Yelp.com

Hi [redacted] Thank you for writing again.You wrote, "Yelp did you see the attachments I put on the previous response? You did not mention anything about the attachments in your response." As we noted in our previous response, we don't make evidentiary determinations, nor do we take sides on factual disputesSince [redacted] *.'s review appears to reflect the personal experience and opinions of the reviewer, we are leaving it intact.While we share your concern about the possibility of a defamatory review on our site, we don't adjudicate disputes between businesses and their reviewersCongress acknowledged this predicament by passing legislation that provides statutory immunity to online service providers such as Yelp for the content of third-party postsSee U.S.C§The case law is clear on this point in support of online service providers because of concerns that they would otherwise be forced to remove third party posts every time someone raised issue with their contentsSee Carafano vMetrosplashcomInc., F3d (9th Cir2003); Zeran vAmerica Online, Inc., F.3d (4th Cir1997); Barrett vRosenthal, Cal4th (Cal2006).That said, we will revisit your request if you provide to us a final judicial determination that the contents of a review are defamatory and will, at our discretion, take appropriate action with respect to the review and the user responsible for the review.We encourage you to contact the reviewer directly using the private messaging function on our site in order to constructively address your concernsWe do not recommend that you engage in anything other than a well-meaning dialog with the reviewer in order to sort out any misunderstandings.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/04/24) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns You expressed concern that your review of Discover Card is not currently recommendedAs you may have read, we use automated software developed by our engineers to recommend reviews from the Yelp community, with the goal of showcasing more reliable contentThe recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and it 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 reviewsYou asked that we "Return the aforementioned review to 'recommended' status," 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, [redacted] Yelp Inc Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/04/27) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Unfortunately, I find Yelp's response to be both disappointing and disingenuousThe mere fact that their software algorithm, approximately hours later, found my 100% fact-based review that could save a potential consumer thousands of dollars annually to be unworthy of being recommended, reveals just how flawed their algorithm isFurthermore, to suggest that they do not have direct access to the database that their software interfaces with is being disingenuousFor example, when a review is found to contain inappropriate content by a human, someone at Yelpwith appropriate access rights, can then access the database directly and remove such contentTherefore, their refusal to humanly intervene in this case is a matter of choice, not capability Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2015/05/07) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for your response You wrote, "when a review is found to contain inappropriate content by a human, someone at Yelpwith appropriate access rights, can then access the database directly and remove such contentTherefore, their refusal to humanly intervene in this case is a matter of choice, not capability." If a review is brought to the attention of the Yelp Support team and is found to fall outside our Content Guidelines, the Yelp Support team will take appropriate action, such as removing the reviewThat said, please note the action that the Yelp Support team takes against reviews that fall outside our guidelines is separate from actions taken by Yelp's automated recommendation software 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 a business 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, [redacted] Yelp Inc Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (4200, 11, 2015/05/14) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) The Yelp representative,in her most recent response ,now admits that they are capable of accessing the database directly, yet they still refuse to intervene in this matter where it is obvious that their software algorithm has failed to properly rate a 100% fact-based review that could potentially save consumers up to thousands of dollars annually

