Yelp.com

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution, while NOT satisfactory, is not going anywhere and there's probably no point in continuingThe problem is with Yelp's software and algorithms and the programmers who put the parameters in place, driven by, I suppose, their profit motiveI can't fault them for wanting to make a profitI do fault them for their systems that make it possible for users to outright lie about a business and drive away other people's profits and livelihood.
It used to be called slanderIt used to be actionableBut now with fake news sites and even reputable *** like The *** *** hyperventilating about Russians hacking utilities (only to have to retract it a few days later when they learned they were wrong), perhaps the fault is in all of us people who are quick to speak, slow to listen, and quick to become angry.
I am just thankful that as a recipient of the Revdex.com*** *** *** *** ***, our reputation is mostly intact in spite of the lying reviews last yearI feel sorry for other small businesses that don't have the resources to be able to build brand loyalty in spite of Yelp.
Sincerely, *** ***

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for *** *** ***.We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaignTo 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.We also want to clarify that you signed up for an advertising program with $monthly fixed costs plus an ad click budget of $275, for a monthly maximum of $The monthly fixed costs were for your enhanced profile, which included features such as competitor ad removal and a photo slideshowYour advertising program was a cost per click (CPC) program and your monthly cost per click budget cap was set at $275, which means you were only 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 only 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.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 we received a cancellation request from you by voicemail on November 4, 2016, so your advertising program was initially set to cancel as of December 4, We forwarded your Revdex.com complaint to the appropriate parties, and, as you may recall, a manager, ***, reached out to you by voicemail to let you know that your advertising program has been set to cancel as of today, November 18, Additionally, while early termination is typically subject to a fee, we are waiving the early termination fee of $Please note that you will see one final bill on December 1, for advertising services delivered from November - 18, 2016.As advertising services were delivered in accordance with the advertising agreement you signed we will not be able to offer you a refundThanks for understanding.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/06/17) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for *** Drivers
You expressed concern that competitor ads were displayed on your business page while
you were advertisingWhile you may have discussed a different advertising package that included competitor ad removal with your sales representative, you ultimately signed an advertising agreement that did not include this featureWe have attached your contract for your reference
You signed up for a packaged cost per click (CPC) program, which means you elected to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impressionYou were also paying for a branded profile, which included features such as listing updates, photo slideshow, and account supportThese services were delivered in accordance with your contract, so we will not be able to waive the remaining outstanding balance of $Thanks for understanding
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/06/23) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The sales person *** *** and I discussed the plan I was purchasing at lengthHe promised me that the plan I was getting did not include competitor ads on my pageI basically was paying for the removal of those adsI told *** many times that was the only thing that was important to meHe promised me many times that there would be no competitor ads on my pageThey started my plan in December and gave me the first half month for free then my plan starts Jan 1stI contacted *** mid December after my plan started because I noticed competitor ads on my page*** responded to my email by saying he noticed the ads and would talk to the account manager and find out what is going on with the competitor ads on my page*** admitted that there was a problem and would get back to me*** never responded to any of my emails or phone calls after thatI have spent the last months talking with different people in the collections dept and everyone says they will look into this and no one ever calls me back or responds to my emailAll I get are collection notices
I in good faith trusted the sales person, he clearly lied to make the saleI cancelled the plan Jan 1st by phone call and left a message saying I wanted to cancel because of the ads on my pageI also sent an email on Jan 2nd canceling and didn't hear back from anyone until Jan 6th, then they said it was to late and I had to pay a prepayment penaltyI did nothing wrong and did not receive what I had agreed to pay for so I canceled the day it startedI know I signed a contract but I have the email from *** that he says he agrees with me that there should not be ads on my page
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/07/07) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for your response
You wrote, "I have the email from *** that he says he agrees with me that there should not be ads on my page." Could you please forward us the email thread (headers included) to ***@yelp.com, so that we can look into this further? Please be sure to indicate that it is in regards to Revdex.com case #XXXXXXXX
That said, we want to be clear that Yelp offers different types of advertising packages with different features and at different price pointsWhile it does appear that *** sent you pricing information in September for advertising programs that included competitor ad removal, the contract you signed in December was at a lower price point and did not include this feature
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/29) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for *** *** ***
You expressed concern with *** S's review of *** *** ***
After further evaluation, we have removed the review by *** S because it falls outside our Content Guidelines
You also stated that *** *** *** at *** Dr has closedWhile we enable users to submit changes to business pages on Yelp, our moderators evaluate those changes to ensure they meet our standardsIn this situation, we could not verify that this location has closedIf that information is available on your website or another public-facing source, please reply to this message with a link so we can verify it and update the business page on Yelp
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,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/09/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
***,
Thank you very much for removing the review by *** SWhen I verified the removal, I noticed the picture that *** S posted of the broken window persists at the top of the listingIt would be greatly appreciated if that picture could also be removed
Our franchisor, *** Business Solutions, has agreed to provide a statement that Franchise *** formerly located at *** is no longer in operationEach franchise is independently owned and operated and I am NOT the owner of the business in question as this business has no owner; it is out of businessMy business is on Yelp, I have claimed the listing http://www.yelp.com/biz/***
While we understand Yelp's position that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses, I respectfully submit that outdated/information serves no onePer your request I am providing the current listing of *** Area Franchises: (Note the *** address is not present as they were closed in January of 2014) http://www.realpropertymgt.com/find-***
If you could provide me with contact information where the letter from the franchisor may be delivered I would be happy to have them send their statement to you directly
Thank you again for your assistance and I look forward to your response
***
*** *** *** (***)
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/10/09) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for your response
We wanted to let you know we've removed this photo by *** S because it falls outside our Content Guidelines
We've also gone ahead and marked this location of *** *** *** as closed: http://www.yelp.com/biz/***While we don't remove business pages in cases like this, closed businesses eventually stop appearing in search results over time
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 11, 2015/10/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Thank you

