Yelp.com

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/08/25) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] Computer Repair You claim that advertising services were not deliveredYou signed up for a cost per click program, which means Yelp displayed ad impressions for your business and you elected to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impressionYour advertising program also included additional features such as a photo slideshow When a user is searching on Yelp for a business in a certain area, we do our best to provide that user with a Yelp Ad applicable to their searchYelp Ads appear above the natural search results, as well as on your competitors' business pagesThe Yelp Ad is differentiated from the natural search results by an yellow border, and has the notation "Ad" in next to the business name Separate from Yelp Ads are Yelp's numbered search results, which have absolutely nothing to do with who is paying usYelp's natural search results algorithm is designed to provide the best results based on a number of different factors including review text, ratings, and number of reviewsWhile we can't guarantee specific results or business rankings, we are always working to improve our search tool so that we can deliver the most relevant local results to our users 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 advertiseAs stated in the advertising agreement you signed, "Please note that businesses cannot pay to remove, reorder, or otherwise impact reviewsIf you decide not to enroll in a Yelp Ad Program, that won't affect your reviews, either." We 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 With regards to your concerns with the recommendation software, 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 measuredIt'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 about possible click fraudWe employ a variety of industry-standard measures to detect and prevent invalid traffic and click fraudFor example, we monitor our clicks and impressions for fraudulent activity, and frequently update our filters to exclude activity from known offendersWe also subscribe to the Internet Advertising Bureau's bot list, which gives us an industry-standard filter in addition to our own more rigorous ones You also claim that "no emails were responded to"; however, our records indicate that members of our Account Management team repeatedly reached out to you by phone and email in June, July, and August Additionally, 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 Your advertising program is set to cancel as of August 31, You are responsible for an outstanding balance of $for advertising services delivered in June and JulyBecause your program is billed in arrears, there will be an additional balance due on September for services delivered in AugustAn early termination fee of $will be also assessed per the terms of your contractOnce these fees have been collected, you will not incur any further chargesThanks for understanding Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/09/01) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Unfortunately, it does not matter what is in the contract...of which I did not actually signI never received anything from them to physically signThey claim that I received something electronically, but I don't remember signing anythingI checked the copy of the document they sent me, and there is a signature, but it is not mineIt is in generic handwriting But beyond that, I was told so many things on the phone, that just seemed to good to be trueI was called numerous times over the course of a week, in an attempt to get me to try Yelp advertising servicesI was told that I could opt out at any time without penalty, and that my listing would definitely show up when someone searched Yelp.com for a computer repair service in Whittier, CaOf course I found this to be not true at all later on As I did my research into Yelp's fraudulent activities, it became apparent that they control all aspects of an account...even the clicksRight through the first days, there was no activity, and then in a flurry of activity, during the last few days, clicks showed up and I was at my max monthly charge I called Yelp numerous times and notified them of this, and they claimed it was simply coincidence, and that there was nothing funny going on However, I have screen prints of said action on my account to verify what I am saying I also called many times to cancel my account and to prevent further charges from being accrued, and because no one ever answered my calls, and I had to leave messages, nothing ever happenedI never once had a call returned, until the middle of the month of AugustWhen I spoke with Yelp then...again several times, one of those times the customer service lady claimed that they had no record of me ever calling and leaving any message, nor did they have a record of me emailing them, which I also did at least separate occasionsI also have copies of those Then, when I was escalated my voice a bit, the customer service lady told me to hold on...and that sho could now see 1...sic of my emails to themBut still would not address my concerns, and denied that I had ever called in to request any cancellation before the first part of August I have evidence that I called, emailed and answered the phone when they called me, and wrote down their responses to me All I am looking for is for Yelp to delete my business from their fraudulent database, and to cease and desist all collection efforts and communications, to send me a letter stating that I do not owe anything I have asked them this in my emails and on the phone, and they have