for understanding.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: [redacted] complaint was caused by a different company(not us) Her story is dishonest and inaccurate about what happened between her and our business However, we are not surprised at yelp's response This response is another example of their bias toward business that pay for their advertising and lack of integrity by supporting a dishonest review Reviewers get their say with no recourse if they are lying through their teeth while small businesses are negatively affected Yelp's response: they cannot be held liable for third party slander so they don't care Sincerely, [redacted]

Hi [redacted] ***,Thank you for writing again.You wrote, "the majority of my reviewers who have "reflected their personal experiences and opinions" are NOT being published!!!" To clarify, the Yelp Support team's evaluation of reviews against our Content Guidelines is separate from actions taken by our automated recommendation softwareIf a review is not recommended, that does not necessarily mean it is in violation of our guidelines.We also want to be clear 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 [redacted] and [redacted] to learn more.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/08/20) */ Hello, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] Kids 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 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 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 reviewsYou asked that we recommend the reviews that are not currently recommended, 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 Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/08/31) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) The man we spoke to worked in the advertising department in the San Francisco office I am unsure of what his name was but he did contact us so it should be in your record somewhere it is completely unacceptable and unexplainable that all of our good reviews are being put on the unrecommended page We have tried going through the process that yelp has recommended to usThis has resulted in no resolution and the second suggestion we are getting from yelp is That we should consider advertising ! Although we've already been told that it's an automated filtration system and therefore cannot be bias or changedWe unable to expect this and strongly feel as if yelp is participating in in fair business practices The only resolution we are willing to except is post all of our reviews without filtering or completely remove us from your website Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2015/09/10) */ Hello, Thank you for your response It sounds as though you still believe that Yelp manipulates reviews to favor advertisersHowever, with respect to reviews, paying businesses have absolutely no advantageThe automated recommendation software does not distinguish between advertisers and free listings, and the revenue side of our business operates independently of the content side of our business, just as a newspaper might put a firewall between their advertising and reporting functions It also sounds as though you don't accept our explanation of the recommendation software, but we can only stand by our previous statementsYelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable onesThis means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cutWe acknowledge that even some legitimate reviews will not be recommended, but we still believe that the recommendation software as a whole makes our site more trustworthy and useful to consumers As indicated in our prior response, the recommendation software is automated to help avoid the potential for human bias inherent in individual decision-making: we cannot reverse the software's decisions, either to suppress an active review or to restore a review that isn't currently recommendedThis also means (and I can say this with 100% certainty) that we cannot manually manipulate the recommendation software to favor an advertiser or punish a non-advertiserBut once again, the system is not static reviews may come and go as the recommendation software picks up new information We do understand the recommendation software can be frustrating at times, and your feedback is appreciatedWhen it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify fake reviews among the many millions of legitimate reviewsIt's no easy task, and there is always room for improvementWe hope to be able to continually improve on this issue 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 Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (4200, 11, 2015/09/24) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) We've gone through all the hoops yelp has suggested and tried to be as proactive on the site as possibleStill no resolution after reaching out to yelp and customers, red flags ectI can't just accept that yelps software just has a mind of it own (filter) and decides what stays what gosThats like me saying my year old said so, periodThis situation is poor and its a good thing people in our community don't rely on yelp and know our reputation to be what it is and always has been over the last yearsGive me a solution that will repair online business image that we are deserving ofIf a human looked at our yelp page one would see we have an abundance of positive reviewsWe will only be satisfied if all opions were reWe don't deserve this reputation Thanks [redacted]

