Yelp.com

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/11) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for *** Dealers
You expressed concern with a review of your businessWe assume you are referring to
the review by *** S, as it appears you or one of your colleagues has previously reported this reviewAs you may recall, the review has been evaluated by the Yelp Support team and left up, as it was not found to be in violation of our guidelinesYou claim that "the complaint was made by a customer I never had"; 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
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 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 advertiseFurthermore, there is zero relationship between the timing of when a review gets recommended and when a business decides to or declines to advertise: reviews can be recommended or not recommended days, weeks, or even months after they were first posted, and your Yelp sales representative doesn't have any influence over when that might happenWe understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit http://www.yelp.com/advertiser_faq and http://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/05/no-yelp-doesnt-extort-small-businesses-see-...⇄ to learn more
As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentThe recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measuredEven though it inevitably affects legitimate reviews from time to time and misses some fake ones, too, it helps protect the integrity of the site both for consumers (who will be less likely to be led astray by bogus reviews) and business owners (who will spend less time worrying about whether their competitors are writing negative reviews about them)
It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviewsPlease also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewHowever, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors
To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US
Finally, you asked for your business to be removed from Yelp, but we actually don't remove business listing informationWhile some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the lawMore importantly, we believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/09/15) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The sales person told us on the phone that if we were to pay for their advertising than they can not take negative reviews off but they can make sure positive reviews go forwardSo this answer is completely untrue and falseAs for ***We feel this is a fictitious person that was made up by yelpCustomer lives in *** area..in which we would be almost hours from them for a bhph loanWhich is very unlikely due to the fact he or she would drive by hundreds of bhph to get her
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/09/21) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for your response
You have again alleged that Yelp manipulates reviews to favor advertisersHowever, with respect to reviews, paying businesses have absolutely no advantageThe automated recommendation software does not distinguish between advertisers and free listings, and the revenue side of our business operates independently of the content side of our business, just as a newspaper might put a firewall between their advertising and reporting functions
With regards to your comment, "The sales person told us on the phone that if we were to pay for their advertising than they can not take negative reviews off but they can make sure positive reviews go forward," we would like to investigate furtherTo that end, please provide us with the name of the individual whom you spoke with, their phone number, and the date and time of your conversation with them, if known
It also sounds as though you don't accept our explanation of the recommendation software, but we can only stand by our previous statementsYelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable onesThis means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cutWe acknowledge that even some legitimate reviews will not be recommended, but we still believe that the recommendation software as a whole makes our site more trustworthy and useful to consumers
As indicated in our prior response, the recommendation software is automated to help avoid the potential for human bias inherent in individual decision-making: we cannot reverse the software's decisions, either to suppress an active review or to restore a review that isn't currently recommendedThis also means (and I can say this with 100% certainty) that we cannot manually manipulate the recommendation software to favor an advertiser or punish a non-advertiserBut once again, the system is not static reviews may come and go as the recommendation software picks up new information
We do understand the recommendation software can be frustrating at times, and your feedback is appreciatedWhen it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify fake reviews among the many millions of legitimate reviewsIt's no easy task, and there is always room for improvementWe hope to be able to continually improve on this issue
Finally, you have again expressed concern with *** S's reviewAs we've noted, we don't take sides on factual disputes, so we can only therefore reiterate what we previously communicated to you: if a review appears to reflect the user's personal experience and opinions, we allow the user to stand behind their reviewWith regards to your comment, "We feel this is a fictitious person that was made up by yelp," it's important to note that every Yelp salesperson signs an agreement that s/he will not write reviews of any business while employed by YelpWe have several monitoring systems in place to help us ensure nobody (accidentally or otherwise) crosses this lineYou also wrote, "Customer lives in *** area," but please keep in mind that the location listed in the user's profile might not be their current location
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/09/25) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
process of getting an attorney on this matter*** S has never purchased a car from us and now we feel it is even a fictional customerWe have numerous customer file good review and none have been allowed to go throughI was personally told by the sale person that they could not do anything about the bad review but good reviews can be made to go through
Company is a joke