denied me...citing that it's against the law for them to delete my business infoThat is a lie, and they will not cite any single law that proves they are correct Additionally, I want to go on record insisting that Yelp NEVER called me in June, July or August, because they didn't want me to quitThey make it impossible to do so as you can clearly see It would be in Yelp's interest to drop all efforts to try and collect money from me, because they never gave me the opportunity to quit Apparently, there are thousands of other people online who have writtne about their similar experiences with Yelp, and I don't think thousands of people are wrong...in fact, they bolster my case and claims [redacted] Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2015/09/21) */ Hi ***, Thank you for your response You wrote, "I never received anything from them to physically signThey claim that I received something electronically, but I don't remember signing anythingI checked the copy of the document they sent me, and there is a signature, but it is not mineIt is in generic handwriting." Generally speaking, an advertising agreement is sent to the business owner's email address via Echosign, a program that collects electronic signatures for purposes such as remote contract signingThe agreement is then e-signed, meaning a name was typed in indicating acceptance of the terms of the agreementWith regards to the appearance of the "signature", with Echosign, the program creates a stylized signature for the person who e-signs the agreement, which may be why you don't recognize the signature's appearance You also expressed concern with the click activityOur records indicate you signed up for a cost-per-click auction-based auto-bidding program, which means that Yelp delivered a variable and unguaranteed number of ad impressions, and that you elected to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impressionAs noted in your contract, you agreed to allow Yelp to set the bid price per click price to keep you competitive in the marketIt's important to keep in mind that the price will fluctuate up or down depending on competition, relevance, and other factorsHowever, it will always be the lowest price possible to win the clickWe also want to reiterate that Yelp employs a variety of measures to detect and prevent invalid traffic and click fraud You also wrote, "Yelp NEVER called me in June, July or August," but according to our records, several account managers were in touch with you during those monthsFor example, [redacted] emailed you on June and spoke with you on June 24, [redacted] left you a voicemail and followed up with an email on July 8, [redacted] left you voicemails on July and 27, and Morgan emailed and spoke with you on August You have again asked that your business listing be removed, but as previously stated, 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 New Kids on the Block vNew America Pub., Inc., F.2d 302, (9th Cir1992) Finally, we forwarded your messages to our Account Management team, and it looks like the $early termination fee has been waived Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] We've removed [redacted] review update of [redacted] . [redacted] original review doesn't appear to violate our Content Guidelines so we're leaving it... up. We’ve also looked at [redacted] *., [redacted] reviews of [redacted] , and have elected to leave them up. If a review appears to reflect a user's personal experience and opinions, it is our policy to let the user stand behind his or her review.Evaluating reviews for inappropriate content isn’t easy and we recognize that each person has a different tolerance for strong language. Generally, what we don’t tolerate on our site are serious threats and hate speech. We 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 tastes. We hope you can understand why we ultimately didn’t conclude that the reviews you reported violate our terms.That said, you do have a voice on Yelp. With a Business Account, you can privately message the user or publicly comment on the review. You can also post information about your business, upload photos to your listing, and more.You can access your account by visiting [redacted] /For guidance on using your Business Account, check out [redacted] Regards,***Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/10/20) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns about your business page for [redacted] You expressed concern with a negative reviewHowever, we are unable to locate the review in question with the information you've providedPlease reply to this message with a direct link to the page and the name of the reviewer so that we can look into this further With regards to your comment, "It was never authorized by me or my business to have this yelp page where people can write reviews," we license basic business information from third party data providers who gather this type of information from public records and other sourcesWe also get business information from our users, who are helpful enough to correct the info we have, or let us know about a new spot that just opened down the street You also requested that we call youPlease note that our Yelp Support team doesn't offer phone based support, but they do provide email based support through our Support Center (http://www.yelp-support.com)We've tried to include detailed answers to the questions we most frequently receive in our Support Center, but there may be situations you encounter where you'll need to contact our Support team for assistanceFor these specific situations, there are articles in the Support Center that include submission forms