Yelp.com

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/07) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program and business page for *** ***
We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising
campaignTo be clear, while it is our hope that advertisers will find success via the Yelp advertising program, 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 impression
You wrote, "After days I cancelled by email like instructed and then received no response." We've been in touch with your account manager, ***, and according to her records, you first brought up your cancellation concerns via email with her on April 8, *** followed up with you on April 9, requesting that you forward the email you claim to have previously sent requesting to cancel, but you did not forwarded that email to her
That said, if you provided a written cancellation request to your account manger prior to April 8, could you please forward us the email (headers included) to ***@yelp.com? Please be sure to indicate that it is in regards to Revdex.com case #XXXXXXXX
You also wrote that you were "told it would be a month trial." While you may have discussed other term lengths with your sales representative, you ultimately signed a 12-month advertising agreement
Your advertising program has been terminated as of April 30, As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with your contract, we will not be able to offer you a refundSince you have chosen to end your program before the end of the 12-month term, you are responsible for an early termination fee of $You are also responsible for an outstanding balance of $for advertising services delivered in February, March, and April
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 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 restore 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
Finally, you wrote, "negative reviews from a competitor were leftOne specifically states a different company name." We assume you are referring to the review by *** S, as you've previously flagged this reviewAs you may recall from the correspondence you've had with the Yelp Support team, the review has been evaluated by and left up, as it was not found to be in violation of our guidelinesYou claim that this review is from a competitor, but based on what we see in the review, we can't confirm that the user has a conflict of interest with your businessIf a review appears to reflect the personal experience and opinions of the reviewer, it is our policy to allow the user to stand by his/her review
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for *** *** * ***.We've forwarded your message to the appropriate parties, and a manager, Austin, reached out to you by phone and email to attempt to discuss
your concerns.To clarify, 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 package also included a cost per click (CPC) program and your monthly ad click budget was set at $275, 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 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.You expressed concern with a $charge you sawWe want to clarify that this charge was not for an early termination feeYour advertising program was billed in arrears, which means that we typically bill on the first of the month for advertising services that were delivered in the previous monthThus, the $you were charged on August 1, was for advertising services delivered from July - 31, 2016, and the $you were charged on September 1, was for advertising services delivered in AugustIt looks like there is an outstanding balance of $for advertising services delivered in in September.While it appears you initially indicated that you wanted to end your advertising program at the end of the 3-month term on October 27, 2016, your advertising program was terminated on September 30, due to a chargeback dispute you filedAs previously mentioned, no early termination fee was assessed.Since 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, 2015/04/27) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for ***, LLC
We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your
advertising campaignTo be clear, the goal of Yelp advertising is to put your listing in front of more potential clients, via features such as sponsored search resultsWhile of course it is our hope that the programs will result in an increase of business for clients, ultimately, we cannot guarantee results of an advertising program
The program you signed up for was a Cost Per Click (CPC) program, which means you elected to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impressionWith an advertising program, ad impressions will appear in places such as above search results and on your competitors' business pagesThese ad impressions have a yellow border and an "Ad" notation to the left of the business nameClicking on an ad impression will take the user to your business page on Yelp
Our records indicate that you redeemed a $credit towards Yelp adsIn order to redeem this promotion, 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 $Please note that your monthly budget and the promotion you received are separate
Once your $credit is used, the ads will continue to run unless you stop them through your Business Account (biz.yelp.com)Your credit was redeemed on December 28, 2014, and you stopped your CPC ads through your Business Account on March 4,
Here is a breakdown of the ad clicks you received and the amounts you paid:
December
-You received clicks which costs $
-Your $credit was used and you paid $
January
-You received clicks which costs $
-You had $credit for this month and you paid $
-The costs did not exceed your $budget
February
-You received clicks which costs $
-You had credit for this month because it was used in December-JanuaryYou paid $
-The costs did not exceed your $budget
March
-You received clicks which costs $
-You had credit for this month because it was used in December-JanuaryYou paid $
-The costs did not exceed your $budget
You can also view this activity in your Business Account under Yelp Ads
Please note that because you were billed in arrears for your program, you last bill for the services delivered in March was assessed on April 1, As advertising services have been delivered, we will not be able to offer you a refund