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for *** ***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.Thanks for understanding.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because: Yelp has not provided any statistics on the breakdown of the $cost and how many clicks we supposedly receivedWe have given YELP proof of clicks from out of state--which would not use our business, and we have only had one call that has been verified from a yelp userYelp has not provided that they drove any traffic to our companyThey have been paid for virtually nothing.
We feel that Yelp did not live up to their contract which was only for months as agreed verballyYelp refused to let us terminate early when we proved that this was not successful for our businessHow can a contract not have any protections for the consumerIt doesn't cost Yelp anything to stop their program.
Yelp has not been willing to cancel the contract--even after we proved that we did not receive the number of clicks that we were billed for and that we have not had any trafficThe one month early--is not enough.
We are also taking this matter to the Attorney GeneralYelp is fraud--pure fraud.
Sincerely,Robert***

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/10) */
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 URL listed on your business pageWe have systems in place to keep
our data accurate and timely but from time to time, delays can occurWe've corrected your business page and apologize for any inconvenience: http://www.yelp.com/biz/***
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/07/14) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Link is removedThank you

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
The contract was supporting "Honest Business Advertising Practices" ,, which at This time , I see Nothing of ! The Lawyer written notice , is a completely One-sided hold-harmless clause First -The Ad Removal issue , was actually a complete Lie on Yelp's partThey Never removed the Competitor's Ads - they were Always ShowingI checked numerous times and Saw my Competitor's Ads Every timeEven from another Computer , the Ads were Constant .. That is the First lie... When asked about Their Not delivering What was promised yelp said -- Can You Prove that we said That ?? The second lie was about Allowing me - As a Customer - *** - to Lower my Ad Bid from the huge $per month "Click fee" Down to the Winter Seasonal Rate ,, ( Promised Verbally ) They made This Promise to entice Advertisers ( me and Others ) into signing Their totally one-sided contractI made this Request -- Because I Operate a mostly Seasonal Transport Business -- not So Active in the Colder Winter MonthsThe people at yelp , who were trying to trap me into this agreement - said " OK no problemSince you have limited winter business - there is no problem moving your Ad Clicks Down to Zero during this winter slower seasonBringing the monthly Ad cost down to $per month and No Clicks ! When Asked yelp Says - That's just not possible - Can You Prove that We Said That ??
Not wanting to Lie about Any Business practices is a prerequisite Of Any Legal Business - therefore I Question IF yelp even IS a legal business
So the " ISSUE " is Lying about Verbal Promises Made to Get People the Buy Their Ad "products" .. The Other Complaints - with 95% of Those being Negative - by your Own Websites Counter , should have been Enough to Permanently Settle Any Question Of - Should I use yelp for any Ad Purposes ? We All Should Check out the Revdex.com Reports Before Entering into a Business Decision ! JAN, --
Sincerely,*** ***

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because: what stated is not what was communicated to me during the first introductory powerpoint presentation by Mr*** ***, nor it was explained by Ms*** *** when questioned about what had happened in March Why are we disclosed the mechanisms of your ads only after the fact? Also please address the complete breakdown of communications from Yelp representatives when we respectfully asked to be e-mailed regarding our matters.
*** *** fell from the face of the planet when we e-mailed her; the same happened with *** ***; all the e-mails that we had sent with multiple requests were ignored.
I am sorry to have to be in this position to dispute Yelp's statements; my company and my employees were absolute believers in the company and we were positive that Yelp would at least bring ONE customer to the table; clearly to Yelp it matters more to prey on small businesses than actually have them walk away satisfied with their Customer Service needs addressedOn a larger scale, seen also the huge amount of complaints received via Revdex.com, it is clear that the advertising department needs to make some changes to avoid negative word of mouth.
Sincerely,*** ***