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] We appreciate your feedback and have forwarded your message to the appropriate partiesAs you may recall, a manager, [redacted] , reached out to you by voicemail and emailWe also wanted to provide you with some additional information here.As you noted, you redeemed a $promotional ad creditTo redeem the $credit towards Yelp ads, you were required to sign up for our Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising campaign and put a credit card on fileYou set your Cost Per Click monthly budget at $Once the promotion runs out, advertising continues until you stop your ads through your Yelp for Business Owners Account.Your advertising program was a self-serve program, which means that ads can be turned off by the business at any time through the Yelp for Business Owners AccountIf you only wanted to use your $promotion, you would have needed to log in and end the program once that credit was usedDuring your ad setup there were Q&A's on the 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:September - 30, 2016- You received ad clicks which cost a total of $0- $of your $credit was used and you paid $0October 2016- You received ad clicks which cost a total of $45.59- $of your $credit was used and you paid $0November 2016- You received ad click which cost a total of $36.62- You had $remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used in October- $of your remaining $promotional credit was used and you paid $0December - 14, 2016- You received ad clicks which cost a total of $216.53- You had $remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used in October and November- You paid $for advertising services delivered in DecemberYou can view a breakdown of how many ad clicks you received by logging in to your Yelp for Business Owners Account at https://biz.yelp.com/ and then clicking on the Yelp Ads tab.With regards to your concern with the variable price per click, as noted in the Terms you agreed to [redacted] ), you agreed to allow Yelp to set the bid price per click to keep you competitive in the marketIt's important to keep in mind that the price will fluctuate up or down depending on competition, relevance, and other factorsHowever, the price you pay will always be the lowest price possible to win the clickFor more information about how Yelp's Cost Per Click ads work, please visit: [redacted] We also want to clarify that your 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, advertising services delivered in December would typically be billed on January It looks like we attempted to charge you beginning on January 1, for the advertising services you received in December, but that we were not able to successfully charge your card until February 1, 2017.You ended your advertising program on December 14, As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms you agreed to, we will not be able to offer you a refundIf you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to our Account Management team directly.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 9, 2015/08/05) */ Hi [redacted] , Thanks for writing in with your concerns about the business [redacted] It appears we previously addressed your issue about marking the business as closed in May of this yearYou 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) Please note that closed businesses are not immediately removed from Yelp searchHowever, they eventually stop appearing in search results over time Thanks for understanding Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] .You expressed concern with [redacted] *.'s reviewI understand that you’re disputing the accuracy this review, and our team has taken a second look at it However, we reached the same conclusion as before and are unable to remove the reviewWe don't take sides in factual disputes; if a review appears to reflect the reviewer’s personal experiences and opinions, it is our policy to let the user stand behind his or her review.These decisions aren’t always easy, but please know we looked at this review closely before reaching our decision.We also want to address your comment, "Our VERY HAPPY customer reviews are not being scored!! We received to great reviews and our score went from to I imagine it should be higher because Yelp chooses to not score those probably so businesses become desperate and pay them which we refuse to." 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 [redacted] and [redacted] to learn more.As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentThe recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp.It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviewsPlease also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewWhile we only look at Recommended Reviews in calculating a business's overall star rating, please keep in mind that 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,***Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for your response.You have again alleged that Yelp is manipulating your reviews because you declined to advertiseHowever, 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.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-ma***: we cannot reverse the software’s decisions, either to suppress an active review or to restore a review that isn’t currently recommendedThis also means (and I can say this with 100% certainty) that we cannot manually manipulate the recommendation software to favor an advertiser or punish a non-advertiserBut once again, the system is not static -- reviews may come and go as the recommendation software picks up new information.We do understand the recommendation software can be frustrating at times, and your feedback is appreciatedWhen it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify the most reliable and useful content amongst the millions of submitted reviewsIt's no easy task, and there is always room for improvementWe hope to be able to continually improve on this issue.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi [redacted] Thank you for writing again.You asked, "How does this algorithm work exactly?" Please note we don't go into detail as to how the algorithm works or why a review is or is not recommendedWe intentionally make the recommendation software difficult to reverse engineer -- otherwise, we would be overrun by reviews written by people hoping to game the systemThat said, while it may be tough to decipher how the recommendation software works, the rules are actually the same for every business and every review.We also want to reiterate that, with respect to reviews, paying businesses have absolutely no advantageThe 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.Finally, with regards to your question, "Can you tell me is there a contact person at Yelp in which we can appeal to have our reviews listed?" As previously noted, we cannot reverse the software’s decisions to restore a review that isn’t currently recommendedOur recommendation software is automated precisely so that it can apply the same objective standards to every business and every review without being overridden by someone's personal preferencesThis also means that we cannot manually manipulate the recommendation software to favor an advertiser or punish a non-advertiserThat said, our recommendation software runs on a daily basis, so reviews that aren't currently recommended may be recommended in the future, and vice versa.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: The review made by [redacted] *was an accusationI have no records of may in my appointment book and never seen herI have tried to resolve this issue by reaching out to [redacted] *to discuss this matter in a business relation but [redacted] only continued to post negative things on my pageThis is not just slandering, it's harassment as well [redacted] made up stories just to hurt my business even when she was not even a client of mineI've noticed that she also placed a negative review on another massage shopI feel like your company should indeed contact the person whom is trying to cause chaos by posting negative reviews on Yelp Sincerely, [redacted]

can you verify and accredit my business in your system? What are the rates? Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely, [redacted]