You also expressed concern that you had trouble finding our contact informationOur Client Services team's email address would have been displayed on the Billing tab in your business account while you were advertisingAdditionally, business owners regardless of their advertising status can contact our Support team 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,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/04/29) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The supposed clicks were from me checking my Yelp page to see if anyone had left a review/message/questionIn the months I had an ad running we never received a request or even a question about our servicesSo if they are to be believed that people clicked on our ad but not a single one ever followed thru or even had a question, their product is a shamI suspect someone from YELP is the one clicking on the ad so they can inflate the numbersWe advertise with Google Ad Words with a pay per click arrangement and get constant business from those clicksEither YELP is fraudulently padding their numbers or its the worst advertisement campaign I've come across in years of being in businessThe only activity noted in the YELP emails was from me checking my YELP page for any responses
To the matter of customer serviceI immediately stopped my campaigne after the $credit was used up because we received not a single requestI was unable to remove my debit card from their records, they provided NO phone number and only offered an email address to send all inquiriesUnder the FAQ, the first listed is how you cant sue YELP because they hide behind their claim of providing advertising and allowing anyone to leave negative reviews without proofYELP is a scam and we intend to join the class action suit against them unless we are reimbursed for all the money they debited out of our account without a single request from one of the so called "clickers" from which we have no listing to see who, from where, and how often one person is Clicking on our YELP ad
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/05/14) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for your response
You wrote, "In the months I had an ad running we never received a request or even a question about our services." While the goal of advertising on Yelp is to drive more traffic to the business page, which may ultimately result in more customers, we do not make claims as to the effectivenessWithin Section of the Ads and Upgrades Terms (https://biz.yelp.com/tos/upgrades_en_us_XXXXXXXX) that you agreed to when you signed up for advertising, it reads, "Yelp specifically disclaims all warranties and guarantees regarding (I) the performance, quality, and results of the ad services."
You also expressed concern that the ad clicks may have been manipulated by someone at YelpPlease be assured that Yelp ads clicked on from a Yelp IP do not count towards the ad clicks you see in your Business AccountAdditionally, we 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 have again asked for a refund, but as we previously stated, we will not be able to offer you one as advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the terms you agreed to when you signed up for advertisingThanks for understanding
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for *** *** ***
We've forwarded your message to the appropriate partiesAs you may recall, a manager, ***, reached out to you on August 5, to discuss your
concerns
*** has also let us know that we will be writing off the unpaid balance of $for advertising services delivered from July 1, to August 4, Please do not hesitate to reach out to *** if you have further questions or concerns.
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Hi Dan,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns.You’ve asked us to take another look at Donna N.'s review of Gilleon Law FirmI’m writing you back to let you know that we have taken another look at this review and to clarify our policies as they pertain
to cases like this.If a reviewer appears to have had a firsthand consumer experience with the business they reviewed, our moderators aren’t in a position to verify or discount the contents of a review that a business does not recognize.With that in mind, we’ve taken another look and we stand by our original decision to leave the review up, as we did not find it to be in violation of our guidelines.It looks like you’ve taken advantage of the messaging features on your business account to directly message the reviewer and publicly comment on the reviewWhile it is ultimately up to the reviewer to decide if they wish to engage further, responding to your reviews can show both the reviewer and visitors to your Yelp page that you care about your businessTo learn more about responding to reviews, visit ***And for additional guidance on using your business account, visit ***.Regards,HelenYelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for writing backWe appreciate your feedback, and will make sure to forward your note to the appropriate parties.You wrote, "In regards to other businesses outside of Dixon setting up a service area, I previously mentioned that I had called some of those businesses asking if I was in their service area,and they all said no." Please note that the Service Area displayed on business pages is set up by the business and can be changed by the business at any time through their Yelp Business AccountThe business can enter up to major cities that their business servesAny cities between the cities they specify will be included in their service area automatically.With regards to your comment, "people want to see what is closest to them first," please keep in mind that distance is not the only factor taken into consideration in our search resultsYelp's search results algorithm takes into consideration a number of different factors including review text, ratings, and number of reviewsAdditionally, our search results for mobile businesses may differ from businesses that have a physical location that customers visit, such as restaurants.Regards,***Yelp Inc