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/29) */
Hi Dr***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for *** ***, DDS
You expressed concern with a negative reviewWe assume you are referring to the
review by *** T, as it appears you've previously reported this reviewAs you may recall from the message you've received from the Yelp Support team, the review has been evaluated and left up, as it was not found to be in violation of our guidelinesIf 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
While we appreciate your reservations to post public comments or send private messages to reviewers, we encourage you to consider ways in which you might utilize these features without revealing confidential informationYou might, for example, ask a reviewer to contact you off the site to discuss these issues further or make general clarifications about your businessJust keep in mind that we have a number of other features available to help you make a positive impression on our users, and reach out to potential clients
You also expressed concern with the recommendation softwareAs you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentThe recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp
With regards to your comment, "these positive ads were not being awarded the same respect as the negative review," we want to clarify that the recommendation 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
Finally, you asked for your business to be removed from Yelp, but we actually don't remove business listing informationWhile some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the lawMore importantly, we believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/11/04) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I never gave anyone the authorization to placed on Yelp! I want my name removed from their systemI do not feel that any health care provider should be placed on this web site due to patient/doctor confidentiality
If their software is automated then they need to fix the problem because it eliminates 96% of my positive reviewsI see to patients in one day and I have asked for their response of treatment to be placed on the siteCan you please have someone from Yelp to address these issues XXX-XXX-XXXX
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/11/16) */
Hi Dr***,
Thank you for your response
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)
It also sounds as though you don't accept our explanation of the recommendation software, but we can only stand by our previous statementsYelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable onesThis means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cutWe acknowledge that even some legitimate reviews will not be recommended, but we still believe that the 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, 2015/11/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
***,
I have read your response and again your system is not set up for fare replies
You will be hearing from my attorney because 90% of my positive responses are not posted for review!