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/11/04) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] 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 packaged Cost Per Click program, you are paying a fixed amount for an enhanced profile and you are electing to pay every time a user clicks on your ad impression Our 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 $As noted in your contract, the monthly fixed costs were for your enhanced profile, which included features such as competitor ad removal and a photo slideshowYour monthly Cost Per Click budget cap was set at $200, which means you were only charged when someone clicked on your ad and you agreed to pay up to $a month for those ad clicks With regards to your concern with the variable price per click, as noted in your contract, you signed up for a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) auction-based auto-bidding program, which means that you agreed to allow Yelp to set the bid price per click price to keep you competitive in the marketWhile your sales representative may have given you an estimated price per click, it's important to keep in mind that the price will fluctuate up or down depending on competition, relevance, and other factorsHowever, it will always be the lowest price possible to win the click As you may recall from the conversation you have with one of our account managers, [redacted] , your advertising program has been terminated as of August 11, and the early termination fee of $has been waivedAs advertising services were delivered in accordance with your contract, we will not be able to offer you a refund, but we hope will continue to take advantage of the free features available to you on your business account to engage with the Yelp communityFor guidance, please visit https://biz.yelp.com/support/using_business_account Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/11/16) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) [redacted] , I had a verbal contract with [redacted] , our verbal contract included promises made by her ,she word for word said to me that I would guaranteed break even at worst if I signed up for advertising with yelpI asked her multiple times if I was going to break even for sure ..?Her answer was consistently the same....YesI let her know that I didn't have a penny to spare at this timeAnd that if she thought I wouldn't break even at worst I would consider advertising with yelp in the future when I was in a better position to possibly lose some moneyAgain she assured me that I would not lose any money advertising with yelpAll of this changed when I told her I wasn't getting any action advertising with yelpOnce she knew I wasn't happy advertising with yelp, she sang a different tuneShe let me know that there are advertising trends and sometimes it takes time for the advertising to pay offA total contradiction from what she said in the beginning of our communicationsIf she was honest with me as you are now,I would not have signed the contractIn regards to what you said in your statement ,the only reason I signed the contract was because of the promises [redacted] made to me Clearly yelp felt the right thing to do was to let me out of my contract and not charge me the cancellation fees I was lied to by a yelp sales person ( [redacted] ) If they didn't feel they were in the wrong they would not have let me out of my contract without paying a cancellation feeI am now in debit an extra $thanks to being lied to by [redacted] if yelp can't afford to refund my money then [redacted] should be held solely responsible to refund meAfter all she is the person responsible for giving me informationIf this helps at all a yelp mamager named [redacted] told me the calls were recorded (I had no clue this was happening) maybe you can find the recordings and listen to [redacted] "s song and dance This is a direct example of someone not having good morals Also a direct example of women keeping women down for the sake of their own successThe complete opposite of what most of us feel is important in this day and age Sincerely , [redacted] Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2015/11/30) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for your response We appreciate your feedback regarding your sales representative, and have forwarded your concerns to the appropriate partiesThat said, we want to reiterate that results not guaranteedAs noted in the contract you signed, "Yelp specifically disclaims all warranties and guarantees regarding (I) the performance, quality and results of the ad programs." As advertising services were delivered in accordance with your advertising agreement, we will not be able to offer you a refundThanks for understanding Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] We appreciate your feedback, and have forwarded your message to the appropriate parties.It looks like you called and spoke with our Account Management team yesterday, August 17, 2017, to confirm that we had received your payment and are continuing in the advertising programIf you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our Account Management teamRegards,***Yelp Inc

Complaint: [redacted] It's not logical to assume that a computer software is targeting over 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 changeI'm not satisfied.I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely, [redacted]

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 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 informationIt's also important to keep in mind that people can see reviews that aren't currently recommended by clicking on the link at the bottom of the business 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 the most reliable and useful content amongst the millions of submitted reviewsIt's no easy task, and there is always room for improvementWe hope to be able to continually improve on this issue.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: However colorful the reviewer wants to be is up to interpretation by the one reading, not YELP Years of verbal abuse has affected me dramatically and I consider this form of language to be bullying I will at this point copy and paste YELP's response and send copies along with my original complaint to the AG's office is in San Francisco and Consumer Affairs In addition I am considering this matter to be reviewed by the ACLU as well Due to my abuse I do not take this matter as lightly as YELP does I do not send messages to these type of folks as I do not want to engage an individual like that anyway.Sincerely, [redacted] ***

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] We appreciate feedback, and have forwarded your concerns to the appropriate parties for their consideration.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, featured video, and call tracking features.You wrote, "Sometime in November I requested termination." Please note that per the terms of your advertising agreement, we require days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising program, and we were unable to locate a written cancellation request from you dated in NovemberIf you submitted a written cancellation request in November, could you please forward us the email (including headers) to [email protected], so that we can look into this further? Please be sure to indicate that it is in regards to Revdex.com case # [redacted] .We also want to address your comment, "In January I was billed $and thought that was termination and feesApparently not." To clarify, your 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 monthAccording to our records, it appears we attempted to collect $for advertising services delivered in November beginning on December 1, 2016, and that we attempted to collect an additional $for advertising services delivered in December beginning on January 1, 2017, but that we were unable to collect this total of $until January 9, 2017.With regards to your comment, "The data shows that 'interest' came from California Oregon New York Tennessee," we want to clarify that the location listed in a user's profile might not reflect their actual location.Your advertising program was terminated as of March 26, As advertising services were delivered in accordance with the advertising agreement you signed, we will not be able to offer you a refund at this timeThat said, we have forwarded your message to the appropriate parties for their considerationThanks for understanding.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/12/18) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] You expressed concern with the recommendation softwareAs you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentThe recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviewsPlease also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewHowever, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors 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) For more information about recommended reviews, please visit our Support Center: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US You also 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, [redacted] Yelp Inc Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/12/22) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Just CLOSE my business on your website and don't tell me you cannot because you can put me back in Close status, and in months my business will disappear off your pageThat is what one of YOUR managers told me, so just do itThe staff at Yelp does not know what they are doing because one moment my business shows as Closed, then when I go back to look a few days later, it's open againThis inconsistency shows you the level of incompetence your staff really has with the business, and I want nothing to do with Yelp because they are unprofessional and unethicalCLOSE MY BUSINESS IMMEDIATELY OR MY NEXT COURSE OF ACTION WILL BE LEGAL Complaint Response Date bumped because: Holiday Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 12, 2016/01/04) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for your response While we enable business owners to submit changes to business pages on Yelp, our moderators evaluate those changes to ensure they meet our standardsWe generally don't remove business pages because our use of this information is protected under the lawAfter further evaluation, our moderators have determined that your business appears to be in operation based on publicly available sources, so the closure banner has been removed from your business page Yelp 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, [redacted] Yelp Inc Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (4200, 14, 2016/01/06) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) No, I don't accept this response but just close this caseI'm done and will pursue legal action if necessary

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns, but please note that we were unable to locate your business page with the information you providedYou 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.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).It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviewsPlease also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewHowever, the system is not static -- reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: [redacted] Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi [redacted] ,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 [redacted] *., ItsMe S., and [redacted] *.'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." [redacted] Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for Guaranteed Roofing & Prouty Construction.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 advertiseWe understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit http:// [redacted] to learn more.Please note asking for Yelp 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:// [redacted] It's important to note that Yelp uses automated software with the goal of showcasing helpful and reliable reviews from the Yelp communityAs a result, you shouldn’t be surprised if our software fails to recommend the reviews that you’ve asked your customers to writeYour best bet to get high quality and unbiased reviews about your business is to provide a memorable and amazing customer experience, rather than asking customers to post on Yelp.As you may have read, 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 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:// [redacted] Finally, as you may recall from the conversations you've had with our account management team, we require days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising programAs you provided your cancellation request on May 6, 2016, your advertising program is set to cancel as of June 5, Please note that as you are choosing to terminate your advertising program before the end of the 12-month term, there will be an early termination fee of $700.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi Ronald,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Video to Life ProductionsOur records indicate you signed up for an advertising program with $monthly fixed costs plus a monthly ad click budget of $275, for a monthly maximum of $The monthly fixed costs are for your business page upgrades, which included features such as a call to action button, a photo slideshow, and competitor ad removalYour advertising program is a cost per click (CPC) program and your monthly ad click budget was set at $275, which means you are charged when someone clicked on your ad and you agreed to pay up to $a month for those ad clicksWhile you may have discussed the video hosting feature with your sales representative, it appears that this was not a feature you ultimately signed up forAdditionally, please note that video hosting costs an additional feeIt also sounds as though you may be concerned about the possibility of fraudulent ad clicksWe use 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 onesWe also want to assure you that Yelp ads clicked on from a Yelp IP do not count towards the ad clicks you saw in your Yelp for Business Owners account.You can view the number of ads that have been delivered, the number of times your ad was clicked on, and the average cost per click by logging in to your Yelp for Business Owners account at [redacted] / and clicking on the Yelp Ads tabHowever, we don't disclose additional information about the ad clicks due to privacy concerns.Cost per click ads and business page upgrades are being delivered in accordance with the advertising agreement you signedPer your request, your advertising program has been set to cancel at the end of your month commitment on November 25, 2017.Regards,HelenYelp Inc