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 guaranteedWhen advertising with a Cost Per Click program, you were electing to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impressionYou were also paying for an enhanced profile, which included features such as competitor ad removal and a photo slideshowAdditionally, it appears you signed a new advertising agreement to add the call tracking feature to your program, effective May 1, 2016.You also expressed concern with the information displayed in your Business AccountIt sounds like you may be referring to the Customer Leads and Activity Feed sections of your accountOnce a user is on your business page (regardless of whether they found it through an ad impression or through another means, such as our natural search results), additional actions they take while on your page may appear in the Customer Leads and Activity Feed sections of your Business AccountCustomer Leads are intended to show you how our users are adding and accessing information located in your Yelp business page after they've landed on the pageFor example, Customer Leads activity includes calls to your business, user uploaded photos, clicks to your website, Call to Action clicks, and bookmarks.Your advertising program was terminated on May 19, We've forwarded your message to the appropriate parties for their consideration, but at this time, it appears you are responsible for an outstanding balance of $($for advertising services delivered from May - 19, 2016, plus an early termination fee of $650)Thanks for understanding.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/11) */
Hi Dr***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for *** ***, MD
You wrote, "Yelp is allowed to post a business without consent." While some business owners
might prefer to keep a lower profile, we don't remove business listing information because 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
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 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 reviewsYou expressed concern that "There is no appeals process," but the recommendation software is automated to help avoid the potential for human bias inherent in individual decision-making: 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
Finally, you suggested that "old reviews should time-out at some point." Currently, there is no expiration date for reviews on Yelp but users can sort the Recommended Reviews to show the most recent reviews first
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for *** ***We first want to clarify that a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treatedBusinesses
are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertiseWe understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit *** and *** to learn more.With regards to your concern 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 measured, and applies the same analysis to everyone, affecting both positive and negative reviewsPlease 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.You also asked for your listing to be removed from Yelp; however, 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 lawAnd while we understand you are concerned that some reviews are not currently being recommended on your listing, it's important to remember that people can still see these reviews at the bottom of your business page, and they might be recommended on another dayPlease visit our Support Center for more info: ***Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for *** *** *** ***.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 *** and *** 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: ***You expressed concern with some reviewsWe’ve looked at *** K.'s review of *** *** *** ***, 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 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.We also want to let you know that we've decided to remove the review by *** ** 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.Additionally, we want to address your comment, "there should be a better way to contest reviews written wrongly or unfairly." For future reference, if you come across content that you feel may violate Yelp's Content Guidelines (***), please let our moderators know by reporting itYou can do so by finding the content in question, clicking the flag icon on the website or the More Options/Overflow Menu (dots) on the appYou'll need to be logged into your account to report content.For reporting reviews, please visit: ***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 of a review 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 *** to your contact list).We encourage you to visit our Support Center at *** if you have further questions or concernsWe’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 Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/14) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for *** *** Photography
You expressed concern with the recommendation software and wrote, "I regret asking my
clients to waste their time leaving honest reviews on yelp." Please note asking for reviews is not something we encourageFor one thing, most businesses tend to ask their happiest customers to write reviews, not the unhappy onesThese self-selected reviews tell only part of the story, and we don't think that's fair to consumersWe would much rather hear from members of the Yelp community who are inspired to talk about their experiences without a business owner's encouragementMore information can be found here: https://biz.yelp.com/support/review_solicitation
As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentAs a result, business owners shouldn't be surprised if our software fails to recommend the reviews that they've asked their customers to writeYour best bet to get high quality and unbiased reviews about your business is to provide a memorable and amazing customer experience - it has nothing to do with asking your customers to post on Yelp
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 YelpEven 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
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/09/15) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I did not ask all my clients to leave a reviewThey choose which website to leave a review on based on where THEY want to review their experienceThey, on their own, chose YELP, they then wrote authentic truthful reviews, based on what a great experience my company gave them as a matter of fact, and YELP, denied all THREE clientsSo, I am sorry but your point is irrelevant, and mine still stands, you are neglecting truthful honest reviews, based on a system that favors YELP, and people to use YELPAs long as those three clients were YELP users, (often* YELP users that is*), then all THREE clients reviews, would have been public, but the defining line is not whether they are true relevant reviews, but whether they are a YELP userThat is biased, and does not honor the truth
Yelp should really change it's reviews system instead of manipulatively only allowing YELP users, to leave a YELP reviewIt's really that plain and simpleAnd this system does not even factor out fake reviews per your own reply;