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] .We appreciate your feedback, and will forward your message to the appropriate parties so they can take your suggestions into consideration.As you noted, you redeemed a $promotional ad creditTo redeem the $credit towards Yelp ads, you were required to sign up for our Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising campaign and put a credit card on fileYou set your Cost Per Click monthly budget at $Once the promotion runs out, advertising continues until you stop your ads through your Yelp for Business Owners Account.Your advertising program was a self-serve program, which means that ads can only be turned off by the business through the Yelp for Business Owners AccountIf you only wanted to use your $promotion, you would have needed to log in and end the program once that credit was usedIn Step of your ad setup there were Q&A's on the right side of the page explaining that you could stop your ads any time through the Yelp for Business Owners site: "Can I stop any time? YesThere's no commitment or obligationJust come back to the Yelp for Business Owners site and stop your adsYou will be billed at the beginning of the next month for any clicks you bought before you cancelled."Below is a more detailed description of the ad clicks you received and how the promotion was applied:July - 31, 2016- You received ad clicks which cost a total of $74.49- $of your $credit was used and you paid $0August 2016- You received ad clicks which cost a total of $98- You had $remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used in July- The costs did not exceed your selected $monthly budget- You paid $for advertising services delivered in AugustSeptember 2016- You received ad clicks which cost a total of $98- You had remaining promotional credit for this month because it was used in July and August- The costs did not exceed your selected $monthly budget- You paid $for advertising services delivered in SeptemberOctober - 17, 2016- You received ad clicks which cost a total of $61.58- You are responsible for $for advertising services delivered in OctoberYou could have viewed a breakdown of how many ad clicks you received at any time by logging in to your Yelp for Business Owners Account at https://biz.yelp.com/ and then clicking on the Yelp Ads tabInformation about your previous payments and how much of the promotion had been applied to those payments was available in the Billing tab of your accountAdditionally, as you noted, business owners have the option to opt in to receive billing confirmation emails.You ended your advertising program on October 17, As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms you agreed to, we will not be able to waive the remaining balance of $for advertising services delivered in OctoberYour advertising program is billed in arrears, so you should expect to see a charge for that amount on November 1, Once this amount is collected, you will not incur further chargesThanks for understanding.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/06/02) */ Hi Dr [redacted] , Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] and [redacted] You have alleged that "yelp is in the practice of extorting advertising revenue from unsuspecting businesses which may or may not have bad reviews on their site." We want to be clear 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 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 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 wrote, "yelp needs to remove the and negetive reviews for our business." We assume you are referring to the reviews by [redacted] P and [redacted] S, as you've recently flagged these reviewsAs you my recall from the messages you've received from the Yelp Support team, the reviews have been evaluated and left up, as they were not found to be in violation of our guidelinesYou claim that these reviews are false; 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 requested a refundOur records indicate that you were signed up for a cost per click (CPC) advertising campaign from February 15, to February 19, and that you were signed up for an impressions-based advertising program from September 6, to October 31, When advertising, you are either electing to pay every time a user clicks on your ad impression (when doing a cost per click program), or you are paying for the delivery of a certain number of targeted ad impressions (when doing an impressions-based program)You claim that "yelp has charged us over dollars in advertisement fee which it did not deliver on any of the promises that were made," but advertising services were delivered in accordance with the terms you agreed to, so we will not be able to offer you a refundThanks for understanding Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/10/21) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for writing regarding your advertising program for HVAC Services YouWe are still looking into this and will respond with additional information soonWe appreciate your patience in the meantime Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/06/05) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] You expressed concern with two negative reviewsWe assume you are referring to the reviews by [redacted] C and [redacted] K, as you've previously reported these reviewsAs you may recall from the messages you've received from the Yelp Support team, the reviews have been evaluated and left up, as they were not found to be in violation of our guidelinesYou wrote that "Proof of accusations was provided"; 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 You also 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 Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/06/08) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) [redacted] K REVIEW: #1VIOLATION of my rights as a senior citizenReview from [redacted] stresses that the " owners are bother over 65" as if this was a reason not to use our services #We believe this review was written by a former employee or an employee of our competitor [redacted] C REVIEW: This reviewer is using YELP to cyber bully us Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2015/06/22) */ Hi ***, Thank you for your response Removing reviews is not something we take lightly, and it is only done when it violates our Terms of Service or Content GuidelinesWe understand that you may be frustrated with our decision to keep [redacted] K and [redacted] C's reviews up, but our position remains the sameAgain, if a review appears to reflect the user's personal experience and opinions, we allow the user to stand behind their reviewYou also wrote, "We believe this review was written by a former employee or an employee of our competitor," but based on what we see in [redacted] C's review, we can't confirm that the user has a conflict of interest with your business Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (4200, 11, 2015/06/23) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Violation of my rights as a senior citizen on one review and internet bullying on ***'s review [redacted] has also called both hotels we work at and made claimsHe has harassed us to the point of seeking medical attention from our doctorBecauae of YELP this sick individual can continue to harass and bully us....which is illegalShould we continue on with legal proceedings, YELP will be named as his "enabler"