to inquire about the issue Regards, [redacted] Yelp, Inc Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/10/29) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) http://www.yelp.com/biz/ [redacted] ?hrid= [redacted] _campaign=www_review_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct) Attached above please find the link to the [redacted] bad review.The review was written by [redacted] MFROM point [redacted] PLease let me know the reponse from yelp asap.Also they did not answer my question as to How someone can write a yelp review if I never claimed my business page with yelp.Thank you, [redacted] Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2015/11/11) */ Hi ***, Thanks for providing the link We've decided to remove the review by [redacted] M because the content falls outside our Content GuidelinesPlease keep in mind that the user may choose to post new content that doesn't violate our terms With regards to your question, "How someone can write a yelp review if I never claimed my business page with yelp," we want to clarify that business owners do not need to claim their business page in order for users to post reviews of their businessRather, we allow users to post reviews to business pages whether or not the page has been claimed Claiming a business page allows a business owner to access free tools such as the ability to respond to reviews via public comment or private messageYou can also post information about your business, upload photos to your listing, and more You can get started on claiming your business page by clicking the "Claim this business" button, or the "Work here? Claim this business" link on the business page Please visit our Support Center for more information: http://www.yelp-support.com/article/How-do-I-claim-my-business-page?l=en_US Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (2000, 11, 2015/11/13) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) I appreciate the fact that the company removed the bad review because we had no knowledge of the complaint and we do not know who this person was and also was never brought to our attention.As owners of this business for almost years we take pride in giving the best customer service and as owners of this ice cream franchise one of us is always here managing the day to day operations.We appreciate the professionalism of Yelp as a company and how fast they expedited the resolution to our complaint.Thank You

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/11/23) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] We understand that a negative review about an experience you don't recognize is very frustratingWe 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 reviewYou wrote "WE NEVER WORKED FOR THIS PERSON, WE DO NOT KNOW THIS PERSON"; however, Yelp does not take sides in factual disputesIf 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 You might consider sending a private message to the reviewer or posting a public comment through your free business accountMany 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 concernsOur hope is that by utilizing these means you will be able to rectify any misunderstandings and come to an amicable resolutionYou can find more information about how to respond to reviews here: http://www.yelp-support.com/Responding_to_Reviews?l=en_US 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 Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/11/24) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) You are clearly saying that YELP does not take sides in factual disputesObviously you do!WHat dispute? there is no dispute! and in your personal eyes "it appears to reflect the reviewer's personal experience and opinios" WHat experience? with whom? How did you exactly determine the review is legit? Would I go to these extreme measures if this review was true? I totally honor reviewers feedback which I believe can help a business get betterHowever, a review by someone that never experienced nor used Excel's services should be removed immediately Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2015/12/03) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writing again You have again stated that the review by [redacted] is "by someone that never experienced nor used Excel's services" and should be removedHowever, 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 Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (4200, 11, 2015/12/09) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) This is not a personal opinion by someone, we have done work for, therefore, it is fradulent and should be removed immediately

Hi Steve,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for Septic Plus.You expressed concern with the recommendation softwareOur recommendation software recommends both positive and negative reviews in an effort to show the most helpful and reliable reviews to our usersThat said, Yelpers write more positive reviews than negative reviews, so it isn’t necessarily surprising that Yelp’s recommendation software might impact more positive reviewsBecause our recommendation software is automated, the Yelp Support team cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewOur 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 preferencesThat said, our recommendation software runs on a daily basis, so reviews that aren't currently recommended may be recommended in the future, and vice versaWe also want be clear that Yelp treats advertisers and non-advertisers exactly alike with respect to reviewsAdvertising only buys ads and never higher ratings, removal of negative reviews or promotion of positive reviewsYou'll