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/02) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding the billing for your advertising program for *** Repair
Your impressions-based advertising program has been terminated
as of July 31, We've forwarded your message to our finance department, and my colleague *** sent you an email on September with information about how to submit payment by check
Thank you
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Hi Christina,Thank you for bringing this to our attentionWe are following up to let you know we'll be looking into this matter further. We have placed your business, Shorbe Construction and Consulting, on our internal Do Not Call list, and going forward you should receive no further sales
communication unless you explicitly request otherwiseIf for any reason you continue to hear from them, please let us know at ***If you would like to update your email notification preferences, you can do so by following the instructions given here: ***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 first want to be clear that a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does
not affect how the reviews on its listing are treatedBusinesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertiseAs noted in the advertising agreement for *** ***, "Please note that businesses cannot pay to remove, reorder, or otherwise impact reviewsIf you decide not to enroll in a Yelp Ad Program, that won't affect your reviews, either."
We understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit http://www.yelp.com/advertiser_faq and http://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/05/no-yelp-doesnt-extort-small-businesses-see-...⇄ to learn more
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 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 reviewsYou wrote, "I am asking all reviews from XXXX - XXXX be posted" but please understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewHowever, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors
To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/09/24) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Regardless if a customer is trying to place a review it should be postedThere is no reason positive or negative a review should not be postedWhat is the reason a review is posted and then 2-days later taken down? I would like all Yelp reviews posted from XXXX- XXXX to be posted on *** ***'s websiteWE ARE PAYING HELP TO HELP US NOT MAKE US LOOK BADWe are not asking much except when our customers or visitors go on their website to write a review any and all should be posted
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/10/05) */
Hi ***,
Thanks for writing back
You wrote, "WE ARE PAYING HELP TO HELP US NOT MAKE US LOOK BAD." We want to reiterate that with respect to reviews, paying businesses have absolutely no advantageThe automated recommendation software does not distinguish between advertisers and free listings, and the revenue side of our business operates independently of the content side of our business, just as a newspaper might put a firewall between their advertising and reporting functions
It 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
You wrote, "I would like all Yelp reviews posted from XXXX- XXXX to be posted on *** ***'s website," but as indicated in our prior response, the recommendation software is automated to help avoid the potential for human bias inherent in individual decision-makingWe 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 informationIt's also important to note that even if a review isn't currently recommended, users can still find it at the bottom of the Yelp listing or on the user's profile page
We do understand the recommendation software can be frustrating at times, and your feedback is appreciatedWhen it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify fake reviews among the many millions of legitimate reviewsIt's no easy task, and there is always room for improvementWe hope to be able to continually improve on this issue
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for writing about your business page for *** *** *** ***.You expressed concern with the reviews by *** ** *** *** *As you may recall from our responses to the *** *** *** *** *** ** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***6),
*** *** review update of *** *** *** *** was removed because it fell outside our Content Guidelines*** *** original review and *** *** *** were also evaluated by the Yelp Support team and left up, as they were not found to be in violation of our guidelinesIf 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 or her review.You also wrote, "Yelp has contacted me and asked me to pay $to take the reviews downThey said they want this is one paymentThey continued to explain that after I would pay, I would slowly see the reviews deleted from the site[...] Yelp was trying to make me pay a large sum of money to take reviews down from people who I don't even know." Please be assured that there is no relationship between reviews and anything having to do with Yelp Ads or the Yelp Ads sales processThere’s no amount of money a business can pay to manipulate their reviews or rating and Yelp doesn’t skew things in favor of advertisers or against businesses that don’t.If you believe someone has provided you with different information, we would like to investigate furtherPlease provide us with the name of the individual whom you spoke with, their phone number, and the date and time of your conversation with them, if known.You also expressed concern with the recommendation softwareAs you may recall from our previous correspondence, we use automated software to recommend reviews, with the goal of showcasing the ones that best reflect the opinions of the Yelp communityThe rest are posted below and don’t factor into the business’s overall star ratingThe software does what it can with the information at hand, and regularly revisits each review as it learns moreAs a result, different reviews might be recommended on different daysYou can see reviews that aren't currently recommended by clicking on the link at the bottom of each business page.Please visit our Support Center for more information: ***Regards,***Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/30) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding the menu on your business page
I've forwarded your message to the appropriate departmentIt looks like my colleague ***
reached out to you on November to ask you to send her a link to your business page, as we were unable to locate your page with the information you providedPlease either send *** a link to your business page, or respond to this message with a link, so that we can assist you further with removing the menu
Thank you
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/16) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for *** *** Transportation
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 an impressions-based program, you are paying for the delivery of a certain number of targeted ad impressions (in your case, ad impressions per month) as well as additional features such as competitor ad removal and a photo slideshow
You expressed concern with our cancellation policyAs noted in the advertising agreement you signed, we require written notification to your account manager on or before the 15th of the month in order to to terminate advertising at the end of that monthIf you provide written notice after the 15th of the month, then the advertising program will terminate at the end of the following monthAs you submitted your cancellation request on May 27, 2015, your ads were terminated on June 30,
You also expressed concern with the early termination feePer the terms of the advertising agreement you signed, early termination is subject to a fee of $
Finally, it looks like Kyle on our account management team reached out to you on July As you may recall, he left you a voicemail requesting that you call him back if you have further questions regarding your early termination fee or any other concerns
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/03) */
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 http://www.yelp.com/advertiser_faq and http://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/05/no-yelp-doesnt-extort-small-businesses-see-...⇄ to learn more
You also expressed concern with the recommendation softwareAs you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentThe recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be 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 factorsThat said, please note the action that the Yelp Support team takes is separate from actions taken by Yelp's automated recommendation softwareIf a review is not recommended, that does not necessarily mean it is in violation of our guidelines
To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US
You also expressed concern with the reviews of your business by ***, *** and *** AThe reviews have been evaluated by the Yelp Support team and left up, as it was not found to be in violation of our guidelinesYelp 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
While our Yelp Support team doesn't offer phone based support, we encourage you to visit our Support Center at http://www.yelp-support.com 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
Lastly, you asked for your business to be removed from Yelp, but we actually don't remove business listing informationWhile some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the lawMore importantly, we believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses
Regards,
***
Yelp Inc
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/08/05) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
This is the same useless answer written on the Yelp.com siteI want to speak directly with an officer of the companyIt does not matter how the software is intended to work, I am telling you it is faulty! The fact that people might go on Yelp and see this unfair and bias rating causes me to lose salesI was trying to reasonable and just ask to be completely removedThis is my business name, images, etcYou cannot keep it on your site if I do not allow itFurther more, there is definitely a monetary loss of business from this erroneous so called recommendation softwareIf they are not going to do as I asked, and they are not going to have a board member call me directly, then I have no choice but to handle this through the legal process
Final Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2015/08/17) */
Hi ***,
Thank you for your response
You wrote, "I want to speak directly with an officer of the company," but as we previously noted, our Yelp Support team does not offer phone based support
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)
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
While we understand your concerns, we want to make sure you are clear that federal law bars lawsuits against websites like Yelp for the decisions they make about which reviews to post or removeSee Carafano vMetrosplashcomInc., F3d (9th Cir2003); Zeran vAmerica Online, Inc., F.3d (4th Cir1997); Barrett vRosenthal, Cal4th (Cal2006)
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