Hi Steve,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising programs for Discount Picture Framing and Scott and Sons Picture Framing.You claim that in September you indicated to a sales representative that you did not wish to continue
ads for your Atlanta locationPlease note that per the advertising agreements you signed, we require days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising programAccording to our records, it does not appear that you submitted such a written cancellation request to our account management team in October. Your advertising programs for both locations have been terminated as of February 21, As advertising services were delivered in accordance with the advertising agreements you signed, we will not be able to offer you a refundThat said, we have forwarded your message to the appropriate parties for their considerationThanks for understanding. Regards,HelenYelp Inc

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/16) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for ***
We forwarded your message to our Yelp Support team, and it looks like my colleague
Betty sent you the following email with the subject line "Message from Yelp HQ XXXXXXX " on September 11, 2015:
Hi,
To confirm, Check #XXXXXX for $was sent on 8/10/to the following address: *** N *** ** *** ** XXXXX
Additionally, to end your Yelp Deal, log in and go to the 'Deals & Gift Certificates' section of your account at biz.yelp.comClick on the 'Overview' tab and then on 'End' next to the current DealPlease keep in mind that you should continue to honor any vouchers that have already been sold
Regards,
***
Yelp Support
If you have further questions or concerns regarding the Yelp Deal or payment, please respond directly to Betty's email, and she'll be glad to assist you further
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/09/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
You sent the check to an address I haven't lived at in yearsI changed my mailing address to the studio address at the same time I claimed the redemption code for the offerI need to have that check cancelled and another sent to the correct addressI checked the address on my account and it shows that payments are supposed to be sent to the studio, not the address you sent it to
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/09/24) */
Hi ***,
Thanks for writing back
I've forwarded your message to my colleague BettyAs you may recall from your correspondence with her, she has passed *** information along to our finance team and we will resend payment as soon as we can
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for your response.You wrote, "we have a right to know exactly what your software found to be inappropriate regarding our customer's review or supposedly unreliable." Please note we don't go into detail as to why a review is or is not recommendedWe intentionally make the recommendation software difficult to reverse engineer -- otherwise, we would be overrun by reviews written by people hoping to game the systemSo while it may be tough to decipher how the recommendation software works, the rules are actually the same for every business and every review.We also want to reiterate that with respect to reviews, paying businesses have absolutely no advantageThe 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.With regards to our recommendation software, we 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 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