"Even 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)." Right, well if it at times is still making mistakes, then it obviously is a system that is full of errors in generalIt is inaccurate, and based on gaining more YELP usersNot showing off honest, truthful reviews that clients WANT to leave for company's they had a great experience with! (Or bad for that matter-) Interesting enough, despite it being the year 2015, perhaps a computer software system is not in fact equipped with the proper human intelligence a person would actually have, or perhaps "staff," that could filter through this review system more effectivelyIt is clear this software is not intelligent enough to know the difference between a real review or notA person could follow upThere can very easily be ways to in fact to ensure the reviews are honest, and not coming from a competitor leaving a nasty remark-however with an un-intelligent software system being left in charge of this, I am sure many honest reviews are not posted and that YELP really is not about showing off authentic reviews, but interested in gaining more clients themselves
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/09/21) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writing back
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
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,
***
Yelp Inc
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/09/25) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
It sounds as though YELP is aware of the faults this review software system incursIt is frustratingI think more can be done to make the reviews process authentic, versus denying non-YELP users reviewsBecause that in itself, is not efficient or accurateIt in fact makes it look as though YELP is just selfishly trying to get more YELP members, versus authentically trying to post real reviewsPeople should know this before even using YELPIt is not very honest to say the leastThat is a fault about this system for sureI hope it changes as I wish I never even posted my business on there, (let alone now it can not be taken off...another wonderful characteristic to YELP)...How my business can have reviews on other websites, and ZERO for something like YELP, is a direct reflection on MY company-when in reality, YELP just denies my clients their honest reviews because they're not YELP usersEach client can choose where they want to leave my company a review, and since YELP has denied several of my clients reviews, I don't waste their time anymore even mentioning we are on YELP- that is embarrassing for a client to waste their time and then not see their comment made public in regards to reviewing their experienceI had each one tell me about itPeople going out of their way to inform others of their experience is not necessary, but these clients of mine went out of their way to do so-and the fact YELP wasted their time, and mine, when they can just leave the same comment about their experience with my company on something like Wedding wire for example, they instead wasted their time writing an honest review on YELP, which was denied, (apparently they didn't use YELP enough*)This is a very inconsistent software system if it's goal is to weed out YELP official reviews, versus fraudulent ones, and does so on the basis of whether the person leaving the review is a YELP memberBeing a YELP user or member, does not differentiate between honest and dishonestQuite a naive and almost manipulative outlook to have in fact

Hi Anthony,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for Classic RelocationIt looks like you filed a similar complaint on the same day regarding your business page for Excel Carriers, so please forgive any repetition in our
responses to your complaints. You wrote, "Yelp is allowing phony reviews to be posted.I have sent them police reports about the situation and have not heard back from them.This is hurting my business.Most of these bad reviews the people can not produce any documents of services performed.Therefor they must come down." It looks like on January 12, you reported Tiffany *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** reviews of Classic RelocationIt also appears you should have received responses from our Support team on January 17, regarding these reviewsWe have taken another look at these reviews and want to clarify our policies as they pertain to cases like this.If a reviewer appears to have had a firsthand consumer experience with the business they reviewed, our moderators aren’t in a position to verify or discount the contents of a review that a business does not recognizeAdditionally, our moderators generally aren't able to consider outside information or arbitrate disputes, if there's a disagreement over the facts of a situation.With that in mind, we’ve taken another look and we stand by our original decision to leave the reviews up, as we did not find them to be in violation of our guidelines.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.With regards to your comment, "There are so many good reviews from people who are also yelp members that they do not post.They only post bad reviews," our 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 reviews. We hope you’ll take the time to watch our video about the Recommendation Software:*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***Regards,HelenYelp 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 *** Image by Dr ***
You expressed concern with the Price Range attribute on your business pagePlease
note that certain attributes, such as Price Range, are voted on by users who have reviewed this businessHowever, these can change over time as more users review the business and cast their own votes
With regards to your comment, "We also want to respond to our customers that we feel are reviews and Yelp keeps kicking out pictures that Yelp says we need to post of ourselves so we can respond to them," please note that we require 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 photo
Finally, you expressed concern with some reviewsWe assume you are referring to the reviews by ***, 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 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
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/09/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The pictures we are downloading are real pictures
How are you able to say these are not real?