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
First of all your “recommendation software” obviously doesn't work because it is very improbable that only negative reviews would be reliable and none of the positive reviewsPlus it can be proven the positive reviews are reliableAs I said before I wouldn't still be in business if nobody was happy with my serviceTherefore you shouldn't be using such unreliable software and claiming that it is mostly reliable when it clearly is notI think that is advertisingIt is very clear to me that your site is not trustworthy and I myself never check reviews on your site regarding businesses I might be interested in patronizing because I feel they are totally unreliable
As far it being Federal Law that Yelp.com can decide which reviews they post or remove, just because they can do that doesn't make it right or just or moralIt also doesn't mean that the law will not change in the futureIt was once Federal Law that women were not allowed to vote, this was because the more powerful (men) made the law against the weaker (women)It was also a law that white men were allowed to have black slaves, that law changed tooThe internet is still new, and the big corporations like Yelp.com who can hire expensive lawyers using their ill gotten gains are bullying the weaker small business owners who can't fight back so easilyThis is immoral and unjustLarge corporations are not affected by the antics of Yelp.com so they have no reason to challenge them, it is just small business owners, who work hard to build their business only to have Yelp.com do their very best to damage and ruin it for them
As far as your “frustrating at times” software, if it's so frustrating and doesn't work right then don't use itWhy is a recommendation software needed at all? It isn't, that is just complete nonsenseOther review sites seem to manage quite well and don't have the numerous complaints that Yelp.com hasAlso I shouldn't have to be subjected to your “frustrating software” if I don't want to beI did not choose to be on your site or agree to be subjected to your recommendation software at allI would rather not be on your site, it is absolutely insanely crazy that my business should be on a site I don't want it to be on and whose practices I do not agree withAbsolutely insaneI am hoping that will change in the future, so utterly unbelievable that you are allowed to do this.Sincerely,*** *** ***

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely,*** ***
this company will be exposed for what it isThere is no way that every month the bill hits dollars on the very last day of the month every month even during slow times impossible they are paying someone minimum wage to click on company sites to guarantee a monthly paymentSTAY AWAY from this company RIPOFF

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
Nobody is asking you to be a court of lawI am merely asking that when I can PROVE from their own words that a customer is LYING, that you not allow their review to standIt's almost that simple.
We know of another contractor in our area, who also received the *** *** *** *** *** ***, who has a 3-star rating because of the 1-star reviews you feature, even though they have EIGHT PAGES of star reviews you hideIf you kept everything in chronological order, it would at least be fair, but by hiding good reviews and featuring old negative ones, you make good businesses look bad and cost honest people their livelihoodsYour business ethics are sub-par but you're a big company with expensive lawyers to fend off lawsuits and thus the little guys who are the backbone of America suffer
Your San Francisco neighbor, "*** *** *** ***, laments that people no longer want to go into the trades and that the skills gap is going to swallow usWell, it's no wonder people would rather take on $50K of college debt than work with their hands -- because they'd have to take the kind of guff that cranks who feel entitled and empowered are able to dish out witn impunityThe client who paid us on the spot and then the next day demanded all her money back or she would flame us on the internet later gloated to her housekeeper how she was able to "screw" (her word) usThe housekeeper emailed us an apology and said she does that to everyoneThese are sometimes the sorts of people who leave terrible reviews...that you insist on standing behind.
The daughter of friends of ours is one of your reps in ***Sweet girl, strong ethicsI hope you don't ruin her.
Sincerely,
*** ***

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because: Yelp did not only lie to me about the day period, Yelp also lied about the number of clicks that were actually made. One of the clicks showed that a potential customer clicked in yelp to my website. Well, I do not have a website. Also, yelp stated that a man from California clicked for directions to my cleaners. Why would anybody want directions to my cleaners from California? Yelp also told me that I would ONLY be charged for the amount of clicks that I would get. However, I was never told that I would be charged 100% of the max amount of the package. This is fraud. Yelp is stating that over potential customers clicked to find my cleaners within the short amount of time that I was with yelp. Nevertheless, I did not received a single new customer from yelpI have every single one of my customers in my POS. Therefore, if I get a new customer I always ask where did they hear from us. out of three new customers that I served during this time, all tree found me in google. The amount of money that I was charged was extremely high for the $dollars I made this whole time. This does not add up, this is and it is fraud
Yelp states that all the phone calls are being recorded, therefore; if yelp has nothing to loose, I want yelp to come up with the recordings they have in their posesion to show the leis that they make on the phone to their customers. Yelp should have all the conversations recorded as they state it
Best regards,
*** ***Sincerely,*** ***

Hi Gary,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for Motorworks Engine Center.We want to assure you that Yelp treats advertisers and non-advertisers exactly alike with respect to reviewsAdvertising only buys ads and never
higher ratings, removal of negative reviews or promotion of positive reviews. You'll find plenty of Yelp advertisers with negative reviews, and plenty of non-advertisers with five-star ratings across the boardFurthermore, there is zero relationship between the timing of when a review gets recommended and when a business decides to--or declines to--advertiseReviews can be recommended or not recommended days, weeks, or even months after they were first posted, and a Yelp sales representative doesn't have any influence over when that might happen.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: *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** We also want to clarify that actions taken by Yelp’s automated recommendation software are separate from the Yelp Support team's evaluation of reviews against our Content Guidelines. 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.To learn more, 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 received. Typically, 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).If you have reported a review, received an email from us about our decision to leave it up, and would like us to take a second look, you can submit a new inquiry by providing the case number (this is provided in our previously emailed response to the content you reported) here: ***Regards,HelenYelp Inc

Hi Mr***Thank you for writing again.You expressed concern that it appeared more ad impressions were delivered at the end of the monthTo clarify, the delivery of ads on Yelp is done via an auction systemWhen there is an opportunity for an ad to be displayed, an auction then happens that effectively stack ranks advertisers to determine which ad will be the best fitThe ranking is done based on many different factors, including past performance, their bid, geographical location, category match, and much moreWhat can happen is when an advertiser is having a tough time competing throughout the month, it can mean that more of their ads get delivered at the end of the monthThis can happen because towards the end of the month, there is generally less competition to have ads delivered, giving the advertiser who wasn't competing well an opportunity to have ads delivered.In this case, it looks like your ads had a lower click through rate, which in turn required Yelp to deliver more ad impressions in order to get you an ad clickThus, when in the auction, our system was tending tending to pick other ads that had a greater probability of being clicked.That said, it looks like the ad delivery behavior you described was mainly affecting your ads during MarchThe distribution of ads throughout April and May, and the first days of June was relatively stable For more information about how our Cost Per Click advertising program works, please visit ***Regards,***Yelp Inc