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/12/11) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for *** ***
You wrote, "I ended my Advertisement days before I was suppose to and they
still charged me an extra $250.00." We require days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising programAs you provided your cancellation request on October 30, 2015, your advertising program was terminated on November 30, Please note that your advertising program was billed in arrears, so $of what you are being charged is for advertising services delivered in NovemberYour current account balance is $1125.00, which breaks down into $per month for advertising services delivered in September, October, and November, plus an early termination fee of $
With regards to your comment, "they wanted me to send out a check and yet they are still running my credit card twice in one month," it looks like our finance department has made an exception to allow a one time final payment by check, as our attempts to charge your credit card have not been successful
You also wrote, "I did not make any money from there ads." We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaignTo 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 impressionYour advertising program also included a branded profile (with features such as a photo slideshow) and call tracking
As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with your contract, we will not be able to waive the outstanding balance, but 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 https://biz.yelp.com/support/using_business_account
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/12/14) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I think the company just charges too much even if you don't make any money they don't care how you make a living
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/12/18) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writing back
While we appreciate your feedback, and are sorry to hear that you were not satisfied with your advertising campaign, we want to reiterate that we cannot guarantee a certain level of resultsWhen advertising with a packaged Cost Per Click program, you were paying for a branded profile and the call tracking feature, and you were electing to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impression
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/19) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for *** Auto Repair
Our records indicate that you signed up on July 9, for a self-serve
Cost-Per-Click program, and set your monthly budget cap at $You then changed this monthly budget cap to $on September 2, You are only being charged when someone clicks on your ad, and agreed to pay up to $a month for those ad clicks between July - September 2, and up to $per month for those clicks from September 2, going forwardIf you reach your monthly budget cap, we no longer deliver ads for your business for the remainder of that month so that you won't have to pay more than you agreed toPlease note that this Cost-Per-Click portion of your ad program is billed in arrears
It also appears that you signed up for the self-serve Call To Action feature on July 9, This feature costs $per month, is billed in advance, and is separate from your Cost-Per-Click budgetYou claim that you "had removed call to action feature from yelp last month," but according to our records, you submitted a request to cancel this feature through your Yelp for Business Owners Account on November, 2, Please note that with our self-serve programs, Yelp does not turn the ads on or off; only the business owner has this abilityYour cancellation of this feature will be effective on November 30, per the terms you agreed to when you signed up for this feature
Additionally, you expressed concern with a charge of $It looks like you are referring to the charge of $that was charged on October 1, According to our records, $of that charge was for the Call To Action feature for October, and $was for the ad clicks received in September
Finally, we want to clarify that that the activity you see in the Activity Feed feature is not necessarily from users who have clicked on your adThis activity may also be from users who found your business page through other means, such as our natural search results
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/11/24) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
statement that I received explanation in writing from yelp
I placed a called to yelp customer service to complain about the call to action charges which I removed it in the prior monthI explained to yelp's customer rep that I cancelled my call to action button last month but my credit card has been charged for this monthShe said hold on let me lookShe came back on the phone and told me, money for the feature is not refundableI explained that last month I cancelled my call to action feature and I got a warning pop up stated that the money was not refundable, which I understood and clicked ok thinking that the ad billing will cancel itself and will not appear on my next month's billWhen I received a bill from yelp charging me for the ad, I immediately picked up the phone and called the customer service to dispute the charges and to ask for creditThe customer rep told that yelp's software driven system didn't see I cancelled the adI said Ok if your robotic system didn't see that I cancelled the feature, now I am calling you right after I saw the charges on my yelp account and please cancel it and refund my moneyCustomer reptold me that it was not possible (no refund policy)I asked if I could speak to a supervisor, the customer rep told me that supervisor is not available I said ok I will hold, but she went on to say give me your number I could pass ** on to a supervisor, I said that I want to hold because I had the feeling no one was going to call me back, so I said a supervisor should be there for the purpose of customer escalationI was denied access to a supervisorI said I will keep calling until I get a supervisor, customer rep told me that no matter how many times I would call the answer will be the same as she gave me (the money is not refundable)Since yelp is a big company and I couldn't get an answer and nowadays American corporations reserve the right to charge customer however they wish without any comcequences, I decided to take the first step and reach by contacting the Revdex.com for helpYelp is a big corporation and it is true that yelp has created an awesome way for consumers to read and search for businesses provide services and or repairs with honesty and integrityBut I am finding out that yelp itself doesn't hold the same Principe for themselvesI hope the Revdex.com is going to changes that by encouraging yelp corporations to become more honest and accountable like the good old days of the USA
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/12/04) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for your response
You claim that you previously cancelled the Call To Action feature, but as we previously noted, our records indicate that we received your request to cancel this feature through your Yelp for Business Owners Account on November, 2, As this monthly feature is charged in advance on the first of the month, the Call To Action feature ran on your business page through November 30,
We also want to reiterate that you signed up for self-serve advertising features, which means that ads can only be turned off by the business through the Yelp for Business Owners AccountAs advertising services have been delivered, we will not be able to offer you a refundThanks for understanding
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/12/10) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
As I said that companies like Yelp has already taking the money and I thought Revdex.com will hold these companies responsiblebut it seems to me that all Revdex.com does passes ** my massage to Yelp and Yelp's massage to meI could have done that myselfI will take my case to the small claim courtThe amount is very small but to me it is the money I earned through honesty and integrity and I will not allow Yelp or any company to take my money do easily and I don't care how big or small the company might beI have done my part to collect the money from Yelpbut I guess my cordial approach was not enoughSee you guys in courtI will go above and beyond to gather other business owners, I do then I will an action lawsuit