And regarding the votingSo if it is sunny
outside and its voted that it is raining
Yelp will post that is raining? Without even
getting the real truth? Its representation!
And last but not leastHow come we have star
reviews that Yelp continues to hide for nobody to see and are current this year but continues to show these reviews that are from a year or two ago? Please help us understand this
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/10/05) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for your response
You wrote, "The pictures we are downloading are real picturesHow are you able to say these are not real?" It looks like the most recent photo you uploaded is an image of your logoWe ask that business owners to use a photo showing their face for two main reasonsThe first reason is for your benefit as a business ownerWe believe your messages will be received more warmly if there is not an attempt to disguise your appearance, because we have found that users tend to respond more favorably when they can attach a face to nameIn our experience, most reviewers appreciate feedback from business owners and sometimes re-write their reviews if they feel the business owner went out of their way to respond to their concerns (legitimate or not)The second reason is for the benefit of the reviewerFrom a consumer perspective, a message from a business owner whose face can not clearly be seen may be perceived incorrectlyWe believe customers respond more favorably when they can see who is contacting them
That said, we do realize that uploading a photo may not be for everyone, and we can respect thatBut again, in order to take full advantage of your business account, we require a photo in which your whole face can be seenThanks for understanding
You have again expressed concern that certain attributes are determined by user votesWe appreciate your feedback, but currently the Price Range attribute is voted on by users who have reviewed the business, and cannot be overridden by the business owner
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
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Hi ***Thank you for your response.You wrote, "since you know I am the owner, how can you leave a review that complains about an owner but not with my name." Please be assured that we've evaluated the content of *** *** *** *** *** *** *.'s reviews and are allowing the users to stand behind their reviewsWe 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.It also sounds as though you still believe that Yelp manipulates reviews to favor advertisersHowever, 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.Yelp'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.Finally, 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).Regards,***Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/14) */
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 guaranteedOur records indicate that you signed up for an impressions-based advertising program on February 13, 2015, with a service start date of March 1, With your advertising program, you were paying for ad impressions to appear each month in places such as above search results and on your competitors' business pagesThese ad impressions were delivered in accordance with your contractYou were also paying for additional features such as competitor ad removal, a photo slideshow, and the video feature
With regards to your concerns about the video, Yelp has partnered with the company SmartShoot, who typically films and edits the featured video for our advertisersAs may recall from the correspondence you had with ***, we allow advertisers to create their own video if the prefer, but the video must meet our guidelines
According to our records, you signed a new contract on May 7, (with a service start date of June 1, 2015) to remove the video featureIt also looks like you were refunded $for the video hosting fee you were charged on April 1,
Your advertising program has been terminated as of June 30, As you have chosen to end your program before the end of the commitment period, an early termination of $was assessed per the terms of the advertising agreementThanks for understanding
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/16) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns
It looks like you've since closed your Yelp user accountWith 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 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,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/11/19) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Yes, I deleted my account two days ago but I am not convinced by your I have been observing reviews of *** *** DDS" for about months now and I notice, if anyone leaves star review, within one week you hide itI have no doubts that he either gives you advertisement or is a dentist of one of you executives
Final Business Response /* (4000, 12, 2015/12/01) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for your response
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
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 a business page, 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
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,
***
Yelp Inc
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 14, 2015/12/03) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
This business Yelp! Has unfair business practices, possibly they have one software filter for business which advertises with them and one for business that does not advertise with themI would not rely on the reviews visible on their site any moreThey are good to find addresses however and sooner or later they will be nothing more than yellow pages

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for *** *** ***We've forwarded your message to the appropriate partiesAs you may recall, a manager, ***, reached out to you on January 25, to discuss