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/07/27) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns 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 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 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 stated "Yelp created a review page for our business, unauthorized by us." While 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 Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/07/30) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) This is a general response that gives no resolution to our complaints"Recommendation Software" was created by Yelp, and therefore should be under their controlA company that uses such software to filter reviews is not giving the public the opportunity to make their own decisions about which to believe and which to ignoreYelp is making this decision for themAgain, our page has reviews total, and the two that were positive were filtered outThis is blatant discrimination and a very unethical business practice Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 11, 2015/08/17) */ Hi ***, Thank you for your response It sounds as though you don't accept our explanation of the recommendation software, but we can only stand by our previous statementsYelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable onesThis means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cutWe acknowledge that even some legitimate reviews will not be recommended, but we still believe that the software as a whole makes our site more trustworthy and useful to consumers As indicated in our prior response, the recommendation software is automated to help avoid the potential for human bias inherent in individual decision-making: we cannot reverse the software's decisions, either to suppress an active review or to restore one that isn't recommendedBut once again, the system is not static reviews may come and go as the recommendation software picks up new information With regards to your comment, "A company that uses such software to filter reviews is not giving the public the opportunity to make their own decisions about which to believe and which to ignore," please keep in mind that users can see reviews that aren't currently recommended by clicking on the link at the bottom of your business page We do understand the recommendation software can be frustrating at times, and your feedback is appreciatedWhen it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify fake reviews among the many millions of legitimate reviewsIt's no easy task, and there is always room for improvementWe hope to be able to continually improve on this issue Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Hi [redacted] Thank you for writing again.We first want to address your comment, "That seems like Yelp is able to manipulate the system at their discretion." We want to assure you that our recommendation software is automated precisely so that it can apply the same objective standards to every business and every review without being overridden by someone's personal preferences.You also asked, "how was it able to allow the review then change it to not recommended?" Our recommendation software runs on a daily basis, so the results can change day-to-dayFor example, the software might pick up new information as time goes by that makes a reviewer seem more trustworthy, or the information we have about a reviewer can grow stale.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Yelp is a bunch of double talking LIARSI was signed back up because yelp said it wanted to do the right thingWhen yelp com called meI want to be refunded 100% of all money I was scammed out of by Yelp.com.Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely,Brian ***

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] 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,***Yelp Inc

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for your response.It sounds as though you don't accept our explanation of the recommendation software, but we can only stand by our previous statementsYelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable onesThis means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cutWe acknowledge that even some legitimate reviews will not be recommended, but we still believe that the software as a whole makes our site more trustworthy and useful to consumers.As indicated in our prior response, the recommendation software is automated to help avoid the potential for human bias inherent in individual decision-making: we cannot reverse the software’s decisions, either to suppress an active review or to restore one that isn’t recommendedBut once again, the system is not static -- reviews may come and go as the recommendation software picks up new informationPlease also keep in mind that users can see reviews that aren't currently recommended by clicking on the link at the bottom of your business page.We do understand the recommendation software can be frustrating at times, and your feedback is appreciatedWhen it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify the most reliable and useful content amongst the millions of submitted reviewsIt's no easy task, and there is always room for improvementWe hope to be able to continually improve on this issue.Regards,***Yelp Inc