Revdex.com:Since the review has been removed, I am happy to consider this matter settled.Sincerely, *** ***

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
If you are unable to make guarantees regarding customer response, your employees should not make those guarantees to businesses We were guaranteed we would not have to come out of pocket, we were guaranteed it would be coveredYou can not make gauntness to people, then say you do not make guarantees when things don't work out as you have promisedThat is not ethical. Sincerely,*** ***

Hi Dennis,Thanks for your response. We want to reiterate that our recommendation software looks at many different factors when determining whether or not to recommend a review. 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 while we think we do a pretty good job at it, there’s always room for improvement. Regards,HelenYelp Inc

Hi Tammy,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Just Class Hair Designs. You expressed concern with some photos and claim that "Yelp told me that they could be removed once I committed to month contract." We
want to clarify that a business's advertising status does not affect the Yelp Support team's evaluation of photos against our (***), and we hope you’ll take the time to read more about common misconceptions here: ***You can remove photos that you’ve posted to your business page, but we won’t remove a photo that someone else has posted to your page unless it violates our Content GuidelinesThe best business photos on Yelp are broadly relevant to the businessPhotos that represent a more unique personal experience may be removed from the business’s photo gallery, and Lola M.'s photos have been removed from the photo gallery for Just Class Hair Designs.Additionally, it looks like your advertising program has been terminated as of January 25, 2018, and that the outstanding balance was waived.Regards,HelenYelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for *** *** ***You expressed concern with our search resultsYelp's 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.You noted that some businesses based outside of Dixon were appearing in a search for house cleaning services near Dixon, CAIt looks like these businesses may have set up a service area to indicate they service DixonThe service area feature was designed to help mobile service businesses better illustrate where they are willing to take jobs, and is set up by the business through their free Yelp Business AccountFor more information about service areas, please visit: ***We also want to address your comment, "I was informed that my business would be much easier to find if I purchased an advertising package through them that has a one year contract." 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 searchYelp Ads appear above the natural search results, as well as on competitors' business pagesThe Yelp Ad is differentiated from the natural search results by a yellow border, and has the notation "Ad" in next to the business namePlease keep in mind that Yelp Ads are separate from Yelp's numbered search results, which have absolutely nothing to do with who is paying us.Finally, we appreciate your feedback regarding the representatives you spoke with, and have forwarded your message to the appropriate partiesIt looks like a manager, ***, reached out to you on March 2, to set up an appointment to discuss your concernsIf you haven't already done so, please feel free to reach out to *** directlyIf you no longer wish to receive calls from our sales team, please let me know.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because: Reading over hundreds of complaints and a series of class litigation that was brought against your company, the same software defense has always been used. It will eventually be proven that software has been designed by your inside techs and thus it can be manipulated. If your software considers favorable responses from patients biased then your computer should be blocking every favorable response. To single out responses from patients that purchased their hearing at significant discount prices as compared to market prices, is the essence of what *** *** *** *** does. Our company advertising on radio, TV, and newsprint is: "EVERYDAY SAVE UP TO 50% OFF MANUFACTURE'S RETAIL PRICING". "CONSISTANTLY THE TWIN CITIES LOW COST PROVIDER OF MAJOR BRAND HEARING AIDS. Of course senior citizens are going to be happy when I save them hundreds to thousands of dollars over other hearing aid dealers and clinics. I might add, I am quite sure we lost our stars due to complaints from your other hearing aid customers listed due to our highly competitive pricing that is driving the market towards *** ***. I know two that are highly ranked by your company that would be apt to do that. Until either *** *** is completely removed or our star rating is again displayed I am going to look for ways to expose your company's egregious activities. Sincerely,*** ***

Hi Jennifer,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Level Up Your Home.We've forwarded your message to the appropriate partiesAs you may recall, a manager, Marissa, reached out and left you a voicemail yesterday,
March 27, Please feel free to call Marissa back at the number she provided to further discuss your concerns. Regards,HelenYelp Inc