your concernsAccording to our records, it looks like you spoke with an account manager, ***, on December 6, and that she walked you through how to terminate your advertising program through your Yelp for Business Owners AccountWe were unable to locate any indication that you contacted us prior to December 6, to inquire how to cancel.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 AccountDuring 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.You ended your advertising program on December 6, As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms you agreed to, we will not be able to waive the outstanding balance of $for advertising services delivered from November 1, - December 6, Once this amount is collected, you will not incur further chargesThanks for understanding.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for *** *** *** ***.We're sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising programIt looks like a manager, ***, reached out to you on
September and 7, As you may recall from your conversations with her, we are refunding you $and are waving the charges for advertising services delivered in September. Regards,***Yelp Inc

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
Their answer is asinineThe notion that they are not responsible for an algorithm they paid to develop per their own specifications is ridiculousThey are discriminating against select photographers trying to make a living because they received great reviews that they want to make seem didn't occur or suspicious by they way they label them! Doing so MISLEADS the public and damages a reputationThat is illegal and should not be tolerated by the Revdex.com which should be protecting consumers or by governmentThe government should go after YELP for advertising and damaging businesses and freelance photographersIt should further require them to financially pay back potential lost business to all those people they discriminated against for each and every day they participated in this behavior
Sincerely,*** ***

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/23) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for *** Skin Spa
We first want to address your comment that you "less than a month of valuable
service." According to our records, you received almost two months of advertising service, as your advertising program began on July 30, and ended on September 26,
You also expressed concern that your advertising program was not terminated immediately, but per the terms of your advertising agreement, we require days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising programAs you noted, you provided a written cancellation notice on August 27, 2015, so your advertising program was cancelled on September 26,
Additionally, please note that your advertising program was billed in arrears, so the $you were charged at the beginning of October was for advertising services delivered in SeptemberThe $you paid on September was for services delivered in August, and the $you paid on August was for services delivered in July
As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with your contract, we will not be able to offer you a refundThanks for understanding
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/10/26) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The response I just received is the same explanation I was given prior to my compliant to the Revdex.comMy complaint still remainsAs I stated prior; to spend almost $for "even less" than even two months of sevice is outrageousI signed the contract July 30th, after P.MMy first profile & contact with YELP representative to help with my company'set up did not happen until around August 5thI also cancelled in AugustNo way does that equal me being charged the $for OctoberNevertheless, It is my opinion that YELP is a rip off, an unfair company and if your companies policies continue as is; YELP will not succeed in the marketplaceIt's call karma
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/11/04) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for your response
While we are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaign, advertising services were delivered in accordance with the contract you signedOur records indicate that you signed up for an advertising program with $monthly fixed costs plus up to $monthly variable costs, for a monthly maximum of $The monthly fixed costs were for your branded profile, which included features such as a photo slideshowYour advertising program was a cost per click (CPC) program and your monthly cost per click budget cap was set at $150, which means you were only charged when someone clicked on your ad and you agreed to pay up to $a month for those ad clicksYou can view a breakdown the number of ad clicks you received by logging in to your Yelp for Business Owners Account at https://biz.yelp.com/ and clicking on the "Yelp Ads" tab
We also want to address your comment, "I also cancelled in AugustNo way does that equal me being charged the $for October." According to our records, you provided a written cancellation notice on August 27, We require days written notice if you wish to terminate your advertising program, so your campaign was cancelled on September 26, Additionally, please keep in mind that your advertising program was billed in arrears, so the charge you saw in October was actually for advertising services delivered in September
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/11/06) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
There was not a resolutionAn explanation was given, which I continue to disagree withI wanted my disagreement to be documented so that other small business start-ups would'nt waste time and money like I didAn expensive day lessonI'm sure the time is coming when no one will trust or need their serviceHopefully they will vanish like the yellow pages!