find plenty of Yelp advertisers with negative reviews, and plenty of non-advertisers with five-star ratings across the boardFurthermore, there is zero relationship between the timing of when a review gets recommended and when a business decides to--or declines to--advertiseReviews can be recommended or not recommended days, weeks, or even months after they were first posted, and a Yelp sales representative doesn't have any influence over when that might happenWe hope you’ll take the time to watch our video about the Recommendation Software: [redacted] You also expressed concern with a negative reviewIt looks like you are referring to the review by Mike SWe’ve looked at Mike S.'s review of Septic Plus, and have elected to leave it upIf a review appears to reflect a user's personal experience and opinions, it is our policy to let the user stand behind his or her reviewAdditionally, please note that the Yelp Support team's evaluation of reviews against our Content Guidelines is separate from actions taken by Yelp's automated recommendation softwareThat said, you do have a voice on YelpWith a Business Account, you can send a message to the user or publicly comment on the reviewYou can also post information about your business, upload photos to your listing, and more.It looks like you or someone else from your business has already claimed the business page using another email addressYou can access your account or reclaim the page by visiting [redacted] For guidance on using your Business Account, check out [redacted] Regards,HelenYelp Inc

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 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: [redacted] You also expressed concern with a negative reviewIt looks like you are referring to the review by [redacted] as you previously reported this reviewWe understand that a negative review about an experience you don't recognize is very frustratingHowever, based on what we can see in the review and the information at hand, we weren’t able to confirm that this review is on the wrong business page.In some situations business owners find it appropriate to reach out to a reviewer to resolve matters constructivelyIf you have not already communicated with the reviewer, you might consider leaving a private message or public comment.With a Business Account, you can privately message users or publicly comment on the reviewsYou can also post information about your business, upload photos to your listing, and moreYou can get started on claiming your business page by clicking the "Claim this business" button, or the "Work here? Claim this business" link on the business pagePlease visit our Support Center for more information: [redacted] For help on responding to reviews, please visit: [redacted] Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi Anthony,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Costello Psychotherapy.Our records indicate you redeemed a $promotional ad credit on October 29, To 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 $(or a $per day average)You also signed up for enhanced profile features which cost an additional $per month (or a $per day average)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 be turned off by the business at any time through the Yelp for Business Owners AccountWe want to clarify that the promotion could be applied to both your monthly click budget and your enhanced profile features, but 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 your advertising program, we sent you an automated email (with the subject "Welcome to Yelp Advertising: Your Ads Are Now Live!") that recapped your purchase and the details of your campaignAs stated in the Terms and Conditions section of that email, "Thank you for your purchase of the following products: Ad Campaign, Call to Action, Slideshow & Restrict Competitor's AdsThe payment method on file in your account will be charged monthly, up to a maximum of $375, and your programs will continue unless cancelled."Below is a more detailed description of how the promotion was applied:October - 31, 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $27.13- $of your $credit was used and you paid $0November - 22, 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $354.28- You had $remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used towards your October ads- You paid $for advertising services delivered in NovemberYou 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 November 22, Because your advertising program is billed in arrears, the $you were charged on December 1, was for the advertising services you received from November - 22, 2017.As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms [redacted] ) you agreed to, we will not be able to offer you a refundThanks for understanding.Regards,HelenYelp Inc

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: I do not agree with what they are sayingI find it interesting that we don't have issues with any other review sites onlineThat is because other sites are fair about what they post unlike YelpThey post the good and the bad reviews, not just the bad ones the majority of the timeMaybe you guys need to check your system