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/06/25) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for ***
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
With regards to your comment, "when *** is searched via various search engines such as Yahoo, my business now comes up as a 3-star business, and the since removed review is continuing to be displayed," please note that we cannot control what gets displayed on search engines such as YahooSearch engines index the Yelp site at different intervals, and since the Yelp site is dynamic, the reviews that search engines show may be out of sync with what you'll see on Yelp itselfPlease keep in mind that results in search engines do change over time, so the content in question should drop off eventually
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
If you have further questions or concerns in the future, we encourage you to visit our Support Center at 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,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2015/07/04) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I do not accept Yelps response
There is nothing "reliable" about Yelp's recommendation software when four legitimate customers leave positive feedback that is filtered by Yelp, while the only review that is showcased is a less-than-positive star review, which has been subsequently removed by the user
My argument is not to have any reviews removedRather, I am stating that Yelp does not demonstrate balance when its software decides to filter EVERY SINGLE POSITIVE REVIEW I HAVE EVER RECEIVED (and this goes back to when my business was in NYC), while keeping the one-and-only negative reviewThis grievance is a general consensus within the small business community, and is continuing to grow exponentially
Yelp lacks balance and objectivityIn order for something to be considered "objective," it needs to be bias free and based on factsIt is clear to me that the recommendation software is not bias free, as it favors serial Yelp reviewers over the legitimate customer who is moved to share their one time experience with a small business such as mineIt is a slap in the face when a customer takes the time to review their experience with a business, only to have it "filtered" and labeled "not recommended" by Yelp
In addition, Yelp did not address in their response the multiple unsolicited phone calls made to me on a weekly basis asking me to advertise with themThe minute I expressed my disinterest in advertising, they no longer replied to my multiple attempts at contacting them regarding this matter until I had to resort to reaching out to the Revdex.com
Yelp stated that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businessesThis is only true if the experiences do not have to be found hidden under a rock and labeled as "not recommended" by Yelp
While I have received a reply, it is unacceptable
Final Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2015/07/14) */
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, "It is clear to me that the recommendation software is not bias free, as it favors serial Yelp reviewers over the legitimate customer who is moved to share their one time experience with a small business such as mine." We recognize that our approach is very different from other sites that tend to feature every single negative rant and positive raveWe do our best to nurture a community of users who actively contribute reliable and useful content
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
You also wrote, "The minute I expressed my disinterest in advertising, they no longer replied to my multiple attempts at contacting them regarding this matter until I had to resort to reaching out to the Revdex.com." We appreciate your feedback, and will forward your note to the appropriate partiesThat said, questions that are not about advertising are best directed to our Support Center at http://www.yelp-support.com
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 12, 2015/07/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I have nothing more to addI do not accept the responseI asked for my business listing to be removed from Yelp, they refusedI stated that their software is not BALANCED, they stated that there is nothing they can do about itI stated that this grievance is growing exponentially within the small business community, hopefully they will eventually listen and their algorithm will evolve

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
They have REMOVED star reviews and ratings from my account that are legitimate and from customersI did not know what they would write before handThere is no reason to remove them, thus negatively impacting a freelance photography business from being found on the webThese reviews and ratings help new businesses be foundThis is unacceptable.Sincerely,*** ***

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/01) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns
You expressed concern that some of your reviews were removedOur records indicate that these reviews were removed by our Support team
because they fell outside our Content Guidelines (http://www.yelp.com/guidelines), specifically, they appeared to represent a conflict of interestYou stated that you were a patient of these hospitals and clinics, but in some of your reviews you indicated that you are a nurseAs noted in our Content Guidelines, your contributions should be unbiased and objectiveFor example, you shouldn't write reviews of your own business or employer, or of your peers or competitors in your industry
With regards to your comment, "Yelp states businesses can not pay to have reviews removed and yet they did just that," businesses can't pay us to remove or suppress their bad reviewsRather, we allow users to post reviews, and rely on the Yelp community to flag content that they believe is questionableIf a review violates our Content Guidelines (http://www.yelp.com/guidelines), then our Support team will remove itA 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
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/30) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns
You expressed concern that your reviews of New York Paint & Hardware were removedAs you noted, that these reviews were removed by our
Support team because they fell outside our Content Guidelines (http://www.yelp.com/guidelines), specifically, they appeared to represent a conflict of interestYou wrote, "I assured yelp that I had no conflict of interest," but in one of your reviews you indicated that your boyfriend was an employee of the businessAs noted in our Content Guidelines, your contributions should be unbiased and objectiveThis means, for example, you shouldn't write reviews of your friends', relatives', or significant other's business or employer
We also want to clarify that if a review is brought to the attention of the Yelp Support team and is found to fall outside our Content Guidelines, the Yelp Support team will take appropriate action, such as removing the reviewHowever, reporting content does not guarantee that it will be removed, and businesses do not have the ability to remove reviews themselves
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/10/01) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I wrote no such thing in my reviewThis business has a history of contacting Yelp to remove reviewsEvery small business owner in my neighborhood knows itI plan to take this complaint public if my review is not re-postedI have others in my neighborhood that will do the same
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/10/13) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for your response
We've taken another look at your reviews of New York Paint & Hardware that were removed, but our decision to keep these reviews removed remains the same, as they appear to represent a conflict of interest
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc