Yelp.com

Complaint:[redacted]I am rejecting this response because: You have been provided proof the review is fake and in fact Yelp has informed me that the review can not be verified.  Keeping the review up is in my opinion negligent at best.  As Yelp will not take any action even though they have actual knowledge the review is false, I am unwilling to accept Yelps response and I will continue to exercise my right to relay my negative dealings with Yelp to all.  I also find it interesting that Yelp does not allow reviews of them on Yelp, must be that they get to many negative reviews, which is what I would give them and I am sure everyone else who does or did business with them would give them a negative review and well.Sincerely,Scott[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/19) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].
You wrote, "Yelp has been deleting all Postive Yelp reviews off my Yelp site." If a review is...

not appearing on the main Yelp listing of a business, it would be for one of three reasons: the review is currently not recommended by Yelp's automated recommendation software (which affects both positive and negative reviews); the review was found to be in violation of our Content Guidelines or Terms of Service and has been manually removed by the Yelp Support team; or the user elected to remove the review him/herself.
In this case, it sounds as though the reviews you are referring to are currently not recommended. As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable content. The recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp.
It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews. Please also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. However, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.
To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/10/22) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
They did not give me any useful information and dos not stop Yelp from removing all good reviews this site is a scam and needs to be taken down
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/11/02) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
It sounds as though you don't accept our explanation of the recommendation software, but we can only stand by our previous statements. Yelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable ones. This means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cut. We 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 recommended. But 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 appreciated. When it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify fake reviews among the many millions of legitimate reviews. It's no easy task, and there is always room for improvement. We hope to be able to continually improve on this issue.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/11/06) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
They still have yet to come up with a resolution they clearly do jot care about customer concerns or flaws with there company they need to be shut down

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].You expressed concern with a review by [redacted]. We've taken another look at the review and have and left it up, as it was not found to be in...

violation of our guidelines. You claim that this reviewer is not your customer; however, Yelp does not take sides in factual disputes. Rather, 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 or her review.You also expressed concern about a review by [redacted] However, we were unable to locate a review by [redacted] on your business page. If you are referring to another review, please respond to this message with the name of the reviewer.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 content. The recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp.It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews. Please also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. However, the system is not static -- reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: [redacted]Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]
It's not logical to assume that a computer software is targeting over 497 of our hard earned reviews I have checked the entire San Diego county for other auto repair shops and see that my business is being looked at differently as small business owner I feel for the other similar businesses and I like to bring a change. I'm not satisfied.I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely,[redacted]

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted]We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaign. We've forwarded your concerns to the appropriate parties, and a...

manager, [redacted], has left you a voicemail to let you know we will be refunding you the early termination fee of $650 that was collected on July 7, 2016. If you would like to discuss your concerns further, please reach out directly to [redacted]. Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/12) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Wicked.
We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaign. To be clear,...

while the goal of advertising on Yelp is to drive more traffic to the business page, which may ultimately result in more customers, it is important to keep in mind that results are not guaranteed. When advertising with a packaged Cost Per Click program, you were electing to pay every time a user clicks on your ad impression. You were also paying for additional features such as a featured video and enhanced profile (which included features such as competitor ad removal and a photo slideshow).
You also expressed concern that you hit your monthly budget cap. As you noted, you signed up for an advertising program with $125 monthly fixed costs plus up to $275 monthly variable costs, for a monthly maximum of $400. The monthly fixed costs were for your featured video ($75 per month) and enhanced profile ($50 per month). Your advertising program also included a cost per click (CPC) program and your monthly cost per click budget cap was set at $275, which means you were only charged when someone clicked on your ad and you agreed to pay up to $275 a month for those ad clicks. If you did not reach your monthly budget cap, you would only be charged for the ad clicks you received. However, 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.
Additionally, please note that your Cost Per Click program was an auction-based auto-bidding program, which means that you agreed to allow Yelp to set the bid price per click price to keep you competitive in the market. It's important to keep in mind that the price will fluctuate up or down depending on competition, relevance, and other factors. However, it will always be the lowest price possible to win the click.
It appears a manager, [redacted], was in touch with you after you filed this Revdex.com complaint. As you may recall, your advertising program has been cancelled as of January 6, 2016, and you will not have any further fees to pay.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing back. We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaign, and would like to provide some additional clarification.While the goal of advertising on Yelp is to drive more traffic to the business page, which may ultimately result in more customers, it is important to keep in mind that results are not guaranteed. When advertising with a Cost Per Click program, you were electing to pay every time a user clicks on your ad impression. You were also paying for an enhanced profile and a featured video.According to our records, you signed up for an advertising program with $100 monthly fixed costs plus an ad click budget of $275, for a monthly maximum of $375. The monthly fixed costs were for your featured video and enhanced profile, which included features such as competitor ad removal and a photo slideshow. Your 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 $275 a month for those ad clicks. If you did not reach your monthly budget cap, you would be charged for the ad clicks you received. However, 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.As advertising services were delivered in accordance with the advertising agreement you signed, we will not be able to waive the remaining balance of $229.85 for the advertising services you received from October 13 - 31, 2016. Thanks for understanding.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: This is not what Juan and myself agreed to, I dont care what they say. Will never do business or refer Yelp to anyone. They are just another large corporation that takes advantage of the little man. They even make it to where a client cant write a negative review...That should say something...Sincerely,Ross[redacted]

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted].As you noted, you redeemed a $300 promotional ad credit. To redeem the $300 credit towards Yelp ads, you were required to sign up for our Cost Per Click (CPC)...

advertising campaign and put a credit card on file. You set your Cost Per Click monthly budget at $450, and also signed up for our enhanced profile features, which cost $75 per month. Once the promotion runs out, advertising continues until you stop your ads through your Yelp for Business Owners Account.Your advertising program was a self-serve program, which means that ads can only be turned off by the business through the Yelp for Business Owners Account. If you only wanted to use your $300 promotion, you would have needed to log in and end the program once that credit was used. During 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.Below is a more detailed description of how the promotion was applied:November 30, 2016- You received 0 ad clicks which cost a total of $0- Your prorated Call To Action, Slideshow, and Remove Competitor Ads features cost $1.59- $1.59 of your $300 credit was used and you paid $0December 2016- You received 23 ad clicks which cost a total of $142.93- Your Call To Action, Slideshow, and Remove Competitor Ads features cost $75- You had $298.41 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used in November- $217.93 of your credit was used and you paid $0January 2017- You received 32 ad clicks which cost a total of $378.10- Your Call To Action, Slideshow, and Remove Competitor Ads features cost $75- You had $80.48 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used in November and December- $80.48 of your credit was used and you paid $372.62 for advertising services delivered in JanuaryFebruary 1 - 4, 2017- You received 6 ad clicks which cost a total of $79.94- Your prorated Call To Action, Slideshow, and Remove Competitor Ads features cost $6.68- You had 0 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was used in November through January - You are responsible for $86.62 for advertising services delivered in FebruaryYou can view a breakdown of how many ad clicks you received by logging in to your Yelp for Business Owners Account at [redacted] and then clicking on the Yelp Ads tab.You ended your advertising program on February 4, 2017. As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms you agreed to, at this time we will not be able to waive the remaining balance of $86.62 for advertising services delivered in February. That said, we have forwarded your message to the appropriate parties for their consideration. Thanks for understanding.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/01) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] Etc.
You expressed concern that you were unable to reach our account management team. It looks like...

an account manager, [redacted], reached out to you on September 18, the day after you filed this Revdex.com complaint, to discuss your cancellation request. It also looks like you spoke with [redacted] on September 24 and [redacted] on September 29.
Please note that per the terms of your contract, we require 30 days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising program. As it appears the first written cancellation request our account management team received from you was on September 17, 2015, your advertising program is set to cancel as of October 17, 2015. Because your advertising program is billed in arrears, you will see one final charge for advertising services delivered in October. Once that has been collected, you will not incur further charges.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/10/05) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Took longer than it needed to so they could squeeze out an extra payment from me.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing again.We first want address your comment, "just because I don't pay for an unfair advantage yelp are trying to marginalise my store." To be clear, a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treated. Businesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertise. We understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit [redacted] to learn more.You also wrote, "They tell people on my page that they were removed because I asked for them." However, we actually don't go into detail as to why a specific review is or is not recommended. Rather, the information we provide about our recommendation software gives some possible explanations as to why reviews may not be currently recommended. We intentionally make the recommendation software difficult to reverse engineer -- otherwise, we would be overrun by reviews written by people hoping to game the system. So while it may be tough to decipher how the recommendation software works, the rules are actually the same for every business and every review.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/12/23) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted]
You expressed concern that the price per click varied. While your sales representative may...

have given you an estimated price per click based on the average at that time, the Terms (https://biz.yelp.com/tos/upgrades_en_us_XXXXXXXX) you agreed to when you signed up for your self-serve Cost-Per-Click advertising program state that the price per click varies based on relevance, competition, and other factors. However, the price you pay will always be the lowest price possible to win the click.
As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms you agreed to when you signed up for your advertising campaign, we will not be able to waive the outstanding balance of $124.98. Once this amount is collected, you will not incur further charges.
We hope you will continue to take advantage of the free features available to you on your business account to engage with the Yelp community. For guidance, please visit https://biz.yelp.com/support/using_business_account
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2015/12/28) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I do not accept their response regardless of the Terms in (https://biz.yelp.com/tos/upgrades_en_us_XXXXXXXX) as they have specified. This does not specify any kind of dollar amount for the variable pricing that they are claiming.
When I spoke to the agent numerous times prior to applying for the self advertising, he did not disclose to me that it can go up to hundreds of dollars per click, as a matter of fact, the variable rate wasn't even disclosed to me verbally during the several weeks of him contacting me via email and by phone. Had it been told me, then I would have questioned how much the maximum can go up to and would have made better decision in continuing with this self advertising.
This is purely a scam in my opinion in bilking consumers like me for "Not" signing one with their contracted advertisement when I declined their offer with their representative, prior to applying for this self advertising.
As mentioned before, I will pay 50% of the bill from $124.98 to $62.49 in order to resolve this issue.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2016/01/08) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
While you may have discussed full-serve advertising programs with your sales representative, ultimately, you signed up for a self-serve program through your Yelp for Business Owners Account. Our records indicate that when you signed up for your self-serve Cost-Per-Click advertising program, you set your monthly budget cap at $250. You were only charged when someone clicked on your ad, and you agreed to pay up to $250 a month for those ad clicks. If you had reached your monthly budget cap, we would no longer have delivered ads for your business for the remainder of that month so that you wouldn't have to pay more than you agreed to. If you did not reach your monthly budget cap, you would only be charged for the ad clicks you received.
We also want to reiterate that the the price per click will vary depending on various factors including relevance and competition, but price you pay will always be the lowest price possible to win the click. Our records indicate that during your ad campaign, the 13 ad clicks you received in November cost a total of $124.98, or an average of $9.61 per click. As noted in Section 1 (Ad Services) of the Ads and Upgrades Terms you agreed to, "Yelp establishes a minimum bid price per click, which is the least you would pay for a click, and which Yelp may change at any time. If there are no competing advertisers, you pay the minimum bid price. If there are competing advertisers, the winning advertiser will pay the minimum amount of money necessary to beat the second-place advertiser, based on relevance and bid price. You agree to allow Yelp to implement an auto-bidding strategy whereby your bid price per click varies based on relevance, competition, and other factors, in an effort to maximize the number of clicks you receive within the budget specified in the Checkout Form."
As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms, you are responsible for an outstanding balance $124.98 for the 13 ad clicks you received. Once this amount is collected, you will not incur further charges. Thanks for understanding.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].You expressed concern with the recommendation software. As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable content....

The recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp. It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews.You also asked for your listing to be removed from Yelp; however, we don't remove business listing information. While some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the law. And 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 day. Please also note that because the recommendation software is automated, we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review.To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: [redacted]Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing back; we appreciate your feedback.We forwarded your message to our account management team. As you may recall, an account manager, [redacted], spoke with you on October 27 to discuss your experience. We will be refunding you for your October 1, 2016 payment of $98.25.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for your response.We want to reiterate that with respect to reviews, paying businesses have absolutely no advantage. The automated recommendation software does not distinguish between advertisers and free listings, and the revenue side of our business operates independently of the content side of our business, just as a newspaper might put a firewall between their advertising and reporting functions.It also sounds as though you don't accept our explanation of the recommendation software, but we can only stand by our previous statements. Yelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable ones. This means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cut. We 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 recommended. This 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-advertiser. But 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 appreciated. When it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify fake reviews among the many millions of legitimate reviews. It's no easy task, and there is always room for improvement. We hope to be able to continually improve on this issue.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for your response.It sounds as though you don't accept our explanation of the recommendation software, but we can only stand by our previous statements. Yelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable ones. This means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cut. We 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 recommended. But once again, the system is not static -- reviews may come and go as the recommendation software picks up new information.With regards to your comment, "when someone searches my business or my name on for instance their iPhone the first result that comes up is Yelp showing a one star rating, not my true rating," please note that we only look at Recommended Reviews in calculating a business's overall star rating.While we understand your concerns about our recommendation software, 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 remove. See [redacted]We do understand the recommendation software can be frustrating at times, and your feedback is appreciated. When 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 reviews. It's no easy task, and there is always room for improvement. We hope to be able to continually improve on this issue.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for your response.It sounds as though you don't accept our explanation of the recommendation software, but we can only stand by our previous statements. Yelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable ones. This means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cut. We 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 recommended. But 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 appreciated. When 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 reviews. It's no easy task, and there is always room for improvement. We hope to be able to continually improve on this issue.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Sincerely,
[redacted], please note that the present owners are Americans, and how can they call us Homeboy?

Hi [redacted], Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for ** [redacted].We first want to be clear that a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treated....

Businesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertise. We understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit [redacted] and [redacted] to learn more.As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable content. The recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp.It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews. Please also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. However, the system is not static -- reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: [redacted]Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/30) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for Law Offices of [redacted] S. [redacted].
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 treated. Businesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertise. Furthermore, 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 happen. 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.
You also expressed concern with the recommendation software. As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable content. The recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp.
It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews. Please also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. However, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.
To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.