Hi ***,Thank you for writing again.We've forwarded your concerns to the appropriate partiesMy colleague [redacted] reached out to you by email earlier today, March Please reach out to [redacted] directly with any additional correspondence you had with [redacted] so that he can better understand the situation and take action where necessary 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] It looks like you contacted Yelp the same day you filed this Revdex.com complaint, so please forgive any repetitionWe 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, 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: [redacted] Additionally, Yelp has advertising programs that allow businesses to display their listings on search results and on related business pagesThis is meant to enhance the user experience by suggesting relevant businesses that Yelp's users may not have previously consideredYelp also offers programs that will remove competitor ads from your Yelp business pageFor more information, please visit [redacted] Finally, we 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 lawYelp 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] Regards,***Yelp Inc

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: I appreciate you stating you will have someone e-mail me, however, I do not accept the lack of response as to why I was specifically denied a 2016 & 2017 Elite Yelp Badge when I had nearly 1,000 reviews, had over 400+ friends, and not only this, but several Yelp Badges that were accrued on top of being an active & respectful and honest Yelp Elite Member during the years of 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. I deleted my Yelp Elite Account because of the several dozens to maybe hundreds of e-mails and phone calls that I made to try to resolve this issue with Yelp Elite and have my account reviewed for 2016 & 2017 Yelp Elite badges and was never given a valid and reasonable reason nor reply as to why I was denied. The Yelp [redacted] Elite Manager [redacted] is someone I have complained about multiple times to not only Headquarters, but to Yelp LA East and have complained about to other fellow Yelp Elite Members who have complained about [redacted] *'s lack of allowing [redacted] Elite members to attend exclusive events for free, however, she purposely & maliciously made Yelp Elite events feel unwelcome to other Yelp Elite 5+ members other than myself & stripping me of commenting about her in my profile, to the point where I NEVER deserved to be denied 2016 & 2017 badges. It is due to her POLITICS that forced me to close my Yelp Elite account & lose many positive reviews with other businesses and not reinstating my closed account without ANY reason is just another form of political power of [redacted] in conjunction with Yelp. This had nothing to do with advertising with businesses, but rather, alienating Yelp Elite Members like me who have over 5+ years status then prevent me from being invited to Yelp Elite social events by denying me the 2016 & 2017 badges. Shame on Yelp Headquarters and Yelp [redacted] *or NEVER contacting me to fairly reinstate my account and award me 2016 & 2017 badges, as I was very active and deserve these badges out of loyalty rather than [redacted] & the Yelp Elite committee awarding Elite Yelp badges randomly to people who are LESS active than myself. Now, Yelp just wants to say there is "no way to reinstate closed accounts" and it is just words of convenience with NO accountability NOR justifiable reasons as to why I was NOT awarded 2016 & 2017 badges for Yelp Elite status. Shame on Yelp for not addressing my complaints in a reasonable and fair and honest manner. Yelp has turned away PLENTY of previous Yelp Elite Members who were 5+ years members, all because of [redacted] *'s POLITICS and FAVORITISM in allowing only her friends to attend the events but not other Yelp Elite 5+ year members. She is happy to give badges to new people because they don't call her out. Yelp hides behind the internet and the politics and shuts down events that used to be a fun place for writing honest reviews. There is NO free speech with Yelp.Sincerely, [redacted]

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] We first 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 treated. Businesses... are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertise. We understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit http://www.yelp.com/advertiser_faq and [redacted] to learn more.As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable content. The 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 reviews. Please also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. However, 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] We also want to address your comment, "he told me again that if I BUY THE ADVERTISEMENT FORM THEM, I would be put higher in the rank." To clarify, when a user is searching on Yelp for a business in a certain area, we do our best to provide that user with a Yelp Ad applicable to their search. Yelp Ads appear above the natural search results, as well as on your competitors' business pages. The Yelp Ad is differentiated from the natural search results by a yellow border, and has the notation "Ad" in next to the business name.Separate from Yelp Ads are Yelp's natural search results, which are numbered and have absolutely nothing to do with who is paying us. Yelp's natural search results algorithm is designed to provide the best results based on a number of different factors including review text, ratings, and number of reviews. While we can't guarantee specific results or business rankings, we are always working to improve our search tool so that we can deliver the most relevant local results to our users.Regards,***Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: I do not believe a word they are saying and I do not believe that they coincidentally started recommending a review that their own software flagged as suspicious, and that they promised not to recommend (also many business have flagged this reviewer as suspicious) when I refused to return their sales reps callThis is not a coincidenceYou are about to be looking at a lawsuit under the consumer fraud act and unconscionable acts and yes it applies to businesses too Keep it up as I am keeping track of all the fraudulent Yelp actsNot only that there are many reputable review sites now so consumers really don't need Yelp anymore! [redacted] is ethical as they allow consumers to respond with no limitations and customers find them to be more reputable too Sincerely, [redacted] ***

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2016/01/21) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns You wrote, "Yelp has created a monster,allowing people to complain about a business without any regulation." To clarify, we allow users to post reviews, and rely on the Yelp community to report content that they believe is questionableIf a review violates our Content Guidelines (http://www.yelp.com/guidelines), then our Support team will remove it If you feel that something may violate our Content Guidelines or Terms of Service (http://www.yelp.com/static?country=US&p=tos), we encourage you to let us know by clicking the flag icon next to the reviewYou'll need to be logged in to your account in order to view the flag icon For instructions on how to report content, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/article/How-do-I-report-a-review While reporting content doesn't guarantee that it'll be removed, our team looks at every inquiry and carefully evaluates the content against our guidelinesEach case will be reviewed by our team in the order it was receivedTypically, you will receive a response to your report within a few business daysIf you don't believe you've received our response, please be sure to check all email and spam folders (you may want to add [redacted] @yelp.com to your contact list) You also wrote, "businesses are getting black mailed by consumerConsumers are threatening businesses with bad reviews in order to get whatever they demand." It's important to distinguish between customers who have a negative experience and let the business know that they intend to talk about it on Yelp versus those who might go from business to business threatening to fabricate negative reviews for special treatmentThat said, Yelp's Terms of Service prohibit compensating someone or being compensated to write or remove a reviewYou can read our Terms of Service here: http://www.yelp.com/static?p=tos&country=USObviously, we don't condone such conduct and would want you to share any other information you have about this kind of behavior so that we can take action if we deem it appropriate If there is a specific review you are concerned with, you can report it following the instructions above, or you can respond to this message with a link to the business page and the name of the reviewer Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: As a sole proprietor, I do not have the luxury of being able to pay for advertising while my business is closed through no fault of my own I wonder if Yelp would have made any accommodation if my business had been destroyed by a hurricane, of if I had been killed in a traffic accident? If Yelp does not have a "policy" for dealing with situations involving catastrophic events to their clients, then I think it is high time that they develop one The fall that dislocated my shoulder, tore my rotator cuff, and now requires the surgery was no more planned for than a hurricane I have been told by my surgeon that if I put the surgery off, I will most likely require a shoulder replacement, which will limit my lifting ability to pounds for the rest of my life, which would effectively end my career I plan to return to work as soon as possible, and I do not think that it is unreasonable to request that a hold be put on my advertising while I am unable to conduct business Since I have never asked to terminate my contract, I feel that paying an "Early Termination" fee is both unreasonable and onerous Regarding the stop that I placed with [redacted] : When I first contacted Yelp about this matter I was assured that the hold would not be a problem and that the upcoming payment would not be charged until the hold was lifted When they charged my credit card without notifying me, and adopted their current attitude, I made sure that they could not charge me again without my consent I am prepared to resume the contract as soon as I am able to return to work Throughout this dispute, I have always maintained that I want to complete the contract But Yelp has adopted a "No Tolerance" policy that I find unfair, unreasonable, and reprehensible.Sincerely, Steven ***

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: Your business was not open on Saturday July 1st or Sunday July 2nd Sincerely, [redacted]

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/12/15) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] ***. It looks like you were in touch with an account manager, ***, after filing this... complaint with the BBB. As you may recall from your correspondence with her, your advertising program is currently set to cancel at the end of your commitment period on January 31, 2016. We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaign. To be clear, while the goal of advertising on Yelp is to drive more traffic to the business page, which may ultimately result in more customers, it is important to keep in mind that results are not guaranteed. When advertising with a packaged Cost Per Click program, you are paying for an enhanced profile (including a photo slideshow and competitor ad removal) and you are electing to pay every time a user clicks on your ad impression. We also want to address your comment, "As of today I was billed $400 and this wasn't even what my last contract agreement had been settled upon!" According to our records, you signed a new contract on November 8, 2015 to remove the featured video that was included on your initial contract. The service start date on your new contract was December 1, 2015. Please note that your advertising program is billed in arrears, so the $400 you were charged on December 1, 2015 was for advertising services (including the featured video) delivered in November. Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] .We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaign, and we'll be sure to forward your note along to the appropriate parties for their consideration.To be clear, while the goal of advertising on Yelp is to drive more traffic to the business page, which may ultimately result in more customers, it is important to keep in mind that results are not guaranteedWhen advertising with a Cost Per Click program, you are electing to pay every time a user clicks on your ad impressionYou are also paying for call tracking an an enhanced profile.Our records indicate you signed up for an advertising program with $monthly fixed costs plus an ad click budget of $475, for a monthly maximum of $The monthly fixed costs were for the call tracking feature and your enhanced profile, which included features such as competitor ad removal and a photo slideshowYour advertising package included a cost per click (CPC) program and your monthly ad click budget was set at $475, which means you were charged when someone clicked on your ad and you agreed to pay up to $a month for those ad clicksIf you did not reach your monthly budget cap, you would be charged for the ad clicks you receivedHowever, if you did reach your monthly budget cap, we no longer delivered ads for your business for the remainder of the month so that you wouldn't have to pay more than you agreed to.You can view a breakdown the number of ad clicks you received and the average cost per click by logging in to your Yelp for Business Owners Account at [redacted] and clicking on the "Yelp Ads" tab.With regards to your concern with the variable price per click, as noted in your contract, you signed up for a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) auction-based auto-bidding program, which means that you agreed to allow Yelp to set the bid price per click to keep you competitive in the marketWhile your sales representative may have given you an estimated price per click, it's important to keep in mind that the price will fluctuate up or down depending on competition, relevance, and other factorsHowever, it will always be the lowest price possible to win the click.Per the terms of your advertising agreement, we require days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising programIt looks like you provided your cancellation request on February 21, and that your advertising program is currently set to cancel on March 28, While your advertising program could have been terminated days after February 21, 2017, this early termination would've been subject to a fee of $By waiting to terminate your program until March 28, 2017, which is after the initial commitment period, no early termination fee will be assessedThanks for understanding.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for your response.We first want to address your comment, "That signature does not look like my secretary's signature." To clarify, generally speaking, an advertising agreement is sent to the business account holder's email address via Echosign, a program that collects electronic signatures for purposes such as remote contract signingThe agreement is then e-signed, meaning a name was typed in indicating acceptance of the terms of the agreementWith regards to the appearance of the “signature”, with Echosign, the program creates a stylized signature for the person who e-signs the agreement, which may be why you don’t recognize the signature's appearance.With regards to your comment, "it was for a month run, with it ending after the that, any month to month was never mentioned," information about the month-to-month auto-renewal was on the first page of the contract [redacted] signed on June 25, You also wrote, "we never received that form that you submitted." If you are referring to the contract, our records indicate that on June 25, a copy of the contract was initially sent to ***@ [redacted] for signature, and then sent to [redacted] for signature insteadThe document was viewed and electronically signed by [redacted] , and a copy of the signed document was emailed to both [redacted] and ***@ [redacted] Finally, you wrote, "we have not been at that location for over years." Please note that the contract was signed over three years ago, on June 25, Since then, the address on your business page has been changed from your [redacted] address to your [redacted] address, but this did not affect your advertising program.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: Yelp is refusing to honor their own protocol. I also have a limousine business for the past 14 years. It is mind boggling that a business as such would not have any reviews by its customers; in fact I had several(~a dozen or so) 5-star reviews. This CORRUPT RACIST FASCIST ZIONIST company removed and masked ALL my reviews citing that they were mostly single review customers! Well, then wake up and smell the roses. I WILL launch these complaints against this RACIST corp. until someone with [redacted] would go after them and sue the f... of them!Sincerely, [redacted]